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Last Thursday evening we had a big crowd at our 4th Annual Chili Jam Session. We had three large crock pots of chili and the musicians took a short break to share a meal with friends before returning to play some of their favorites songs and even a few Christmas carols. We were even graced with a banjo player this time A big Thank You to our visitors who brought a dish to share. The food was wonderful!

We continue to decorate the “halls” of the library, hanging glittering things from anything hanging from the ceiling. The tree will go up this week and the photos can begin. I’ll be visiting the preschool next week to share a story, “Snowmen at Christmas,” with a snowman craft and a surprise snack. It’s been the greatest joy of my time here to visit the classes over the last seven years and then greet new cardholders at the library when they hit their fifth birthday and can get their very own library card for the first time.

Lia continues to visit a local daycare to read to the children, and then follows that with a Story Time at the library. It’s wonderful to hear the laughter of the children as they get to know each other and play after the story. Our Board meeting next week will be a meal for board members and staff. It’s the only time all year that we are all together.

As you rush around buying gifts and serving meals to your families, please remember those who are alone during the holidays, and don’t have as much as we do. We have a donation box near our front desk for items for Cookee’s Passionate About People (CPAP). They will deliver these items to the elderly to brighten their holidays. Please be generous in this activity.

Don’t forget to stop in a check out a Christmas movie to entertain your children, grandchildren and even the adults who visit you. We also have a new selection of large print Christmas books on display for those who just need to spend some downtime after all the hustle and bustle. We look forward to seeing you!

Each day this week, to celebrate Kansas Reads to Preschoolers month, local volunteers will visit Ms. Davenport’s preK classes at the Ernie Price Annex to read to them. Kansas Reads to Preschoolers is an annual event that promotes reading to all Kansas children from birth through age five. Through the Kansas State Library’s statewide program, parents, librarians and caregivers are encouraged to read the chosen title, “I Like Myself!” by Karen Beaumont, during a selected week and month.

The State Library purchased copies of this year’s Kansas Reads to Preschoolers Month title — one book for each public library location. The books can be used to celebrate the event in any way our libraries choose. For the last seven years, the Pleasanton Library has been asking volunteers to visit the preK classes each day during a week in November. Some of them are excited to read to these four- and five-year-olds, while others are a bit self-conscious about reading aloud. But once they get over their initial jitters, they have a wonderful time. The students are always excited to hear books the readers bring to read. Some choose the books they want to read, while some are happy to let us select one for them.

This week, our scheduled readers include Pleasanton Library employees Berta Willis and Lia Duckwall, Labette Bank’s Brianna Laver, Farmers State Bank’s Kristin Simons, and Police Chief Tristan Snyder.

In addition to this special week, regular visits to the preK class continue on a monthly basis. In addition to reading a book to the students I take a craft and snack, all relative to a letter of the alphabet they are studying that week. Another volunteer, Allene Campbell, also visits the preschoolers on a monthly basis to help them work on their small-motor skills. A number of years ago, Allene was a Kansas Reads to Preschoolers volunteer, and she’s been involved with the students ever since.

If you are interested in reading to children during next year’s Kansas Reads to Preschoolers Month, please contact me at the library to schedule your day to read!

This seems to be the busiest time of year! As soon as our Summer Reading Program ended, we began creating holiday displays at the library. Like larger stores in the area, we may be overlapping Halloween, Fall and Christmas with our displays and decorations. Our library is ripe with Fall decorations among our craft and book displays, but we’re morphing into Halloween, and Christmas won’t be far behind.

In the midst of all this, renovation has been going on in my corner of the library. While I was out of state for my high school reunion wondering where the last fifty years had gone, my office was emptied for repairs and updates. I returned to a nearly completed project, and hope to repaint and paper over the repairs soon.

