A book event and a book sale for Watercade week

by Beth Cronk, Litchfield head librarian

It’s Watercade week in Litchfield, and that means a couple of things for the library this year.  One is true every year: on Saturday we have the Watercade book sale.  The special thing this year is that we have artist Art Norby giving a presentation at the library on Wednesday afternoon. 

On Wednesday, July 10, at 2 p.m. in the meeting room, artist and Litchfield High School alum Arthur Norby will give a presentation about his latest novel and autobiography.  Norby is well known as a sculptor and painter.  He has been sculpting for 40 years, creating over 600 sculptures which include more than 15 large-scale public bronzes.  He designed the Minnesota Korean War Veterans Memorial, as well as public sculptures in Spicer, in Willmar, in the International Peace Garden, and all over the country.  Art operated the Norby Gallery in Arizona for a decade starting in the mid-90s.  He still paints and sells his artwork.  He will have copies of his books available to purchase at the program.  The program is funded in part by Minnesota’s Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund. 

The Watercade book sale is the largest sale the library has each year.  Many people are familiar with this one because some of the book racks and tables are set up in front of the library, and you can see it from Art in the Park.  Half of the sale is set up inside the meeting room, so plan to come inside to browse even more; cashiers will be inside, too.  Saturday’s sale will run from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. 

The Watercade sale has the biggest selection of all of the Friends of the Litchfield Library’s book sales.  What many people don’t realize is that the Watercade book sale is only one of six book sales at the Litchfield Library every year.  The Friends hold a sale in the library meeting room every other month on the third Saturday of the month, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.  The upcoming dates are September 21, November 16, and January 18. 

On every sale, you’ll find things for kids and adults, with generally much more selection for adults.  Most items are donated by members of our community.  Some are things that have been withdrawn from the library collection because they haven’t been checked out in a long time, and we’ve needed to make space for new things.  The book sale is mostly that – print books – but you’ll also find some books on CD, music CDs, and movies on DVD. 

Other than the book sale and Art Norby’s book talk, regular library programs continue this week.  Storytimes happen on Wednesday and Friday morning.  Brickheads will build with Legos on Thursday night.  And on Saturday afternoon at 1:30, the teen program will be experimenting with green screen special effects using masks.

The summer reading program continues until the end of August, so you can stop by with the kids anytime to turn in their reading logs and claim their prizes.  We’ve gotten some great donations from KLFD, Family Fare, Casey’s, Pizza Ranch, McDonald’s, and the Friends of the Library, so there are many nice prizes to choose from, and more will be coming.  By the time the parade passes by on Saturday evening, though, the library will be closed, so stop in before 5:00, or during the week. 

Have a wonderful Watercade!

Art Norby - Author Talk

Needle Felting: Succulents

Siama's Congo Music

Reading about Laura Ingalls Wilder

by Beth Cronk, Litchfield head librarian

Minnesotans love Laura Ingalls Wilder.  She was a Minnesotan for part of her childhood, so On the Banks of Plum Creek is set here.  Personally, I love the window into history that Laura’s well-written children’s books give us. 

 Pioneerland libraries are bringing in a Laura Ingalls Wilder interactive history performer between late October and Thanksgiving.  Historian Melanie Stringer acts the part of Laura in the mid-1890s, when she, Almanzo, and their young daughter Rose had settled on Rocky Ridge Farm in Missouri.  Stringer has studied Wilder extensively, and she travels the country presenting Laura as she might have been after she had lived through the events in her books but before she became a writer.

The programs in Meeker County are happening in early November.  Our first “Meet Laura Ingalls Wilder” program will be in the community room behind the Grove City Library on Friday, November 2, at 6:00 p.m.  The event at the Litchfield Library will be on Wednesday, November 7, at 6:00 p.m.  Cosmos Library hosts its program in the community room next to the library on Thursday, November 8, at 10:00 a.m.  And Dassel Library’s program will be held upstairs at the Dassel History Center and Ergot Museum at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, November 10.  All are free to attend, funded with assistance from the Clean Water, Land, & Legacy Amendment, and there’s no need to sign up.

So what can you check out at the library if you want to learn more about Laura before or after the events?  We have many things to choose from.  We have the Little House series itself in the children’s department, including some in audiobook format – good for a family road trip.

