LATEST NEWS

Compiled By Jim Foster

 

LIBRARY HOLIDAY OPEN HOUSE

Sponsored by the Friends, the annual Holiday Open House will be held at the Library on Saturday, December 8 from noon to 2 PM. Maxine Russakoff and Ginny Foster will act as hostesses for the event and preside over the refreshment table of homemade goodies and punch. Kathy Hughes will have craft projects available upstairs for the children. Individual invitations have been mailed to town officials, members of the Trustees, all school librarians, and business people who have recently been involved with renovations at the Library. A general invitation, via posters and news releases, has gone out to all members of the community. Do stop in to “share the holiday spirit and celebrate with us as the Skowhegan Free Public Library steps into the future”!

COLLEGE ORIENTATION MEETING

The program for the first Friends’ meeting of the new year on January 9, 2002 at 7 PM, will be a College Orientation program for students and parents presented by representatives from University of Maine Orono, University of Maine Farmington, Colby College and Thomas College. We hope high school students and their families will avail themselves of this wonderful opportunity to find answers to their questions about college choices and admission procedures.

WEDNESDAY MORNING STORY HOUR

Stories, songs and crafts provide lots of fun in the children’s room every Wednesday morning at 10 AM. This program will continue through the year, including school vacations, so bring the older brothers and sisters during the holidays! Volunteers Kathy Hughes and Corrilla Hastings will be there to welcome all ages.

BASEMENT CLEAN-UP

Three members of the Friends recently spent a Saturday morning in the Library’s dark and dingy basement, sorting trash from treasure. Many thanks go to Mary Stuart, Nancy Warren and Bill Laney for lending their time and energy to this difficult undertaking. The Library is indeed fortunate to have these willing volunteers.

November 14 Friends of the Library Meeting Secretary’s Report

At 7:00 p.m., November 14th, Friends of the Library President Corrilla Hastings opened the meeting by welcoming all those who attended. The Secretary’s Report was read and accepted. In the absence of the Treasurer, Corrilla announced that the most recent balances reported were $1233.00 in the checking account and $11,601.00 in the Savings account for the Renovation Restoration Fund. After the meeting, Ann Thomas spoke on genealogical research. The theme of her talk was “Who, Where, When, What Says So? The audience was told that family documents such as birth, marriage and death certificates make a good starting place. Older people are a valuable source of information also. One should ask them why they live in the region, what did they do for work, etc. Ms. Thomas said not to worry about any shady characters in the family. Every family has at least one black sheep. Documentation is also very important. One hould keep careful notes on the sources of any information. Future researchers will be able to authenticate the records. Negative results may also be recorded. That will prevent a researcher from making another futile effort some time down the road. The next meeting of the Friends of the Skowhegan Free Public Library will be held on January 9, 2002. There will be representatives from several colleges to explain the admissions process.

BAILEY LIBRARY BUILDING TOUR

On Friday, November 30th, nationally recognized library building consultant Jay K. Lucker toured Winthrop’s Bailey Public Library. The two-story granite building dating from 1916 has been renovated. Originally, the collection occupied only the main floor. A few years ago, the cellar was converted to usable space and the children’s collection was moved down there. Even with all this additional space, the Winthrop Library is very crowded. Every available inch holds books, books on tape or videos. The reading room once had lots of open space with a few bookcases along the wall. Now movable bookcases are spaced for easy access to reading materials. When there is to be a meeting, the bookcases are rolled to the back of the room and approximately 30 chairs are set up. Despite the crowdwd conditions, Winthrop manages to have a number of programs for patrons, including babytime twice a month, storytime every week, and music time and craft time twice a month for youngsters. There is even tea and book discussion for the adults once a month. The Winthrop Trustees, Building Committee and Town Council are working together to find solutions to their problems. One thing they are thinking about is coordination between school and public libraries. Another option would be to buy a nearby apartment building for parking and library expansion. Unfortunately, along with no space and no parking, there is also no money at this time. Mr. Lucker found little to criticize in Bailey Public Library operations. He did point out that the stacks are eight shelves high rather than the recommended seven. He also noted the optimum use of every available inch of space. All told, Mr. Lucker agreed that Winthrop is doing a superb job with the available resources.

T-1 TO BE AVAILABLE IN EARLY JANUARY

The new T-1 line for the Library’s internet access is scheduled to be installed on the third of January, with the necessary equipment to be arriving within the week following. This will increase the speed of our connection by approximately twenty times.