Public Libraries Celebrated National Library Week
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Alexandria Public
I am the Children's Coordinator at Alexandria Public Library. For library week, we usually have a fine free week for our patrons. If patrons have existing fines, they may bring in 1 non perishable food item for every $1.00 fines they owe. Food collected goes to our local food pantry. This can not be used for lost items or damage charges. During the week, we check items in exempt. So it sometimes helps us get back material that has been out for a long time.
For this year, I asked kids to write their 3 favorite things about our library and then draw a picture. We posted the entries around our children's area. We gave away 3 passes to a small museum close by. Entries were selected randomly.
We've had contests to write a poem about libraries, guess how many books we have in the children's area, and usually give away some special book marks or something else.
For adults, we have given them small flower packets. Just something that doesn't involve a lot of extra time or materials. - Pam Hankinson
Barberton Public
Food for Fines - Beginning on April 13 and ending April 19, patrons received $1.00 credit towards overdue fines for each non-perishable food item donated to the Library. All food benefited a Barberton food kitchen.
Prizes - Anyone checking out 10 items or more during National Library Week could register to win a $20 gas card! A winner was selected each day of the week.
Special Family Story Time- Monday
Question of the Day Children's Department Contest - Each day there was a question to test our patrons' circle of knowledge. Prizes were awarded to those who answered the questions correctly.
Ohio Indians and Chief Hopocan- Wednesday - Patrons learned about Ohio's Native American heritage and the tribes that once populated that region.
Author Visit- Saturday - Ohio Amish mystery writer P.L. Gaus discussed his work. - from their website
Barnesville Public
As a service to the community the library offered a fine free week during National Library Week. Through the program, “Food for Fines”, the library forgave $1.00 worth of fines for every can or box of non-perishable food brought to the library. Fines up to $20 were waived. All food items were donated to the St. Vincent de Paul Society. Since this is a program to help those in need, donations were also gladly accepted. All lost or damaged items were excluded from the “Food for Fines”.
During the week bookmarks and bags were given and there was a contest where patrons could use the internet and books to “Name the Famous Cats”. Several prizes, including two cuddle blankets were given at the end of the week.
For National Library Workers Day the staff of the Barnesville Library was treated to lunch to celebrate their day. - Kitty Koch
Bliss Memorial Public
National Library Week Events:
1) People guessed how many books there are in the library. We gave prizes to the adult and child who were nearest.
2) A local author came and read her children's book.
3) Children did simple make it-take it crafts during the week.
4) Children made book covers for their favorite book and they were displayed on our front window.
5) Children voted for their favorite out of four books and the children's librarian read it during the party on Thursday.
6) Children had their pictures taken and then placed them on a paper frame to take home.
7) Homemade cookies were available all week (the best part). - Dorothy Seitz, Director
Birchard Public
Birchard Public Library featured local authors and talent all week. - from their website
Brown County Public - Sardinia Branch
We set up a large basket on our circulation desk and filled it with FREE items that we'd received from the state, vendors, etc. Some examples are: pencils, "Your Money Now" cds, local area maps, book samples from publishers, flower seeds, etc. Anyone who checked out materials was encouraged to select an item from the basket in celebration of National Library Week. We made sure to let people know the library had NOT purchased these items, because we are experiencing a budget crisis and hoping to pass a levy in the near future. - Ginny Bridges
Brumback Public
Brumback used the Circle of Knowledge theme and had walk-in crafts and a spring book sale.
Canal Fulton Public
Taste of Canal Fulton - Monday - Celebrated all varieties of food from restaurants of Canal Fulton
Patron Appreciation Day - Tuesday - Served cookies and coffee
Food Talk - Wednesday - Kim Al-Abid and Mohamed Ragheb gave a presentation on Middle Eastern dishes
Recipe Swap - Thursday - Favorite recipes were shared with a fun game of food trivia. Samples were welcomed and donated canned food items were collected for the local food bank. - Information from their website
Clark County
Clark County had a poetry contest in honor of National Poetry Month and National Library Week. - Information from their website
Clermont County
Clermont County had Little Nutbrown Hare visit several branches. They also had a Cat in the Hat visit, a scavenger hunt and a contest to identify circles from their bulletin board montage. - Information from their website
Delaware County District
The Big Read: DelawaREADS "The Great Gatsby" kicked off National Library Week with a celebration of reading that included a Celebrity Read-Aloud, an ice cream social, children's crafts, vintage cars, and performers from Thoroughly Modern Millie presented by the Olentangy Liberty High School Drama Department. - Don Yarman
East Cleveland
East Cleveland Caledonia Branch had Tea and Talk, Amnesty Week for fines, movie night and a Saturday Movie Matinee. - Information from their website
Harris-Elmore Public
We were pretty low-key this year. We did a "patron appreciation" week and had a "treat of the day." Each staff member made cookies or brownies or other treat and had time available to our patrons. We also passed out NLW bookmarks. - Georgi Huizenga
Henderson Memorial
We had daily gas card drawings of $20 each. Each person who checked out at least 10 items could enter. We had 111 entries. I borrowed the idea from Barberton Public Library. Our circulation for the week was 3,026.
