SAVE THE DATES: New Quit Classes have been scheduled for early 2023. The Going to Bali intermediate quilt class will be held over three Saturdays in January and February. Sessions will be held January 14, 28, and February 11 from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm in the library Community Room.

Cost of $60.00 includes all 3 classes. Kits are available; for more information about the kits contact Seneca Variety.

Class size is limited to six, so sign up now to reserve your spot!

    Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Our hours for the week: Close at 5:00 Wednesday November 23, Closed all day Thursday November 24, Open 9:00~1:00 Friday November 25, Closed Saturday November 26.

Please plan accordingly. Make sure your account is up to date and items are returned so you have access to our online resources such as HOOPLA and Libby. [Overdue items from the library can shut down access to online services.]

And if you want to return books you have rounded up, our book drop box is always available. Look to the right when you walk up to our front doors.

 

 

Our November suggestion for Food Pantry donations are detergent and paper products. Laundry detergent and dish soap are always on our lists, aren’t they? And toilet paper and paper towels are just as essential. Pick up an extra of your choice and drop it by the library at your convenience, we will deliver your donations to the Food Pantry. The donation cart is to your right as you step in the door to the library. Thank you for your generosity.

FYI The Pantry is closed the second Wednesday of the month.

If you have large donations it is best to deliver directly to the food pantry. We can help facilitate a drop off time if needed.

Paper goods and personal hygiene products are always needed also.  Thank you!

Here is a full list of items each family receives, each month:  1 breakfast item, 4 cans of vegetables, 1 can beans, 1 package of rice, 1 pasta and sauce, 1 jar of peanut butter, 1 box of crackers, 2 cans of fruit, 1 can of tuna or chicken, 2 cans of soup, 1 dessert, and a pound of meat.

 These items are always needed at the Food Pantry. We focus on particular items each month as a way to bring attention to the need:  Paper products [toilet paper, paper towels, Kleenex], personal products, boxed cereal, oatmeal, pancake mix, syrup, canned vegetables, rice, pasta and sauce, peanut butter, boxed crackers, canned fruit, canned tuna, canned chicken, boxed tuna and chicken helper, canned soups, jello and pudding mixes, cookies, cake mixes and frosting, pie mix, etc. They also accept laundry detergent, dish soap, shampoo, bath soap.

Opened and outdated products are not accepted at the Pantry.

We will have a session for 1st – 3rd grades Wednesday, October 19 beginning at 3:30.

4th – 6th graders will meet Wednesday, October 26 at 3:30.

Both sessions will be over by 5:00 and kids will need to be picked up or know where to go afterwards.

Enrollment is required, call the library 785-336-2377. Space is limited, but the fun isn’t!

Through the years we’ve had calls asking if we have yearbooks for local high schools. We always had to say no. That changed this week when a patron brought in a cart full of books for us. We found shelves in our Genealogy Room for these treasures. We posted a picture and announcement on Facebook and Instagram with a promise to let you know what volumes we are missing. Here we go:

Seneca High School, these are the years we HAVE: ’49. ’53, ’54, ’57, ’59, ’60, ’61, ’65, ’66, ’68, ’69.

Nemaha Valley High School, these are the years we are MISSING: ’75, ’76, ’78, ’83, ’84, 2011, 2012, 2013

B&B High School, these are the years we HAVE: 1986, 1987, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2014.

A complete set of Nemaha Central yearbooks has been donated to the Library!

I you have any missing volumes and are ready to part with them, the library would be happy to have them on our shelves. These items are not for circulation, but you are welcome to stop in and enjoy during regular library hours.

The Board and Staff of Seneca Free Library would like to thank everyone who supported the Library on Match Day. We will share more when we have official word from the STEP Foundation.

Nemaha County STEP Foundation will be holding Match-Day, August 26 from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm in the library Community Room. This year the library will be one of the entities eligible for receiving funds.

Donations to the STEP Foundation can be made *that day in person, *by mailing the funds made payable to STEP Foundation,  in care of P.O. Box 165, Seneca, KS 66538, or *online at www.stepupnemaha.com. Online transactions must be completed on August 26 only.

The library is using any funds received to pay for restoration work on the bell tower of the old stone church. You can contact the library or any STEP Foundation member with questions about Match Day.

The purpose of Match Day is to help area non profits raise monies for their funds.

Each fund will be eligible for matching funds (dollar for dollar) for up to at least $2,000. per organization/agency. [Some may have additional matching funds.]

PHOTO: The Library Board finalized plans they’ve been working on to establish a new fund that will be eligible to participate in Match Day. Pictured from left to right in front are Board members Bruce Hermesch and Donna Zinke, STEP Board President Marceil Hasenkamp; standing in the back row is Library Director Kate Haynie, Board president Cathy Enneking, and Board member Michael Philbrick.

We sometimes forget that not everyone understands our language when we talk about holds, requests, NEXT, KOHA, and so on. Even though there will not be a quiz, we will know whether or not you have been paying attention. We have decided to start Library Lingo Explained in our biweekly column in the Courier Tribune and copy them to our website, so here it is;

We will begin with: NEKLS = NorthEast Kansas Library System, a consortium of 14 counties of NE Kansas. Seven regional library districts were formed in Kansas in the 1960s. Within NEKLS there are 117 member libraries. NEKLS provides our software and hardware service, training and maintenance; tech support; grant funds; continuing education for librarians; website support; and more. Oh, and they oversee the statewide Courier Service.

