Friends kick off book drive

LIBRARY v Brenda Lillich and Julia Kansas City, Kansas Public A summary of activities at the Kansas City, Kansas Public and School Libraries NEWS March 2005 Staff Activities Westhoff, Argentine, Megan Bannen, Joseph Greer, Kathryn Nelson, Katie Powers, and Kathleen Flanagan, West Wyandotte, and Susan Taylor, Lisa Gooden and Katherine Clark, Main, attended the Northeast Kansas Library System Summer Reading workshop on March 9 in Topeka. v Joseph Greer, Kathryn Nelson, and Katie Powers, West Wyandotte, and Tim Russell and Vickie McEnroe, Main, attended the KCMLIN Children’s Workshop on March 10. v Kathleen Flanagan, West Wyandotte, attended KLCY on March 4 in Wichita. The focus of the meeting was services to Kansas youth and how the state library system can better aid local libraries in meeting goals. R.U. ReadingSM greets his fans from Emerson Elementary at the Friends of the Library Book Drive kick off on March 22. v Linda Wolford and Justin Gifford, Main, attended Incorporating Outcomes into Library Measurement and Assessment on March 18. Speaker Julie Todaro, PhD., from Austin, Texas, was the presenter. She focused on how to set up a program or system using very specific parameters and narrowing one’s focus on outcomes that can be measured. Friends kick off book drive Friends of the Library joined the mayor, USD 500 School Board members, KCK Firefighters, library staff and students from Emerson Elementary to kick off the annual book drive on March 22 at the Argentine Fire Station. Attendees were entertained by accordionist Wally Drone before listening to comments by various officials. Mayor/CEO Carol Marinovich, who has attended all of the Friends Book Drive Kick Offs since she’s been in office, was presented with roses by Friends President Cindy Cash. Other speakers, in addition to the mayor, were KCK Fire Chief Tom DeKeyer, USD 500 School Board President Gloria Willis, and Library Director Charles Perdue. Students from Emerson Elementary enjoyed dancing with R.U. ReadingSM and refreshments supplied by the fire station. v Tim Russell, Main, attended a Youth Workers Alliance Meeting on March 4 and a Boys & Girls Club Teen Advisory Board meeting on March 8. KCK Fire Chief Tom DeKeyser speaks about the fire departments involvement in the book drive at the kickoff at Argentine Fire Station #7. Programming & Outreach Outreach West Wyandotte, led an inspira- Catch of the Day briefs v Sarah Bohndorf, tional book group at Open Door Baptist Church. The group met to discuss Redemption by Gary Smalley and Karen Kingsbury. v Brenda Lillich, Argentine, visited Our Lady of Unity kindergarten on March 8 for a St. Patrick’s Day storytime and made two storytime trips each to Douglas Heights and Bell Rose Manor Headstarts in March. Julia Westhoff, Argentine, visited Midland Trail Headstart twice for storytime in March. v Main Youth Services staff made 12 outreach visits and read stories to more than 300 children at Head Starts, Indian Springs Preschool, USD 500 Education Center Family Night, M.E. Pearson Elementary, McKinley Elementary, V. Lindsey and Turner House. Storytime themes were penguins, snowmen, boats, animals, bunnies, fairytales and retelling of traditional folktales. v v West Wyandotte Youth Service staff took outreach storytimes to the USD 500 Education Center, area Headstarts and Parents’ Day Out. v Megan Bannen, West Wyandotte, gave an introduction to Jane Austin’s Emma for the college bound class and a 90-minute book talk for the high school bound class at Good Shepherd Academy on March 8. She also did two booktalks at Eisenhower Middle School on March 23. Be on the look out for sharks at the West Wyandotte Library. Bruce the shark, one of the stars of the Disney/Pixar film "Finding Nemo" has landed in the children’s department at West. Bruce is a gift from Nebraska Furniture Mart. Their representatives are pictured posing with the shark statue along with Youth Services Supervisor Kathleen Flanagan. The large display required a furniture truck to deliver it and is already proving popular with the young visitors to the children’s department. It was camping time again at the Mr. & Mrs. F.L. Schlagle Library the week of March 14-17. Students enjoyed programs focusing on birds, recycled crafts, insects, reptiles and camping. The week long camps continue to be so successful that the staff is planning its first preschool camp, which will be offered in June and focus on awareness of the natural world. Above, spring break kids at the lake library study reptiles by viewing a snake skeleton. Near right, it is kinda yucky to study differences in amphibian and reptile eggs according to one young patron. Far right, spring break campers also made a buttonback turtle craft. Programming News c o m e s to A rg Comic book artist Anthony Oropeza brought his Amigoman program to Argentine Library on March 23. Oropeza spoke about being a comic book artist and his creation Amigoman. He then directed the children in trying their hand at drawing super heroes. Most of the students attending were from Emerson Elementary as the event was held on early dismissal day. Behind the Scenes SIRSI training and upgrade keep computer staff busy all school library circulation and staff workstations had to be upgraded. During the week of spring break and wrapping up on March 21, staff upgraded 43 workstations in the schools. Riley played host on March 23-25 for a SIRSI training class “iBistro Customization Workshop” in the Main Library Gates Lab. Others attending from KCKPL were Catharine Hendricks, Teresa Garrison, Dan Bentsch and Mike Fairley. Joining them were staff from the Kansas City (MO) Public Library, Dodge City Public Library and the Blue Valley School District. Riley said, “The SIRSI trainer was very good and we learned how to customize our online public catalog (iBistro) to make it easier for our patrons to use. Everyone has lots of ideas to implement!” March was a hectic month for computer services staff as they attended training, held training and upgraded the SIRSI Unicorn Integrated Library System to a new version. Dan Bentsch, Connie Riley, Mark Ingersoll and Teresa Garrison attended the SIRSI SuperConference in Nashville, Tenn. at the end of February. More than 1000 SIRSI users attended the event, which included sessions given by librarians and by SIRSI staff. KCKPL staff learned about new features to be available