Category: Events & Activities

The State Library of Kansas is proud to announce the 2023 Kansas Notable Books list. This year’s list of Kansas Notable Books continues the tradition of celebrating the rich stories and vibrant spirit of the state.

“The authors of the 2023 Kansas Notable Books not only help us gain a deeper understanding of our world but also encourage empathy for others and reflection on our own life experiences,” State Librarian Ray C. Walling said. “Written by Kansans or about Kansas and Kansans, these fifteen books explore wanderlust, transformative collaboration, hidden struggles, inspiring resilience, and the power of love.”

This is the 18^th year for the program, which identifies 15 books published the previous calendar year highlighting Kansas literature, authors, and all things Kansas.

2023 Kansas Notable Books list

Cabby Potts, Duchess of Dirt by Kathleen Wilford, Blue Bronco Books

Easy Beauty: A Memoir by Chloe Cooper Jones, Simon & Schuster

Hell’s Half-acre: The Untold Story of the Benders by Susan Jonusas, Viking

Justa’s Escape: A Journey from WWII Ukraine by Justina Neufeld with Russell Binkley, Wipf and Stock

Kansas Speaks Out: Poems in the Age of Me, Too by Dennis Etzel, Jr and Jericho Hockett, An Actual Kansas Press

Letters to Martin: Meditations on Democracy by Randal Maurice Jelks, Lawrence Hill Books

The Monster’s Bones: The Discovery of T. Rex and How It Shook Our World by David K. Randall W. W. Norton & Company

Native American Stories for Kids: 12 Traditional Stories from Indigenous Tribes Across North America by Tom Pecore Weso, Rockridge Press

A New Guide to Kansas Mushrooms by Sherry Kay, Benjamin Sikes, and Caleb Morse, University Press of Kansas

Nothing but the Dirt: Stories from an American Farm Town by Kate Benz, University Press of Kansas

One Boy Watching by Grant Snider, Chronicle Books

River of the Gods: Genius, Courage, and Betrayal in the Search for the Source of the Nile by Candice Millard, Doubleday

The Undead Truth of Us by Britney S. Lewis, Hyperion

The Vagabond’s Way: 366 Meditations on Wanderlust, Discovery, and the Art of Travel by Rolf Potts, Random House

Winfield’s Walnut Valley Festival by Seth Bate, The History Press

copied from kslib.info

Where has this month gone? Summer sure was fun at the library and we are looking forward to some more fun this fall. Before we get to that though we need to say thanks to some businesses who helped us have a successful summer reading program. Thank you to Cornerstone Coffee Haus for the drinks to go along with those fun swirly straws, to Sweet Pea’s Bakery for the sweet treats for our BEE-NGO players, Freddy’s for making pizza for our bonus readers at the Nerf party, and Haverkamp Dairy for the grooviest shades for our young readers to wear. And as always, thank you to the parents, grandparents, and caregivers who diligently read to or encouraged our littles to keep reading.  

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It’s July! That means the downhill slide to complete the Summer Reading Challenge. Don’t delay! The last day to turn in your child’s Reading Record or your BEE-NGO card, if you are an adult, is Monday July 31. That is Nemaha County Fair weekend, and we know we there is too much going on to remember to go to the library.

This year, everyone receives their prize on the spot! Children get a fun straw, a coupon for a drink at the Cornerstone Coffee Haus and a pair of cool sunglasses donated by Nemaha County Dairy Farmers. How fun is that?!

Adults get a sweet treat from Sweet Pea’s Bakery when they get a BINGO on their BEE-NGO card and bring it into the library.

REMINDER: Coupons expire Saturday August 5!

If you didn’t get a cool teal library tote for signing up your children at the beginning of Summer Reading, they are now available for purchase at just $1.00 each. They are handy for books, groceries, going to the pool, taking lunch to work. Whatever you need it for, it will be there for you.

Miss Dee has been out reading to ALL the grade school children in Seneca and talking to them about our Summer Reading program. Everyone listens very carefully about signing up for summer reading, but not to when it starts. It’s great to see them so excited to sign up, but they have to wait until May 18.

Looking forward to seeing you then.

You will have the option this year to use paper reading logs or an app, more details to come about that.

Please remember that bicycles belong in the bike rack, and not on the sidewalk. There is also ample parking for strollers and wagons just to the left of  the library front doors near the designated sign. Parents, thank you for sharing this information with your children and their summer caregivers.

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So many of our patrons have asked when programs are, how they can find out what is happening in the library, if there is an app for our circulation software, and so much more. We finally have an answer! Currently there is an app in development for our library patrons. It will be going to a test phase soon with hopes that it will be ready for launch by summer reading sign up time. This app will allow patrons access to KOHA/NEXT for searching the online catalog, placing holds, renewing items, checking due dates on all of the family accounts, and it will be a place to see notices for items that have arrived, are due, or items already on hold. The app will also connect with our Facebook page and website so that you can see both of those in one location. We will also use this app for keeping track of summer reading challenges. We are excited for the upcoming staff training so that we can answer any questions you have. Stay tuned to our Facebook page and website for updates. 

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Gerald and Tess, our pet giraffe and dinosaur, requested a staff meeting. They complained about some rough treatment they have been receiving recently, and are fearful of the summer months ahead. They love to have gentle hugs from children, but they are not built for riding, climbing and being dragged around by the neck. Please remind your children that Gerald and Tess cannot give them rides, and that their necks and legs are fragile. Children can give gentle hugs, but please do not pull them around. Gerald and Tess love to be read to, so if your children would like to sit down and read to them, they would really appreciate that.

