Horicon Public Library

facebook eats our blog.

2010-04-17T10:27:00.001-07:00

Since I mainly post to the uber-convenient fb now, I've decided to end this blog and keep facebook as our main posting point. I resisted this for a while, believing that non-fb users may want to comment on things. However, no one ever comments on this blog (though they do on fb) and fb also has feed from all our other social networking sites, such as LibraryThing, Twitter, Flickr, etc. AND I don't think there's a person alive who, able and willing to read this blog, is NOT already on fb. So there you have it. fb wins the blog wars. Too bad about the near-perfect FriendFeed.

so go HERE for our fb page. And please comment! The more you tell us, the better we can serve you guys, which is the WHOLE POINT.

New catalog interface

2010-02-16T11:49:00.001-08:00

A couple of days ago, an upgrade was done to our online catalog. We apologize to those of you who are missing the "Look Inside" feature that allowed you to see an excerpt of a book--it's being worked on at a server level. Sadly, we (the Horicon librarians) have nothing to do with how the catalog looks or works and we suffer along with you when it goes badly. Please bear with us as we try to improve it's functionality. One thing you can do is contact us or MWFLS about what does and does not work regarding the catalog. You can click "contact us" right in the catalog interface (this link may work too.)

Survey Says!: Weeding And User Perception

2009-12-21T14:35:00.001-08:00

Recently the Horicon Library (in conjunction with the Beaver Dam Community Library) did some research on how the kid's science collection was perceived in each library. Beaver Dam's collection is noticeably older than the Horicon collection, because we strongly weed out old and non-circulating titles to keep the collection fresh and relevant.

It was our hypothesis that patrons would prefer the younger-looking collection to the older-looking collection. To some extent, our study confirmed that hypothesis. However, a low turnout for the Beaver Dam survey means our findings can only be considered preliminary to a more in-depth study.

For a really great slide show talking about this research, check out our SlideCast!

And thanks so much to the 26 fabulous Horicon patrons who took the time to come to the library and do our survey--your 5-10 minutes of work helped to further library science. Yay for you guys!

Weeding And User Perception

View more presentations from Horicon Public Library.

My mission, should I choose to accept it.

2009-12-09T08:09:00.000-08:00

A couple of months ago I went to a workshop and one of the things that stuck in my head was the idea of having a mission which could be expressed in one memorizable sentence. That's been fermenting in my brain, more or less subconsciously, ever since. A week or so ago, a mission blossomed full-formed (I love when my mind does this work for me) without any effort on my part. Here it is:

IxE³=The Horicon Public Library (Inspire. Enrich. Educate. Empower.)

Now, whether we would ever consider that an official mission, or if it's just a first iteration of what could become a mission, or if I never think on this again, I still feel that my subconscious did a great job. Because this is exactly what I feel my job is about.

Some of you may scratch your head. "I thought your job was to check out books to kids" you may be thinking, "and maybe have a few programs when you have some spare cash lying around." Yeah, well, NO. Actually I've been saying for years that our mission is to bring people together with ideas, whatever the medium of the idea is (books, movies, music, Internet, programs, conversation, whatever.)

But actually the WHY of wanting to bring people together with ideas is critical--thus this mission. I want to bring people together with ideas so that they are inspired, enriched, educated and empowered. That pretty much covers it all, doesn't it? What do you think? If you could dream up a mission for the library what would it be? If you could dream up a mission for your life, what would that be? (I'm thinking mine would be the same for my life, actually).

--ms. shannon

An Ode to Audiobooks

2009-12-05T07:34:00.000-08:00

I was just about to create a new SlideCast (like the one HERE about vampire books) interviewing patrons who love audiobooks. Now, if you don't use audiobooks, you may not understand the passion we audiobookphiles have for them. You may say they send you to sleep, or you can't pay attention to the sound input like you can text, or that the readers are lousy, or that you can't sit still and listen...I've heard all these reasons for not listening to them before.

But here's the thing: if you have the RIGHT audiobook, none of the above reasons for avoiding them will apply. Especially the one about not being able to sit still--because guess what? You can DO OTHER THINGS while listening. Like shovel snow, or knit, or drive, or dribble basketball, or build a block tower with your toddler (it's great for them to hear adult books because kids benefit enormously form hearing the complexities of language and book-speak, which is different from regular speech. Obviously, if you think some scene in a book will scar them for life, skip it or save it for later).