in future versions of the software and had the opportunity to share knowledge with other libraries. “The timing was perfect as we were preparing for our next upgrade in March. We picked up many pointers at the conference to help us in our upgrade and in our care and feeding of our system,” said Connie Riley, automation services supervisor. Staff upgraded the system on March 13. Benefits of the upgrade include improving display user by returning the browse user function, fixing a problem with fines in the schools and fixing the duplicate checking in registration of new users. “For the first time, we chose to allow check out during the upgrade process,” said Riley. Circulation staff was trained in a live test of StandAlone circulation before going live on Monday, March 14. “Fortunately, the upgrade went extremely well.” The upgrade was completed March 16. “This was record-breaking time,” said Riley. “In the past, it has taken at least a week to complete an upgrade.” Following the public library upgrade, Programming News Kids a Cookin’ Main Library’s Kids a Cookin’ programs continue to be popular with patrons....could it be the treats they learn to make? Below, 11 kids enjoyed learning the art of ice cream making on March 2 by mixing ingredients and shaking them in a bag filled with ice and rock salt. At right, kids learned how to make Shamrock Shakes on March 16. Both groups got to sample their creations! Staff t potligh S Y o u t h S e r v ic e s S u p e r v is o r and to tell them about the library. I even get to occasionally checkout Emerson students when their aide is absent, and I still pull books for the teachers,” she said. Lillich grew up in the Armourdale area of KCK and went to "old" John Fiske Elementary and then on to Central Junior High School. She attended Wyandotte High School one year and then transferred and graduated from "old" Argentine High School. She has one son, Justin who just turned 26 and will be married April 30. “Justin grew up in the library, coming to work with Mom a lot throughout summers. He established an early love for reading. His dream is to become an author and he is now working on his Master's in English,” Lillich said. Her hobbies are knitting, crocheting, counted cross-stitch, reading, attending movies and traveling. “I've been to 48 states and someday hope to get to Alaska and Hawaii,” she said. Assistant Director Teresa Garrison said, “Brenda is one of our most creative staff members, and many of her original craft creations are among the perennial list of web favorites” (on the KCKPL website). If you need an original craft idea, a fun-filled storytime or a recommendation for a good children’s book, look no further than Argentine Library’s Youth Services Supervisor Brenda Lillich. Lillich has been with the library for almost 20 years. She started out in a 20-hour position working for the public library and Emerson Elementary handling the checkout for the school. As the years passed her hours increased to full-time. For 12 years she did the Emerson checkout and was also the assistant in Youth Services. “I really enjoyed working with Emerson students and teachers. It was always a great feeling to drive by the playground and know every student's name outside. Now I have the pleasure of seeing students bring their own children in to show them where they came to get books when they were little and get them library cards,” she said. She has been youth services supervisor since 2000. As YS supervisor, Lillich has varied responsibilities including storytime and program planning, designing craft projects and bulletin boards and dis- Brenda Lillich as the Cat in the Hat at a March storytime plays, working on the YS website by contributing booklists, reviews, crafts, recipes, and puzzles, selecting materials for the library’s collection and making outreach visits in the Argentine service area. “I think the best part of my job is the variety of duties that I have. I never get bored. There are many creative aspects to my job which I love. Visiting locations in the service area for storytimes is a great way to introduce kids to books Programming News Spring Fever! There was much fun to be had at the library in March. Activities ran the gamut from storytimes to crafts to outdoor fun. At right, at the Easter/Spring storytime at Argentine, children competed against each other in the “ostrich egg” rolling contest. Below, Dr. Seuss was celebrated at West Wyandotte with Cat in Hat hat making and Dr. Seuss storytime presented by Kathryn Nelson. Above, kids enjoyed the warmer weather in the Rose Garden behind the Main Library at a March 23 Easter Egg hunt. Other activities on tap were stories and a special indoor hunt. Below left, public programs at the Mr. & Mrs. F.L. Schagle Library included crafts for both kids and adults. Adults enjoyed making nature-themed greeting cards and kids made spring wreaths. Programming News S c ie n c e W s c ie n c e a t t h e la k e e e k lib r a r y Students study macroinvertebrates from the Wyandotte County Lake. Middle School Science Week brought 433 students and 42 adults to the Mr. & Mrs. F.L. Schlagle Library on March 28-April 1. Students from Rosedale Middle, Eisenhower Middle, Coronado Middle, Turner Middle and Argentine Middle attended. Volunteers and staff offered six sessions for students to rotate through, including a break. Following completion of the morning activities, students enjoyed lunch in the park. Staff reports the event went very smoothly! Several changes were made from the inaugural event last year, including consolidating the event into a morning-only activity. Staff was also able to accommodate more student this year - 120 students compared to 90 last year. Among the topics covered were threatened and endangered species, animal classifications, tree tracking, macroinvertebrates, pond life under a microscope and reptiles. Many volunteers helped make the event a success. There were 14 student volunteers from Emporia State University who helped keep the event organized. Hours for outside volunteers during Middle School Science Week total 88 hours. Volunteer speakers, other than West Wyandotte and Schlagle library staff, donated 64 hours. Students learn how to make a slide to study pond life under a microscope in a class taught by Gary Andersen, USD 500. Alain Neeley-Huddlein, from Kansas Wildlife and Parks, talks about threatened and endangered species.