Friends of the Amador County Library P.O. Box 701, Jackson, California 95642 NON-PROFIT ORG. U.S. POSTAGE PAID JACKSON, CA 95642 PERMIT NO. 54 FRIENDS OF THE AMADOR COUNTY LIBRARY (FACL) BULLETIN APRIL-JUNE 2010 Spring is here and that means the FACL semi-annual Book Sale is just around the corner: May 14, 15, 16 at the American Legion Hall see the article on pages 1&2 of the Bulletin for all of the details. The Book Sale Committee has been working hard to make this the biggest and best book sale to date. We promise you lots of new inventory in every category, including large print, and we plan to alphabetize the fiction and paperbacks by author! You will not want to miss the Friday members-only evening. Umpqua Bank is again sponsoring us with free hot dogs, chips and a soft drink, so plan to be there, get some great bargains, and support the library! April also marks National Library Week, April 11-17. The theme this year is Communities Thrive At Your Library. That certainly is the case in Amador County. While county funding is down, usage of the library has increased dramatically due to economic times. ~~Continued on Page 2 ELECTED 2009-2010 BOARD OF DIRECTORS Susan Staggs, President 296-0940 Janet Caccia, Vice President 296-4787 Kim Still, Immediate Past President 267-5652 Helen Bierce, Treasurer 267-0855 Nancy Street, Secretary 295-1273 Elisa O. Parker, Bulletin Editor 295-2285 Wilma Yount, Membership 267-5461 Ruth Miller, Co-Chair Membership 223-1404 Ruth M. Jackson 267-1111 Kirk & Karrie Lindsay 267-5679 Earl Silliman 223-5160 Patty Still 267-5652 Kim Street 295-1273 ************************************************** FANTASTIC MAY BOOK SALE American Legion Hall, May 14-16 Member's Night is Friday, May 14, 4-8. Umpqua Bank is providing FREE bbq hot dogs & fixings for all! Come and find those special books before the general public. ~~Continued on Page 2
President s Message...Continued from page 1 Whether people are using the computers, conducting research, getting help with reading and writing skills, or enjoying books, magazines, CD s, DVD s or cassettes, the library offers something for everyone in the family..... all for free! Next time you are in the library, remember to tell the staff how much you appreciate them and your public library. The board recently approved revised FACL bylaws. In addition to providing for an annual financial audit, we have opened the election of officers to the entire FACL membership. Please find your mail-in or email ballot for the 2010-2011 FACL officers on page 6. Deadline to receive your ballot is April 30. At the March board meeting, the board approved a proposal by the FACL Fundraising Committee for a variety of projects to raise additional funds for the library. To carry out these projects, we need more volunteers. If you have the skills, time and interest to help with any of the following, please call me at 296-0940 or email staggs@volcano.net for more information: Grant Writer; Public Relations Chair; Project Coordinator for online registration For local grocery loyalty programs; Event Committee Member (event January 2011). Finally, the board approved funding of several items for the library from the 2010 Library Wish List. Thanks to the very generous bequest of $1784.00 from the estate of Vinnie North, the library can now purchase a large collection of reference material geared towards middle school and high school curricula. The board also allocated $1,000 for the purchase of fiction material in Spanish for the main library and $2,000 for a two-year subscription to the online language resource Mango Languages which provides language lessons in Spanish, Japanese, French, German, Italian and English Second Language (ESL). Enjoy our glorious spring weather and see you at the book sale! ~~Susan Staggs ***************************************** Thank You... For Book Donations Gail Chambers (estate of Vinnie North) Shirley Clemensen, Don of Don's Estate Sales Susan Bragstad For Financial Assistance Amador County Counsel, Amador County Board of Supervisors, Amador County Human Resources Spring Used Book Sale at American Legion, Hwy 49 May 14 16, 2010 April 21 5:30-6:30 pm at Jackson Library Talk on Social Networks by Stella Beratlis May 19 5:30-6:30 pm at Jackson Library Discussion on Internet Safety by Robin Valencia Sponsored by Amador Senior Center & Amador County Library FANTASTIC MAY BOOK SALE...Continued from page 1 Bring your friends and they can join on the spot! May 15, Public Sales Day, 10-5. May 16, 11-3, BAG SALE, $5/bag + 50% off specially priced books. Sunday is a fantastic opportunity to build your library & find presents for everyone! This is the best sale ever. For the first time, there are HUGE selections of children's books, children's audio tapes, books on tape & LARGE PRINT. Other categories have been significantly enhanced with books from outside the county + there is a new, SPECIAL PRICED section on all topics where you can compare the Friend's price to current internet pricing from $4-12. In addition to finding fantastic titles at wonderful prices, the Libraries in Amador County are counting on your generous support to bring you fine new titles, enhanced online resources from your home computer + special programs. We all look forward to greeting you! Our Major Sponsors are: The American Legion Hall, Post 108; Umpqua Bank, Sutter Hill; Altera Gold Real Estate, Pine Grove; Pine Grove Youth Conservation Camp & Amador City. Our Book Sponsors are: Bud Berglund, Amador City; Hein & Company, Jackson & Global Booksearch, Amador City. ~~Kirk Lindsay
