More on the Season of Giving

It is nearly time for folks to panic.  Little Johnny only wants a pair of skates, so he isn't too difficult to buy for.  Susy wants a sled, but your budget allows for a Radio Flyer, not a Polaris.  Nellie wants a new story book, but you don't know which ones she hasn't read already.  What can you do?

Easy!  Pop on in to the library to find great ideas for everyone on your list.

The easiest thing to do for Nellie is to get her the gift that keeps on giving--a library card.  She can't get it herself, because she is too young, but you can bring her in, sign her up for a card, and watch her eyes light up as she enters the Children's room and sees all of the wonderful books.  There is sure to be at least one she hasn't read yet.

Taking care of Susy's sled is a little tougher.  If you can't convince her to accept a runner sled, you might convince her to get a job so that she can buy her own snowmobile.  Even better, if you have an old clunker in the shed that just needs a little work to run like new again, make sure she, too has a library card, and introduce her to our snowmobile repair books and the Small Engine Repair database.  She'll learn how to get that machine going in no time!

Have other people on your list that you need to find gifts for?  Look at our many craft books for ideas on beautiful gifts you can make yourself.  We have a variety books for crafts of all kinds.  Are you a knitter?  Take a look at Norwegian mittens and gloves:  Over 25 classic designs for warm fingers and stylish hands, by Annemor Sundbø.  Prefer crochet?  Try Crochet hatimals:  Creatures with features for all ages, by Rebecca Goldsmith.  Perhaps you'd like to try needle felting this year.  Jackie Huang's Woolbuddies:  20 irresistibly simple needle felting projects is the book to read. 

For those who are more interested in projects with more physical substance, we have books on wood and metal working, as well.  Stocking stuffer ideas can be found in Steve Tomashek's book, Tiny whittling:  More than 20 projects to make.  Larger projects can be found in Simply wood:  40 stylish and easy-to-make projects for the modern woodworker, by Roshaan Ganief. 

Metal workers can find ideas from jewelry-sized to yard ornament. Ready, set, weld!:  Beginner-friendly projects for the home & garden, by Kimberli Matin, has several project ideas, some of which are bound to please.  John Sartin's The complete photo guide to making metal jewelry has the information you need to make beautiful baubles for every family member.

Find these and many more books filled with gift ideas @ your library!

--Susan Hoppe, Reference Services Librarian

Season of Giving

Rohian Cover

We are entering a season of giving, beginning with Thanksgiving, when we give thanks for the bounty provided over the preceding year, and continuing through New Year's Day, when we give up something we think we no longer need or take on something we believe will be good for us. While the library can "give" to you in the form of self-improvement, recreational reading, music CDs and movies, have you thought of giving something back to the library? 

For example, do you have an old copy of the Rohian gathering dust at your house?  The library collects the Virginia high school annual for patrons to use within the library.  We have most years, but there are several years missing from our collection.  Check our list of missing years to see if your copy of the Rohian is one of those we could use. 

Funding Factory Logo

Another way the library can be helped is with items that are discarded regularly--used inkjet and toner cartridges, old cell phones, and even out of date laptops can be donated to the library, which in turn sends them to Funding Factory.  Funding Factory "pays" the library for the donated items by adding funds to an ongoing account.  From that account, we buy items such as printers and other equipment that the library needs to run smoothly.

Giving Tree

The Friends of the Virginia Public Library can also use support.  The Friends are very instrumental in raising funds for programming, among other things.  Without their support, we would not have many of the monthly programs we provide, nor would the annual Summer Reading Program be nearly as successful as it is.

However, this can not be sustained without donations from the public as well as without new members.  Donations can be made to the Friends at any time, but this year they are going to have a tree with donation envelopes at the library.  People can specify what they are donating money for, from the Summer Reading Program and other programs to book and media item purchases. 

If you have any items that the library can use, or if you would like to more actively support programming at your library, take the time to do so @ your library!

--Susan Hoppe, Adult Services Librarian

Reading Weather

Has this early cold weather been keeping you inside?  If you are like me, you want to sit in front of a warm fire with a good book, sipping your favorite hot drink.  Fortunately for all of us, the library has plenty of books.  In fact, we have new books going on the shelves every week, with about 1,000 books added to the collection since June.  