• We had the poetry reception on April 15.
• The public art judging and open house was April 17.
• A children’s movie was shown on April 15.
• We held a fine free week. - Kathleen L. Jozwiak
Herbert Wescoat Memorial
Each year our library and its Friends' organization sponsors a Spring Literary Arts Festival. This year it happened to fall during National Library Week. Please see the attached program to illustrate what we offered the community this year. By the way, we are a county public library that serves all of Vinton County, which has a total population around 13,000 individuals. - Clint Walker
Huron Public
We held our second VIP Librarian for a Day event Monday thru Saturday of NLW. See the press release. There were a couple of additions after the release went out.
Local VIPs were invited to spend a hour at the library behind the circulation desk. Several were new to the library so had tours as part of their hour. We sent out 63 invitations, had 28 sign up and 26 show up.
VIPs invited included State Senator, State Representative, City Council members, City Manager, Fire Chief, Police Chief, School Board members, Superintendent and building principals, Township Trustees, County Commissioners, Chamber Director and Board members, staff from BGSU Firelands, area media and area clergy. We gave each VIP a metal book mark with the Library logo,"Thank you for being our LIBRARIAN for a Day" and "National Library Week".
Not only did it give them another view of the library - all said it was an eye opener - it also gave me an hour of their time I would not have had otherwise. I spent the hour with all but 6 of them as I had scheduling conflicts come up.
Our first VIP event was in 2006. I don't know that I would do it annually though the VIPs said they looked forward to coming back.
We also did Food for Fines during the week. There were fewer donations this year than last that may reflect the current times. We also do Food for Fines during the week before Thanksgiving. - Anne Hinton
Jackson City
We hosted our semi-annual book sale in our meeting room and had refreshments for our patrons and book browsers. On Friday, we had a local author visit for a program and a book-signing of his newly published book. We were happy with the results. - Laura Thorne
Lorain Public
We had author Chris Crutcher come and speak to the schools during the day and then spoke at our library that evening. That weekend we had a magician/escape artist perform along with a local high school student who has studied magic for many years perform along with him-magic tricks and escape artist tricks. They also gave some history of Houdini and David Blane. For the grand finale they showed the children how to do simple tricks to fool their friends. - Angela Young
Marion Public
“Read Off Your Fines” - for each 15 minutes spent reading, they could receive a coupon to have $1.00 taken off of their fines. More than 140 patrons participated and reduced their fines by over $600! - Information from their website
Marvin Memorial
During NLW we went to approx. twenty businesses and displayed a book with a sign sticking out - National Library Week: Find the Book. You were required to find five books and titles to be eligible for a drawing for $100.00. You could get hints at the library and an entry slip.
The ones who did it had a good time at it. It was so funny, two young women came in to the hardware store where I was at to find one of the books and not knowing where I was from I asked them if they found them all. They were so happy- "just one more and I know it's at the bank next door" the one lady said. But I knew it wasn't. By the time I got back to the library the ladies were coming in the front door so I greeted them at the counter to ask if they found the last book. They did but they had been to every bank in town. In the smaller community you can have fun doing this and we were not asking anything from the businesses just the spot for the book.
The second fun thing we did was puzzle mania. We have a jigsaw puzzle set up in the main library for patrons to work on while waiting for the computers, or some just came in just to relax and work on it.
