Spring - please hurry!!

I blame the silly groundhog!!  We had a pretty mild winter right up until that groundhog saw his shadow!  Then we got hit with a snowstorm that dumped over a foot of snow on us.  We barely dug out from that one and we’ve been hit with 6 more inches of super-thick wet snow!  I’m ready for spring!!

We have some big events coming in March & April - be sure to check out the info about the following events:

1. March is Reading Month - this year’s theme - the Winter Olympics!  Check out the Children’s Area Tab for more details.
2. Hillsdale County Big Read - March 7th - 25th.  This year’s book is “The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society” by Mary Ann Shaffer.  There will be tons of events including some here at the Camden Twp. Library!  See our website front page or the events page for more details.
3. American Girl Party - featuring Rebecca Rubin, a Jewish-Russian immigrant from 1914.  This event will be held April 17th beginning at 1 Pm at the Camden United Methodist Church.  Keep watching for details.  Sign-up for this event will begin in Mid-March.

Summer Reading Program plans are in full swing!  This year’s themes are:
Make a Splash - Read! (for Children)
Make Waves @ Your Library (for Teens)
Water Your Mind - Read! (for Adults)

Our Library never rests!!
-Laura

Winter Time in Southern Michigan

We are in the middle of winter - past the holidays - but still a few months from warm temperatures.  The perfect time to curl up under a blanket with you favorite book!

We have several things in the works here at CTL. 
1. Leap into the New Year with a clean library card - if you stop in and pay outstanding fines in full, we will cut the total in half!
2. How are we doing? - we are asking our patrons to fill out a survey to see how our services, collections & staff measure up.
3. Adopt-an-Author program - Fill out an agreement to purchase each new title published this year by your favorite author and you will get to be the first to read each book guaranteed!
4. Annual Winter Book Sale is scheduled for Feb. 8th - 13th.  All books are $1.00 per bag - no limits.
5. We will be participating in the Hillsdale County Big Read in March.  This year’s book is “The Guernsey Literary and Potatoe Peel Pie Society”.
6. I’m working on a fun children’s program for “March is Reading” month. 
7. We have our Annual American Girl Party coming up on April 17th.  This year, we will feature Rebecca Rubin, the newest in the historical American Girls.
8. And its never too early to make plans for Summer Reading.  We are working hard on figuring out what we will offer this year.  The Children’s theme this year is: Make a Splash @ Your Library, the Teen theme is: Make Waves @ Your Library, and the Adult theme is: Water Your Mind @ Your Library.
9. We have signed on with many other Michigan Libraries to begin a new service to our patrons.  We will soon be offering OverDrive - an online source for audiobooks and ebooks.  By Spring, we hope to have this service available for our patrons.

As if that weren’t enough to keep us busy, its also Income Tax Time for everyone and Budgeting Time for the Library! 

Happy Holidays 2009

I can’t believe we are in the middle of the holiday season already!  Where does time go?

We have 2 special projects going at the library for the holidays:
1. Fine Forgiveness
You can pay your overdue fines by donating canned goods, baby products and personal care items to the library. 
All donations will be given to LifeLine Food Pantry. 
This program runs through Dec. 31, 2009.

2. Help us Decorate the Library
Bring in a homemade holiday picture and we will give you a gift!
Any age is welcome to participate - limit 1 picture per person.
You can use anything you want to make the picture: pencils, crayons, markers, collage, paints, etc.
Be sure to put your first name and age on the front of the picture.
We will display your picture in the library until after January 1, 2010.

On a personal note: We are saddened by the loss of one of our own.  Joan Matthews lost her battle with Lou Gehrig’s in late November.  She was a wonderful woman, and we will miss her both personally and professionally.  Joan had worked and volunteered here at the library for many years.  Many of our young patrons enjoyed her Monday morning storytimes.  Our hearts and prayers go out to Joan’s family during this holiday season.