FOL Newsletter

Friends of the Library Newsletter

We welcome Jeannette Lasansky as our new editor.
She has been the author or editor since the 1970's for 16 books (four winning national books awards) on rural crafts, history as recorded in real photo postcards, and most recently; Island Saltwater Farms:Farming on Vinalhaven 1820-1960. She has executed multi-media work for historical societies and colleges, as well as board leadership for different countywide non-profit organizations for over 30 years.

NEWSLETTER
Volume 9 FRIENDS of the VINALHAVEN PUBLIC LIBRARY Spring/Summer 2008

Who Done It?

    Faith Fairchild, an amateur detective and wife of a minister, is the central character in a series of award-winning mysteries: Body in the Bog, …in the Kelp, and …in the Vestibule. Come hear Faith’s creator Katherine Hall Page along with other mystery writers Frankie Bailey, and Julia Spenser-Fleming talk about their craft and characters in the series of programs brought to Vinalhaven by the Friends of the Library.

    Katherine-Page Hall publishes nearly one mystery every year and has won three Agatha Awards: for best first novel, best novel, and best short story. Her fellow mystery writer, Frankie Y. Bailey writes mysteries based on her knowledge of criminal history and the criminal justice system as Bailey is a professor of criminology at the University of Albany (New York) and has taught there since 1990. Lizzie Stuart often is center stage in Bailey’s mysteries. She also writes non-fiction.

    The third mystery author that will be part of the July program: Sisters in Crime, is Julia Spencer-Fleming who is a Maine author of mysteries and also a winner of many awards, As NY Times reviewer Tess Gerritsen notes of All-Mortal Flesh; “All Mortal Flesh has hooked me once again on the world of Miller's Kill. Spencer-Fleming's novel is richly peopled and carefully crafted to provide one shock after another. How can something so dark be so delicious?”

    The world of writing and books will come alive as these authors speak, even though more than the average number of subjects will be dead or dying. For those who do not read mysteries, come find out what all the excitement is about. Also check out the full program schedule in this newsletter and post for summertime fun and education. Please come out to all you can.

    GREETINGS from FRIENDS CO-CHAIR: Helen & Philip Greven

    Spring Greetings from your Co-Chairs who have survived an easy winter here in Pennsylvania. There are definite signs of spring, but it has been steadily cool, which should make for good blossoms and flowers in a couple of weeks. We have followed the news of Vinalhaven's winter with great admiration for your hardy spirits. Let's hope for several beautiful summer months, with lots of appreciation from the summer people for our lovely library extension and all the hard work from staff and volunteers who make the library and Second Hand Prose so special. We expect to spend a week in May opening the house and starting the garden, and then coming to the island the first week of June. We are trying to entice our children and three grandchildren (twin boys of 15 months and a grandaughter of 18 months) to visit this summer. We were all together at Easter, which was great fun. We can't wait to be back on Vinalhaven again, and look forward to our times together this summer. Best wishes to everyone!

    The Librarian’s Report by Valerie Morton
    We are still fine tuning. Bob Tuminsky has been here to install window locks and trim on the office counter tops, Erin Creelman to tighten up the old windows and reset the strike on the old front door, Tom Andrews to move the thermostat and clean the furnace, Andy Creelman to fix the book drop and other assorted odds and ends and oversee everything (the new storm windows are being installed), and of course Randy Pitts, our computer tech, who is here within minutes of any problem, to keep this little library the best it can be. We really appreciate all of their hard work.
    Linda Whittington Ames (who I now refer to as my “Right Hand Woman”) joined the library staff last April. She is 100% all of the time and a great asset to us. All of our interlibrary loans are now on an Excel spreadsheet thanks to her and her hard work in all areas makes everything run more smoothly. I am very happy to be working with her.
    We would like to thank Marcia Davis who has been tramping through the awful snow and sleet all winter to read on Wednesdays to the Nursery School and on Saturdays during Story Time. For those of you who don’t know, Marcia was our island kindergarten teacher for 25 years. She taught for 2 years and then left to raise her family. When her children went to school, she went back and taught for another 23 years. Most of the parents of the story time children were pupils of hers.
    I have been busy filling out Town and State reports. The most important ones being: the Library Budget, E-rate, which provides us with free internet access, The State Annual Report, and a Technology Report which I wouldn’t have been able to get through without Randy’s help. I swear a lot under my breath, but fortunately, Linda is the only one who can hear me and all she does is laugh.
    People have asked me how and why I choose the books I do. I have to admit that a lot of it is guess work. I do have a lot of options to choose from, New York Times Book Review, American Library Association, New York Review of Books, YALSA (Young Adult Library Association), Baker & Taylor, Borders Books, School Library Journal, Amazon.com and every other web site I can get on to, just to mention a few, and of course, Patron recommendations. The trick is to order the books before they become best sellers. Sometimes this even means ordering them before they are published. Yes, I have ordered a few clunkers (let’s not dwell on those) but on the whole, I think I’m doing OK.
    Due to printing deadlines, I am writing this report in February. In spite of the weather, we are averaging between 39 and 45 patrons a day. Not included in the count are the Knitters who meet here once a week and The Vinalhaven Players and Fog Gallery who meet once a month. Jeff Aronson organized a reading group “on books that made a difference,” using the Friends’meeting room once a week for five weeks.
    From December 1, 2007 until February 7, 2008 (just over 2 months) we checked out 1, 875 items. This gives you and idea of how popular our library is.

