Friday, October 29, 2010

Ran across this today and thought it was way coool!! ENJOY!



Playlistnow.fm is a site that takes a simple idea and really makes it work. You type in what you are currently doing and they have a playlist to match. What makes it great is that the music really matches the activity well. So when you type in that you are meditating or reading, you get very different results than if you say you are late for work or at a party.

You can also search the site by song or artist as well as by user in case you love someone’s playlists in particular. And you can create your own lists with themes that you create yourself. If you don’t see a playlist for the activity you wanted, make one!

Once you have a playlist pulled up, the site will start with a random song. But you can see all of the songs on the list before they are played and can even select certain ones to add to your favorites or a new playlist of your own. Additionally, the site has Twitter and Facebook integration to share your playlists or whatever song you are listening to.

Related articles by Zemanta
Playlistnow.fm Streams Music Based on What You’re Doing [Streaming Music] (lifehacker.com)
Playlistnow.fm is a simple way to find music that’s right for what you’re doing (downloadsquad.com)
Playlistnow.fm launches Twitter for sharing music playlists. Look out, Ping. (eu.techcrunch.com)
Playlistnow.fm Does a Catchy Twitter Remix. Look out, Ping. (techcrunch.com)
Create Music Playlists For Every Situation With Playlistnow.fm (makeuseof.com)

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Halloween Storytime Week of Oct 26-28

This week's theme was HALLOWEEN!! Children came dressed in costumes and heard wonderful stories about Halloween. The highlight of the stortime was Children Librarian Ingvild singing about 5 Little Monsters and to illustrate the song she had a glove full of FIVE SCARY MONSTERS! Craft was a wiggly eyeball picture frame. Additonal pictures of this and other events may be found at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kassonlibrary/






Bedtime Storytime on Monday, October 25








Friday, October 22, 2010

Friends of the Kasson Library Activities

Meeting-
Thursday, November 4 at 10:30 am in the library the Friends will hold their quarterly meeting. All members and the public are welcome to attend.


Book Sale-
The Friends Book Sale will be Thursday, November 18 10-6, Friday, November 19 10-5, Saturday, November 20 10-12 , and Bag Sale Monday, November 20 10-7. There are a lot of great books and we will be selling the remaining VHS in our collection. There are many bargains to be had by the ones who get here first on Tursday. Don't be late.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Snakes Storytime 10/19-21

Children's Librarin Ingvild chose SNAKES!! as this week's theme for storytime. The stories had snakes eating laundry and helping out others. The children especially enjoyed the craft using play dough to make their very own snakes.

Additional pictures of all week's activities and pictures can be found at http://www.flickr.com/photos/kassonlibrary/










Monday, October 18, 2010

Accidental Hero-Actor Patrick Dewane

Twin Cities actor Patrick Dewane performed his one-act play "Accidental Hero" to over 60 people on Sunday, October 17 th at Prairie Meadows Senior Living in Kasson.

The play is based on letters and background information he found in the basement of his grandfathers home. Mr. Dewane was surprised to find that his grandfather was a hero and help liberate his family's home town and country of Czechoslovakia.

The people at the performance stated that he played his part of narrator wonderfully and he really transformed himself by just putting glasses on and becoming his gruff, chain smoking, opinionated grandfather. At times Mr. Dewane graphic descriptions of D-Day and the Battle of the Bulge made people wince. Everyone present thoroughly enjoyed the performance.












Kasson Public Library partnered with Prairie Meadows Senior Living in Kasson and this was the second of many activities planned for KM residents. The performances are free to the public and is part of the Minnesota's Legacy Grant that Minnesota libraries received last fall from the Minnesota taxpayers through the Clean Water Act.

The next performance from the Kasson Library and Prairie Meadows partnership will have Jazz Singer Christine Rosholt singing jazz from the 40's & 50"s on Sunday, November 14 at 2pm at Prairie Meadows Senior Living in Kasson.
Vicky Heitman (Prairie Meadows) Patrick Dewane, Bonnie Adams (Kasson Library)
additional pictures may be found at http://www.flickr.com/photos/kassonlibrary/page4/

Friday, October 15, 2010

Patrick Dewane-"The Accidental Hero"

Patrick Dewane
"The Accidental Hero"

Kasson Public Library and Prairie Meadows Senior Living partnered to receive a Minnesota Legacy Grant from the Minnesota Historical Society for actor Patrick Dewane to perform "Accidental Hero" at Prairie Meadows Sunday, October 17, at 2:00 pm at Prairie Meadows Senior Living.

"The Accidental Hero" is an astonishing one-act play about a grandfather, history, the reality of war and the mystery of heroes. Patrick tells the story of his grandfather, whose CB handle during the war was “The Accidental Hero.” He was a World War II Czech-American soldier, fighting in the dark forests of his homeland. His name was Matt Konop and he rarely talked about his experiences, but years after his death, Patrick came into possession of a pile of typed pages discovered in a box in the basement.

Patrick Dewane, left, his grandfather, Matt Konop, right.


