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Director's
Corner
by Kay Zaharis
It has been several months since our last
newsletter. Time flies
when you are busy and having fun.
The staff and many dedicated volunteers have been
busy preparing the collection for online access.
Yes, the Cortland Free Library is working towards an automated
system. Automation means
that because every item will be catalogued electronically, patrons
will be able to search, reserve, renew and request materials from
remote locations. It also
will enable the staff to provide more timely and accurate service to
our users.
There are numerous benefits to automation,
too many to list here. I invite any one of you to come in to discuss any concerns
you may have about the future of the library.
And yes, the card catalog will still be here after we automate.
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Children's Room Notes
Some of life’s events are difficult to explain to a child but books
can help. Not only do they discuss things in a non-threatening way, but books
also show children that they are not alone. Others have experienced the same
feeling and emotions. A special shelf is now located in the Children’s Room
for books dealing with death, pet death, child abuse, and other sensitive
topics. Our hope is that this will make things easier for our patrons when
they need to discuss a delicate subject with a child.
Now
that your child has started school, it is time to become familiar with our
bookcase of “easy readers.” From the simplest books with just a few words
per page to challenging short stories for newly independent readers, these
books are marked with a dot system: one dot for easiest level, two for medium
level, and three for upper level. Because levels differ from publisher to
publisher, we suggest you still look through the books. Learning to read can
be an exciting time, and one of the best ways to keep this excitement from
turning to frustration is to choose books on the right level for you child.
Below are some of our easiest “easy readers”; they incorporate repetition,
rhyme, and simple sentences. To make helping your young reader easier, some
series even have guides for parents.
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Continued
from previous column…
My
First! Can Read Books
Buck,
Nola Oh,
cats!
Capucilli,
A S Biscuit goes to school
Capucilli,
A S Biscuit wants to play
Schaefer,
L M Loose tooth
Udry,
J M Thump and Plunk
Brand
New Readers (these small books have four simple stories
in one book—perfect for a bookmark!)
Bridges,
M P Edna Elephant
Ehrlich,
Amy Bravo, Kazam!
Hurwitz,
Johanna Ethan out and
about
Root,
Phyllis Mouse goes out
Word
by Word First Readers
Rex,
Michael Tooth fairy
Rex,
Michael Where can
bunny paint?
Ready-to-Read
Books, pre-level 1
Milgrim,
David Ride Otto
ride
Milgrim,
David See Pip point
Milgrim,
David Swing Otto
swing
Individual
Titles
Berenstain,
Stan Inside,
outside, upside down
Hawkins,
Cohn Mig the pig
Rau,
D M Lots of
balloons
Rau,
D M My red rowboat
Rau,
D M Say “hi!”
up high
Seuss,
Dr Foot book
Seuss, Dr Hop
on pop
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New This Month
The 3 wood chairs in the adult services
reading area have been refinished. We used the money from
the Pumpkinfest used book sale. They look beautiful. Come in
and enjoy their comfort while you read a magazine, the
newspaper, or just enjoy a rest,
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Used Book Sale
Our second annual Pumpkinfest Used Book
Sale brought in $503. We
used the money to refinish chairs for the Adult Services
reading area. Thanks
to all of you who buy our ‘formerly read books’. The
money helps improve the image and services of your library.
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Coming Soon
We will soon be offering computer
classes. Thanks
to a grant to the Finger Lakes Library System, 10 computers
were purchased so that member libraries could offer computer
training to their patrons. If you have any suggestions for a
class, call either Kay or Debbie at the library. Also, watch
our bulletin board for class schedules.
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We are currently working on providing a
video collection on loan from the Finger Lakes
Library System. Watch our bulletin board for the details.
All residents of New York State aged 18
and older can now borrow directly from the collections of
the New York State Library (www.nysl.nysed.gov)
in Albany. The
library’s research collection is the largest in the
nation. (Library Journal, Sep
15, 2004)
Upcoming
Event
Join us in the Children’s room at 10:30 a.m. on November 24th,
as the Cortland County Dairy Princess will be reading for
our weekly story hour that week.
Heritage Quest
We renewed our annual subscription to Heritage Quest, a
genealogy software program offering US Federal Census from
1790. You may
reserve a 2-hour time slot on our computers for your
research. Call
or stop in any time to request a time convenient for you.
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Spine
Labels
You
will notice that some of the large type (LT) and mystery (M)
books have new labels on the spines. This will make it
easier for you to find your book, and make it easier for our
staff to re-shelve the books. We are planning to label the
western (W) and science fiction (S) books also. The regular
fiction and non-fiction will receive new labels after the
collection is online. Under the type of book, will be the
first nine letters of the author’s last name. The codes
for the fiction book are:
LT
Larger Type (also
known as large print)
M Mystery
W Western
S
Science fiction
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Cortland
Free Library Board of Trustees
Diane
Ames, President
Thomas
O’Donnell, Vice President
Grace
Bentley, Secretary
Lawrence
Wright, Treasurer
Dr.
Gerard Boll
Carolyn
Burgess
Jan
Dempsey
Linda
Eberly
Samuel
Forcucci
Kathleen
Hennessy
Dr.
Mark Martin
Leland Taylor
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