So what are the RIGHT audiobooks? I am going to do a SlideCast on this in depth, but for now let me tide you over with a few recommendations of my personal family favorites:

Anything Neil Gaiman reads. Start with The Graveyard Book. My family recently drove 11 hours to meet family at a beach house for vacation. We listened to this on the way. When we arrived, we sat in the driveway and listened for several minutes, even though we needed to go to the bathroom and grandparents were wildly beckoning us indoors--this audiobook is THAT good. I'd say kids as young as 6 will get it and be thrilled, though it is scary at times. Gaiman is an expert at deeply satisfying scary scenes--they're actually more scary for adults than for kids. NPR just did a great piece with Gaiman on audiobooks--check it out HERE.

The His Dark Materials series. Pullman's amazing adventure/fantasy/philosophy/science/love story/fill-in-the-blank is read by a full cast and narrated by the author himself. It's like theatre. Some people are bogged down by the fist 30 minutes, but no one in my family was--we were captivated from the first second. My son has heard this series from the time he was an infant and has always been charmed, so I don't think there's a "youngest age" for it. However, it is a book entirely suitable for adults with or without kids because it's complex enough that it can be enjoyed on so many levels. Don't be fooled by the "Pullman is an atheist" hype--he's one of the most deeply spiritual writers I've ever encountered. Start with The Golden Compass.

Tamora Pierce's fantasy adventures--ALL of these are good. The Alanna series and Trickster's Queen are especially fab. Trini Alvarado does a great job of reading these.

The Book Thief by Markus Zuzak. This is for adults and older kids (say 10 and up). Set in WWII Germany it's the story of a German girl and how they respond to the Holocaust. Amazing writing, very well read--this is a must for history lovers. A little more intellectual than the others on this list, if you're not into introspection you may find it dry.

Hank the Cowdog. This series is just plain silly. A combination of Sam Spade-like noir and westerns, told from the perspective of a dog who just can't get anything right. I have laughed until tears run down my face (e.g. the "squirrel" scene in The Case of the Swirling Killer Tornado).

Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson & The Olympians series. Fun take-offs on Greek mythology set in modern-day New York (and LA and St. Louis, etc.). Adventure for all ages.

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (decidedly NOT for children but I loved it so much I'm throwing it on the list anyway--older teens could probably handle it, but be aware of the non-stop swearing and pretty graphic sex). The story of a chubby Dominican Dungeons & Dragons geek and his family. Gripping, intense plot, great writing--this book won the Pulitzer and deserved it. Extremely well read.

I could go on, but I'll stop here. The best thing about audiobooks today is that you can download them free onto an MP3 player and not have to worry about shuffling discs. Go to OverDrive and check out the PHENOMENAL collection of audiobooks here. Just download the OverDrive player and it's all pretty intuitive from there. Call the library (920.485.3535) if you have questions or email me, Shannon, at shannonb@mwfls.org. Whether you like the sound of the above audiobooks, or you're more into non-fiction, romance, mystery, or whatever--OverDrive offers everything you could possibly want. (Yes, they have Twilight--there's a waiting list, though.)

Water Advisory for Horicon

2009-08-31T17:10:00.000-07:00

As of this afternoon, the city of Horicon is advised to boil all tap water for 3 minutes before using. All ice and other things made from unboiled water should be discarded. Coliform bacteria was found in the water on August 24th, confirmed on the 27th, and is a warning of potential problems. No e. coli or fecal coliform bacterias were found, and those are the more harmful bacterias. If you have questions, please contact Dave Pasewald, City Clerk, at 485-3500.

Great shows!

2009-07-22T16:05:00.000-07:00

We've had two fabulous shows in the last week: Mime Mikael Rudolph (sponsored by Innovative Technologies) and Miller & Mike's comedy act (sponsored by Horicon Bank). We love all of our sponsors, and if you came to the shows and enjoyed them, or if you missed the shows but like the library, please tell them so!