The library has the recent adult novel Caroline: Little House, Revisited by Sarah Miller.  This popular book imagines the story of the Ingalls family from the perspective of Ma Ingalls.  If you’ve ever thought about what Caroline must have gone through every time Charles decided to move the family, this may be a book you’d enjoy.

The recent non-fiction book for adults, The World of Laura Ingalls Wilder: The Frontier Landscapes That Inspired the Little House Books, takes a nature-focused approach to understanding the series.  Author Marta McDowell deeply researched the locations featured in the novels, and she details the landscapes, wild plants, and gardens from each place.  The book is full of illustrations and maps. 

Caroline Fraser won the 2018 Pulitzer Prize in Biography for her book Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder.  This comprehensive historical biography of Wilder is based on unpublished manuscripts, letters, diaries, and land and financial records.  Fraser demonstrates that Wilder’s life was even more difficult than her books show, despite the hardships they describe.

I just finished reading Pioneer Girl: The Annotated Autobiography, the bestselling book that the South Dakota Historical Society published in 2014.  It was Wilder’s first crack at writing down her life story, and it demonstrated to me how good she was as a novelist.  As she revised the stories multiple times, Wilder fictionalized some characters and events, and she made her word choices more vivid, which made the novels suspenseful and moving.  This scholarly book also makes it clear that Laura wrote the books and had good instincts for them, and her daughter Rose did not.

If you are enthusiastic about Laura like I am, or if you just want to learn more about the realities of pioneer history, come to one of our programs.  If none of the dates in our county work for you, check out the whole Pioneerland schedule on our website, because Melanie will be performing in Hutchinson, Atwater, and in many other communities in the region. 

Belinda Jensen: Bel the Weather Girl event

Ralph's World Family Concert

Find Your Winter Project

by Beth Cronk, Litchfield head librarian

On cold winter days, many people like to have a project to work on at home: a puzzle, a quilt, a piece of furniture.  The library is hosting a workshop where you can learn a new artistic skill, plus we have several new books that could help inspire or guide your winter do-it-yourself project.

On Monday, January 22, Jen Anfinson will be teaching a calligraphy workshop from 6 to 7:30 p.m.  The class will cover techniques and styles of traditional and modern calligraphy. It’s open to adults and teens age fifteen and up, and all supplies and equipment will be provided. The class is free to attend, but space is limited.  Sign up at the library’s front desk or call us at (320)693-2483. 

On to the books you can check out for your artistic inspiration:  

Those who enjoy drawing and painting may be interested in If You Can Doodle, You Can Paint: Transforming Simple Drawings into Works of Art by Diane Culhan.  This book encourages the artist to explore their personal style by doodling, sizing up these small drawings, and adding color with pencil and paint.  The book is intended to be an unintimidating way to move step by step into creating full-sized paintings.

For a book to take your drawing in a very different direction, look for Designing Creatures and Characters: How to Build an Artist’s Portfolio for Video Games, Film, Animation, and More.  Author Marc Taro Holmes has worked on art for video games such as Dragon Age Inquisition and Baldur’s Gate.  The book focuses on creating and developing characters visually, whether with pencil and paper or with digital art.  One of my children used this book to get started on some character design that she has continued to build on through sketches, so I would say it is inspiring.

 

Hello Tokyo: 30+ Handmade Projects and Fun Ideas for a Cute, Tokyo-Inspired Lifestyle is a craft book for those who enjoy Japanese culture.  Perhaps you have a young person in your life who is into manga or anime and would enjoy exploring whimsical Japanese decorating and papercrafting. The author, Ebony Bizys, is an American who lives in and blogs about Tokyo.

On the more serious crafting side, Heirloom Wood: A Modern Guide to Carving Spoons, Bowls, Boards, and Other Homewares is a basic woodcarving book.  Author Max Bainbridge discusses wood types and basic tools, then moves on to detailed projects to make for the kitchen.

If you’re making a piece of furniture rather than a cutting board, the book Joinery may be what you need.  The editors of Fine Woodworking magazine have put together a comprehensive resource for choosing the type of joint you want, designing and cutting accurately, and solving your mistakes.  Joinery is where you can tell if a piece of furniture is made really well, and this book claims to be able to improve the skill of the builder whether they’re a novice or have plenty of experience. 

