Library Lover’s Month
WEEK 4
Definition of library: 1a : a place in which literary, musical, artistic, or reference materials (such as books, manuscripts, recordings, or films) are kept for use but not for sale.~ Merrian-Webster online.
This week we are going to get down to basics. With a library card adults and children can check out books, audio books, movies and magazines. We have a large selection of large print books and non-fiction books for everyone.
Our patrons enjoy a good reading challenge. Some we have held were through the whole year, others for a couple of months. The library has two books clubs, the Tuesday Night book club meets the third Tuesday of the month and Books & Brew meets the second Wednesday of the month at Cornerstone Coffeehaus. We host various programs for adults throughout the year. We announce our programs here in the paper, with flyers around the library, on Facebook and on our website In the summer we have a reading challenge for children and special programs during the month of June. During the school year we have have monthly classes for elementary school children in art and STEM {Science, Technology, Engineering and Math}. For preschoolers there is the 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten reading challenge.
We subscribe to the daily Topeka Capital-Journal and weekly local papers, Seneca Courier Tribune, Sabetha Herald and the Marysville Advocate. Patrons are welcome to relax in our new chairs to read the papers in the library. We also subscribe to many magazines that can be read while here or back issues can be checked out for home reading.
We have 8 public use computers available to the public and 1 children’s computer with learning games that is not connected to the internet. We also have two charging stations to keep your phones, tablets, or other devices up and running. Copies or pages printed from the computer are 20¢ each, color or B&W. We have a Never Ending Book Sale in our lobby. All items on the cart are 10¢ each.
If you don’t yet have a library card, bring in a photo ID and proof of address and we can open an account for you. Children 9 to 18 years old need to bring a parent to sign as guarantor with them to get a card. If the parent doesn’t have account already, they will need to bring proof of address and ID.
What are you waiting for?
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WEEK 3
Our Kansas Room is dedicated to genealogy research, have you ever explored in this room? It contains microfilm for all Seneca newspapers from 1869 to 2005.We also have a few city papers from other Nemaha County communities. There are Nemaha County birth, marriage and death records from the WP. And some family histories for Nemaha County. That is just the genealogy part of the room! We also have some interesting historical records from civic groups in town and church histories from the surrounding communities.
Several years ago we bought a new reader for the rolls of microfilm we own. The new reader and software brings looking through old papers into the new millennium. You have options to crop, rotate, focus and magnify the article you want to save. When it comes to saving, you can choose to print, email, save to a flash drive or to Google Docs. It’s all about convenience for our patrons.
A majority of the papers we have on microfilm are also available online. You can access them from our website www.senecafreelibrary.org. On the right side of the screen you see the words ARCHIVE SENECA & AREA PAPERS click on the highlighted line under that box to start your search. Helpful hint, click on the name of the paper, it will highlight when you scroll over it, to open that issue.
If you already have papers or pictures you want to share with family and friends, or simply preserve for future generations to enjoy, we have a new scanner that lets you scan your items and print them, save them to flash drive or email. Don’t we all have treasures that we want to share yet are too fragile to pass around?
If you ever have some spare time, come in and look around in our Kansas Room. You never know what you might find.
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WEEK 2
This week we want to share with you all the digital resource available for FREE through your library. And who doesn’t love free? Where do we start?
Let’s start with the basics, your library card. Stay with me here. Sure you need to bring it in to check out items. The magic happens when you set up an online account too. With an online account you can log in to see what books you have checked out and when they are due. You can look to see if a book or movie you just read a review about is in the catalog and place a hold on it from there. When the hold comes in we will notify you via email or text…if you ask us to set that up for you. You can also renew items yourself as long as they are not new, on hold for someone else or already overdue. You can log-in from anywhere if you add the page to the home screen on your phone or tablet. I forgot to mention that our catalog is shared with 40+ other libraries and contains over a million items. In this case, more is more.
With an account in the NExpress system (your library card) you have access to Flipster, an app that brings eMagazines to your fingertips. There are over 40 magazines available for a wide variety of interests. When downloading the app, search for NEXPRESS Lawrence, KS
Another great app is Hoopla, which also requires an account in good standing. Download the app and from there you have up to 5 downloads a month. Hoopla has ebooks, audio books, movies, music, TV shows, and so much more. There is a nice selection of items for children and a parental control button too. You’ll need your library card number and a valid email address to set up an account. What are you waiting for?
Now we move on to what the State Library of Kansas has to offer. We have links to these free State Library resources on our website, www.senecafreelibrary.org. There are great tutorials on basic skills, making an impressive resume, preparing for tests such as the ACT or GED, and more. You will find the state resources on the right hand side of our website under the library hours listing. To access some of these resources, such as eBooks and audiobooks you will need to come in to get a State library card. Stop by and see us soon, you will be glad you did!
Printer On is software that allows you to print from your device. Bring in your cell phone, tablet, or laptop and we can talk you through the process. It is not always necessary for you to log on to one of our desktop computers anymore to print documents, photos, boarding passes, and more. iPhone users may need to know Apple IDs before using Printer On. Do you know your username and password? Have questions about this service? Just ask the librarians.
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WEEK 1
Did you know February is Library Lover’s Month? It is not the first thing to come to mind when January finally ends, is it? We are ready for the Groundhog to do his thing, celebrating President’s Day, getting Valentines ready. This year you can add the Olympics to the list. We are going to let you get to know us a little better so that you will know all there is to love about your library.
Let’s start with our Community Room. For those of you who don’t know, this building housed the library from July 1931 through 1996. The community voted to keep the ‘Old Stone Church’ as a meeting room and build a new library adjoining to it.
Our Community Room is a busy place. The room is available to nonprofit organizations at no charge and a few limits. We use it to host our STEM {Science-Technology- Engineering-Math} class once a month. This group of 4th-6th graders get hands on experience with different projects. For 1st-3rd graders we host A.R.T. {Artistic Recreation Time} once a month. We have been hosting quilt classes regularly in partnership with Seneca Variety. There are other organizations who meet here regularly too, along with organizations who host special meetings here.
Have you ever notice the stained glass windows in our Community room? They are a treasure and have been in place since 1905. About a year ago we contracted with a company to clean and restore our gems. Two have been completed and replaced. Two are waiting for good weather to be reinstalled, leaving 4 waiting their turn. This company is also making new metal frames with clear glass for outside. This way of framing will allow the beautiful glass to be more easily seen and offer more thermal properties. The difference is amazing and really needs to be seen from inside.
Contact the Library to find out if your organization qualifies to use our meeting room and ask about the audio visual equipment to borrow to enhance your presentations.