I had our mascot Marvin the Mouse stand outside the library with a sign NLW with the date and time of puzzle mania and took a picture. I sent it away and had 500 piece puzzles made. On Sat. patrons came in and drew a number for a partner at 10:00 AM and began putting the puzzle together (as partners). One person could leave for a break but one of the two had to be at the table at all times. At 12:15 everyone took a break leaving the puzzle tables to have a light lunch I had fixed for them. At 12:35 they returned to their table to continue putting the puzzle together. At 2:00 it was done. The winners had only 12 pieces to finish the puzzle and the 2nd place team had 160 pieces left. The two ladies didn't know each other and everyone had a good time using their strategy how to get this puzzle together in 3 hours. The best part was when they asked if this was to be an annual event. Or, maybe a couple times a year. So we are looking into setting up another one later this summer. The funny part about it was the nice lady who had won the find the book contest was one of the two ladies who won the puzzle contest. The first place received one of the collector puzzles and a coffee mug. Second place won a Essential puzzle piece key chain and a coffee mug. Of course everyone got to have three hours of fun and lunch. - Jeanette Brown
McKinley Memorial
McKinley Memorial Library was pretty low key with its celebration this year, due to construction. We had regular programs scheduled that week: storytimes, book club, and computer classes. We also offered patrons the opportunity to have one of their own books covered by the Technical Services staff, and had a drawing one day for a free DVD player. - Luellen Wilson
Mentor Public
To celebrate National Library Week, the Mentor Public Library teamed up with partners of the Great Lakes Lecture series (Lake Erie College, Lakeland Community College, Lake Hospital System, Morley Public Library) for a presentation by Professor Wayne Wiegand (Professor of Library and Information Studies at Florida State University), on the book, Books on Trial: Red Scare in the Heartland which he co-authored with his wife Shirley A. Wiegand. Professor Wiegand was videotaped for the ABC Channel 5 Noon show (Cleveland) and at the Lakeland Community College to promote this important work about a communist scare in Oklahoma during the 1940’s. A dinner, lecture, and reception at the Mentor Public Library was well attended. - Barbara Hauer
Minerva Pubic
Celebrating National Library week was certainly a highlight of our month. Once the idea was in place it all came together beautifully. We shared knowledge with our theme “Discover the world at your library”. I wanted to involve some of our local high school students and invited them to come and read a story with phrases from the language class they were taking. That is how it started and then it continued to blossom. One of the library staff in our adult department teaches German to children who learn at home and she volunteered to be a part of our program and her husband a local minister had been to Africa as a missionary and offered her college age daughter to also come and read a story from that culture. I thought we were all set and a four part program would be great. Then another volunteer (the president of our library board’s niece just returned from Africa after working for two years with children who have AIDS) so I rethought what I was doing, added one more, and went from there.
I wanted our program to start the week so I planned for Monday evening. We created four story stations around our community room each one representing a certain culture, Spanish, French and two African and German with a poster and a map as backdrops. I requested registrations for the program because I thought it would be nice to include a taste of food from these different cultures and we needed to know how many to prepare for. We had 100 people register (unfortunately I had to tell people we had no more room). This was our program:
MINERVA PUBLIC LIBRARY – YOUTH SERVICES- Discover the World at Your Library
SPAIN
Sip, Slurp, Soup, Soup/Caldo, Caldo, Caldo
By Diane G. Bertrand
Readers:Buchanan Lutes & Sandra Merrick
Advisor:Mrs. Shelly Tinlin, Minerva High School
Gazpacho compliments of Mrs. Mary Ann Hays
FRANCE
Crepes By Suzette by Monica Wellington
Readers: Kaitlyn Lutes, Hilary Broton & Lennon Clemens
Advisor: Mrs. Shelly Tinlin, Minera High School
Crepes compliments of Chef Rick Stauffer
AFRICA
Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain by Vera Aardema
Read by Dawn Hoffmeyer
Fufu compliments of Mrs. Denise Stanley
For you are a Kenyan Child by Kelly Cunnane
Read by Jen Viola
Chepati compliments of Mrs. Ann Blackburn
GERMANY
Can you Guess the story?
(It was Sleeping Beauty this was not on the program)
Presented by the German Language Students of
Christian Home Educators Carroll, Columbiana & Stark Co-Op
Advisor: Mrs. Pam Hoffmeyer
Nutella & gummi candy compliments of Mrs. Sharon Morgenstern
Colorful travel posters compliments of Lisa & Kaitlyn Lutes
As people arrived I divided them into four groups around the room. Each group read their story and then had the opportunity to taste food from that culture. Then, I used a microphone to let people know it was time to go to their next story station. Each story was read four times. I allowed 12 minutes at each station. After listening to each story all four groups turned to watch the mystery play performed totally in German.
