"Obesity In A Bottle" Program At Library

On December 10th, 2008 at noon, Maria Lewellen with the OSU Extension will present a brown-bag seminar entitled “Obesity In A Bottle” at Perry Carnegie Library. During this presentation, Maria will explain the role of beverages in nutrition, and help attendees make healthier choices using a Powerpoint slide show and free samples. For more information, call Perry Carnegie Library at 580-336-4721.

Animal Safety & Crime Prevention Program

At 10:00 on October 17, 2008, Perry Carnegie Library will be hosting Officers McGuire and Tygo from the Perry Police Department. The officers will demonstrate Tygo's abilities as a police dog, including how he assists the human officers in their duties, and provide information on animal protection.

Children of all ages, as well as interested adults, are encouraged to attend. Sign-up is not required. This event will be held in the Library's Thelma Knox Brown Meeting Room.

For more information, contact Linda Branson, Children's Librarian, at 580-336-7300.

Sponsored by Friends of Perry Carnegie Library.

Website Updates

I have just updated the Programs section of our website with the following information:

• 2008/2009 RIF Dates (This will be our 31st consecutive year with RIF. We are the longest running program in the State of Oklahoma.).
• New Lapsit/Toddlertime/Storytime Schedule.
• Preliminary information about the 2009 Summer Reading Program theme.
  

New Book List

I've just added a new book list to our website. Please come by and check out all the great new titles we're stocking!

Library Closed 09/13/2008 For Cherokee Strip Celebration

Perry Carnegie Library will be closed Saturday, September 13th, 2008, to allow its employees to celebrate the 115th Cherokee Strip Land Run Celebration with their friends and family.

Normal business hours will resume Monday, September 15th at 9:00 A.M. Anyone wishing to return items during this time may place them in our book drop.

Part-Time Children's Assistant Position Filled

Shane Henderson, our Summer Reading Program assistant, has been promoted to Part-Time Children's Assistant. This means that instead of just being around for the summer, Shane will be working part-time downstairs on a permanent basis. Please welcome Shane to the team!

Cool Off With Summer Movies @ Your Library

Perry Carnegie Library will be showing popular movies at 1:30 PM every Friday from July 11 - September 5 in the Thelma Knox Brown Meeting Room.

All selections will be taken from the Library's extensive collection of current and classic titles for adults. This program will allow our citizens to escape the summer heat as well as the high gas prices with some free entertainment. Coffee will be provided, but attendees are asked to bring any other refreshments they would like to enjoy during the movie. No registration is required. Simply be seated and ready to watch when the movie starts. For more information, call the Library at 580-336-4721.

Website Changes

I have made a number of small but important changes to our website, mostly regarding how easy it is to read and how things are laid out. Please feel free to pass along any comments you may have about these changes.

Summer Reading Program

Catch The Reading Bug...

Summer Reading Program is in full swing. Download the brochure here for full details and signup information!

Job Opening

Perry Carnegie Library is currently taking applications for a Part-Time Children's Assistant to help the public in all areas of the Library. Main duties include assisting with all children's programming , Summer Reading Program, checking materials out to patrons, shelving items returned to the Library, and assisting full-time staff in their duties as necessary.

A full job description is available upon request.

The Reference Assistant will work three weekdays from 9 AM to 6 PM. Pay is $8.00 per hour.

For more information and an application, please call 580-336-4721 or e-mail jobs@perry.lib.ok.us.

The City of Perry is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Oklahoma Library Association Conference

At this moment, I'm blogging to you all from the 2008 Oklahoma Library Association conference in Tulsa, Oklahoma. We're learning a lot of great new things that we can bring back to Perry and implement at the library. Personally, I am taking a number of different seminars concerning public libraries, as well as a couple of classes outside my normal "comfort zone" so that I can be well-rounded. For example, I'm about to go learn how to implement gaming programs at my library.

I hope everyone is having a great April!

Upcoming Events

We would like to invite everyone to join us during National Library Week for two very special events.

Perry Progress Club Annual Fundraising Coffee

April 16, 2008 - 9:30 AM - 11:00 AM - Open to the public. Come and visit the library, meet the staff, and assist the ladies of the Progress Club in raising money to fund library projects.

April 16-18, 2008 - Friends of the Library Book Sale - 9:00 AM - 5:00 Wed/Thu, 9:00 AM- 3:00 PM. Lots of books, movies, music, and other assorted items will be available for sale. All proceeds benefit the Friends of the Library, who use their funds to assist with library projects.

March 2008 Update

We are happy today that our young library users are visiting for the final RIF distribution of this cycle. Today concludes our 30th straight year helping the children of this area achieve literacy through the distribution of free books.

Additionally, we are planning a lot of new, fun activities for the upcoming months and the summer.

In order to tell the community about what we have planned, I will be the featured speaker at the Perry Rotary Club meeting on Monday, March 24, 2008. The meeting is at the First Christian Church, 7th & Holly.

Linda Luthye

We are happy to announce that we have added Linda Luthye as a member of the library team. She is working as a part-time assistant to our Assistant Librarian. Please say hello to her when you visit the library!