Sewing Happiness: A Year of Simple Projects for Living Well is a combination sewing-pattern book and memoir.  When author Sanae Ishida developed a chronic illness and lost her job, she turned to her old hobby, sewing, to find success at something.  She ended up discovering her passion. The book contains twenty projects, including household items and children’s and women’s clothing. 

Sometimes it’s actually a good thing to have a chance to work on creative projects indoors during the winter, without feeling guilty that the lawn isn’t getting mowed or the garden isn’t being weeded.  Hibernate a bit and find something that makes you happy this winter.

Sign up for a free paper craft workshop

Celebrate Watercade with the library!

by Beth Cronk, Litchfield head librarian

The Saturday of Watercade is bringing all kinds of excitement to the Litchfield Library.  The book sale, an art stand, a teen program, and an honor for our children’s librarian are all on deck.

The annual Friends of the Library Watercade book sale will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, July 9.  The Friends hold a book sale every month, normally on the third Saturday of the month from 10-2, but in July it’s moved up to coincide with Watercade.  And it’s the big one.  As long as the weather cooperates, the fiction will be outside in front of the library.  The nonfiction will be inside the meeting room, and the cashiers will be in the lobby.  Stop over to get lightly used books for a very low price, including books about outdoor sports, Christianity, and crafts, as well as many other topics.  All proceeds benefit the library!

This year we have a special art event on the Saturday of Watercade, too.  A streetcorner letterpress is going to be on the lawn in front of the library from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.  This stand allows people of all ages to print postcards from a variety of papers, images, and colors.  Three 100-year-old letterpresses produce 4x6 postcard-style prints with the push of a lever.  Participants are invited to print their own postcards with images customized for our area.  Whether prints are taken home and framed, put on the fridge, or mailed to a friend, they are worth saving.

Pioneerland Library System is sponsoring this letterpress event as a part of a tour of four unique art programs this summer from ReadyGo!, a project from Springboard for the Arts.  ReadyGo! events use artist-designed mobile tools to spark interaction. 

The streetcorner letterpress will also be in Dassel on Labor Day and in a number of other towns in our library system through September.  Another ReadyGo! stand, a mobile sign shop, will be at a number of libraries including New London and Spicer in July.  A mobile drawing station called One Another will be in Hutchinson on Friday, September 16 and in Willmar the next day.  The complete schedule is available in a brochure at our library.

This project is funded in part or in whole with money from Minnesota’s Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.  There is no charge for you to come and participate in these art projects, so stop over on Watercade Saturday to make a print of your own. 

We have a program for teens on the second Saturday of each month and any time there’s a fifth Saturday, as well.  This month that falls on Watercade Saturday, too.  Since we’ll have the letterpress here, Margaret will be bringing the teens outside to try it, and she’ll have other activities for them, too.  Ages eleven  to eighteen are welcome to come at 1:30 to join in the fun.  There’s no need to sign up in advance.

And finally, we are so proud of our children’s librarian Jan Pease on being selected as this year’s Watercade grand marshal.  With 25 years of service at the library, she has had a positive effect on so many young people in this community and continues to do so every day.  You can wave to her in the Watercade parade Saturday evening.   Have a wonderful celebration!

National Library Week: Love and transformation

by Beth Cronk, Litchfield head librarian

It’s National Library Week!  National Library Week was created in the 1950’s by the National Book Committee to encourage reading and library use to better Americans’ lives.  The American Library Association now sponsors this celebration.

This year’s theme is “Libraries Transform.”  This slogan refers to the ways libraries can transform lives by providing free access to books and other materials, computers and internet access, storyhours, and classes and programs for all ages. 

We’re joining in on the celebration by giving our customers a chance to say why they love the library.  All week we’ve got sheets of paper available with speech bubbles printed on them, like in a comic strip or graphic novel.  We invite you to write or draw the reasons why your library is important to you.  We’re hanging them up around the library, so take a look at other people’s reasons, too!

One sign of love for the library is the generosity of our patrons.  Just since the beginning of the year, one couple has given us a donation to use for the purchase of popular fiction, Mike Johnson has given us a donation to use for purchasing mysteries, and the family of Boyd Anderson has given us a donation for the purchase of history books.  We are so grateful to all of them.  The generosity of members of your community has increased the number of books that are available to you.

