Join us for our LEAP YEAR Early Spring Book Sale!
February
28, 2004 -- 10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Members may attend our Special Preview
Sale: 7:30 a.m.- 10:00 a.m.
Memberships and renewals will be accepted
at the door.
Also, don't forget our
Bargain
Bag Sale
Sunday,
February 29th -- 2:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Only $3.00 per bag
GIFT
IDEAS:
OUR HOLIDAY PECAN
DELIGHTS & BOOK LOVERS' 2004 CALENDARS
FOR SALE AT THE
CIRCULATION DESK
(click here
for more information)
Friends’
and Library News
(Click on the links below
for faster access to specific articles.)
President's
Message (Frank Baecher)
Hello, Park
Forest (Barbara Osuch, Administrative Librarian)
Autumn Joy! October
2003 Book Sale (Helene Cox)
Dollar for Dollar
Farewell Elaine
Brownlee
Authors'
Showcase
Road
to the White House
Fall
Renewal Membership Drive
Volunteer Opportunities
Pecans For
Sale in February
Book Discussion
Group and Cultures Club
In Memoriam
Friends'
Board Members
Let me begin this holiday greeting by expressing my thanks to Elaine Brownlee, our recently retired newsletter editor for her many unselfish years of guiding and developing this award-winning newsletter. Her artistic, literary and editing skills have made Footnotes a unique and distinctive expression of what symbolizes the Friends and the Park Forest Library. Thanks, Elaine, for all that you have done. We look forward to hearing about your next venture. Elaine will continue to edit the Friends' website: www.lincolnnet.net/friends
The enclosed donation envelope is for any member who may wish to contribute to the Library's new Family Technology Center. After receiving a partial grant from the state, the Library will supplement the remaining costs by implementing a matching dollar for dollar fundraiser. The Friends have pledged to match every dollar that is raised by the membership and the public. The purpose of the center is to provide a place for parents who may need the resources of a computer and the Internet but who need to bring their young children with them while they work. The funds will be used for furniture and educational toys.
The Friends have also been asked to help publicize the need for volunteers for a state-wide library day entitled A Day Without Libraries. On this day, volunteers will survey and question patrons about their use of the library. The goal of this program is to tabulate data in order for the state and local libraries to examine communities' needs. The idea is to help prevent us from ever having a day without libraries. Please call the library if you can volunteer for this program which will require one training day and a few hours on one day at the library.
Finally, we need volunteers for a new program, Read Off Your Fines. Library policy does not allow children who have overdue library fines over $2.00 to check out books. However, by coming to the library at specified times each month and reading with adult volunteers, children will be able to work off their fines. Call the library for more information about how to help with this worthwhile project.
Happy Holidays! Thanks
for all your support of the library. You are the people who keep our wonderful
library a rich, cultural, educational community center.
-- Frank Baecher, Friends’ President
"At the beginning of my
life, there was a forest . . . .There was a forest at the beginning of
fiction too. This one spread forever. Its canopy of branches covered the
land, covered every form of the land, whether the ground beneath jagged
or rolled. The forest went on." -- Francis Spufford
from The Child That Books Built: A Life in Reading
I am proud to be serving the communities of Park Forest and Olympia Fields as Administrative Librarian. Since I started my job on October lst, I have been working on plans for this great library. Working in a place named Park Forest allows me to enter a forest anew and ripe with possibilities. One beginning will be to extend our community by substantially increasing the number of Park Forest Library cardholders.
I find my inspiration in libraries, so I hope to inspire this community with the belief that a public library is the best beginning. Librarians are trained to find answers; I also plan to work on ways to engage the community in defining this library's value. One of the ways to accomplish this will be to form plans that will open and encourage dialogue with the community.
Another not-so-distant beginning: I will be working at a newly renovated state-of-the-art Park Forest Library. DownTown Park Forest will be bustling. There will be no vacant storefronts on my way to work, and artists will be thriving. I will see the library's sculpture park and gardens as I approach and marvel at the inspiring mural around the well-lit entrance. I'll see books immediately upon entering the library. The library's drive-thru will be lined with people waiting for vacation packs (books and audio-visual materials selected to make their travels, with or without children).
