Friends of the Library

P.O. Box 669

Ocean Shores, WA 98569

Membership:

$10/year, $20/family or $100/lifetime

Newsletter Staff:

Carole Bodey

Crystal Dingler

Andy Gruse

Cover Photos:

Kelly Getty

Dean Dingler

Inside this Issue

A Literary Evening 3

Catwords: Story-time 6

Donations/New Books 5

Fall Post-It Schedule 7

It Takes a Resolutiob 4

Judy's Library Notes 5

Notes & Passages 6

"One Child at a Time" 2

PC's and the Internet 4

FOL Officers:

Lee Miller, Pres.

Anneka van

Doorninck, VP

Mary Walker, Sec.

Gene Swygard, Treas.

What We Did on Our Summer Vacation

BY JUDY STULL

Summer 2007 was very busy for your friendly Library staff (cats included!). 16224 people visited June/August and checked out 22959 books/materials. They were full of questions too (3066 reference questions) and kept the phone ringing off the hook (1060 phone calls). And even though we thought we had issued Library cards to everyone, we gave out 265 more. The Internet kept us hopping too. 4039 people used our computers (including 429 teens and 274 kids). Are we glad Summer is over? Yes!!!

"ONE CHILD AT A TIME"

Encouraging literacy by building lasting connections with the library.

OS Library summer programs motivated kids to visit the library throughout the summer. Special programs included: "Reading is magic" with Louie Foxx, Magician; "Buck & Elizabeth", children's entertainers; Book Bingo; and the finale, the Annual Pet Show. Kids were also encouraged to visit the library by the advent of Wacky Wednesdays, where kids visited the library anytime during the day, checked out a book, found five wacky things around the library, and won a prize.

· Kids received a certificate for reading at least ten books throughout the summer. They also received two tickets, funded by the FOL, to attend a special showing of "Underdog" at the Ocean Shores Cinemas. Receiving certificates were: Chance Beck, Michael Beck, Jameson Boda-DuBois, Shelby Butler, Steven Butler, Michaela Corman, Emily Deal, Rosie Eaton, Janessa Fleming, Walter Fleming, Taylor Gregory, Madison Gregory, Isabella Hale, Ciera

Hall, Gabriel Hernandez, Isabel Hernandez, Sophia Holm, Lilly Jackson, Alexis Johnson, Ian Jones, Jason Jones, Patrick Jones, Aurora Kerr, Corey Knowles, Nathalie Knowles, Sandy Knowles, Alex McAra, Joey Owen, Hunter Parrish, Allison Roza, Kris Shepherd, Rachael Snow, Emily Takagi, Emma Waltose-Clark, and Cassidy Warren. Patrick Jones read the most books, 120. Way to go!

· Taking part in the Summer Teen Programs, 22 teens attended Murder Mystery Night and 17 teens attended an Auction of donated items.

· Thirty-one youngsters attended four pre-school story-times.

Congratulations to those who took part in the library programs this summer. Whether or not they won a prize, earned a certificate, won an auction bid, these kids and young adults have gained something timeless.

Literacy is a gift we make available to our children. Without it, they are prone to a life filled with extra obstacles and challenges. Will our children be able to get good jobs? Will they know how to read and fill out a job application? Will they be able to read to their own children, help them complete homework assignments, and encourage them to seek higher education? Or, will they pass on a legacy of poor reading skills?

Our library staff members, Judy Stull, Michelle Olson, Kelly Getty, and Stephanie Frank, are dedicated to children's literacy, and are constantly looking for ways to encourage children to view the library as a pleasurable part of their lives and reading as a stepping stone to knowledge and a fuller life. The FOL supports their efforts and praises their initiative.

Platte County, Wyo., advertised for a librarian in the early 1900s:

"Must be able to get along with western people, ride and drive, as well as pack a horse, follow a trail, shoot straight, run an automobile and be able to rough it whenever necessary."

Quoted from an American Library Association Rural, Native and Tribal Libraries pub., 2006.

A Literary Evening

The July 20th party had everything: suspense, romance, a cute pet, a midnight rendezvous under construction paper stars, colorful characters, lots of black eye-liner, and a dark and stormy night. Library Technicians, Michelle Olson and Stephanie Frank, suggested the Harry Potter Party; so the organizational task

The librarians and their assistants had hung banners from the ceiling, set out cookies, and prepared games. Finally, Michelle signaled to start the fog machine and the library doors were opened at 10:30 p.m. to a crowd of 130 kids and their parents waiting patiently in the rain.

The first person in line was presented a free FOL T-shirt and he purchased a book from Lee Miller. He'd waited at the Library door since 6:30 to ensure that he could purchase a book for his wife. (Ah, romance.) The FOL sold all 50 Harry Potter books and 41 of their party T-shirts.

One-by-one, kids put on the genuine sorting hat purchased from Amazon.com. The hat shouted their house name and they were given hand-made badges. At each house, there were different games, like "Pin the Head on Nearly

Headless Nick". Each person then moved-on to the next house and next game. One small boy came twice to the FOL table, looking for a tissue to spit out the Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans he was tasting for one of the games. "Every flavour" apparently included spinach, ear wax and worse!

Dressed as Harry's friend, Ron Weasley, a boy in a red wig carried an amazingly docile hamster in his pocket. He nearly stole the show, but, there was also the teen wearing a toilet seat around her neck as the ghostly Moaning Myrtle. Woooooo. Streaky-haired teens wore black

eye-liner and painted moons on their faces. Young Harrys and Hermiones abounded. Another Weasley happily sweated in a Gryffindor muffler.

Former staff member, Justin McGregor, and Teen Advisory Board members, Robby Ramiskey and Dana McCrackin donated their time to help at the party.

While the storm raged outside, the library was heating up. Best costume prizes and door prizes were awarded. Such suspense! As midnight approached, party-goers began to

gather near the FOL's sale table.

A clock pendulum swung and the hour began to bong. At last, midnight! The first in line to present his Hagrid bookmark and pick up his book was the Romantic, wearing his FOL T-shirt. Moaning Myrtle and the others followed in orderly fashion, yet with suppressed excitement. This was an event to be remembered.