Different Christmas Readings

I shocked one of my patrons the other day by telling him that I owned a Kindle 2. I was similarly shocked to find that I had shocked him! I have had my Kindle 2 for several months and I am in no wise ready to throw books out the back door to make room for a library full of e-book readers. But it made me think about a conversation I had earlier that very day with a 90 year old patron who was scandalized that someone would want to "read" a book on CD or cassette! To him, a book on CD was just as shocking as an e-book reader was to another "younger" patron. Makes you wonder what will sound strange and scandalous to my generation on the book front in another 40 years!

In the mean time I have enjoyed my Christmas reading this year on several book fronts. I've read, the old fashioned way with actual books in hand, several Christmas stories to the kids here at Storytime. Including a new favorite, "A Pirate's Night Before Christmas" by Philip Yates. I've read, on my iPhone, "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens. I've read, via Book on CD, "The Christmas Sweater" by Glenn Beck and I've read, on my Kindle 2, (my personal favorite) "A Night Before Christmas" by Clement C. Moore. One book I'd really like to get my hands on is "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" by Dr. Seuss. The $3.99 interactive version can be bought on my iPhone through iTunes... but I think I'll hold out for the real thing. I'll put it on hold using our library's catalog and anxiously wait my turn for it to get here.

Oregon Community Foundation Grant Awarded

South Benton Library Project is the recipient of a $25,000 grant from the Jerome S. and Barbara Bischoff Library Fund of The Oregon Community Foundation! This grant will be used to assist with the capital campaign to build a new library for residents of Monroe and South Benton County. This is another wonderful show of support for our new library. Each time a grant is awarded to our project we get closer and closer to seeing our dream of a new library become a reality!

On behalf of the South Benton Library Board a big round of applause goes out to our architect, Lori Stephens of Broadleaf Architecture in Corvallis, Oregon. She's responsible for the design of our future library building. We all love it and anxiously await the reality of seeing our new library on the corner of HWY99 and Ash St. in Monroe!

Please also see the nice article in today's Corvallis Gazette-Times newspaper.

http://gazettetimes.com/news/local/article_0728265a-eab2-11de-85b5-001cc4c03286.html?mode=story

Library Closed for Veterans Day

The library will be closed tomorrow, November 11, in honor of Veterans Day. We will open again on Thursday at 10:00.

Gazette Times News Article!

Please click on this link (the word "share" below to be taken to the nice article that was in the newspaper on Oct. 29, 2009.

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Bob Welch coming to Monroe Library!

Welch Poster

10 things seen at the Monroe Library...

1. 12 tiny pumpkins waiting to be picked up by Story Time kids
2. Children's author Alexandra Day and her dog Carl
3. The newest Skippyjon Jones book, "Skippyjon Jones, Lost in Spice"
4. 10 shelves full of patron holds waiting to be picked up (it used to be 3 shelves!)
5. 8 shelves full of DVDs waiting to be checked out (it used to be 2 shelves!)
6. A $500 check granted from Sterling Savings for SBLP (thanks Bobbye!)
7. The entire back room spotlessly shelved in Dewey Decimal order... thanks Monroe Subs!
8. A few sick patrons looking for books to tide them through the flu. (Yikes!)
9. 8 little boys crowded around one children's computer playing one game together!
10. One happy Lori back from vacation and taking care of everyone's information needs in Monroe.

Long Time; nothing posted

It's been a long time since I've posted anything about the new library. I apologize for the long delay between posts. It's been an extremely busy Spring and Summer here at the Monroe Community Library. Fall is upon us, our Monroe school children will be back to school next week and that gives me some hope that it might quieten down long enough for me to post some updates! I will be posting more in the next few days with all the latest that's been happening toward the new library and some fun things that have happened here in our old library. Here are a few things that I'll be posting about:

1. Our awesome South Benton Library Project Board.
2. The new sign that was just made for the Train Depot showing how much money we've made toward the new library
3. Our wonderful Summer Reading Program and how extremely kind Monroe's Fire Chief, Rick Smith was, who moved out the fire trucks each week so more than 100 kids would have a place to enjoy some great performers!
4. An exciting childrens' author coming to visit with her friendly dog she writes about!