The performance and refreshments are free to the public and made possible by a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, through an appropriation by the Minnesota State Legislature from the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage fund with money from the vote of the people of Minnesota on November 4, 2008.

Farm Animals Storytime October 12-14

This week's four storytimes theme was Farm Animals. The children loved the stories that Children's Librarian Ingvild read to the children but the favorite book of all the story times was Chickens To The Rescue. The children drew their favorite farm animal on big white sheets that Ingvild pre-drew a barn, fences and a pond. There will be eight of these sheets displayed around the KM library area. Look for them! Additonal pictures for these events or any programs that the library sponsors may be found at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kassonlibrary/

















Friday, October 8, 2010

Minnesota Author Julie Kramer

Julie Kramer, 2009 winner of the Friends of the St. Paul Public Library Minnesota Book Award spent Thursday, Oct. 7 talking to students at area schools, and later that night to the public at the Kasson Library.

Kramer, a graduate of Southland High School in Adams, grew up on a family farm along the Minnesota-Iowa State Line. "The bookmobile was very important to me when I was growing up. I'm always happy to talk about how libraries create authors. Libraries are so important to communities. "

As part of the Minnesota Legacy Grant program area libraries had an opportunity to book winners of the Friends of the St. Paul Public Library Minnesota Book Award. Kasson Public Library, KM Schools, and Triton Schools partnered together to have Mystery Writer Julie Kramer come and talk about her books and how to get them published. Her latest book, SILENCING SAM, explores the fine line between news and gossip when a reporter because a murder suspect in a gossip columnist's death. Library Journal called it "riveting" and gave it a starred review. The book also has an unusual subplot involving wind farms, that has proven especially popular with rural Minnesota readers.



The adults attending Thursday's talk thoroughly enjoyed hearing Julie talk about the book writing process and her life as a news journalist. Many people had questions ranging from how do you learn to write, how many hours do your devote to writing, where do the ideas come from.




Mary Kramer, Julie Kramer, Bonnie Adams, Ingvild Herfindahl

Additional pictures of this event can be found at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kassonlibrary/page3/

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

The Minnesota Library Association Convention is in Rochester at the Mayo Civic Auditorium for the next three days October 6th-8th. Since the convention is local this year, I along with some of my library staff, Library Board Trustees, and the Chair of the Friends of the Library Organization will be attending. We are all looking forward to learning new ideas, trends, etc. that can make our library a better place for the patron and community. See you next week.

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

My Body Storytime Week of Oct 5-8

The children really enjoyed this weeks theme of My Body. The also got to sing along with Do Your Ears Hang Low Do They Wiggle To and Fro?

For additional pictures of all the groups attending this weeks storytime,please go to: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kassonlibrary/


Monday, October 4, 2010

Minnesota Mystery Author Julie Kramer Comes To the Library

Minnesota Mystery Writer Julie Kramer will be at the Library on Thursday, October 7th at 6:30 pm. Julie has written three books, Stalking Susan, Missing Mark, and Silencing Sam. Julie will speak and sign books at the Kasson Library. Book clubs are invited; individual readers and aspiring authors are also welcome.

She is a career television news producer who used to run the I Team at WCCO-TV and now works freelance news for NBC and CBS networks. "People always have lots of questions about how the media works," she said. "And I think that's one of the strengths of my books. I take people inside how newsrooms make decisions. And sometimes that's not pretty."

Julie is part of a multi-library Fall Author tour that the Kasson Library received as part of a legacy grant through our regional library system SELCO. The funds were made available through the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment, was passed overwhelmingly by Minnesota voters in November 2008. A portion of these funds has been appropriated to regional library systems to support programs and services at local libraries and to partner with community organizations to enrich the lives of Minnesota residents.

Friday, October 1, 2010

Arts & Culture Legacy Grant Programs

The Kasson Public Library has been the recipient of four Arts and Culture Legacy Grants this past summer. Underwater Adventures, Rose Ensemble Singers-Last Queen of Hawaii, Treasure Beyond Measure Magic Show, and the Computer Assisted Drafting (CAD) Grant with KM School Technology Class. The Kasson Library had over 7oo people attend these four events and people of all ages thoroughly enjoyed the programs. Additional pictures of these four event as well as other programs may be found on our picture website Flickkr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kassonlibrary/

The Kasson Library received these legacy grants through our regional library system SELCO. The funds were made available through the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment, was passed overwhelmingly by Minnesota voters in November 2008. This electoral decision created new resources for land conservation, water conservation, parks and the arts. A portion of these funds has been appropriated to regional library systems to support programs and services at local libraries and to partner with community organizations to enrich the lives of Minnesota residents.

One of Kasson Public Library primary goals is to seek new or expand existing partnerships with libraries, community organizations, performers and artisans to sponsor a wide variety of arts and cultural projects within the community. The library has a large variety of choices of entertainment is is looking for partners to bring more art and culture to the KM Library service area. If you or your group would like to partner with the library please call Library Director Bonnie Adams at 507-634-7615 or email badams@selco.info.


The Last Queen of Hawaii by the Rose Ensemble










Treasure Beyond Measure-Magic Show