Author: librarian

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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.

Please make sure that the door to the outside drop box is completely closed before you walk away. When temperatures dip towards freezing and lower our drop box gets frosty inside – actual frost and ice – even with the outer door closed. If the door isn’t completely closed then even more frost builds up in more areas. This causes a huge problem. When the sun hits the metal of the outer drop box it heats up and the frost melts. Melted frost and books are not a good combination. During the cold snap over Christmas, books did not get completely pushed through and the flap was left ajar. We had water damaged books and DVD case inserts. We don’t want to have to make patrons replace these items, but it may come to that if enough damage occurs. PLEASE make sure you close the drop box door. Parents, please talk with your children about this. FYI: We do know who the items blocking the door are checked out to; please help us help you.

Thank you for your help.

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What’s not to love about Kansas libraries! Click on the photo above to open a new website promoting Kansas libraries and all they have to offer.

WINTER WEATHER WATCH

Our winter weather policy states that if the schools close early due to bad weather, the library will close at 5:00 p.m. Be sure to check our Facebook page, listen to KMZA radio and WIBW for an announcement that we are closed. Or you can even give us a call at 785-336-2377. Stay safe out there!

Wondering about conditions across the state? KDOT interactive map