We are sorry to announce we have decided to take down the Book Walk. Some pages did not hold up in the strong Kansas winds. We were fortunate this time to have recovered the missing pages. The replacement cost for these books is prohibitive. We hope to try a different location at a later date. Maybe when lawn mowing slows down. If you know of a place out of the wind, please let us know. Stay tuned.

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Yes, we are aware that there are three pages missing from the We’re Going on a Bear Hunt story walk. Two of them are safely in the library, the third is in the wind, so to speak. We had hoped to have a third story this spring, but now are not so sure. You can check out the actual book from the library if you really want to fill in those missing blanks. Or use your imagination and fill in the blanks.

We are as disappointed as everyone else. How do we control that Kansas wind?

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Have you noticed the Book Walk near the school? You’ll find it along 11th Street, beginning at the driveway to Nemaha Central Elementary School, running south, and then turning the corner and continuing west onto Community Drive. Just in time for family evening walks in beautiful spring weather.

The book title is I’m the Biggest Thing in the Ocean. Take a stroll by the pages and be sure to count the book for 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten, if you are reading toward that goal.

Thank you to everyone at Nemaha Central Schools and the City of Seneca for allowing us to share this story along the sidewalks. Materials for this project were provided by the Northeast Kansas Library System and made available for our library to use.

Kate and Dee spent some time on this beautiful afternoon to measure and push these ‘pages’ into the ground. They even had the superintendent stop by to inspect their work.

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Public libraries in Kansas have been asked to help Kansas Action for Children [KAC] reach KanCare (Medicaid and CHIP) families about upcoming important changes. Beginning next month, the state will restart sending out KanCare renewal notices. We need to make sure KanCare enrollees and especially parents of kids with KanCare coverage are aware of two important steps before these notices are sent:

1.      Make sure their contact information is up to date with the state.

2.      Watch for renewal information in the mail, sent by the state.

Over 62% of KanCare enrollees are children — so we need your help getting the word out to parents of kids in your networks. A new report is out showing that 63.8% of the KanCare enrollment growth between February 2020 and August 2022 were kids getting signed up for coverage. These kids may have never had to previously renew their coverage and are at particularly high risk for losing their coverage in the months ahead, even as many may remain eligible. 

This post is to update our patrons on the timeline for sunsetting the OverDrive app and transitioning remaining users to Libby. The OverDrive app for iOS, Android, and Windows 8/10 will be sunset on May 1, 2023.

Beginning March 21, the following in-app message will appear for users, including a final reminder to switch to Libby:

Click on the Libby icon, above, to learn more about switching from Overdrive to Libby.

We thought the start of the new year would be a good time to highlight and remind our patrons of a few of our policies. 

Sharing our catalog with 40+ other libraries is wonderful, if we don’t own it, or the item you want is currently checked out, we encourage you to place a hold on the item and it will be shipped to our library when it becomes available. But we often forget to remind patrons they have one week from the day it arrives at our library to pick up their hold. If you have an email address listed, you automatically receive an email, so it is important that we have your correct address and that you check your emails regularly. If no email is listed we call the number on the account the day the item arrives. This is a system-wide policy, all libraries in the system are asked to keep items moving and not let them sit on the shelf collecting dust.

If an item you have checked out is on hold for another patron, we cannot renew it. If possible we tell you when you check out an item whether it is popular and will need to be returned in 2 weeks. This, too, is a system-wide policy.

New movies have a one week check out with no renewals. Everyone wants to watch the latest releases, we’ve determined 1 week should be long enough for you to enjoy the movie and return it so another patron can check it out. We aim to please as many people as we can with this policy.

We are often reminding patrons to have their library cards with them to check out. We ask this to protect our patrons. We are happy to have people from all over the county coming in to use our library. However, we do not know everyone in the county well enough to know they are who they say they are, if they do not present a card. When something is checked out on your account you are responsible for that item if it is not returned, whether or not you checked it out. Not everyone gives permission for family members to use their accounts. Life is just easier for everyone if you have your library card ready when you reach the circulation desk. We actually have had neighboring libraries mistakenly check out items to our patrons because no library card was presented. Save your account and trouble by bringing your library card. 

Our copies cost 20 cents a page, one side. If you print on both sides of a sheet of paper it costs 40 cents. It doesn’t matter if it prints in color or black & white, 8 x 11 or larger. Also if you hit the print button we expect you to pay for everything that prints out. There is a way to print only the pages you need, if you need help figuring that out, just ask.

It’s been several years since we have held a winter reading challenge. We found a fun one for you; a Color Coded Challenge!

Readers can choose their own books as long as they fit into one of the nine color categories. The book must include the name of the color or any shade of that color in the title or on the cover.  For brown, black, and white the author’s last name may be used instead of a color in the title.  Of course, audiobooks and eBooks count! The challenge runs from January 23—March 31, 2023, so you have time to plan your reading choices and schedule.

The categories are:

1. BLUE (navy, cobalt, sky, etc.)

2. RED (scarlet, carnelian, ruby, etc.)

3. YELLOW (amber, honey, flax, etc.)

4. GREEN (emerald, grass, hunter, etc. )

5. BROWN

6. BLACK

7. WHITE 

8. Any other color not included in  1 through 7

9. Any book with a word or image that implies color, such as rainbow, plaid, shadow, tint, paint, ink, etc.

Readers need to finish at least six books to complete the challenge. Competitors will be given a paper to track their book titles. We do have a list of books that will meet the challenge requirements, if you need help getting started.

For all the details, and to get started, talk to the librarians.