Author M.E. Cooper To Speak At Library

Stillwater author M.E. Cooper will be at the Library at noon on February 28, 2008 for a brown-bag lunch presentation. Mrs. Cooper will read from her books, discuss what it's like to be an Oklahoma author, and then do a book sale/signing.

Mary Ellen ( M.E.) Cooper has lived most of her life in Stillwater, Oklahoma. Her latest true crime book, BOLD AND BRASSY, which details a historic murder, was released in late December 2007.

SLOW DEATH and OTHER OKLAHOMA MURDERS (2004), took place in Perry, OK, and has been frequently shown on television's Forensic Files.

Mrs. Cooper's published credits demonstrate her varied interests, with over 50 articles and stories published in the last few years in national publications. Her credits include: Oklahoma Today, Mature Living, Challenge, Globe, Country Collectibles, Fireside Companion, Income Opportunities, Our Sunday Visitor, the Catholic Digest, Byeline, Family Motor Coach, BBW (Big Beautiful Woman), Official Detective, Startling Detective, True Detective, True Experience, Living, Purpose, Antique Trader Weekly, Family Digest, Inn Times, and Whispering Willow magazine.

She has appeared on Arkansas television stations in Little Rock and Fort Smith and also on Tulsa TV station KTUL. She has appeared on a half hour program Writing Out Loud which was shown in the Tulsa area four times. She has been interviewed several times by Oklahoma City's KTOK radio station, and has been heavily involved Writers Conferences in Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas, and Colorado.

Cooper has been a licensed beautician, an insurance agent, and was in charge of a motorcycle dealership for 21 years. She especially enjoys encouraging senior citizens who are interested in taking up writing. Her hobbies are reading, traveling, hot air ballooning and collecting antiques. Besides being a wife for 55 years, she is the mother of eight, grandmother of eleven and great grandmother of four.

January 29, 2008 Update

We are hard at work on a number of projects right now. Our new infant lapsit program is going extremely well, with high attendance, enthusiastic children, and receptive parents. At this point, we're doing lapsit every other Monday. February 11, 2008 will be the next lapsit session. If you're interested in bringing your infant to this program, please call Miss Linda at 580-336-7300.

There are a number of new books available for both children and adults. Please check the new books list on our website for further information. Please call if you would like us to hold a title for you.

Additionally, we are wrapping up the details of an upcoming author visit, which will include a book signing and talk. In a day or so, once I have things finalized, I'll make a new post here.

Finally, I would like to encourage everyone to participate in the Friends of the Library Best Choice Labels program. If you buy Best Choice products at either Larry's BestYet or Homeland, you can cut off the UPC label (the bar code) and bring the labels to the library. Our Friends group collects them, and when they reach a certain number, they redeem the labels with the parent company for money. These checks assist the Friends in doing special projects at the Library.

PCL Closed For Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday

Perry Carnegie Library will be closed Monday, January 21, 2008 in observance of the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday. Normal hours of operation will resume on Tuesday, January 22, 2008.

DTV Transition

On February 17, 2009, the era of analog broadcast television in the United States will end, as the nation completes its transition to an all-digital system. While this change will mark the end of the traditional analog method of broadcasting over-the-air television, it won’t signal the end of free broadcast television, and your favorite broadcast programs and local television stations will still be available.

PCL has received numerous inquiries about this switch. So here are a number of helpful information resources, plainly worded, that tell the public what will be happening and when:

DTV Flyer

DTV Fact Sheet (from the Federal Communication Commission)

Digital-to-Analog Converter Box Coupon Program (each American household can request two $40 coupons toward the cost of the converter boxes that will be needed for TVs that have been working on "rabbit ears" or rooftop antennas).

Hopefully, this information will prove useful to all our customers.

Events Update

The new year is going very well, so far. We have seen a nice upswing in Storytime attendance due to our publicity efforts and a new brochure we've been sending out.

Staff is also hard at work on planning out this year's Summer Reading Program. We will be making full announcements about all the fun activities in coming months, but we are proud to say that perennial favorites Monty Harper (singer/storyteller) and Steve Crawford (magician extraordinaire) have already signed on to perform in the city courtyard as part of SRP.

Beginner's computer classes are also going to be offered again in the near future. Tentatively, the next class will be the first week of March. I will provide more details on the library website soon.

Job Announcement

Perry Carnegie Library is currently taking applications for a Part-Time Reference Assistant to help the public in all areas of the Library. Main duties include checking materials out to patrons, shelving items returned to the Library, and assisting full-time staff in their duties as necessary. A full job description is available upon request.

The Reference Assistant will work three weekdays from 9 AM to 6 PM. Pay is $8.00 per hour.

For more information and an application, please call 580-336-4721 and ask for Jeffrey.

The City of Perry is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Happy 2008!

We hope everyone is having an enjoyable start of 2008!

There is a lot going on right now at Perry Carnegie Library! Storytime starts again next week, we have an upcoming RIF distribution. Next month, the Friends of the Library will be putting on their annual Valentine "Chocolate Fantasy" fundraiser. We are also going to be starting the preliminary meetings to introduce Lapsit (basically, storytime for infants) soon.

It is a great time to be involved at PCL!