Month Day, 2015

 
September was an exciting month at the library. The plans to renovate the library are being dusted off and upgraded. The space in the library itself has been re-arranged and optimized. A newer, faster network (with newer, faster wireless) has been installed and configured. We're adding new and exciting titles to our collection. We also have a new, catchy mission statement:

We invite you to join us in a literary life rich with community and creativity, inspiration and information, enrichment and entertainment: a life for all ages; a life that never ends.


And as part of our new mission, we are offering this new service: The Douglas Way newsletter. Of course, we want to use the newsletter to promote library news and events. But we also want to promote everyone else's news and events. Our town needs a centralized information hub that gathers together what is going on and then pushes it out to as many people as possible. That's precisely the kind of thing we are here for. Our new institutional mission focuses on the community rather than the library. This is reflected in our core values:

  • We aim to enrich our literary community and all who want to be a part of it, deepening our bonds and relationships to build a stronger town and region.
  • We aim to empower our literary community with the tools to express itself creatively through various media and in various styles.
  • We aim to inspire our literary community to make every day better than the last.
  • We aim to inform our literary community so that nobody has to suffer the handicaps of misinformation or lack of information.
  • We aim to enrich our literary community, teaching and providing the tools necessary for our patrons to be more productive and efficient.
  • We aim to entertain our literary community, because human drama is just so much fun.
  • We aim to provide the above services at all times to all people of all ages, regardless of age, race, gender, or ability.
  • We aim to preserve the literary culture of our community so that our forbears 112 years hence can still point to the library and say, "There's the heart of the town."
We cannot expect everyone in the community to come to us, so we are coming to you. This first issue is the invitation. For more on how to spread this invitation and get your own news and events into The Douglas Way, continue reading to the end...

Octoberfest: Proof that the heat pump is working!
On Saturday, we opened up the doors, cranked up the heat, and invited everyone inside to keep warm. The Friends of the Library held their book sale inside, and a wonderful group of people came to adopt books needing new homes. The Friends raised a total of $373.33!

In the reading room, the Unbeatable Professor played over a hundred games of chess with kids and teens. He lost one game, forfeiting a large pizza to the contender, and kept everyone laughing all day.

Upstairs, teens played Apples to Apples on their cozy bean-bags. All in all, it was an extremely busy day. We are sad that Oktoberfest was so rainy, but glad that it drew so many people into the library.
New Things Happening at the Library:
Reading to Cooper
Cooper is a retired blind greyhound who loves a good story. We are launching a new program where kids who might be too nervous to read to anyone else can come read to Cooper! The first session was a huge success, but we need more kids to fill out his schedule. If you are interested, please email our children's librarian at dsoderman@cwmars.org.
The Glorious Douglas Public Minecraft Server
Anyone who resides in Douglas and is 18 years old or under is eligible for free access to our new Minecraft server. It is a vanilla survival sever where all the young'uns can build, survive, and socialize together. A library card number is necessary just so we can verify your identity. Instructions on how to sign up and use the server can be found here.
A More Secure Operating System:
Security has been an ongoing problem with our public access computers. Software that manages usage and deletes all the data after each session is outside our budget, nor do we have the time and resources to manually go in an clean each machine after each use. Unless patrons cleared their logins, deleted all of their documents, cleared their web browsing history, etc., then all of that information was accessible to subsequent patrons.

Our solution to this problem was to go open-source. All of our public access computers are now equipped with Ubuntu (a linux operating system). It is a slightly different desktop environment than Windows, but it is easy to get the hang of. The Open Office equivalents of MS Word, Access, and Excel have been installed, and we are working on getting the machines loaded up with some games as well.

The important thing, though, is that each computer has been configured to run in a mode called "guest session." This means that if you sit down at one of our computers, you can make scans, edit documents, browse the web, and even install programs, but once you click on the log-out button, it all goes away without a trace. As long as you click on the log-out button, than it is as if you were never there. And if you forget, then the computers will reset after they have remained idle long enough, so it'll be gone within the day.

Your privacy is important to us. We apologize to anyone who finds the change inconveniencing, but it was necessary.
Upcoming Events:
  • October 6
    • 4:00 pm: Fall Storytime (Ages 5-7 yrs)
    • 6:00 pm: Fall Storytime (Ages 3-5 yrs)
  • October 7
    • 10:00 am: Fall Storytime (Ages 2-4 yrs)
  • October 8
    • 6:00 pm: Young Reader's Club (Shadow by Michael Morpurgo)
  • October 13
    • 4:00 pm: Fall Storytime (Ages 5-7 yrs)
    • 6:00 pm: Fall Storytime (Ages 3-5 yrs)
    • 6:30 pm: Adult Book Club (Norwegian by Night by Derek B. Miller)
  • October 14
    • 10:00 am: Fall Storytime (Ages 2-4 yrs)
    • 3:30 pm: Lego Club I (Grades K & 1)
  • October 19
    • 10:00 am: Fall Storytime (Ages 15 mos -2 yrs)
    • 1:00 pm: Fall Storytime (Ages 3-5 yrs)
  • October 20
    • 4:00 pm: Fall Storytime (Ages 5-7 yrs)
    • 6:00 pm: Fall Storytime (Ages 3-5 yrs)
  • October 21
    • 10:00 am: Fall Storytime (Ages 2-4 yrs)
    • 3:30 pm: Lego Club II (Grades 2 & 3)
  • October 22
    • 6:00 pm: Book Bunch (The Familiars by Adam Jay Epstein)
  • October 26
    • 10:00 am: Fall Storytime (Ages 15 mos -2 yrs)
    • 1:00 pm: Fall Storytime (Ages 3-5 yrs)
  • October 27
    • 4:00 pm: Fall Storytime (Ages 5-7 yrs)
    • 6:00 pm: Fall Storytime (Ages 3-5 yrs)
  • October 28
    • 10:00 am: Fall Storytime (Ages 2-4 yrs)
    • 3:30 pm: Lego Club III (Grades 4 - 5)
  • October 29
    • 6:00 pm: Pumpernickle Puppet Show: Sir George and the Dragon

 See our Events Calendar for More Details 

I hope you enjoyed the first edition of The Douglas Way. It is our hope that this new e-newsletter will become the nerve center of our town. This issue focuses mostly on library content, but in the future we would like to expand it to include the entire town. Please click on the "Spread the Word" button in the upper left and help us get everyone in Douglas subscribed.

If you have content to submit for the next newsletter, please submit it to jsnook@cwmars.org. We want this to be a platform that everyone can use to promote their community-focused goings-on.

Thank you so much,

Justin Snook
Douglas Public Library

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