We counted 145 (some came who did not register) present for our fun evening celebrating National Library Week. I was very appreciative to all who did so much to make such a fun and exciting evening.
We also have students from the middle school who need somewhere to go after school so they come to the library. With these students we created flags and book marks of different countries using the almanac, encyclopedias and other books on world flags. We used the flags to decorate the department teen area and some the night of the program. We gave the book marks to the students who came to the library that week with their class. We read books about different places to our classes when they came to the library. It was a great week! - Louise Rose
Milton-Union Public
We decided to ask our patrons to celebrate NLW by celebrating exciting happenings in their lives, ie: by donating a new book or DVD in honor of someone's birthday, anniversary, graduation, etc. We also asked for donations of specific craft items for the children's summer reading program as well as used books, DVDs, and CDs for the Friends book sales. We requested bubble wrap, rubber bands and padded envelopes for our consortium shipping. And of course, we told our patrons that any monetary donations would help due to the $35,000 state budget cut for this year. We had previously received a donation of very nice bookmarks from a publishing company and we rewarded our donors with a bookmark for their contribution.
We were happy at the response and the many donations we received before, during and after the week. We got a lot of craft items, some monetary donations, a new DVD and several donations for our book sale that we were able to cull items for the collections. - Jeanette Dohner
Mount Sterling Public Library
The Mount Sterling Public Library partner with the Madison-Plains High School seniors and went to the elementary school in the school district. 29 seniors volunteered to read to younger students and talk about the importance of reading, libraries and working hard in school. Being a rural area, most childrens' first library experience is the school library. We partner with them to create a better learning environment and better students by providing library lessons to all students. - Heidi Fletcher
Mt. Gilead Public
Food for Fines - Monday
Tuesday: Lapsit, Book Chat, and Tea & Flower arranging programs were presented throughout the day
Family Night - Wednesday
100th Anniversary Celebration - Thursday (to read more see the State Librarian's visit journal)
Open House - Friday - The Genealogy Department held an Open House from at the Library Annex.
Saturday - Genealogy Program, First Families Luncheon, and History of Ice Cream Program
- Information from their website
North Baltimore Public
North Baltimore Public Library had a Plant a Seed ... READ theme for NLW. Seed packets were given away and the Children's Dept is had the kids plant some of them. When the plants are ready to be put outside they can come back and plant them at the library. - Lesley McKinstry
Rossford Public
Sunday, April 13th "Experiences as a WWII Nurse" - A talk presented by Rossford Resident Elsie Perch.
Monday, April 14th "Library Bingo" - Patrons were invited to play Bingo for library themed prizes such as coupons for free faxes, free copies and items at the book sale later in the week.
Tuesday, April 15th "Ronald McDonald Family Storytime" - Families could take pictures, listen to a story and see Ronald's magic show.
Wednesday, April 16th "It's in the Stars with Astrologer Janet Amid"
Guess Leared how birth date and time can affect your life and could get a free mini reading with Janet.
Thursday, April 17th "Hospitality Day" - Enjoy baked goods all day and a free flower to the first 50 patrons.
The Friends of the Library book sale was open to members of the Friends, beginning on Thursday. It was open to the public on Friday and Saturday. Full bags of bookscould be purchased for $3 on Sunday and on Monday, all items that were left were free.
Sabina Public
We participated in our County's program: Clinton County Reads which ended that week. This year's book was Tracy Kidder's MOUNTAINS BEYOND MOUNTAINS.
A panel discussion was held in Wilmington at the General Denver Hotel and the chef there prepared a menu featuring foods from Haiti. Our local book club also participated. This is the 3rd year we have done this and all hree county libraries and the local book store work on this endeavor.
At our library we featured Knock-Knock Jokes as April is also National Humor Month. Patrons were asked to fill in the blanks on a form for a Knock-Knock Joke and they were posted on the library doors.
We also gave out the free Harlequin Mystery & Romance books which did not arrive here in time for a Valentine's giveaway. - Bonnie G. Starcher
Salem Township Public
Salem Township Public Library had a circle of knowledge chain – people could design their own links in the chain, photos of locals reading were taken to be used for local celebrity reading posters, and other activities all week long. - Information from their website
St. Clairsville Public
St. Clairsville Public Library was really busy that week.
