Friends Newsletter, December 2013

Above: FOCPL members got to have a sneak peak to the October 2013 Friends Book Sale at a special “Books and Nibbles” reception.

FOCPL Highlights for 2013 Raised funds to assist Library  $1,653 from Spring Book Sale  $1,797 from Fall Book Sale  As of October, $1,897 from ongoing sale  As of October, $2,534 from memberships

Donated $16,372 to the Library for the

following:

 $200—Collection Development (Children’s Department) Library Strategic Plan Made Official by Lucinda Munger, OCPL Director

November 5, 2013 was a milestone in OCPL history as the library’s first-ever strategic plan was approved by the Board of County Commissioners.

The year-long process that concluded with the plan’s adoption was made possible by the work and input of many dedicated and passionate people in our wonderful community.

Though we celebrated the plan being made official, the real work and fun before us now is putting the plan into action!

With this strategic plan, OCPL has new vision, mission and values statements.

Our vision articulates what success will look like in the future.

Continued on Page 2…

We empower people by providing

 $14,615—Library Equipment and Furnishings (including RFID self-checkout on second floor of library)  $757—Programs (Summer Reading Prizes)  $800—Staff Development (supplementary funds for staff to attend professional conferences)

Hosted a Staff Appreciation Breakfast in April.

 In addition to delicious home-made dishes, staff received a gift card and a number of them won raffle items.

Assisted the Library in development of its firstever Strategic Plan.

Hosted a delightful “Books and Nibbles” reception / sneak peak prior to the fall book sale.

Continued on Page 2…

a place and a face to explore, enjoy, and engage.

Our mission statement reflects the commitment we are making to the residents of Orange County.

The Orange County Public Library aims to be the heart of the community

by:

 Being a welcoming gathering place for all  Having a clear focus on the future and responding with creativity and innovation  Offering relevant services, programs, collections and technologies  Serving the entire community through collaborative efforts with organizations, educational institutions, and town and County governments

FOCPL HIGHLIGHTS 2013

Continued from front page Celebrated a successful year with John Bemis as the featured speaker at the FOCPL Annual Meeting.

Co-Sponsored:

 a well-attended talk by Jill McCorkle  an informative talk by Debra Fletcher Mello  an exciting panel of children’s authors to launch the 2013 Summer Reading Program  a National Novel Writers Month program with Barbara Davis

Represented the Friends at the Northern Orange Community Resource Fair in September.

Published three information-rich issues of Friends’ Matters.

Photos: Invited guests browsed items on sale and snacked at the October 2013 Book Sale Sneak Peak “Books and Nibbles” reception.

LIBRARY STRATEGIC PLAN

Continued from front page Bill Barrows Coordinator, Spring and Fall  Providing free and equal access to the Book Sales resources and materials community members need to be informed and engaged

To realize our vision and fulfill our mission, the following values are the beliefs that unite and inspire us in our daily service to Orange County.

1. Commitment to Public Service

Providing a well-trained, enthusiastic staff that delivers superior customer service and responds to patron needs 2. Inclusiveness

Serving the entire community through diverse resources and programs 3. Fostering Fun and Lifelong Learning

Offering engaging, excellent programs and services, and promoting literacy and educational opportunities 4. Collaboration

Accomplishing more together with partners working toward common goals 5. Respect

Practicing kindness, promoting open dialogues and creating an environment of encouragement Robin Bedingfield Secretary Marcia Cameron Coordinator, Ongoing Book Sale Janet L. Flowers President Sandy Gerstner Treasurer Chris Holaday Coordinator, Spring and Fall Book Sales Erin Hils Shepherd Vice President and Membership Chair Laura Simmons Member, Ongoing Book Sale Mark Smith Treasurer-Elect Lucinda Munger Library Director, ex officio The plan identifies four strategic priorities to be undertaken by OCPL in the next three years. These strategic priorities

are:

 Library Collections and Materials  Community Connections Andrea Tullos Assistant Library Director, ex officio

 Service and Community Space  Technology Tools and Training

Each priority is comprised of specific focus areas with related action steps. To view t h e f u l l p l a n , p l e a s e v i s i t www.orangecountync.gov/library/ strategicplan.asp

In order to be transparent with the community and library customers, a timeline of all strategic plan activities is posted on the OCPL strategic plan website. The community may track our progress as projects are undertaken and completed in support of the strategic plan.