I will keep working on, changing, and framing new responses as I continue to plan, but I will make sure that the library is responding to the needs of the communities we serve.
Opinions are my own but
may be borrowed with a valid library card.
-- Barbara Byrne Osuch, Administrative Librarian
osuch@sslic.net
Autumn Joy! Autumn Book Sale: October 25, 2003
They waited in the dark, the eager and committed members of the Friends of the Library for an extra hour of shopping. They browsed and they bought all that fall Saturday, resulting in one of the most successful book sales ever held at the library.
There had been a plethora of fine donations throughout the spring and summer: books, records, and videos. There were also donations from members' estates, one of the largest from longtime Friend Betty Jacobs. In addition, we obtained more wonderful books from our annual spring trek to the Newberry Library, gleaning some fine leftovers from their annual book sale. The quantity of books was so large and the quality so great that it was not possible to sort and ready them all for the fall book sale. Loyal buyers will find many of these good treasures at the next sales.
Thanks to the dependable, innovative, hard-working year round sorters: Gretna Connor, Judy Gleitsman, Lois Hinde, Dora Holly, Evie Loke, Susan McGoldrick, Maria Mitchell, Dean Oedzes, Don Struck (our media expert), and Justine Wheeler. They are a remarkable group! Special thanks to Jason Chong, our most recent, youngest volunteer, who came in to help just when the Moles needed him the most.
The library staff, as always, was supportive, helpful and good humored throughout the sometimes boisterous sale. Barbara Byrne Osuch, our new administrative librarian, helped out wherever she was needed with skill and good cheer. Mitchell Cox supervised the setup, cashiered, and restored the library reading room to rights. And to George Manno, thanks for doing a superb job in the early hours by selling our "special" books. Finally, we couldn't run a successful sale without book haulers, Will Brown, Adam Cox (both who doubled as cashiers), Steve Miller, Danielle Jamison, and the wonderful volunteers upstairs and down. Frank Baecher wore several helpful hats throughout the busy day.
It was a busy day, fun
and profitable. We added nearly four thousand dollars to the library's
budget. Watch for the next sale on February 28th. As always, the library
welcomes donations of books, magazines, audio-visual materials, and puzzles
and games during library hours -- just never on Sunday.
- Helene Cox, Book Sales
Barbara Byrne Osuch recently announced a total of $31,440 in Library Services and Technology Grants awarded by the state of Illinois. Six separate grants were awarded; three grants will help purchase a variety of materials; two grants will be used for two series of seminars; and one grant will be used to create a multimedia family center. This last grant is the largest of the six grants.
Barbara presented the details of the multimedia family center grant to the Friends at their November Board Meeting. The grant is called T.A.F.F. (Technology Access for Families) Grant. The funds will be used to convert the present photocopy room into two Family Technology Centers. Each room will house computers for the adults as well as interactive and educational toys and materials for the children who accompany the adults. These rooms will allow for much needed space for adults to work while their children are occupied in fun and meaningful tasks away from the quiet areas of the library.
Osuch explained that the amount of the grant, $12,640.00, will not cover all the needed expenditures, such as tables, chairs, bookcases, computer workstations, and baby/toddler toys and games. The Friends have agreed to support this project by adopting a matching dollar for dollar campaign. The Friends will donate one dollar for every dollar raised by the public. The library will accept your monetary donations anytime. However, the completion date for the grant is June 4, 2004, and Barbara hopes to have the new Family Technology Centers in operation by then. More detailed information about the grant may be obtained at the library.
Barbara Byrne Osuch recently announced that the PF Public Library is the recipient of a state grant to fund a series of seminars and programs geared toward informing and educating voters. Topics will include an explanation of the electoral process, facts about presidential history, and discussion of candidates for elective offices. This series will run on select weekend dates through June 2004. Future speakers include elected officials, university professors, and other special guests. The public is welcome to these free programs. Refreshments will be served.