    Reading as a Sharing, Started When Young by Jeannette Lasansky
    Books for Babies

    To develop a love of books and create the “time together” interaction between generations that comes with a toddler’s reading, is what excites Maggie Olson, who heads the Friends of the Library’s “Books for Babies” initiative. A book enthusiast since early childhood, Maggie sought support for the program about six or seven years ago and was given the “go-ahead” by the Friends. She is a confirmed believer there should be books everywhere one is or goes: in your room, the living room, the kitchen; in the car, ready for a ride on the ferry—always there to be picked up and enjoyed—not just for bedtime reading.
    A packet that is the core of the “Books for Babies” program is the way parents and their babies, then toddlers, can come to embrace the joy shared through and the information provided by books.
    One might ask what is entailed in “Books for Babies”?
    Every year Maggie contacts Maine’s Department of Human Resources to get the names and addresses of the babies born to Vinalhaven residents — usually from 6-18 babies a year. The program she buys the packet materials from is “Books for Babies” of the national Friends of Libraries U.S.A. She orders enough packets from the national organization, wraps, and mails them to the baby’s parents.
    The packets include a pamphlet put out by the National Association for the Education of Young Children entitled Raising a Reader/Raising a Writer, sixteen pages of sensitive and suggestive possibilities in exposing the world of books to children. Principles such as choosing books with care , surrounding children with reading material, and understanding the purpose of “reading it again and again.” A wonderful booklet in the packet is Babies Love Books: A Guide for Grownups that is illustrated here. The booklet appeals to the child in us. And, there is a bib that declares “Books are for Babies” and, of course, there is the babies first board book and a library card!
    “Books for Babies” is wonderful program we support through our Friends of the Library budget. Thank you Maggie for sharing your enthusiasm for books with new generations of Vinalhaven babies and their parents.

    Be A Friend
    During the Library Addition Campaign we have sent the FOL Newsletter to everyone who made a donation. Starting with the Fall/Winter issue, it will be sent only to members. We invite you to continue to support the Vinalhaven Library by joining the Friends of the Library. For 2008 it is $10 individual membership, $25 family membership, $50 for a Patron and $100 for a Sponsor. If sometime in the past you paid for a lifetime membership we invite you to now become a 2008 Patron or Sponsor or make a donation. There is a form on the last page. Not sure if you have already paid? Check the label. If the label has a 08 (individual), 08F (family) or * (lifetime) after your name, your dues are paid for 2008.

    Join us in the Friends Reading Room at the Library
    on the 3rd Thursday of each month at 9 a. m.

    FYI:
    Erin Creelman coordinated efforts between Friends of the Library and the Vinalhaven Schools to present Kevin Hawkes on May 8th while Carl and Margaret Englehart hosted a documentary on artist and book illustrator Rockwell Kent this past winter which we hope can be seen again in the summer. Watch for an announcement in The Wind.
    ARE YOU HAVING A HARD TIME PICKING OUT A CHILDREN’S BOOK?
    Look inside this binder to find out what other kids are reading.

    DID YOU READ OR HAVE A BOOK READ TO YOU THAT YOU WOULD LIKE TO REVIEW?
    Ask the librarian for a blank review sheet and fill it out. When you have your review completed give it to the librarian to be added to this binder!

    REVIEW A BOOK !
    (1 STAR = I WOULDN’T RECOMMEND, 5 STARS = I’D REALLY RECOMMEND!)