We had 6 class visits from the elementary school.
In the children’s department we had the following:
• Guess the number of jelly beans in the jar contest.
• Coloring page activities
• Guess how many items are in the children’s department contest
• Door prizes
For everyone
• Door prizes
Plastic book bags, book marks and stickers for the children at the check out desk.
We celebrated the completion of our interior renovations with an evening open house. Our program included the Mayor, President of one of the Rotary Clubs and the Board President as speakers Tours and demos of our newer formats and computers, door prizes, book signing by a local author and refreshments. We had a lot of fun and the community had a great time.
This is the first time we have really gone all out for our week. We also had loads of good PR with the newspaper. - Sheila Perkins
Stark County District
The Stark County District Library had best-selling and award-winning authors David Baldacci, Christopher Paul Curtis, and David Wiesner to our library in celebration of National Library Week. We held our second Novel Event: A Celebration of Authors on April 18 and 19, and celebrated with book talks and book signings by these three wonderful writers. - Linda Dahl
The St Paris Public
The St Paris Public Library collaborated with the Graham local Elem. School, Kiser Lake St Park and the PTO to have a reading night. We all entertained the children for a very successful evening devoted to reading. It gave the Library an early head-ups about summer reading program! - Nancy Stouder-McAlpin
Twinsburg Public
Here is what the Twinsburg Public Library did to celebrate National Library Week.
April 14th - Download Station Anniversary Event Patrons learned how to use the new Digital Library throughout our library consortium, CLEVNET. We also performed demonstrations of our circulating MP3 players, served refreshments, and held a drawing for a Creative Zen MP3 player.
April 16 - The Architecture of Iraq
Architect Edward Altmann presented a slideshow on the archaeology and architecture of Iraq.
April 18 - Coffee for a Cause 9
This annual event raises money for Akron's Aluminum Cans for Burned Children. Twinsburg's talented teens perform, act, and sing, and the Friends of the Library serve coffee and refreshments. This year, we announced the winners of our first annual Poetry and Short Story Contest, and the winners received their prizes at the event.
All programs were well-attended and well-received by our patrons! - Carolyn Dubiel
Way Public
A free Concert - Saturday kickoff – Perrysburg Symphony Chorale: Wit and Whimsy.
April 14-19 - Find the hungry caterpillar and pick up a book mark.
Topical Tuesdays: Ohio and NAFTA, 7 p.m. Two Bowling Green State University professors discussed the controversial topic of NAFTA’s impact on Ohio workers and trade.
Preschool Story Time - Wednesday
PBS-WBGU Program Club: 'Sick Around the World' - Thursday
FLASH: Egyptology - for children ages 7-10 - Thursday
Reel Art@Way foreign/art film series: “Divided We Fall” (Czech) - Friday
Wayne Public
Monday - Family Movie Night
Tuesday - Special story times for tots
Wednesday - Patron Appreciation Day-lots of giveaways and goodies
Saturday- YA Movie night
All Week - SRP Bookmark Contest-Everyone can vote on the bookmarks designed by students. We then use the bookmarks for SRP
Adult contest was Share a Recipe@your library. Recipes were submitted and we had a drawing for the winner. The prize was a cookbook. We then compiled all recipes and made a compilation to distribute to all participants.
We also had a Fine Free Week and a Mini book sale
Willard Memorial
We gave away teen planners (to the teens) which contained dates of upcoming programs that teens might be interested in. We showed the movie "The Librarian Quest for the Spear."
We had a coloring contest and gave away books as prizes.
We had a day where kids could drop in and make a bracelet, (circle of fun) a puzzle day, and then refreshment day. (cookies)." See program flyer- Cinda Bretz Wallace
Wornstaff
The Wornstaff Library had a program with James Willis, Ghosthunter. – Liz Barker
Worthington Public
Community Breakfast - Worthington Libraries held an event to celebrate the 50th anniversary of National Library Week this year—and the opening a new library.
Library Opening - Wednesday - the library opened its third location in the Worthington Park. The 5,280-square-foot library has a large children's collection, 29 computers for public use and popular titles for teens and adults.
If you would like to share your National Library Week celebration activities and ideas send email to: marshams@sloma.state.oh.us