 We continue Library Lingo with NEXT, which is the name of our shared catalog system. Our system was formerly called NExpress; that’s why it is on some of your library cards. It was upgraded a few years ago. There are 52 libraries in Northeast Kansas in the shared catalog.  These 52 NEXT libraries are similar to a branch library system; sharing resources but remaining autonomous. The shared catalog allows access to so much more than just a single library could offer. There are over one million items in the shared catalog for our patrons to borrow – imagine how many shelves that would take?  Not all libraries in Northeast Kansas are part of NEXT; Topeka – Shawnee, Johnson County, Wyandotte, and Lawrence Public are just a few of the libraries that are not in our shared catalog. Not all regional library systems have shared catalogs, so we feel very fortunate to be a part of NEXT. If you are interested in learning more about the shared catalog and how to use it, just ask the librarians. We will be happy to help. It just takes a few seconds to make sure your account is set up on our end in order for you to begin searching for and requesting items. If you are having trouble using your current account please let us know so that we can get you back online.

 To us courier means a statewide delivery service that transports books and circulating material between libraries all across Kansas. Seneca Library has five day a week courier service, some libraries have two to three. Each day our courier driver brings items that you have placed on hold and items being returned. Our courier driver begins his day at the Topeka hub, travels through Westmoreland, Waterville, Blue Rapids, Frankfort, Marysville, Seneca, Centralia, Corning, and Onaga, then returns home. The driver doesn’t just deliver books to libraries. He also delivers US mail to post offices, flowers to the flower shops, pharmaceuticals and supplies to hospitals and pharmacies, and sometimes FedEx orders to addresses that are “off the beaten path”. He really is quite busy. The statewide courier service was established by staff at NEKLS and is still administered by staff there. Kudos to our great Northeast Kansas Library System for having such foresight years ago! This great service allows us to easily get material that is not found in our shared catalog, but that is available within the state. 

  Our next Library Lingo phrase is HOLD. When we place a hold on an item we are basically putting your name on a waiting list. The Holds queue has changed over the years, and now functions better for our local patrons. Items on hold in the shared catalog are all on one list, and when you ask where you are on the queue we tell you the number overall. If our library owns the item you have requested then your hold will most likely be filled with our item. This is usually a much shorter list and wait time. It sounds complicated, but we have it figured out. It is never an inconvenience to place a hold for you. One of the best parts of the shared catalog is having so many items available for our patrons. What do you have on hold?

SUSPEND. When putting items on hold, there is a column labeled Suspend, which is very handy. If you are using the online catalog and know you want an item, but aren’t quite ready for it, just suspend the hold. When you are ready, click Resume and that will put the item on an active hold list. We do this often for patrons who are reading a series or watching a TV series on video. We place holds for the whole series and then resume the hold for the next book or season. You can do this at home also. It saves time having to look up a whole series each time. If you have any questions about the online catalog or how to use Suspend and Hold just ask the librarians. 

The permits are here, waiting for you to decide on a date to travel Kansas!

Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks has teamed up with Kansas Public Libraries to offer free park passes to library patrons. Seneca Free Library is participating so our patrons can get free one day passes to any of the 28 State Parks in Kansas. Permits are good for one day only and expire at 2:00 pm the following day. Pick up a pass, stick it on your windshield, and away you go! What a great time to explore our state! This program runs through December 31, 2022, but don’t wait that long because the number of passes will be limited. 

Kansas State Parks offer many activities. Use the link below to search for State Parks and read information about what each has to offer, its history and more.

https://ksoutdoors.com/State-Parks/Locations

How long is a permit good for? A permit is good for 1 [one] day in the Kansas State Parks and all permits expire the following day at 2:00 PM.

Is the permit only valid at a specific park? No, the permit is good at any Kansas State Park, so a patron could visit more than one State Park in the allotted time frame.

How does a library issue a permit? 1. A patron goes into a participating library, presents a library card, and requests a permit. 2. The librarian asks patron to SPECIFY THE DATE they will be visiting the Parks. It could be the date the permit is issued or a future date. 3. The librarian will issue a valid permit with date of park visit written on it. 4. Patron uses the permit on this date to visit Kansas State Parks. 5. Once the patron has finished with the permit or the permit has expired, the permit should be recycled or discarded. There is no need for return.

https://ksoutdoors.com/State-Parks/Library-Program

What will you find when you log in to Flipster? In the NEWS category you will find TIME, The New Yorker, and The Atlantic. Under Lifestyle you will find Reader’s Digest, Martha Stewart Living, Real Simple, Midwest Living, Men’s Journal, FabUplus Magazine, and Countryside & Small Stock Journal. Looking for magazines about Hobbies? How about Beadworl, Casual Game Insider, Comics & Gaming Magazine, The Family Handyman, HGTV Magazine, Audubon, Interweave Knits, Sew News, Old House Journal, Minecraft World, PC Gamer, Quilter’s World, Crochet, Internet Genealogy, Interweave Crochet, Knitscene and Creative Knitting. The Family category includes Ladybug, Girl’s World, Animal Tales, BAZOOF, and Cicada. Other categories are Entertainment. Science, Literary, Business, Cooking; Travel, Home & Garden, Health, Sports, Automotive, Cooking, Teens, Consumer and Bridal.