Hurray for Volunteers!

This is volunteer appreciation week. Volunteers are so important to the library. We hope we show how much we appreciate them year around, but it is nice to have a special opportunity to demonstrate our appreciation. All week, we have been offering refreshments at both library branches for our volunteers. One of our volunteers commented that food was the perfect gift. You don't have to store it or dust it!

Volunteers perform valuable services at the libraries. We have book menders who spend several hours a week bringing slightly worn books back to life. We have book coverers, who help with the processing of new books. Ledyard Library Friends spend many hours preparing and holding the annual and on going book sales at each library. The Mad Hatters are a library service group who donate knitted and crocheted items to various charitable organizations. Volunteers also maintain the historical room at the Bill Library. Behind the scene are the members of the library commission, who help in the administration of the libraries.

We treasure all of these volunteers and thank them for their many hours of dedication to the Ledyard Public Libraries.

Is This Your Library?

Are the Ledyard Public Libraries your library? We want them to be your library, whether you use the Bill Library or the Gales Ferry Library or even both. How do we make them your library?

That is the question the library commission survey is asking. Now is your chance to tell us what makes or will make Ledyard Public Libraries your library. Go on line to our website www.lioninc.org/ledyard and look for the survey. It only takes a few minutes to complete and gives you the power to tell us what you would like or let us know what we are doing right.

A library is many things to many people. Please tell us what we can be for you.

Red Sox Nation

We recently concluded our winter reading program, Spring Training@ your library. This six week program, with raffles every week and interesting programs along the way, was all about baseball. In an effort to determine team loyalty in Ledyard, we asked everyone who filled out a raffle entry to put down their favorite baseball team. After counting nearly 200 entries, I now know by a margin of more than 2 to 1, that the Boston Red Sox are Ledyard's favorite baseball team.

I probably knew that all along and was just in denial. After all, we are east of the Connecticut River, the supposed dividing line for Yankee/Red Sox loyalty. I was just hoping, however, that with all the transplants in this area, including myself, that the Yankees would come out on top.

At last the Yankees got a respectable 39 votes. The New York Mets, supposedly a quasi-local team, didn't even fare as well as the Phillies, Pirates and Tigers.

To Market, To Market

To market, to market to find a fat pig! You probably remember that nursery rhyme line from your childhood. In that happy story, you are off to the store. Today, market means many different things, hardly ever the place to buy groceries. We worry constantly about the ups and downs of the stock market. In the library world, however, to market or marketing has become a very popular buzzword.

How do we tell people that we are the best deal in town? In other words, how do we market the library, so people will know all the great and diverse things a library has to offer. Our library commission recently held focus groups at both the Bill and Gales Ferry Libraries. People from the community were invited to share their ideas for library services. The library welcomes their input and will use some of the suggestions to improve our service. The greatest information that came from the focus groups, however, was how little people knew about the services we already offer. People suggested we do a newsletter. We have been doing a newsletter quarterly for over twenty years. An e-mail newsletter was suggested. We also have one of those. We should do workshops to showcase our on line data bases. We scheduled four a year ago and no one came.

Maybe our problem is we market in the newsletter or on the web site that people don't know we have. Although all of our programs are also published in the local Thames River Times. They are also advertised in the library and in The Day and Norwich Bulletin.

I know we could do a better job of marketing. I also know that people don't look for things until they need them. That is why library circulation is up in these troubled economic times. Do you look for a new job when you have a good one? Do you look for internet access when you have a blackberry? Right now, I think the economy is doing our marketing for us. Hopefully the people who need us now will realize what a good deal they have and continue to use the library when they no longer "need" us.

Haunted Baseball Rescheduled

Winter is really giving me a problem this year. I have been scheduling programs for the adult winter reading program for eight years. I have never had to reschedule a program because of bad weather and the winter reading program usually starts the last week of January. This year I moved it up to better coincide with actual spring training since the program is called Spring Training@ your library. I never imagined we would have a weather problem with programs in March. Silly me! Although the weather forecast for this coming Sunday is not for a foot of snow, it is saying we will get snow, sleet, freezing rain etc. I doubt many people will want to come out to a program at the library in that weather, therefore, we are rescheduling to Sunday, March 15 at 2:00 at Bill Library.

