Kasson Library Closed For Labor Day

The library will be closed Saturday, September 1st through Monday, September 3rd, for the Labor Day holiday.

Labor Day is a national legal holiday that is over 100 years old. Over the years, it has evolved from a purely labor union celebration into a general "last fling of summer" festival.

It grew out of a celebration and parade in honor of the working class by the Knights of Labor in 1882 in New York. In 1884, the Knights held a large parade in New York City celebrating the working class. The parade was held on the first Monday in September. The Knights passed a resolution to hold all future parades on the same day, designated by them as Labor Day.

10th Anniversary of Princess Diana's Death

Once again this historical event people can tell you what they were doing when they heard the news. I listened to the news that evening at home and was dumbstruck at the news. There are not many time I shed tears for someone famous but I did for her.

Princess Diana's family solemnly marked the 10th anniversary of her death Friday at a service organized by her sons,Harry and his brother, Prince William, while admirers tied scores of bouquets, poems and portraits to the gates of her former home.

Britain's Princes William and Harry, sons of the late Princess Diana, arrive for the Service of Thanksgiving for the Life of Diana at the Guards' Chapel at Wellington Barracks in London, August 31, 2007.

"To lose a parent so suddenly at such a young age, as others have experienced, is indescribably shocking and sad," Prince Harry said at the memorial service at the Guards' Chapel near Buckingham Palace. "It was an event which changed our lives forever, as it must have done for everyone who lost someone that night," said Harry, who was 12 when Diana died.

"But what is far more important to us now and into the future is that we remember our mother as she would wish to be remembered, as she was: fun-loving, generous, down to earth and entirely genuine," he said.

"To us, just two loving children, she was quite simply the best mother in the world," Prince Harry, her younger son, said in a eulogy. "When she was alive, we completely took for granted her unrivaled love of life, laughter, fun and folly," Harry said.

"She was our guardian, friend and protector. She never once allowed her unfaltering love us to go unspoken or undemonstrated."

Seniors and Book On Wheels

Two weeks ago Kasson Public Library staff members, Outreach Librarian Paula Talbert and Library Director Bonnie Adams went to the senior facility and took pictures of the seniors that would result in a refrigerator magnet and a doorhanger.

Kasson Public Library Books on Wheels outreach program returned today to Prairie Meadows Senior Living facility with their pictures and finished the project. The seniors chose what their wanted they doorhanger to say and they were all excited about the finished project.

Below are pictures of the seniors:

Electronic Library For Minnesota—A World of Information

There is a wealth of magazines that our library has available for FREE to our library patrons and all you need is your library card.


ELM (Electronic Library for Minnesota) http://www.elm4you.org/ gives Minnesota residents online access to magazine, newspaper, and journal articles, eBooks (electronic books), and information from other reference sources—available to all Minnesota residents at no charge! ELM provides information about a vast array of topics, including consumer information, arts and humanities, current events, health, science, social science, politics, business and more. Access is possible both in the library and remotely from home, businesses and classrooms, or computer laboratories.

What is the Electronic Library for Minnesota (ELM)?
Electronic Library for Minnesota (ELM) is supported by appropriations from the Minnesota Legislature to provide Minnesotans with access to electronic information. Funds were appropriated to the Minnesota Office of Higher Education and Minnesota Department Education for MINITEX and State Library Services & School Technology respectively to provide electronic access to general information databases.

The Legislative intent for this appropriation is to provide the best possible access to information resources across the educational spectrum (including K-12, higher education, state government and public libraries) on a statewide basis.

Listening to Books Is Not Cheating!

As I scan the web for articles I think might be of interest, I always check Sites and Soundbytes by Tasha Saecker http://www.greenlakelibrary.org/blog/. She usually has great sites to check out and I usually do and use them myself or point others to the sites she recommends.

Listening to books is not cheating is an article from the Baltimore Sun that speaks in defense of listening to audio versions of books as being just as legitimate a form of reading as turning pages.

I have used the audio books for long trips and sometimes my husband and I both listen to the audio books and other times I take my cd player. Kasson Public Library has a wide variety of audio books available to check out for two weeks. We have a very faithful following that use the audio books for commuting, family trips, exercising, or just walking around town. Stop by and look over our collection and chose one or two to try out. We have both cassettes and cd's.

Great Readers Abound at Kasson Public Library

One in four adults read no books at all in the past year, according to an Associated Press poll released last week. Of those who did read, women and older people were most avid, and religious works and popular fiction were the top choices.

Sounds depressing doesn't it. Not at Kasson Public Library!

Kasson Public Library users are avid readers which bucks the national trend! In 2006 over 57,213 books and media items(dvd, cd's, audio books etc.) were checked out from our library. That 3,700 more items than in 2005. We also have about 43% of the people in our service area who have library cards. This summer 583 children registered for our summer reading program with 5,242 hours read up 674 from last year.

At the same time, book enthusiasts abound. Many in the survey reported reading dozens of books and said they couldn’t do without them. Many of Kasson Public Library Library patrons state, “I go into another world when I read." or “I've read so many sometimes I get the stories mixed up.”

Book lovers such as myself fully understand those two statements. I along with others get frantic when we don't have something to read. Many library user have told me they take out extra books so if they do not like one of the books they have others to fall back on.

It seems very clear that K-M and the surrounding area keeps on reading despite the national trend.

BOW Day Two Delivery of Books To Children

Our Books On Wheels (BOW) Daycare Summer Reading Program ended with the delivery of books that children could have for their own. Outreach Librarian Paula Talbert and Library Director Bonnie Adams traveled to three daycares (Rosie Lee, Sue Pongratz, and Tricia Musolf) today to bring two boxes of books for the children to chose and take home and read. All of the children were excited about a book that they could have to share with their families. Some children chose right away and other deliberated quite a while to get just the book they wanted.

One little boy at Sue's chose a halloween book and starting telling a great story about the book, even though he could not read yet. He made Paula and I laugh, he even used other voices for the characters. It always fun to visit the daycares and the daycares really appreciate the BOW program.



Rosie Lee's Daycare

Sue Pongratz's Daycare

Tricia Musolf Daycare