I listed all the sponsors before, but here they are again! Michelle Wanie, Surefire, Paul Kreul Sr., Horicon Family Chiropractic, Subway, Wisconsin Aviation, Kwik Trip (West side), Leroy Meats, Marshland Pharmacy, Danny Frey, Horicon Kiwanis, Horicon Lions, Rock River Tap, Ginger's Hideaway & the aforementioned Horicon Bank & Innovative Technologies. And Subway!

Watch some of Miller & Mike's show!

Or Mikael Rudolph's show! I only put on brief excerpts (and not of the absolutely funniest moments) so you can enjoy the show if you ever get a chance to see them live. The "dog" in the Rudolph clip is Lahn N. of Horicon. I love the way Lahn knew exactly what was expected of him without a word being spoken. What a good sport (or a good dog!)

Enter the YouTube Video contest now!

2009-06-30T15:10:00.000-07:00

You could win this custom Flip Mino video camera. Don't know how? Check out our how-to video (it's silly and fun!)

Summer Reading Madness

2009-06-18T15:18:00.000-07:00

So, 153 kids have already signed up for the Summer Library Program, and we had 111 at the Hoffer's Tropic Life Pet show and a full house at our Teen Candy Sushi Class. The program has been kicked off with a bang! Even though this was a tough year for fundraising, we've had some amazing help from local businesses.

Let me just list everyone who has (so far) helped us out: Horicon Bank, Innovative Technologies, Michelle Wanie, Surefire, Paul Kreul Sr., Horicon Family Chiropractic, Subway, Wisconsin Aviation, Kwik Trip (West side), Leroy Meats, Marshland Pharmacy, Danny Frey, Horicon Kiwanis, Horicon Lions, Rock River Tap, & Ginger's Hideaway. Thanks everybody!

To see some more pictures and video of the programs, check out our Flickr account (HoriconLibrary) or look on our Photos page. We'll also be posting videos on our YouTube Account (Horicon Public Library)!

On a down note, we're sad to see that someone relieved the donations jar of quite a few dollars--the donations jar is a prize for the kid who reads the most by the end of the program. The last kid won $75. We hope that generous patrons will make up for the loss!

Summer Library Program coming SOON!

2009-05-18T17:24:00.000-07:00

Storytime

2009-04-08T13:54:00.000-07:00

If you've never experienced storytime, you are missing out! Not only do we read stories, do crafts, play games, sing songs, and have an all-around great time, sometimes we host AMAZING guests such as Kimberley Weggeland's tortoises and chinchilla. Other times, our phenomenal storytime parents surprise us with cool treats. Yesterday was one of those storytimes. Carmen brought her latte maker and treated all the adults to scrumptious caffeinated drinks, and Mark brought freshly baked (still warm) scones for kids and adults to devour. It was wonderful!

You see, storytime isn't just for the kids. It's also for adults who want to socialize, share parenting stories, and let their kids play together, even after storytime is over. Come on over to storytime: Tuesdays at 10 and/or 11 a.m., Wednesdays at 6:30 p.m. We can't guarantee you fresh lattes and scones, but we can guarantee a great time.

(photos are of storytime crafts after they have been released into the "wild" i.e. kids houses)

Blog re-do

2009-03-23T17:02:00.000-07:00

If you're wondering why some of the stuff on our HPL "Hot News!" webpage is showing up here on our blog, it's because we're doing some reformatting and moving everything onto our blog. Sorry for the duplications!

Why Vampires? (reprise)

2009-03-23T16:59:00.001-07:00

The overwhelming popularity of vampire books has inspired us to create this SlideCast. Click HERE or on the image at left to listen to an interview, reviews, and musings on why vampires are so cool, and some vampire stuff you can find at the library.

Nearing the End of Our 2009 Cabin Fever Series

2009-03-23T15:51:00.000-07:00

These are the two programs coming up:

3/28, beginning at 9 a.m. A Knitting Saturday with Shannon & Alex
4/16, 2 p.m. Storm Spotters with Rusty Kapela

2009-03-23T15:50:00.000-07:00

Be in-the-know about upcoming events, new additions to the collection, and other news about your (hopefully) favorite library. Just click HERE to get on our newsletter list and we'll email you each month with information and even little treats & freebies! The March Newsletter is HERE.

