Drake Public Library

Seeking Excellence

story time

|

What’s Happening at the Library?

I often get asked, “So, what ‘s happening at the library?”  It’s always an interesting question.  My answer for the last year and a half has been centered around altered hours of operations and alternative services due to COVID.  We were finally able to start the summer reading program in June and this past month we scheduled weekly programming!  Not only have we started children’s programs, but we have also begun some fun events for adults.  We are so thankful that we are at a point where we feel “just about back to normal” while maintaining a safe environment for patrons and staff.  

You see, a library is full of books (and computers, magazines, newspapers, DVDs and audiobooks) but we thrive when we are full of people!  A few year ago, a group of board members and community stakeholders created our current mission statement, “Drake Public Library will be a welcoming center for lifelong learning. We celebrate the freedom to read, discover and discuss.”  We welcome every person through the door in hopes of helping them find exactly what they are looking for and to keep them coming back! 

ONLINE RESOURCES 

There is something going on almost every day of the week. There is an abundance of information and resources available to anyone with a library card.  Starting with online resources, you will see some very important links on our website: Follett Destiny, Bidges, Brainfuse Job Now/Vet Now and Brainfuse Help Now. Follett is our online card catalog system to allow patrons to search for materials and reserve them to their account from the comfort of their own home. Find out what your username and password are by contacting a staff member.  Bridges is the online Ebook consortium that we belong to.  It is a statewide catalog of ebooks, audiobooks and video streaming that patrons can check out through their personal username and pin issued by the library.  The Brainfuse links include help for job seekers, veterans and students looking for tutoring services. These links require library patrons to create personal accounts to track their progress and personal information.  All have general, easy to follow directions and video tutorials to help you along.  

 

IN PERSON PROGRAMMING

Our in person programming schedule includes:

Mondays– Little Listeners Story Time for babies, toddlers and preschoolers at

10:30am and Wii Play after school for school-age children. 

Tuesdays– STEAM Club for 4th grade and up at 4pm. 

Wednesdays (the last Wednesday of each month)– Book Chat! at 12:15pm and 5:15pm for adults. We start this Wednesday, September 29!

Thursdays– Adult Coloring at 1:30pm and STEAM Club for K-3rd grade at 4pm. 

Fridays– LEGO Day after school for school-age children. 

 

 

 

We are looking at future guest speakers and experts on topics like job searches, Medicare coverage/enrollment, genealogy research and one on one computer help. 

A little something for everyone!

We welcome you to come by the library and see what programs and resources are best for you. Drake Public Library is here to support the community by being a resource for knowledge, entertainment and communication.  We welcome you! 

|

Bats at the Library, by Brian Lies

bats-at-the-library-image

It’s a wonderful day when I get to help Kristin out with the story time programs. So, I just couldn’t resist coming downstairs for the Halloween party with the Rising Readers on Monday. As I was helping clean things up, one of our “library kids”, Layla, asked me “What is your favorite book in this whole library?”  It took me a minute!  I’m a librarian…I like to read.  I could have named off a whole lot of books.  But, I had a thought as I was chatting with her about what I like to read.  “Bats at the Library by Brian Lies!” I exclaimed.

This was one of the first books that I fell in love with as a children’s librarian and storyteller. The pictures are grand, the prose poetic but very readable…it’s simply a whole lot of fun to read and even more fun to READ TO children.  Brian Lies captures the amazing things that children can see and do at the library through bats who have snuck in through an open window after closing.  They play with the water fountain, make photocopies, play shadow puppets on the wall and have story time.  The older bats tell tales that they had learned from these books long ago and the younglings drift into pretending that they are the characters in the book.  It’s a wonderful view of the public library.

The author has written a few other books including, Bats at the Ballgame, Bats at the Beach and Bats in the Band.  They all show a unique view of these activities, after hours, through the eyes of bats.  If you have come to any of my story times or classroom visits, you’ve probably heard me reading one of these books.  I admit, bats became a bit of an obsession for me after finding this book.  I have quite a collection of bat puppets, plastic figures and crafts.  I was able to find a fantastic youtube series published by the Bat World Santuary ( batworld.org ) and I even have a bat wing headband and bat covered shirt (if anyone remembers me being “The Batty Librarian” one Halloween)

So, as we “flitter and fly” through Fall, remember that “for now we’ll dream of things we’ve read, a universe inside each head. Every evening, one and all will listen for that late-night call: Can it be true? Oh, can it be? Yes! Bat Night at the Library!”