Eric Herden, Plymouth Chelle Baugh, Jackson Mel & Kathy Glunt, Sutter Creek Jerry Pozo, Cool Linda Mahoney, Fairfield Bob & Lorraine Daniels, Sutter Creek Jerri Miller, Pioneer Cal & Ardyee Terhune, Ione *************************************** Would you like to help FACL put more $$$ to our libraries needs? Then share with us your email address so we may send you the quarterly newsletter electronically and thus save on paper, printing costs and postage. Every penny saved helps our libraries. You can send your email address to friendsoftheaclibrary@gmail.com. Please put your name in the subject line so we can connect your email address with your name. Your email address will not be shared. Thank you for your help. ~~Ruth Miller INVITE YOUR FRIENDS/FAMILY TO BE MEMBERS OF FACL AND HELP YOUR LOCAL LIBRARIES MEMBERSHIP DUES Student - $1.00 Individual - $7.00 Family - $10.00 Sustaining - $20.00 Life - $100.00 Organization/Club $15.00 Volunteer during our Book Sales MEMBERSHIP If you would like to attend FACL Board meetings, or be a member, please call Wilma Yount, Membership at 267-5461. FROM THE EDITOR FACL Bulletin is every 3 months, next issue is JULY/AUG/SEP 2010. DEADLINE for submission of articles is Wednesday, JUNE 16, 2010. Please send articles to Jackson Library, or email parkerelisa@hotmail.com.
News from the Librarian s Corner The library continues to be very busy with over 400 visitors a day during the month of February. March seems to be getting off to the same start with 350-400 visits a day. Many people are utilizing the library computers to help in their search for jobs, apply for unemployment benefits and check their email. Betsy Ross, George Washington and friends visited the library on March 9th. The program was hosted by members of the local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Second grade students from Jackson Elementary school attended the historical event which included a story about Betsy Ross as well as a craft. Grand-parenting in the 21st Century -- a series of workshops offering information and resources to full time grandparents began in February with a discussion of the legal rights of grandparents. The workshop discussion was hosted by Nannette Stomberg. The 2nd workshop in the series will be March 17th with a presentation on Children and Nutrition by Tami burns. April 21st is a talk on Social Networks presented by Stella Beratlis. May 19th the discussion will be on Internet Safety with Robin Valencia. Each workshop is scheduled from 5:30-6:30 P.M. at the main library in Jackson. This series is sponsored by the Amador Senior Center and the Amador County Library. A big thank you goes to a very generous Ione resident who gave the library 140 books on cd. Many of the titles the library will be adding to the collection which will provide many hours of listening enjoyment to those who wish to borrow these wonderful books on CD. Books At Home delivery (B.A.H.) is a free outreach service provided by the Amador County Library. The service is available to all Amador County residents who are home confined and unable to get to the library due to illness, age, infirmity or disability. Currently, there are 8 participants in this outreach program. However, we are looking for more people to sign up to participate. If you know of someone that might be interested in participating in this program, please have them contact the library at 223-6400. Happy Spring to everyone, let's hope we see warm weather soon. "It is a golden maxim to cultivate the garden for the nose, and the eyes will take care of themselves. ~Robert Louis Stevenson ~~Laura Einstadter May 9 So many books, so little time. My life as a library volunteer. Kati Corsaut One of the fondest memories of my childhood is sitting in the reading room of Carmel s Harrison Memorial Library, with a fire in the huge Carmel stone fireplace and light pouring in through the high windows. I could lose myself in tales of other lands, Nancy Drew, the Black Stallion, and the occasional reference book. It was magic. I m not sure why I didn t pursue a career that would have let me spend more time with books, but journalism led to a career in public affairs, which left little time to wallow in the most recent bestseller. Continued on Page 5