Another sign of love for the library is participation in our adult winter reading program, which ended on the last day of March.  We had over 70 people sign up for it this year, turning in almost 300 book reviews.  The most popular authors were Nora Roberts/J.D. Robb, Julie Garwood, Joanne Fluke, Gillian Flynn, Tess Gerritsen, Lois Lowry, and, surprisingly, Carolyn Keene.  This year James Patterson was not as popular as in the past.  Many people reviewed nonfiction history books on a wide range of subjects, and books on food and cooking were pretty popular, too.  The reviews will be available on our front desk this month if you’d like to browse through them for reading ideas.

An activity that I think the participants are loving this month is our watercolor class, taught by area artist Joyce Young.  This class is funded with money from Minnesota’s Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.  The three-session class is full and already underway, so I’m sorry to say we can’t accept any more sign-ups.  However, you can come to their art exhibit on Thursday, April 28, from 1-2 p.m. in the library meeting room.  The artists will be there to display their paintings, and we will serve light refreshments.  We plan to display the paintings in the library for two weeks afterward, too.  This would be an example of libraries possibly transforming some people into watercolor artists who haven’t tried this before.

And, finally, our library transformed a few late fees into food for local people in need this past month.  We held a Food for Fines program during the second half of March, which is Minnesota FoodShare Month.  During this time, patrons with late fees could have $1 of their late fees waived for each food shelf donation brought to the library, up to a maximum of $5 per card.  Litchfield, Grove City, and Dassel library users donated a total of 92 pounds of food to the Meeker County Emergency Food Shelf through this program. 

Stop in to look around the library during the rest of National Library Week to see what responses there are to the prompt “I love my library because ___.”  We look forward to seeing the results!

Painting class offered at library

Need to get out of the house?

by Beth Cronk, Litchfield head librarian

What’s happening at the library this winter?  The adult winter reading program, a craft workshop for adults, teen programs, storytimes, and book clubs are available to get you out of the house this season.

Our adult winter reading program has started and runs through March 31st.  Book Your Winter Getaway is a program for adults to read and review books and earn prizes for it.  When you sign up at the front desk, you’ll get a tote bag, a punch card, and some book review forms.  Read books of your choice and fill out a short review form for each.  Audiobooks and e-books count, too!  When you bring in a review, we’ll mark your punch card.  When you’ve completed three, you can choose a prize.  When you’ve completed three more, we’ll put your name in a drawing for gift certificates to local businesses, sponsored by the Friends of the Litchfield Public Library.  The book reviews will be available at our front desk for anyone to read.

On Saturday, January 23nd, we’re offering a historical craft workshop for adults at 1 p.m.  The Minnesota Historical Society is teaching a class on making historical and modern valentines.  The class is free to attend since it is funded by Minnesota’s Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.  You will need to sign up in advance; stop in or call us at 693-2483 to put your name on the list.  Space is limited.

For teens, we offer an activity on the second Saturday of every month from 1:30-3:15.  When there’s a fifth Saturday in a month, like there is in January, we have a teen program that afternoon, as well.  Ages eleven to eighteen are welcome to join us on January 30th for a Minecraft building challenge: replicating the library building, something in the library, or a picture in a library book. 

Weekly storytimes have started up again after the holidays, running through May 14th.  On Wednesdays at 10:15, we have Toddler Time for babies through age two.  On Fridays, we have Preschool Storyhour at 10:00 for children age six and younger.  On the second Saturday of each month, we also have a storyhour at 10:00 - useful for families who can’t come on a weekday.  Older siblings are always welcome at all of the storytimes.

Book clubs happen at the library year-round, and you are welcome to hop in at any time.  The adult book club meets on the second Tuesday of each month at noon.  The book for the February meeting is Frog Music by Emma Donoghue.  Copies are on hand at our library to check out; just ask at the desk.

Mystery Book Club meets the third Wednesday of each month at 7 p.m.  The book for February is The Beautiful Mystery by Louise Penny.  These books we order individually for people who regularly attend book club, so talk to Mary or Elisabeth if you’d like to get involved with that.

Book-to-Movie Club is for grades four through eight, although younger kids are welcome to attend if accompanied by an adult or older sibling.  On the second Monday of the month, they meet from 3:15 to 5:00 to talk about a book and watch a movie based on that book.  For February, they are reading A Wrinkle in Time.  Copies are available to check out at the front desk.