Extensive metrics are incorporated into the plan so that meaningful measurements of our efforts are taken. Feedback from the community and library stakeholders is another important, qualitative measurement tool the library will use to evaluate the success of our strategic plan.

In the next three years—and beyond— customers will see Orange County Public Library change in significant ways. Core aspects of the library that make it a cherished institution will be maintained, but we will be open to new approaches, technologies and priorities.

Though we have come a long way, this plan is a commitment to providing even better and more relevant library services to the people of Orange County. I anticipate looking back at this plan in three years with a sense of pride in what can be accomplished through collaboration, innovation, creativity and hard work.

Youth Services gearing up for fall programming by Debbie, Mary, and Kim, Youth Services The

OCPL

Youth Services department received a generous $200 donation from Pat Gerstner and the Eaton Corporation this fall.

With this contribution, we were able to purchase educational beanbag toys and three animal puppets to incorporate into our story times for young children.

purchased with this donation support talking, reading and playing, by incorporating beanbag toss activities into our programs, as well as enhancing storytelling with the use of puppets.

Fall youth programming at

OCPL

concluded on November 21.

The Tiny Tots and The goal of Youth Services at the library is to provide fun and educational programs for all ages, and our story times, for children ages 0-5, have a strong emphasis on early literacy skills.

We recently introduced Every Child Ready to Read, a researched-based philosophy, into our story times here at the library.

This philosophy supports the five essential prereading practices of talking, singing, reading, writing and playing.

The items ATS bids farewell to staff member, announces author event by Anne Pusey, Head of Adult & Teen Services The Adult and Teen Services Department had a busy fall, chock full of fun library events including a teen Halloween party (written up in the Durham Herald-Sun!), the FOCPLsponsored Barbara Davis author talk on November 7, and International Games Day (and video game drive kick-off) on November 16.

Last month also saw the launch of our new resumereview service, which is held every other Sunday from 2-4 p.m. in the Group Study Room.

spending time outside the library as well, attending several Orange County Schools events, the N o r t h e r n O r a n g e Community Resource Fair, and hosting two classes at the Central Orange Senior Center. These community events allow us to reach and introduce more people to the library!

T h e

A T S

Department said goodbye to a longtime

OCPL

employee in October.

Elizabeth Allen, technology w i z a n d t e a c h e r extraordinaire, headed west ATS staff have been

 Tuesday, December 3 Preschool story times, as well as Kids Explore and Kids Discover programs for school-age children, were all well attended. Thank you for coming out and having fun at OCPL!

at 3:30 p.m. – Marv is back with stories, songs, dancing and games to celebrate Jewish heritage!

All ages are welcome and no registration is required to join in for this 45-minute program.

 Saturday, December 14 We will take a few weeks off to plan for our winter session, which begins January 7, 2014. In the meantime, special family events planned for

December include:

at 2:00 p.m. – Join Conductor Steve on the Arctic Express, as he takes us on a magical 45-minute train ride around the world to learn about winter festivals.

All ages welcome and no registration is needed.

Also, be sure to visit the Youth Services area this month and see decorations from popular children’s holiday books.

We would like to thank the Hillsborough Garden Club for sponsoring and coordinating our festive displays.

Above: Head of Youth Services Debbie Shreve accepts donation of $200 from Pat Gerstner and the Eaton Corporation to assist in purchasing educational story time materials.

to work in the flagship AnyThink library in Colorado.

We miss her greatly but wish her well in her new adventures.

Barbara Davis, James Maxey, and Barbara Claypole White, who will read original works and discuss books as gifts.

Looking forward, we have several fun events planned to celebrate the holiday season.