    Your First Name and Age:
    Book Title:
    Author:
    Illustrator:

    Write one or two Sentences about the book Below, OR DRAW A PICTURE

    Volunteers Extraordinaire: Ginny and Dick Fitts by June MacDonald

    Longtime members of the Friends, Ginny and Dick are always willing to help when needed. Not only for the library, they both work on The Wind (Ginny in production and Dick on distribution) and deliver Meals on Wheels with a smile and a few minutes of conversation—all greatly appreciated. You see them helping at the Pet Show, taking someone to the mainland to see a doctor or raising a greenhouse. Both graduates of the University of New Hampshire, it is hard to think of one without the other. Although there are a few volunteer activities they do separately. Dick mans the “coke machine” at the ferry building for the Lions and was a vital member of the grant committee when the Friends were raising money for the addition. Ginny is past treasurer and past corresponding secretary of the Friends. Enjoyment of books and libraries and volunteering came early for Ginny. She worked in the UNH library when in college and has volunteered throughout the years as their children were growing up. Dick came to be a serious volunteer later in life after his work-life as an engineer. They enjoy island life whether working in Puerto Rico or living and volunteering in Vinalhaven.

    And what would Second-Hand Prose be without them? For the past four years Ginny has managed the Friends bookstore with her assistant Dick. More than 11,000 books were donated to Second-Hand Prose last year that had to be priced and put on shelves in the proper area. Customers coming into the store often remark on how well organized the books are, how welcoming the store is, and how helpful the staff is. While not only keeping the bookstore looking great, Ginny also keeps it running smoothly with over 25 year-round and seasonal volunteers as staff that she has to keep organized and happy. Dick handles the receipts of the bookstore and is an expert at pricing and shelving books. Under their care Second-Hand Prose, established in 2001, had its second best year in 2007. Indeed, they are volunteers extraordinaire.

    Coming Events Not to be missed!

    June 1st 7 PM at the Library “To Sweden with Love” a repeat of last year’s popular slide presentation that gave all a feeling of Vinalhaven’s ties to Sweden as well as the tale of the personal journey that we all might take when trying to find family. Jeannette Lasansky takes us along on her search for and the ultimate finding of her Swedish relatives including the return to the family farm last June. The journey will take you to historic sites, out in Stockholm’s archipelago, and more. All that is missing is the food! Jeannette the author of over a dozen books including, Saltwater Farms/Farming on Vinalhaven 1820-1960.

    • July 12th 10 AM at the Library "Bug Zoo," a children’s program with wildlife educator Tony Sohns. “Bug Zoo” is a close-up, hands-on look at insects: from pollinators to dung beetles — bugs which help make our planet a better place to call
”home.” Here’s your chance to hug a hissing cockroach, get a massage from a 250-legged giant millipede or just enjoy one of the most engaging — and instructive — science programs ever.

    • July 17th 7 PM at the Library will be a talk and book signing by Nancy Harmon Jenkins master cook and cook book author of Flavors of Puglia and of The Mediterranean Diet Cook Book. Ms. Jenkins writes for the magazine, Food & Wine as well as The New York Times, spends her year divided between coastal Maine and Cortona, Italy. Her program will wet your appetite.

    • July 30th 7 PM at Smith-Hokanson Memorial Hall in the VH School “The Sisters in Crime.” Award-winning mystery writers Katherine Hall Page, Frankie Bailey, and Julia Spenser- Fleming will give us rousing entertainment and secrets of the genre. Did you know that in 1986, women wrote 40% of the mysteries and garnered 15% of the reviews in the New York Times? Sisters in Crime was founded in part "… to promote the professional advancement of women who write mysteries." Sisters in Crime are mystery authors, agents, booksellers, editors, librarians, critics, and readers and the New England Chapter has 150 members. If you like mysteries (who doesn’t?!), this program is a must.

    • August 15th 7 PM at the Library will be Jeff Dobbs, a graduate of Emerson College, with a BS in Mass Communications, a still photographer from 1973-1981 before creating Jeff Dobbs Productions which is now a full production house, producing documentaries some of which have aired on PBS. These have included: Gift of Acadia, Maine - America's Coast, High on Maine, and Light Spirit: Lighthouses of the Maine Coast, all narrated by Jack Perkins as well as Wild Maine with Jennifer Skiff of CNN. Jeff has done work for the McNeil/Lehrer News Hour, A&E's Biography series, ABC, CBS, NBC, and CNN. He is a member of the Maine Film Commission since 1988 and a past chairman. Jeff resides in Bar Harbor.

      Friends of the Vinalhaven Public Library
      P.O. Box 223
      Vinalhaven, ME 04863
      www.vinalhavenpubliclibrary.org

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