Beginners’ Book Club is for kids in grades one through three.  They meet on the third Thursday of the month from 3-4 p.m.  The book for the January 21^st meeting is Charlie Bumpers vs. the Teacher of the Year by Bill Harley.

We also have Brickhead Lego building nights on the second and fourth Thursdays of the month from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m., and a book sale every month on the third Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

 

Beat your cabin fever and come out for something that interests you at the library!

Valentine's craft workshop

Julie Kramer book event at Litchfield Library Sept. 26

Borrowing for book club

by Beth Cronk, Litchfield head librarian

Book clubs are very popular in our community.  Our library has two book clubs for adults and two for kids.  The Grove City library has a book club for adults, and so does the Dassel library.  All are well-attended.  Besides the library-run book clubs, we see many members of other book clubs from the area in the library ordering and picking up copies of their books.

We sometimes see our customers getting frustrated when their book club chooses a very popular new book.  When everyone is reading something because it’s new and there’s considerable media coverage about it, it’s unlikely you’ll be able to get enough copies from the library for a book club within the month you need it.  There’s just too much demand from the general public, even when we have many copies. 

For example, if you tried to do Go Set a Watchman for your book club right now, you’d be unlikely to get copies for everyone soon enough.    Our library system has 29 copies of the print book and six audiobooks, with more on order.  But there are 35 people on the waiting list. 

My advice is to wait until the interest subsides about a new book (or a book that’s been turned into a movie) before you choose it for your book club, unless your members are willing to buy their copies.   I’ve learned from leading a book club that it works best to choose books that are a year or more old but that were popular when they came out so that the library has many copies.  Small book clubs do have more options.

One good option for book clubs is a book club kit.  Our library system offers a rotating selection of these that are shared with Plum Creek library system, plus a few that stay in our catalog all the time.  If you search “book club in a bag” as a title in our catalog, you’ll bring up the list of choices.  Many of these kits include a dozen copies of the book, and often one is in large print or audiobook format.  Many also include a discussion guide. 

With a book club kit, one person from the book club would have to order and check out the kit and then distribute the copies to the members of the club – and get them all back again.  So you’d want a reliable group of book club members to trust with copies checked out on your own card!  But it is a way to get it all done with one order, as long as your book club doesn’t have too many members. An advantage is that you’re only competing with other book clubs to get those kits, not with individual readers.

When ordering individual copies of books for a book club, keep in mind that the person who orders the books is the one who has to check them out.  If one person orders all of the books for your book club, then she is the person who has to come in with her card to check them all out, she has to get them to the members, and she is responsible if the books are late or don’t come back.  We can’t check a book out to someone when it’s on hold on another individual’s library card.  If each person in the book club orders his own copy, then that person can come in and pick it up, and he controls when the book is returned.  It generally works better that way, unless you’re a person who doesn’t mind nagging your book club members to return their books!

The adult book club I lead for the library meets at noon on the second Tuesday of each month.  Everyone is welcome, whether they attend regularly or not. For our September 8^th meeting, we’re reading Stalking Susan by Julie Kramer.  Julie will be visiting our library on Saturday, September 26, at 1 p.m.  It’s another great opportunity to talk about books!

Sign up now for our bus trip to the Ray Fagen Memorial Airshow!

The bus will pick up in three locations:

Dassel 9:45 a.m.

Litchfield 10:15 a.m.

Grove City 10:45 a.m.

We will leave the airshow grounds at 6 p.m., arriving back at the libraries at approximately these times;

Grove City 7:30 p.m.

Litchfield 7:45 p.m.

Dassel 8:00 p.m.

Sign up by Wednesday, June 17, to reserve your seat!

Bombs Away!

by Beth Cronk, Litchfield head librarian

If you enjoy airplanes or World War II history, we’ve got an event for you.  The library is offering a bus trip to the Ray Fagen Memorial Air Show on June 20 at the Fagen Fighters WWII Museum in Granite Falls.  For no charge, you can catch a bus from the Dassel, Litchfield, or Grove City libraries, get into the museum and grounds, and watch a ground battle reenactment and an air show.

You can learn more about the museum and the event by visiting www.fagenfighterswwiimuseum.org.  They also have a Facebook page with information about the air show.

Sign up by stopping in to or calling the Litchfield, Grove City, or Dassel libraries.  Space is limited as we are taking one bus for the three communities.  This trip is free to attend because it is funded with money from Minnesota's Arts and Cultural Heritage fund. 