And, on December 15, our brand new movie club will debut with a holiday-themed pick. Join us for a movie and conversation, led by a local movie critic.

O u r c o m p u t e r classes continue in December, with a different topic every Monday evening from 6-7:30 p.m. Join us on December 2 to learn photo editing with a seasonal twist – make a personalized holiday card for your family!

F o r m o r e information on these programs and for our complete listing of events, see our online events c a l e n d a r a t www.orangecountync.gov/ library.

On December 12 at 6:30 p.m. we will welcome local authors Anne Clinard Barnhill, Natania Barron,

A letter of thanks from a friend, to the FOCPL My husband and I moved from Chapel Hill to an area south of Hillsborough about 13 years ago. I don’t recall exactly when we started visiting the Orange County Public Library, but I am sure that I presumed up until that point that I would not need another library, as I had access to the Chapel Hill Public Library, and to UNC’s libraries, and was very familiar with them, checking out about 8 books at a time from each. At some point, perhaps about 5-7 years ago (but this is very fuzzy) we visited the Orange County library, and found a new library home.

Even though UNC’s collections are enormous, I often find it better to browse through the more focused collections here, and can easily find books that are extremely helpful both to me and to my graduate students, as well as the recently published books that I read about in newspaper and magazine reviews.

When I can, I love to be able to hide from the day and just read magazines—I am already planning on having specific days or times to do that when I retire—right now I just work it in here and there as a treat. It’s much better than standing at magazine displays.

My husband comes regularly to check out a single detective novel at a time, and then visit again in a few days to return it and get another. But he also gets DVDs and is looking forward to using Ancestry.com. In contrast, my common pattern is to get a bunch of different kinds of books at a time– then I end up needing to renew online. However, that is incredibly easy, and greatly appreciated. I also think the two-renewal limit is sensible, to keep books in circulation. We also enjoy the fancy new check-out system, though as ‘golden oldies’ we needed a bit of guidance when we started. Everything in the library is designed to be as easy to use as possible, and the library staff are always so helpful, that it is both relaxing and invigorating to be there.

We both have greatly enjoyed the book sales, finding treasures for our young grandson, books for ourselves, and virtually new books that we have given as either “presents” or “loans” depending on the book and the recipient. Recently, I was lucky enough to find a very good copy of the cookbook that my mother had given me 40+ years ago that is now out of print. I gave that one from the sale to my own daughter, who was somewhat familiar with its recipes, to use for her own family—she thought it was great that I could still find it. She appreciates the point of having a reference, even though her natural tendency now is to just look online. And in addition to finding our own treasures, it was great fun at our latest sale to see how excited the children were with their “free” books that they chose themselves. Certainly, at the going price of $4 for an entire grocery bag full of books, all the individual ones would be close to “free” but there was something very special about the “free” ones.

I especially appreciate the fantastic children’s collection, and how welcoming the library is to children—too many in my past seemed to focus more on “shushing” than sharing the love of books. I still remember getting to walk to the library myself as a very young child (it was very, very near where we lived) and having my own library card. My family owned a limited number of children’s books, but we all had access to everything we could want at the library. Our own daughter had many, many more books, including quite a few favorites that we obtained from library sales where we lived in Canada, and then in Chapel Hill. And in keeping with our family tradition, some of our 18-month-old grandson’s favorites are from the Hillsborough library sales; I have more books from those sales still waiting for him to grow into them.

So thanks so much, FOCPL, for helping to create such a wonderful environment for books, and the people who love them. Barbara Davis Goldman, Ph.D.

FOCPL COMMITTEES 2013: Thank You For Your Service!