Twitter & Facebook

2009-03-23T15:49:00.001-07:00

Are you on Facebook or Twitter? If so, we have library accounts there, and on MySpace. Sign up to follow or friend us and we'll expand our social networking services to meet the need! Right now, we post irregularly, just as with our blog. Look for us as HoriconLibrary (twitter) Horicon Public Library (Facebook) and Horicon (MySpace).

How to Comment

2009-02-23T15:27:00.001-08:00

REVISON: Anonymous posting is now enabled--talk to us without having to set up a google account.

Please comment--we're lonely.

Hwy 33 blog now open for business

2009-02-02T17:30:00.000-08:00

As many of you know, Hwy 33 construction begins March 9th.

As six months of construction looms over Horicon, we've created a new blog for you to share your questions, concerns or tips about dealing with the mess Hwy 33 travel will be. Go to http://hwy33.blogspot.com/ and tell Horicon what YOU think.

2009-01-19T15:32:00.000-08:00

We're looking for a few good emails--your emails, that is. We hope to send out a monthly or bimonthly newsletter with upcoming event information, a highlight of some of our offerings, and best of all some goodies for you (like an OOPS card that gets you out having to pay some fines.) Send me an email at shannonb@mwfls.org and I'll put you on the newsletter list.

We're looking for good ideas on how to serve you during the road construction through Horicon March-November, so if you have any, please let us know.

Cabin Fever?

2009-01-19T15:29:00.000-08:00

If you are SICK and TIRED of being cooped up, come and enjoy one of our Cabin Fever programs. We have everything from Chocolate-tasting to Celtic Music to Storm Spotting. Click HERE for our full calendar of events.

Horn Book-Boston Globe Award Winners 2008

2009-01-07T15:49:00.001-08:00

If you want to read some award-winning books, try these three top winners:

Nonfiction: The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain by Peter Sis. This book is AMAZING, with gorgeous pictures that evoke, more than any words could, the way it was in the Czech Republic in the Communist Era. Moving, surreal, intense--this book is really not for little kids, rather it's a picture book for "big" kids, teens and adults. Sis also wrote and illustrated Tibet Through the Red Box, another picture book that was never intended for small children. His books, even the simplest picture books that are intended for preschoolers (such as Madlenka or Fire Truck), are a marriage between art and text in which each aspect is vital, and in which there is a slightly sly wink at the adults reading the book out loud to a child.

Picture book: At Night by Jonathan Bean. I'll be honest, I didn't really notice this small book when I bought it for the library back in April, but now that I revisit it, I find it charming and sweet. This is one of the valuable lessons of awards: sometimes it makes you take notice of books you may have glossed over otherwise. The simple story shows a girl who can't get to sleep in her room and who goes up to her building's rooftop garden to sleep under the stars and city lights. The most tender and reassuring part of the story is the way her mother follows her to the roof and sits beside her as she sleeps. This would be a great bedtime story, especially for the espresso-snorting preschooler in your life, who can never fall asleep.

Fiction & Poetry: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie. First of all, a disclaimer: I have always had a thing for Sherman Alexie. Who can resist a guy who writes a book called The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven? And who adapted that story for Smoke Signals (a GREAT movie)? And he's gorgeous. And he was hilarious on Steven Colbert's show...so there you have it: Shannon likes SHerman Alexie. And Shannon LOVES The Absolutely True Diary. It's funny and heartbreaking and has great (occasional) illustrations. Read. It. Now.

Why Vampires?

2008-12-02T15:01:00.000-08:00

Check out our awesome new SlideCast presentation on the vampire phenomenon. This is a podcast/slide show hybrid that included book, movie and game reviews, interviews and musings about WHY people like vampires so much. 16 minutes long--ignore my lisp (I don't have a lisp in real life, do I? No one's ever said so. Why should I have one in this recording?!) Chick HERE to watch and listen.

Google Gadget anyone?

2008-12-01T11:27:00.000-08:00

I just heard about the possiblity of creating a gadget that one could embed on iGoogle that would list books out, due dates, etc. I want this! As an avid used of various gadgets to make my life easier and at least quasi-organized, I can see this being very iuseful. Anyone out there know how to code gadgets? I think it would be a great addition to the creation of the Horicon Virtual Library.

