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President, Corrilla Hastings, welcomed everyone to the meeting. The Secretary’s Report was accepted as written. In the absence of the Treasurer, Corrilla reported that we had $1623.25 in the checking account, $6659.66 and in the savings account and $7000 in an 18 month CD.
Fund-Raising Chair, Marcia Granville, spoke briefly about the fund-raisers currently
being worked on; Library Bag Lunches on April 25th, the Lawn Sale on May 17th
and the Garden Tour and Art Show planned for June 28th.
Corrilla announced that the Library would celebrate National Library Week with
an Open House from 11 to 2 on Saturday, April 12th. There will be a poster contest
for grades k-12, a poetry exhibit by SAMS, crafts and entertainments plus refreshments
supplied by members of the Friends of the Library. Please come visit your library,
eat a few cookies and look at the children’s artwork. You will be glad
you did.
It was announced that the Library would soon be getting new shelving for the
Children’s section. The Friends had voted unanimously to foot the bill
of $6,719.49.
New Executive Board Members, Veronica Wright and Maureen Calder were introduced.
The Library now offers programs each Thursday at 5:30. March was devoted to
crafts such as knitting, scrap booking and tole painting. In April, the programs
will be devoted to gardening. At 7:00 p.m., April 24th, “Treasures from
Your Attic” will be presented by Tim Gould.
The next Friends of the Library meeting will be held at 7:00 p.m., May 14th.
A new Secretary and Treasurer will be elected. Annual membership fees are due
in May.
The program for the evening featured the work of Skowhegan Area Middle School
(SAMS) students with their laptop computers. Jean Butler gave a brief history
of the State of Maine laptop program. Governor Angus King first proposed it
in 1999. It is his belief that students need to keep abreast of the technology
in order to compete successfully for jobs in the future. State provided laptop
computers for every student would provide statewide equity for the students.
Governor King wanted our youngsters to have the computers as accessible as pencils-on
the desk everyday. He believes that ready access to and knowledge of computers
will help our youth to be the most technologically advanced in the world.
Contrary to the warnings of some skeptics, teachers have found that the program
works well. The students respond better to discipline, are more interested in
their lessons and are doing a lot of reading on the Internet. In fact, the children
are learning the technology more readily than their instructors are.
Ms. Butler then introduced Laura Richter who is the coordinator of the seventh
grade laptop program at SAMS and two of her students, Ben Doty and Brian Pratt.
Ms. Richter explained that her class wanted to do a project based on local history.
She first contacted Steve Bromage at the Maine Historical Society and learned
about the Maine Memory Network. Museums and historical societies are scanning
old pictures and documents and entering them into the Maine Memory Network.
This was a project her students could do with their computers.
A visit to the Skowhegan History House yielded a wealth of old photos and other
material. Curator, Lee Granville, and photographer Lynn Perry volunteered to
work with the students, showing them how to handle the old materials and how
to enhance the scanned photos. After the students had scanned, enhanced and
saved the images, they uploaded them to the Maine Memory Network and catalogued
them. As one of the boys said, “We got to see what Skowhegan looked like
before we were born.“ As part of the project they also transcribed some
letters written by a Civil War soldier and uploaded images of the originals
plus the transcriptions. Ms. Richter showed a movie the students created from
the old photos and music. To see the results of their work, go to mainememorynet.net.
FUND RAISERS:
Do you have favorite recipes that your families ask for frequently? Would you
like to share them? Copy them out and deposit them in the box on the librarian’s
desk for the first ever Skowhegan Free Public Library Lover’s Cookbook.
Plans are to have it ready by Thanksgiving.
The Library Brown Bag Lunch will be available to everyone who gets his or her
order (and the money) in by Thursday, April 17th. The lunches will be delivered
on Friday, April 25th. Menus and order forms will be in the library or at your
workplace by April 14th. The fee of $6.00 is payable in advance.
The Library Lawn Sale will be held at the Hastings’ farm on Malbon Mills
Road on Saturday, May 17th. We will have everything from books and clothing
to dishes, old jewelry and electrical gadgetry, some old, some new. We also
serve the best hotdogs on the whole six-miles of lawn sales that day. Donations
for the sale will be greatly appreciated.
The Skowhegan Area Garden Tour and Art Show is scheduled for Saturday, June
28th. The tour will start from the Tewksbury Building, located behind the Federated
Church on the island. A silent or Chinese auction will take place at the same
time. The tour is $10.00 in advance or $12.00 at the door. Lunch, by reservation
only, is $6.00. Good weather has been requested for the day.
Trouble at Serenity Pond, a mystery in three acts will be presented in October.
Serenity Pond is a small Maine community located (you guessed it) on the shores
of Serenity Pond. What could possibly be the trouble?