And I really think this is a program worth coming out for! Dan Gordon is the co-author of the book, Haunted Baseball:Ghosts, Legends & Eerie Events. It sounds like a lot of fun. What could be better than a mix of baseball and ghosts? Maybe by March 15, we will have weather much more worthy of baseball. I am not sure what kind of weather ghosts prefer.

Please mark it on your calendars to join us at Bill Library on March 15 at 2:00 p.m. for baseball, ghosts and, hopefully, good weather.

Surprise "guest" at book discussion

We were having a great discussion last night at Bill Library on the book Dirty Water by Mary-Ann Tirone Smith and Jere Smith. It was a lively discourse by Red Sox fans, a Yankee fan and a few nonbaseball folks. The book, if you haven't read it, is a Red Sox mystery, using current Red Sox players and a Boston locale. Speaking as the only Yankee fan present, it was very interesting to see the different take on the book by Red Sox fans. The biggest surprise of the night, however, was when we were interrupted by a phone call. Laverne came in to tell us the author of the book was on the phone. You can imagine our surprise. I know authors are now offering to "attend" book club meetings by phone, but I have never tried to make that arrangement. This time the author tracked us down. I had a lovely chat with Mary-Ann Tirone Smith. She said her son and co-author had discovered our book discussion on line and e-mailed her and she just decided to give us a call. I asked her several questions that had come up in our discussion, but didn't think to ask if the Red Sox bars in New York City in the book are actual bars. That was what one participant wanted to know. After visiting Jere Smith's blog last night, I now know how to find out. Since he responded to my post last night in under fifteen minutes, I am sure I can get a quick answer from him. If you would like to check out his blog, it can be reached at letsgosox.blogspot.com.

I don't know if the next book discussion will be as exciting, but now I know there is always that possibility.

Spring Training @ your library

Although you may not have noticed, we have had an adult winter reading program at the Ledyard Public Libraries since 2002. I should know, because I have been coming up with "great" themes for this program since its inception. If you are new to the library or have somehow managed to miss our wonderful six week program until now, you are in luck. This year's entry, starts on February 15.

Even though I am a dedicated sports (Yankee, Giant) fan, I have avoided a sports related theme up until now. Starting on the 15th, however, it is Spring Training @ your library. Coinciding with the arrival of pitchers and catchers in Florida and Arizona, will be our own six week spring training in cold and snowy Connecticut. Every week we have a raffle drawing at each of the libraries. Entering the drawing couldn't be easier. All you have to do is drop in at either library and fill out a favorite team baseball. All the baseballs go in the jar ( I promise not to throw away any Red Sox entries) and on Saturday we draw a winner. Prizes will follow the baseball theme.

We are also going to have an exciting series of events during Spring Training @ your library. The regular third Wednesday book discussion at Bill Library will get in the act with Dirty Water by Mary-Ann Tirone Smith and Jere Smith. This first entry in a presumed series of Boston Red Sox mysteries, uses real people and places to create a great mystery read. Copies of the book will be available at the libraries.

Mark your calendars for three interesting (and at least one tasty) programs to be held on Sunday at 2:00 p.m. The first will be held on February 22 at Bill Library. Dr. Lewis Randall will discuss how baseball has changed over the years. Dr. Randall is a Norwich native who was in the Cleveland Indian and Washington Senator systems.

We are very pleased to have co-author Dan Gordon discuss his book, Haunted Baseball: Ghosts, Legends & Eerie Events, on March 1 at Bill Library. Bank Square Books will be on hand to sell copies of this entertaining book. Dan, despite being a Red Sox fan, promises he will have great stories to tell for Red Sox and Yankee fans alike.

The final program of our Sunday Series will be held at the Ledyard Congregational Church fellowship hall on March 22. This location is ideal for Apple Pie and Baseball, a culinary event, presented by winter reading program veterans, Andrea Buka and Jennifer Finlayson. If you have attended their programs in the past, you know you are in for a gourmet experience. Registration is required. Call the Bill Library at 464-9912 to get on the list. This is a treat you don't want to miss.

Stay tuned for more information.