Pets at the library

2008-11-25T12:11:00.000-08:00

Tortoises & Chinchillas in the library! Kimberly Weggeland of Hoffers Tropic Life in Milwaukee has been bringing exotic pets to the Tuesday morning storytimes. On November 11th the kids got to pet the softest fur in the world--that of Chili the Chinchilla. Chili showed us how much chinchillas love to take dust baths.

On November 25th, Kimberly brought two tortoises to storytime--one tiny baby, and the other a much larger five-year-old. The storytime kids counted the bumps on the tortoises backs (always 13!) and held the baby tortoise (you hold it like a cheeseburger!) and touched the lumpy scaly skin of the larger tortoise.

Who knows what may come next? Come to storytime and find out: Tuesdays at 10 and 11 a.m. This year's last daytime storytime will be on December 16. Evening storytimes are Wednesdays at 6:30 p.m., until the 17th. Sadly, there are no pets at the evening storytimes--but we have plenty of fun without them.

Go to our flickr account to see lots of photos of our special guests.

When Librarians Go Bad

2008-11-08T16:27:00.001-08:00

I must admit it; I have defected to the camp of e-books. I recently purchased an Amazon Kindle. This e-book reader allows me to instantaneously download any one of about 170,000 books, which I then can read on the non-backlit totally page-like screen. I bought it so I don't have to lug around so many textbooks, because I'm taking classes right now, and because I can send any article or assignment to my Kindle and not have to murder trees to print stuff out. But I confess, I never thought I'd like the thing. I'm a big fan of the dead tree--in the book that is. While I love audiobooks, there's really nothing like the smell of paper and ink, and the feel of the paper under your hands.

But then I got the Kindle, and suddenly I don't mind the lack of paper and ink smells at all--because the thing is so lightweight, and convenient, and I can set the text to the largest font size and read in bed without wearing my glasses (which I haven't been able to do since I was 8!)

Suddenly, I'm a convert. But, hey, what about libraries? Why can't we circulate Kindle editions just like other items? Shouldn't we be able to let any Kindle owners with Horicon cards check out these cool e-books? That's up to Amazon, and so far, they're not up for it. And I feel like a lousy librarian--suddenly I'm buying books instead of checking them out! Bad librarian, bad! (Now, will the NetLibrary books work on the Kindle, hmmm? I know I can download free ManyBooks or Project Gutenberg classics...)

But what do you think? Are e-book readers like the Kindle the wave of the future? Will you miss the smell of paper and ink? Or will you be thrilled to leave the trees intact and read without your glasses on? --Shannon B.

rss feeds and calendar downloads

2008-10-06T14:49:00.000-07:00

Hey: I want everyone to get up to the most current information on what is going on at the library. So here are two ways you can be in the know: first of all, look at the "subscribe to" in the upper right hand corner of this blog and add the rss feed to your iGoogle, Atom, Yahoo homepage and so on. If you use Google Calendar, you can also add our calendar to yours through your GCal settings.

Rock bands at the library

2008-08-13T15:07:00.001-07:00

So, we had 3 rock bands play at the library last Thursday at our End-Of-Summer bash and I'm finally getting time to blog about it. This tardiness should not be seen as lack of interest, because the bands were great. It was so much fun having loud music blasting through the library--I only wish they had played in the library proper, rather than the upstairs meeting room, because the image of rock bands shaking the stack would be permanently etched in all our patron's heads. (In a good way, I hope.)

So--the first band up was Postmarked From January, formerly known as Rosalin. Sam Hinz of Horicon was the guy who set up the bands for the library, and he sings lead vocals and plays guitar for this band. The rest of the band is from Fond du Lac. This particular lineup had just gelled in the week previous to their performance here, but you could never tell. They were very smooth, slightly pop-ish rock something like Sum 41 or suchlike. Great band, great energy.

Next up was Because I Can from Lomira. They were fabulous, very tight and precise. Poppy riffs and a fat bass line, with screamo influences. The only nervous moment of the night was when the guitarist stood on a desk during the opening song. I was frantically waving him down and he didn't do it again. But, of course, the best video clip I captured of them was when he was up there. So, below is a clip of him looking fabulous on a desk. Man, the alderperson whose desk that is will KILL me. I'm sorry! I never considered they'd stand on a desk! Don't fire me! Anyway, I'm not really into the screamo thing, but the rest of it sounded so good, I could get used to the screaming. I know, I'm old. But even in my punk days I was not really into the scream thing. Suicidal Tendencies...Sure. Black Flag...Not So Much.

