Leap Into Reading Day February 29th

State of Minnesota
Proclamation

WHEREAS: The "7-Point Plan for Achieving Excellence has several initiatives relating to reading and literacy; and

WHEREAS: The Minnesota Department of Education develops and supports programs that make lifelong literacy accessible for all Minnesotans regardless of age, geographic location, disability, or other factors; and

WHEREAS: Early literacy begins with the adults in a child's life, since reading to children develops language skills and starts them towards success in reading and learning; and

WHEREAS: Research has shown that one of the best ways to help children succeed in school is to improve the literacy level of their primary adults; and

WHEREAS: According to the National Assessment of Adult Literacy, ll million adults are nonliterate in English; and

WHEREAS: Libraries are among the first institutions that New Americans turn to for help in learning how to read, write, and speak English; and

WHEREAS: Schools and public and academic libraries provide resources to support lifelong literacy and learning for all Minnesotans; and

WHEREAS: The Minnesota Department of Education is launching a statewide literacy campaign, building upon the momentum of February, 2012 as "I Love to Read Month," that will help raise awareness of programs that promote lifelong reading success.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, MARK DAYTON, Governor of Minnesota, do hereby proclaim February 29, 2012 to be:
LEAP INTO READING DAY
in the State of Minnesota.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Great Seal of the State of Minnesota to be affixed at the State Capitol this 28th day of February.

(signed) Mark Dayton, Governor

SECRETARY OF STATE

(signed) Mark Ritchie, Secretary of State

Searching for a Grammy

When I was working the desk in a library in another state I both loved and hated certain times that elicited an increased amount of the calls we frustrated librarians called pursuit of trivia. Many of the calls came from Grammy Awards Night parties (or even Super Bowl parties). Tonight if you're watching the Grammys (like I am) I'll bet you're wondering about past winners.

The Grammy site has a nifty search utility where you can search for all the past winners. It's at:

http://www.grammy.com/nominees/search

For instance, if you want to know all the Grammys that Whitney Houston won, just type her name into the name search box. Or you can bring up a list of all the awards given in a particular year, all the way back to 1958 when the best individual jazz performance was Ella Fitzgerald Sings The Duke Ellington Song Book.

So, if you're just burning with curiosity about all the best winners of best polka album, just select the category "Polka" from the Genre drop-down list.

Barbara Misselt, Director

New Staff Joins East Central Regional Library

Director Barbara Misselt recently announced the addition of two new staff members to the Headquarters staff of East Central Regional Library.   Carla Lydon was named the new Assistant Director and Shelly Anderson was named new Administrative Services Manager.

Carla assumes the Assistant Director position for Nick Dimassis, who left in December for a new position as director of the Carver County library system.  Carla was most recently the Chisago Lakes Branch Librarian, a position she held since June 2008.  Carla worked with several community support groups and developed a thriving volunteer program.  As ECRL Assistant Director she will lead and supervise ECRL’s 14 branch libraries located in the counties of Aitkin, Chisago, Isanti, Kanabec, Mille Lacs and Pine.  Carla will also share administrative duties and be part of ECRL’s regional library management team as well as representing ECRL on various statewide committees.

Carla has demonstrated a long commitment to libraries and achieved a broad portfolio in providing information in a variety of libraries throughout the years.  She started out as a Page at the Howard Miller Public Library in Zeeland, MI.  While pursuing her undergraduate degree in mathematics, she worked at the Van Wylen Library Hope College in Holland, MI.  She received her Master of Library and Information Science degree at the University of South Carolina. 

With her new degree in hand she worked as a Children’s Librarian at Charleston County Public Library in South Carolina and as a media specialist for Charleston Public Schools before coming to Minnesota.  In Carla’s vision for public libraries, she sees the library as a physical space, a community gathering place, a technology center and information center.  Carla and her husband, Dan, live in Lindstrom, MN.

Shelly Anderson became the new Administrative Services Manager following Shari Wilcox who retired after 38 years in the position this past December.  Shelly comes to us with numerous bookkeeping and accounting experience.  As the new Administrative Services Manager, Shelly will oversee the financial operation of ECRL’s 3 million dollar budget.  Shelly lives in Rush City with her husband, David, and her family.