If you are a non-fiction fan, we have new books on biography, history, gardening, business, cooking, and many other subjects.  If you are interested in biographies, you may want to borrow John Quincy Adams:  American Visionary, by Fred Kaplan.  If you lean more toward entrepreneurship, take a look at Invent It, Sell It, Bank It!, by Lori Greiner.  We have Wood Heat:  A Practical Guide to Heating Your Home With Wood, by Andrew Jones, for those learning more about heating with wood.  For those of you interested in reading the Bard, we have a new set of Shakespeare for your reading pleasure, as well.

Are you more interested in fiction?  We have plenty of that, as well.  There is a new set of essential Charles Dickens titles on the shelf waiting for you to discover it.  In newer fiction, we have The Beekeeper's Ball, by Susan Wiggs.  In science fiction, Brent Weeks has a new title in the Lightbringer series:  The Broken Eye.  Prefer a good mystery?  Check out the newest title by Stuart Woods, Cut and Thrust.  There are many other good fiction gems waiting for you, as well.

Prefer a different format?  We have many of these new titles on both digital audio and compact disk in our Media Department.  Some of them are also available as downloadable audio- and e-books from OverDrive.  Even more tantalizing, many of today's movies are based on books.  You can look for either the movie version of your favorite book or the book version of a great movie in our online catalog. 

The library has thousands of titles for you to choose from in formats that include books, DVDs, magazines, online resources, and more.  Relieve the early freeze blues with some good reads from your library!

--Susan Hoppe, Adult Services Librarian

What's Happening @ Your Library?

There is a lot going on at the library this fall!

Michael Czarnecki

See, It Was Like This...
Tomorrow, September 10, at noon, Michael Czarnecki will present a creative non-fiction oral memoir of the 60s.  Michael grew up in Buffalo, NY, a member of a working class Polish family. The performance covers from 1963, when Michael was in 8th grade, through 1975, when he became part of a rural community in the hills of New York State. Along the way he suffered through battles of conscience, incurred the wrath of family, participated in college demonstrations, hitchhiked 30,000 miles, backpacked in the mountains and experienced the usual late-teen, young adult joys and sorrows of life. All of this is set against the cultural and historical happenings of the era as it affected him. This is not the memoir of one who was a major, or even a minor, figure of the time. No San Francisco, Woodstock, group sex or drug experiences. Just the story of an ordinary person who came of age during this unique time period in our recent history.

Those who lived through the 60s will find much to connect with. Others who know of it only as “history” will get an understanding of one person’s experience during those vital and vibrant years.

Sara Pajunen

Violin, Vocalist and History
Artist and musician Sara Pajunen brings her Laatikko/Box project Finnish folk music and a sampling of the University of Minnesota’s Finnish-American archives to the library. Using violin and voice, she weaves Finnish folk song with both archival audio recordings and conversations with her own Finnish-American family members. During the presentation, participants can view pictures, letters, and other material from Finnish-Americans.

Sara Pajunen is a Minneapolis-based musician and artist whose recent work is inspired by her Finnish ancestry. Join us for her thought provoking program on September 25 at noon.

Digital Photography 101

For those who wish to create better photos with their digital cameras, Brian Rauvola will present a three hour hands-on beginning photography workshop about using your digital camera and editing your photos. Bring your camera (compact or dSLR), camera manual, a tripod (if you have one) and other accessories to learn how to use your camera’s features to improve the pictures you take.  Make sure your batteries are charged and you have plenty of memory because the group is going to explore the library inside and outside (weather permitting) to practice taking photos while also learning to use light effectively and other artistic elements, such as composition, leading lines, rule of 3rds, etc. to improve your images.

The last part of the workshop will be about downloading pictures, organizing your files, and using software to optimize and resize images. Brian’s favorite program to use is Photoshop CS6, but other free or inexpensive computer programs with which you can start will also be demonstrated, such as GIMP (free, www.gimp.org) and Photoshop Elements (around $100, www.adobe.com.) Brian will show you how to edit your pictures to get better photos and have fun doing it!

Brian Rauvola has been a semi-professional photographer in the Duluth/North Shore area for nearly 20 years.  He owns and operates the Duluth Photography Institute, which began October of 2010, and offers workshops, gallery space, and a fully equipped lighting studio for photographers to use. 

This workshop, which is on Thursday, October 16 from noon until 3:00 is limited in class size.  Sign up with Dawn or Susan to be sure of having a space reserved for you.