Minors must be accompanied by an adult and must have a waiver form signed by their parent or guardian in order to attend.  Participants must ride the bus.

The bus will pick up from the libraries in the morning in order to arrive at the museum around noon, and it will return in the evening, leaving the event at 6 p.m.  Participants will need to plan for lunch and supper.  Food can be brought along but must be eaten on the bus; no food or drink can be brought onto the event grounds.  Food will be available for purchase at the event.  The library will not be providing meals.

Participants will also need to bring their own chairs.  Hearing protection is recommended.

The bus will pick up those who are signed up for the trip in front of the libraries at the following times:

Dassel 9:45 a.m.
Litchfield 10:15 a.m.
Grove City 10:45 a.m.

Return times are approximately as follows:

Grove City 7:30 p.m.
Litchfield 7:45 p.m.
Dassel 8:00 p.m.

The ground battle reenactment begins at 1:00 and the air show begins at 3:00.  If it rains, the air show will be postponed to another day.  If we know by that morning that the air show will be postponed, the trip will be cancelled.

Our group will not be staying for the Craig Morgan concert in the evening or the evening air show that will take place after the concert.  The length of the afternoon air show is not yet known, and our bus will leave at 6 p.m. whether the air show is over or not. 

The theme of the show is “Bombs Away”.  Tours of the B-17 Aluminum Overcast will be available throughout the day.  The B-25 Maid in the Shade will be available for rides before and after the air show and for tours throughout the day, as well. 

I keep hearing that the Fagen museum is a very interesting place to visit.  Join us for this free trip to visit the museum and see history brought to life.

Sign up for our free wreath-making workshop!

What's new at the library?

by Beth Cronk, Litchfield head librarian

Our library system is looking for local artists to design our adult winter reading program artwork for next year.  Every year we have a winter reading program for adults beginning in January.  When you sign up for the program at our library, you get a book bag.  When you turn in your book reviews, you get a coffee mug.  This year the items we give participants will feature a design by an artist who lives within the Pioneerland or Plum Creek library systems, since the two systems have begun collaborating on the program. 

The slogan is Book Your Winter Getaway.  We plan to continue using this slogan for years to come but feature different artwork each year.  The slogan needs to be incorporated into the artwork, along with “Winter Reading Program”. 

The artist whose design is chosen will receive a $500 prize, and his or her design will be used on our posters, bookmarks, reading logs, and incentives throughout southwestern Minnesota.  The winner will be chosen by a committee.  The deadline for submission is October 20.  You can pick up a copy of the guidelines and submission instructions at our library or follow this link: http://www.plumcreeklibrary.org/Online%20Docs/Art_Work_design_solicitation_2014.pdf

David Housewright

We are bringing Minnesota mystery author David Housewright to the area with Legacy funding this fall.  He will be speaking at the Dassel History Center on Saturday, October 11, at 2 pm.  Housewright won an Edgar Award for Best First Novel for Penance in 1996.  This is a national award from the Mystery Writers of America.  He also won three Minnesota Book Awards, for Practice to Deceive, Jelly’s Gold and Curse of the Jade Lily in 1998, 2010, and 2013.  The Devil May Care is his latest novel.

Housewright will be speaking on the third floor of the Dassel History Center & Ergot Museum.  This event is free to attend and you don’t need to sign up to attend.  The Friends of the Dassel Library will be serving light refreshments. 

New library cards

Our patrons have been asking for key-fob library cards.  These mini duplicate cards are like those you get from businesses that have rewards cards, a small version you can attach to your key chain.  I am pleased to tell you we now have them available.  Those who are getting their first library card will have the choice of a regular card or one with a key-fob card to go with it.  If you already have a card and you want to get the new style, we will have to charge you $3 for a replacement card like we would when your card is lost.  But you do have that option to make the change even if your card isn’t lost. 

This should be convenient for someone who uses their library card at home on the computer for ordering materials and leaves it on their desk, or for those who don’t bring their wallets or purses everywhere they go.  We do require the patron’s library card when you pick up their requested materials, so this may make dividing up family errand running easier for some.  How you use the new style of library card is up to you, but we hope it will make using your library card more convenient.

All of these things are happening at the library because someone had a great idea.  When you have an idea about what would make the library better, let us know. Maybe we’ll be able to make it a reality, too!