COMMITTEE

MEMBERS

CHAIR

BOOK SALE

Various Bill Barrows Chris Holaday

BUDGET PROPOSAL

Laura Simmons Andrea Tullos Erin Shepherd

BYLAWS

Marcia Cameron Laura Simmons Robin Bedingfield

FINANCIAL REVIEW

Janie Morris Marvin Teer Mark Smith

MEMBERSHIP

Erin Shepherd Editor: Chris Holaday Designer: Joshua Walker Janet Flowers

NEWSLETTER

NOMINATING

Robin Bedingfield Mark Smith Erin Shepherd Bill Barrows Sandy Gerstner Laura Simmons

ONGOING BOOK SALE

STAFF APPRECIATION

Robin Brown Janet Flowers Erin Shepherd

Janet Flowers (1st issue) Sara Levinson Marcia Cameron

The Board wants to thank the members listed below for their support and efforts during 2013. Your membership is important to us and we hope that you will continue your association with FOCPL in 2014.

Last Name, First Names

Barker, Larry & Sally Barrows, Bill & Karen A.

Baumann, Carl & Susan Bergen, Roberta Beveridge, Pam Blythe, Beverly A. & Wesley W.

Boatwright, Phyllis A.

Bohannon, Cecil L. & Marilyn E.R.

Booth, Carey Brown, Thomas L. & Robin C.

Brown, Judy Burton, Ann & Jim Butler, Brian Callhan, Marc & Dail Cameron, Tom & Marcia Caton, Barbara Clark, Jane A.

Cleary, Charlie, Martha & Erma Coffey, Gloria Condon, Patricia Cooley, Gail Cotterman, Laura & John Cox, Edwin Crandall, Nick & Jane Crandell, Brian & Jamie Croner, Elizabeth Crovitz, Elaine Culp, Bartow Currie, Peggy Dorsi, Ted, Tracy, Evan & Halman, Olivia Hardy, Charles, & Holdiness, Matt Holaday, Chris Holler, Mary V. (Ginger) & Don Shannon Dry, Kristi Dyer, Elizabeth Dyer, Stuart Ehrenhaft, Henry Eidenier, Jerry & Betty Ellington, Richard Esch, Gwyn Fan, Cheng Fettig, Art Elizabeth, Elizabeth J. (Bess) Flowers, Ed & Janet Friends of Carrboro Libraries Gaede, Jane Gamble, Stacey Garland, Jim & Florence Gerstner, Patrick L. & Sandra L.

Goldman, Barbara & Jerome Graham, Lori Grandstaff, John, Sigi, Ray & Nick Habeck, Elizabeth Hailey, Edward Macaulay, John D.

Mack, Gregory H. & Karen Manley, Ann Manwaring, Jim & Kathy Marshall, Ralph Marsosudiro, Gloria Matheson, Elizabeth Mayhew, A. J. & Margot, Jean-Michel McDonald, Brian & Linden McIrvin, Tim Mellendorf, Brian & Karen Moore, Rosetta A.

Morris, Janie & Jerry Most, Marguerite Newsome, Tom & Sue Norwood, Mike Parker, Lionell Parsley, Jim & Carolyn Pelissier, Bernadette & Bennett, Vann Peter, Robert & Mary Ann Pinnell, Lynette Polewka, David

Polito, Jessica Ponder, Kathleen & Gerald Rafalow, Lee & Trish Rand, Penny & Pockney, Matthew & Basnight Hunter, Frank & Millie Hutchins, R. W. & M. L.

Irving, Brian & Lauren Johnston, Cory Joseph, Michael C.

Kaufmann, Jesse Susan Kenyon, Amy Knight, Allison Hope, Joel, Linda & Joey Kren, Dan Lamb, Dee Anne & Wilson Lamont, Barry M., M.D.

Levinson, Sara & Amador, Paco Little, Jacqueline Lloyd, Evelyn P.

K.B.

Reid, Holly & Shaw, Rich Reid, Tori Williams Reid, William & Gwenyth Roberts, John & Alexandra Roush, Edward Royce, Rachel Russell, Rollin & Betsy Rzeszotarski, David Saaremaa, Linda Salvi, Sarojni D.

Schmid, Judy Schmoock, Lynn Scolnik, Patricia Sebesan, Ann Shepherd, Erin H., Jason &

Jacob Shortley, Vanessa Sickbert, Virginia (Ginger) Sikes, Kristin Simmons, Davy & Kristen Simmons, Laura & Richard Sinquefield, Mona & George Smith, Lee Smith, Mark Stevens, Tom & Simmers,

Debbie Strayhorn, Helen M.