Finally, Had Me at Hello, a 100% Horicon band, played. Evidently there was some sort of interpersonal hullaballoo going on with this band earlier in the day and they nearly didn't play. Luckily for us, they ironed everything out. They were a very fun pop band. I especially loved the way their fanbase danced for them!

Hopefully we will have these and/or other bands in the future. We're all about encouraging the arts here. And frankly, rock music is one of the arts I'm particularly interested in. You?

New Political Books

2008-07-28T16:20:00.001-07:00

Get your political junkie groove on, with these new books:

Yes We Can, a Biography of Barack Obama by Garen Thomas. This books is aimed at teens or middle-school kids.

Obama : From Promise to Power by David Mendell.

Hard Call, the Art of Great Decisions by John McCain.

Worth the Fighting for : The Education of an American Maverick, and the Heroes Who Inspired Him by John McCain.

The Revolution: a Manifesto by Ron Paul

Be an informed citizen! Check out these books and others at the library.--scb

Cooking Classes and other stuff you don't normally find at the library

2008-07-24T16:07:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I'll tell people about my upcoming events at the library and they are shocked. Recently I was telling a friend about our teen cooking classes and she couldn't believe it. "Why on earth would a library have a cooking class?!" she wondered. It's a fair question. Lots of people still think of libraries as those hushed emporiums of the serious and scholarly. In last weeks' charades with Scooby, a 4-year-old, when posed with the dilemma of acting out "librarian" simply put her fingers to her lips as if to say "Shh." Everyone knew immediately what she was getting at (it was sad.) So what happened? Why are libraries now raucous, busy places, with cooking classes and such?

I've always said my job is to connect people with ideas. Notice how the word "Books" doesn't come into play there. Books are part of it, of course, but ideas are everywhere: books, movies, games, classes, just hanging out...so we include all of that into our standard library procedure. Looking up a recipe for tiramisu isn't the same as making it with guidance and a bunch of your friends--which do you think will be more likely to encourage a 15-year-old to cook?

Next week's 'Queen for a Day' spa program is another stumper for some people. Why paint girls' nails and do facials and their "colors"? What is the idea we're promoting anyway? Beauty comes from bottles?! I have some problems with that idea, but let's face it, makeup is fun, especially when you're 12 and just figuring all that girl stuff out. Anyway, boys are allowed too, as long as their willing to paint their fingernails and wear a tiara. Basically, I just want these teens to have fun and play and maybe learn about skin care, hair care, and even *gasp* makeup. After all, most of them are going to be using it.

Waat do you think about the library's new role? Do you agree with the makeup? The cooking? And how'd you like last night's Bubble Wonders program? Let us know. And now I've got to go make some tiramisu (yum!)--scb

Librarians and blogging and science

2008-07-07T16:03:00.000-07:00

It seems a perfect fit--my job is to connect people with ideas, and the blog format is perfect for that. And there's so much going on at the library that I feel like I spend a quarter of my time just letting people know about it. So here we go--I'll let you know what's happening here and, sometimes, why.

The whole issue of privacy and libraries is paramount though, so I'll do my utmost to keep details vague when speaking of individuals. But what about this story?: Last year I overheard a mom say to her kid, who was holding a simple nonfiction book on science, "Not that one, it looks boring." I was surprised and saddened. Science is so incredibly cool when stripped of the dreariness imparted by the less-talented science teachers that I was stuck with for much of my school years. So I made it a priority to include more science in storytimes, summer performances, whatever.

This effort is more for the parents than the kids, by the way. The kids will hopefully get the good science teachers and know all about the insane magic that is quantum physics, or whatever scientific field they like. But the parents who are deadened to the thrill of science may find it resurrected by super-cool shows like the Chemistry Magic show we hosted last summer. Maybe then the mom will say, "Hey, how about this book on magnets, it looks fascinating" to her four -year-old. Or not.

That's the beauty of the blog, isn't it? Now you get to answer. Tell me what you think about sciencein general, science programs in particular, our library programs (scientific or otherwise), or whatever you like. You can explore the ramifications of blogging librarians or anything else. I hope you will, anyway.--SCB