Story as Tribute
Join us at noon on Thursday, October 30, to learn the true story of Elisabeth Mannering Congdon, heiress to a mining fortune and victim of one of Minnesota’s most notorious homicides. Entrusted with the burdens and joys of memory, her eldest granddaughter, Suzanne Congdon LeRoy, combines lived experience and meticulous historical research as she details a family legacy of love, loss, and perseverance. 

Suzanne Congdon LeRoy

Elisabeth Congdon emerges not as heiress or victim but as the messenger of spring and the key to her granddaughter’s survival. Elisabeth Congdon’s early efforts to nurture a foundation of hope, optimism, and the power of possibility lead Suzanne to advanced education, a remarkable nursing career and the discovery of the ineffable relationship between healing oneself, service to others, and the connection to the spirit and beauty of the earth that makes her whole again.

Suzanne Congdon LeRoy will talk about her grandmother's life as well as the process of researching and writing her memoir.  Nightingale is her first book. A portion of the proceeds will be used to support health and human rights initiatives that benefit women and girls with an emphasis on education, reproductive health, and violence prevention.  

Mario Cianflone
One program isn't enough the week of Halloween!  You may have seen Mario Cianflone in Ely over the summer, or perhaps at Land of the Loon this year.  On Friday, October 31, at 1:00, he will educate and play for us in the library lobby.  Mario is a music educator and master accordionist who plays classical, French, Italian, and Latin American music. 

Mario Cianflone is widely recognized as a leading performing artist and music educator in the mid-west. Receiving his doctorate in music education from the University of Minnesota, Mario possesses performance skills on the accordion that reflect years of dedicated studies with the renowned master accordionist, Larry Malmberg, and distinguished composer Dominic Argento.  He has performed at the Guthrie and State Theaters, the Ordway, and accross the US, Canada, and Mexico.

Henry Boucha

Henry Boucha

Henry Boucha is a former NHL Player, U.S. Olympic Silver Medalist, U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame member, Ojibwa Native American, and author. His book, Henry Boucha, Ojibwa, Native American Olympian, is about his triumphs and tragedies as he traveled from Warroad high school hockey to professional and Olympic level hockey. Learn about those challenges, how his Ojibwa roots guided him through that experience and continues to influence his life today as he works on a video series about Native American Olympic medal winners.

Henry will be at the library on Thursday, November 13, at noon.  This would be a good program for bantam, high school and college age hockey players as well -  A motivational discussion about the opportunities in hockey while preparing yourself for life off the ice and the importance of being true to your beliefs.

If you have would like more information about these programs or others, call us at 748-7525.

Tickets for you @ your local library!

Elephant Man at the Encore Performing Arts Center in Cloquet
The Arrowhead Library System is pleased to offer free event tickets to Elephant Man at the Encore Performing Arts Center in Cloquet, on September 26-28 and October 2-5.  Performances are at 7:00 p.m., except for Sunday at 2:00 p.m.

The Elephant Man, by Bernard Pomerance

The Elephant Man, by Bernard Pomerance, is based on the life of John Merrick, who lived in London during the latter part of the nineteenth century. "A horribly deformed young man, victim of rare skin and bone diseases, he has become the star freak attraction in traveling side shows. Found abandoned and helpless, he is admitted to London's prestigious Whitechapel hospital. Under the care of celebrated young physician Frederick Treves, Merrick is introduced to London society and slowly evolves from an object of pity to an urbane and witty favorite of the aristocracy and literati only to be denied his ultimate dream, to become a man like any other."

The Encore Performing Arts Center and Gallery has been the home of the County Seat Theater Company since 2008.  This is Community Theater at its BEST!

A limited number of free event tickets are available at the following libraries: Aurora, Carlton, Cloquet, Eveleth, Gilbert, Hibbing, Moose Lake, Silver Bay and Virginia.

This program, sponsored by Arrowhead Library System, was funded in part or in whole with money from Minnesota's Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.  Tickets for this event and others are available at your local library. 

The Arrowhead Library System does a lot to make fantastic programs available to the patrons of ALS member libraries.   Please let them know how much you appreciate it when you fill out the evaluation for this fascinating production.

Call 748-7525 if you have any questions. 

--Susan Hoppe, Adult Services Librarian