1 Summer, 1 Town, 800 Books!!

Librarian Kimberly Mathewson wanted an ambitious goal for last year’s summer reading. She dug deep and came up with a number– 800.  That’s the population of the town– and all summer long, she encouraged her readers to sign on.

Here’s the original post on the Middletown Springs Public Library website:

This is the goal. Can library patrons in this town read 800 books this summer? I think so.
As you read, keep track of the number of books you finish. Stop in the library periodically to add your number to our chart.
Are you reading to a child this summer? Those books count. Both you and the child can sign up. The books count once towards our total.
At the end of the summer, we will have a celebration of all the reading that was done in 1 Summer by 1 Town….
Join us.

Happy ending: the town met the goal!

Quiet area in the library?

Borrow a good idea from Davis Library at Middlebury College: create a quiet area. Here’s the blog post to go with the sign:

While certain areas of Davis Family Library have always been known unofficially as good spots for quiet study, recently we’ve formalized that a bit by installing signage marking some areas as “Quiet Study Areas”. Look for the big blue Q and please avoid conversation, either in person or on the phone, anywhere near these signs. Of course, LIS staff won’t be going around the building “shushing” people, but we hope the new signage makes it more obvious which parts of the building are reserved for quiet contemplative study.

Lock up Equipment

Bev Major at the Westminster West Library is installing a lock on the equipment  closet to make sure nothing walks out. Replacing an LCD projector or DVD player takes time and money– in short supply in public libraries.