Like many people, I try to get everything done before I leave on a trip. It’s not always possible, but I gave it my best. On my return, I was immediately busy with paperwork and answering phone calls. But all the preliminary effort was worth it to return to my hometown and see friends and classmates. I even visited the tiny building where I worked as a library clerk at age 14. It’s now an Art League facility and holds painting classes for children and adults. The current library is near the high school and is much, much larger. They recently received a bequest of over $600,000 and I visited to see the changes. They had replaced their carpeting and re-designated their rooms to make more space for computers. The facility was quiet but busy. Students walk over after school to study, just as I had done while in high school and junior college.

My visit included trips to numerous venues including the North Brevard Historical Museum where I’d volunteered in 1990. It gave me a chance to review my high school yearbook and brush up on faces and names before the reunion. I toured the Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge and saw many birds and even a gator or two in view of the launch sites at Cape Kennedy, where my dad worked for 24 years. A newer space museum now resides in Titusville, and I took a tour of the rooms that included a children’s area to inspire future astronauts. Near my childhood home is the Harry T. and Harriette P. Moore Cultural Complex, Inc., honoring an early Civil Rights leader in Florida. His former home which was bombed in 1951, was recently rebuilt from photos and memories of his oldest daughter.

I returned to the Morse Museum in Winter Park which contains work by Louis Comfort Tiffany. The exquisite stained glass creations were displayed with the care their beauty and grace deserve. The gift shop was filled with books about his work and that of many contemporaries. I got ideas for our library by visiting a used bookstore in Sanford where the owner works seven days a week stocking and organizing books placed floor to ceiling. My younger brother and I visited a Manatee Museum Center in Fort Pierce, and later toured the branch library there. It contained artwork by local painters and was filled with light from windows on the east side facing the Atlantic Ocean.

My camera was nearly worn out from all the photos I took, and it will be weeks before I can post them all on Facebook. I so appreciate having the opportunity to take the time away from work to go home for a couple of weeks to the warm, sunny south. I even had the chance to stick my toes in the sand and watch the waves roll in a couple of times. Now, back to work and I hope to see you all soon!

Photo: The big yellow school bus that served the library well has a new home at Pleasanton Elementary. Caleb Secrest is sure to recognize it.

We continue to weed our shelves of books and movies that are damaged, or haven’t been checked out in some time. Our storage area has been filled to overflowing, so we’re reviewing what to keep and discard there as well. One of the items we recently determined might be useful elsewhere is a big yellow school bus. It was generously donated to the library by Mary Lynn Sylvester and Kenton Bell years ago. Once filled with stuffed animals and toddler books, it’s been languishing in our storage shed due to lack of space in the children’s area. We offered it to the Pleasanton Elementary School library and they happily accepted it!

Not willing to add too much to the landfill, we try to re-home some of the items in our vast collection of “stuff.” Our local residents are good to offer donations of books, craft supplies, puzzles and furniture. We’ll make every effort to reorganize our space to utilize these items. As they are received, we review what they might replace. Many times the donations are upgrades of what we currently have. Especially after the old library burned many years ago, we accepted many donations of discarded shelves and books from other libraries. These served us well, and most are still in use. Our online library list-serv often contains messages from other libraries about items they are willing to give away. We’ve accepted numerous chairs and books this way and, most recently, a rolling cabinet that holds over 4,000 DVDs. Kansas is a large state and, unfortunately, some items are too great a distance to retrieve and must be passed up. Hopefully, libraries closer to the items can benefit as well.

Our generous residents have provided monetary donations over the years allowing us to purchase book collections, and upgrade furniture. We strive to retain seating areas for our visitors’ use, and maintain the building for everyone’s comfort. Recently, we had three overgrown trees removed from the front of the library to prevent roots seeking moisture and damaging the foundation. Smaller slower-growing ornamental plantings are being considered. Another recent upgrade is new guttering, with gutter guard to prevent clogged downspouts and water infiltration inside the building. Both of these are intended to save the cost of more serious damage to the building.

We’re always open to suggestions about how to improve the library, so please contact us if you have ideas. We look forward to hearing from you.