My Life as a Library Volunteer...Continued from page 4 Today I m retired but as busy as ever. One of my greatest pleasures has become my various volunteer activities with the Amador County Library. My first volunteer job was tutoring for the library s literacy program. I m still at it four years later. Several Fridays a month I work at the Amador/Calaveras ARC tutoring the TGIF Group. The group s ten members work on spelling, writing, reading, and learning whatever we choose to work on. In late January we had a lesson plan on the Haiti earthquake. That was followed by a day spent learning about the winter Olympics. We ve covered holidays, geography, American history, Amador county events and much more. I spend a few hours each week preparing the work sheets (and sometimes puzzles!) on my computer at home. I ve also volunteered in the Jackson library. There is much to do. I put books back in the stacks being very careful to make sure they are in the right place. Sometimes I work to keep the bulletin board current, posting the new and removing the old. The library always needs someone to go around the stacks to see if any books are misplaced. (How many times have we changed our mind about a book and just stuck it back on top of other books, far from their rightful place in the stacks?) Other volunteers repair books, and help apply pockets and labels to new books. My most recent work at the library has actually been delivering books to homebound folks. In the Books At Home program developed by Librarian Laura Einstadter, volunteers deliver books, both print and electronic, to members homes. The members must first fill out a form listing the kinds of books they like to read and the preferred format. For example, some people prefer large print books, while others like them on CDs. I pick out books I think fit their stated interest and deliver them to the member s home; when they ve been read, I pick them up, return them to the library and check out a new batch to deliver. During this economic downturn, library services are at risk. The county budget is tight and staff is working hard to maintain Amador County s outstanding library. Volunteers can help in many ways. If you are interested in joining the library s volunteer cadre, call Laura Einstadter today or drop by to see her at the library. If you would like to become a volunteer tutor with the Literacy Program, contact Connie Murdock at (209) 223-6305 or email cmurdock@co.amador.ca.us. Memorial Day May 31 THE FIRST OF FOUR REVIEWS OF THE FOUR BRANCH LIBRARIES IN THE COUNTY PIONEER LIBRARY One approaches the Pioneer library over a winding road lined with ponderosa pines and cedar trees to a building adjacent to a park. It looks like a cabin except that it was in the final stages of receiving a new metal roof. I went inside to see a neat room lined on three sides with books, with a public computer, printer and copier on the fourth and introduced myself to the librarian, Kari Carpenter, an enthusiastic woman who has been librarian there for two years. She describes the library as the Up Country Community Center and a place where items of local interest are discussed. Folks also consider this the Up Country Book Store as locals drop off books and magazines for recycling and she sells many of them from a small shelf. The remainder goes to the Friends for the semi-annual book sales. While I was there a couple came in with 5 bags of books and magazines. Being next to a park is convenient for parents with young kids. The park can be used burn off excess physical energy and the library intellectual energy. It has children s books and toys to keep the children amused while mom browses the book shelves. Kari is waiting for the County Information Technology Department to complete the installation of DSL for the computer. Use of the computer is very popular and the speed of the DSL will allow more patrons to use it. While Kari and I talked, a woman was Googling up some information. Kari assists patrons with less than PhDs in computer technology as time allows. If you haven t seen the Pioneer library, it s worth a visit. You turn left off of HWY 88 at Pioneer Creek and follow the signs. The winter hours are Tuesday and Thursday noon to 5, Wednesday 10 to 2 and Friday 1 to 5. Summer hours start in May with the Tuesday and Thursday openings shifting to 1 PM but still open for 5 hours. ~~Kim Still, FACL Director
FACL Election of 2010-2011 Officers The following slate has been nominated for 2010-2011 Officers of FACL. Members of FACL can vote on these nominees or offer write-in alternatives by completing the ballot below, clipping it, and mailing it to: FACL, P.O. Box 701, Jackson, CA 95642, or by emailing their vote to: friendsoftheaclibrary@gmail.com. Votes must be submitted before April 30, 2010. ============================================================================== Ballot: 2010-2011 FACL Election of Officers Office Nominee YES NO WRITE-IN President: Susan Staggs Incumbent Vice President: Janet Caccia Incumbent Treasurer: Helen Bierce Incumbent Secretary: Kim Street FACL Board Member ================================================================== Father s Day June 20 MONTHLY CALENDAR OF EVENTS Every 3rd Tuesday, 9 a.m. at the General Services Adm. Bldg., 1200 B Airport Rd., Martell FACL Board Meeting Every 4th Wednesday, 5:30-6:30 pm at Main Library, Jackson BookEnds Meeting Every 1st Thursday, 6:30-7:30 pm at Plymouth Library Branch Plymouth Library Book Club Every 2nd Thursday, 11 am -12 noon at Pioneer Branch Library Pioneer Library Book Club Every 2nd Monday, 10:30 am at Main Library, Jackson Just Knits Club