Keep reading!

JeNel

|

Scholastic Book Fair – Hard Work Pays Off!

Our Scholastic Book Fair was held Monday, March 9th through Saturday, March 14th.  After weeks of planning, scheduling volunteers and publicity, we can now say that it was a great success.

This year, our Book Fair was “manned” through a combination of volunteers and employees.  I couldn’t have done it without all of these wonderful people!  Hailey Harbour, Tori Brown, Mindi Blizek, Mike Barth, Julianna Barth, Miles Starr, Jeff Livingston, Shawn Dekker, Dana Moritz, Nicole Cox, Lottie Wilson, Mary Beth Thomas, Lois Hays, Deanna Allen and Winona Whitaker all volunteered their time to set up, work and tear down the fair.  Library Employees Jami Livingston, Beth Burgin, Theresa Liford and Pam Reed also put in time to help the project run smoothly.  Theresa and Pam were especially important in keeping the fair room supervised and assisting volunteers as they came in to work throughout the week.  I am so grateful for all of their help.  Thank you so much!

Now to the results of our efforts!  When you purchase items through the Scholastic Book Fair, the Drake Public Library receives 40% of each purchase in Scholastic Dollars.  At the conclusion of this year’s book fair, we totaled $1,717.41 in sales.  After purchasing what was left from our wish list book selections, this brought our Scholastic Dollars earnings to $579.57!  Speaking of our “wish list selections”, patrons were especially generous this year in purchasing books that I had selected for our wish list and donating them back to us.  31 books were purchased as a donation to us!  More might come back to us through our online book fair that will continue through March 24th. The link is on our website as well as the Drake Public Library and Drake Public Library Kids Facebook pages.   These books came directly to us and they still counted toward our Scholastic Dollars earnings.  Pretty neat!

 

Storytime toddlers

Storytime featuring books from the Scholastic Book Fair.

This year, Scholastic also sent a “gift basket” of free books, valued at $100, for us to use as prizes for our summer reading program.  They also let us pick out any of the leftover posters from the fair display to keep for our library, at no cost.  This is a pretty nice gift from our Scholastic friends.

Scholastic Dollars allow me to purchase books, bookmarks, posters and program supplies through the online resource catalog, at no cost to the library.  Even shipping is free. I have used our Scholastic Dollars to replace damaged books, update Children’s Library decorations and even provide interactive items (like our new hand held white boards and our book character plush dolls) for our program activities.  I also purchased books for our very popular Toddler Time group participants.  Every child that attended Toddler Time during the Book Fair was able to choose a book from the fair display to take home with them for free.  It’s a gift that makes them smile with pride, as they hold their brand new book.  And really, isn’t that what this is all about?  It was a joy to see the excitement that our kids and families have for reading and for supporting the Drake Public Library!

Table full of books

Books donated to the Drake Library by shoppers at the Scholastic Book Fair

 

|

Welcome to our New Website!

Drake Public Library website

Drake Public Library’s new website!

Welcome to our new Drake Public Library website! We will be using our website to provide timely information, access online materials and answer any questions you may have about our library.

Spend some time getting to know your way around our new site. You will find lots of pictures of our beautiful building, our active ‘Friends of the Library’ group, and toddlers at Story Time in the various website photo galleries.

The site is easy to navigate and full of information, but please do not hesitate to call, email or visit the library in person. We are here to help you meet your life goals – whether you’re perfecting a resume, reading a classic novel or finding the perfect recipe for a roasted chicken.

Thanks to technology, libraries are different these days – but our core mission statement remains the same. We are here to help our patrons! So feel free to browse, search, click, “like,” and certainly bookmark this website for future use!

Our blog will be updated regularly with library information, news stories, book reviews, and fun tidbits of information. If you’re interested in receiving our blogs as they’re published, please subscribe in the right sidebar.

Our beloved Drake Public Library – serving the community for 111 years and looking forward to the future!

Staff at Drake Public Library