Swanhart, Shelley L.

Swinford, Helen Taft, Susanne R.

Teer, Marvin Terry, Joan Torain, Yolanda Tordi, Anne M.

Tozzolina, Kate & Frank Tully, Thomas, Rev.

Utsey, Thomas L.

Vergara, Susanna M.

Walker-Sykes, Kelley M.

Wallace, Barrie & Andy Walters, Louie M. & Nancy H.

Weakly, Sandra Weaks, Wendy & James Wheeler, Sharon W.

Whitmore III, John & Sharon Wiley, Mary Williams, Judith Wolf, Gretchen & Deter, Daniel Young, Perry

Book Club Update by Sara Levinson, FOCPL Newsletter Chair The Orange County Public Library Book Club meets the second Tuesday of every month. The books that will be read and discussed are chosen every six months or so, and the whole membership both proposes the books and votes for them. Everyone is welcome. The meetings are held in the meeting room in the Orange County Public Library at 6:30 and generally last until 7:30 or 7:45.

The Way Through the Woods: an Inspector Morse Mystery by Colin Dexter. It was described by Yngvild, on the Amazon website in the following words, “The Way Through the Woods is a classic Inspector Morse murder mystery. We have Morse’s drinking problems, his overt and inevitably doomed attempts at wooing the female characters, and his beetling down every wrong track he can find until he triumphantly identifies the killer. Colin Dexter’s novel is held together by a mysterious poem that is sent anonymously to the Times, presumably by the killer of a backpacking Swedish student.

Morse’s devious mind unravels the clues in the poem one by one – with the help of erudite and eccentric Times letterwriters.” The title comes from Rudyard Kipling’s poem The Way through the Woods.

The December selection, as usual, is a holiday book, and we will be enjoying a holiday party while we discuss it. This year we will be reading A Redbird Christmas by Fannie Flagg. The review on

Amazon reads as follows:

“Deep in the southernmost part of Alabama, along the banks of a lazy winding river, lies the sleepy little community known as Lost River, a place that time itself seems to have forgotten. After a startling diagnosis from his doctor, Oswald T. Campbell leaves behind the cold and damp of the oncoming Chicago winter to spend what he believes will be his last Christmas in the warm and welcoming town of Lost River. There he meets the postman who delivers mail by boat, the store owner who nurses a broken heart, the ladies of the Mystic Order of the Royal Polka Dots Secret Society, who do clandestine good works.

And he meets a little redbird named Jack, who is at the center of this tale of a magical Christmas when something so amazing happened that those who witnessed it have never forgotten it.” Weather and rain have undone it again,

And now you would n e v e r k n o w

There was once a road through the woods

Before they planted the trees.

The month of February will be Readers’ Choice. This is when each person shares a book or two that he or she has been reading.

The club then assembles the list of books it will be voting on for the coming months. If you have some books you’d like to share with other book lovers, and are anxious to hear what they have been reading, you will really enjoy Reader’s Choice.

The January book is

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“I have always imagined that Paradise will be some kind of library.” “The death of a library, any library, suggests that the community has lost its soul.” – Jorge Luis Borge – Kurt Vonnegut “Some say life is the thing, but I prefer reading.” “Our libraries are not cloisters for an elite. They are for the people, and if they are not used, the fault belongs to those who do not take advantage of their wealth.” – Ruth Rendell “People want to know why I do this, why I write such gross stuff. I like to tell them I have the heart of a small boy – and I keep it in a jar on my desk.” – Louis L’Amour – Stephen King “Access to knowledge is the superb, the supreme act of truly great civilizations. Of all the institutions that purport to do this, free libraries stand virtually alone in accomplishing this mission.” “I always tell people that I became a writer not because I went to school but because my mother took me to the library. I wanted to become a writer so I could see my name in the card catalog.” – Sandra Cisneros Contributed by Roberta Lloyd, Head of Technical Services Department – Toni Morrison