At the November Friends' Board meeting, Mitchell Cox announced that many members have responded to the fall renewal membership drive. Many previous members renewed; in addition, the Friends added 25 new members. At the board meeting, Barbara Byrne Osuch drew the winner of the Book Lover's Goody Basket from all the members who had renewed before November 15th. George and Jean Bernstein were the lucky winners. Congratulations! All membership dollars help support the library's worthwhile programs. Thank you for your prompt response to our renewal request.
A Change of Editors, Farewell Elaine Brownlee
This issue of our Friends' newsletter comes out under a new editor, Susan McGoldrick, who is taking over from longtime editor, Elaine Brownlee.
Elaine's service to the newsletter has lasted nearly 20 years, and her commitment to the Friends even longer. She began as our publicity chairman (and designed our familiar rocking-chair logo) and moved on to the presidency from 1985 to 1988. In the early 80's producing a newsletter was a cutand-paste job done at Elaine's by a few of us who barely knew the word computer. Elaine demanded accuracy and economy of words.
Her background as a Park Forester lent her some authority. Elaine grew up in Matteson in an area which is now part of the Park Forest Lincolnwood area. She was in the first freshman class at Rich East in 1952; students used classrooms at Faith U.P. Church until the school building was finished. Her class chose the green and gold school colors and the team name, the Rockets.
Elaine is an artist, a photographer, and an omnivorous reader who also has time to teach an occasional poetry class at TALE, the adult education program at GSU. She has certainly used all of these talents to make this newsletter a success, on time, four times a year. We are deeply grateful for her years of exemplary volunteer service.
And now we welcome Susan
McGoldrick!
-- Alice Racher
Do you have extra time now that you've put the garden to rest for the winter? Have you recently retired and need to get out of the house? Now that football season is almost over, do you wonder what you will do on the weekends? Are you simply curious about just what does go on in the library basement? Well, the Friends have a solution for you: volunteer a little or a lot; volunteer morning, afternoon, or evening; pitch in for a few hours a year or a few hours a week. And, an added bonus, meet some wonderful friends while you're helping to support the library. Volunteer opportunities abound. Some of them are:
Book sorting and sale preparation: every Tuesday morning Book sale days: cashiers, etc.: 2-4 times a year Mailing footnotes: 4 times per year Special projects like A Day without Libraries Read Off Your Fines: once a month, daytime or evening
Interested persons, fill out volunteer form at the library, available at the circulation desk.
A good friend of the library for many years, Gladys Barksdale, of Olympia Fields, passed away on July 17, 2003. Gladys was always eager to volunteer for Friends' projects. The Friends especially appreciated her annual contribution of her delicious baked goods for the holiday bake sale. She was also a longtime volunteer at St. James Hospital. The Friends will miss her.
Two successful Authors' Showcases were held last fall. Each showcase consisted of several local authors discussing their writings. Karen Blackful, head of community relations for the library, is currently looking for authors who would like to participate in a Showcase in the spring. Contact Karen at the library if you are an author, or if you know of an interested local author. 748-3731
Book Lovers' Pecans
We hope to be selling
Delicious chocolate-covered pecans again this February.
Come in and buy some
pecans for your book lovers.
Fourth Monday of the Month, 12:00 p.m.
January 26 -- Running
with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs
February 23 -- Unless
by Carol Shields
Multiple copies of the
discussion books will be available
at the library three
weeks in advance of the discussion.
Cultures Club...
Interested adults explore
a different country, civilization, or culture
by reading and discussing
a book based upon that culture.
Join us the 3rd Wednesday
evening of every month: 7:00-8:45 p.m.
Register in person in
the reference department.
President: Frank
Baecher
Vice-President:
Jennifer Spinozzi
Recording Secretary:
Melinda Geist
Treasurer: Mitchell
Cox
Book Sales: Helene
Cox
Hospitality: Susan
McGoldrick
Board Members at Large:
Beverly Myrow, Mary Krachey
Administrative Librarian:
Barbara Byrne Osuch
PFPL Board Liaison:
Alice Racher
OFPL Board Liason:
Joan Braden
footnotes
Editor: Susan McGoldrick
Contributing Editors:
Alice Racher, Joan Larsen, Frank Baecher, Helene Cox
Proofreader: Lisa
McGoldrick
Friends' Webmaster:
Elaine Brownlee