Stay tuned!

This is a picture of the sticker I made to wear at the library today... I want to tell everyone in town that today is a great day for the South Benton Library Project! We now OWN THE LAND! It's been a long process and I'm so happy to be able to say, we now own the land where the New Monroe Community Library will be built and where the historic Monroe Train Depot now sits. This is a wonderful day and in the words of our Deputy Library Director, Teresa Landers,

"As we all know this is a MAJOR milestone in the process. A big thanks to Roger (Irvin, President of South Benton Community Enhancement) for understanding the technical details of such a purchase and to Lori S.(Stephens of Broadleaf Architecture) and Roger for following through on the various steps that had to happen to make this a reality. We also owe the (Benton) County Commissioners for putting their own interests aside and letting us negotiate on our own. And, of course, to our generous donor for providing the funds that made all this possible."

Please pass on the word to everyone in our community about this happy milestone on our journey to a new library!

All Aboard for the New Monroe Library!

Last night South Benton Library Project hosted a Kickoff Event at the Monroe High School Commons. South Benton Community Enhancement's President, Roger Irvin, was on hand to emcee for the event. First, City of Monroe's mayor, Frank Thayer spoke about the growth of our city and how the new library building will be a beautiful gateway into our town. Then Corvallis-Benton County Public Library's Director, Carolyn Rawles-Heiser spoke on behalf of our library system. After her, Monroe's Community Library Specialist, Lori Pelkey, spoke of how important it is to provide a place for our many young people who have discovered their library in the past few years. Having captured our children's attention with books and other library material, it's important to not lose their interest! A bigger library will provide a place for all ages to meet and enjoy what our wonderful library has to offer. From there, architect Lori Stephens, from Broadleaf Archtecture was there to show off the model of the new library and to give us a virtual preview of what the new library will look like, inside and out. We rounded out the evening with a question and answer session. Refreshments were served throughout the evening and everyone enjoyed viewing the model of the new library displayed along with a model train.

Register Guard Newspaper Article

Here's a great story on how we're growing and why a new library is so important to our local community.

http://www.registerguard.com/csp/cms/sites/web/news/sevendays/11328894-35/story.csp

LIA Day 2

Sorry it's taken me so long to write about what happened on Day 2 of our Leadership in Action training here in South Benton. I've been crazy busy trying to digest and implement all the wonderful ideas from those two days.

So the bottom line is that on Day 2 most of what we accomplished was in break-out sessions where we worked within small groups to see... well, to see leadership in action! We ended up with 4 groups working on projects that will hopefully be put into effect with the next short few months. Here are the projects:
1. Restoring the beautiful flower baskets throughout Monroe.
2. Building and maintaining a community website for the South Benton area.
3. The South Benton Library Project!
4. Starting a Farmers Market that would include the selling of staple food products so that travel to and from the "big" neighboring cities would be kept at a low roar.

I can tell you that I know that the flower baskets group is headed in the right direction and we will have beautiful color in the next few months as we drive through town. I can also tell you that the community website is happening. Kathy Conn and myself approached the Monroe City Council to see if they would support us in this endeavor. They said that they would definitely like to see it happen and that there was already someone working toward it. So, I've emailed that other person and our group will be meeting soon to put our plan into action. Of course the South Benton Library Project was already underway; but most of what we learned at Leadership in Action was so applicable to what is going on right now in our Library Group! And finally, the Farmer's Market idea was put on hold because it seemed like this idea needed a full year to plan so that farmers in our area would have a chance to plan ahead on what they would like to plant that would sell good in a market in our area.

So, that's about it! I am really excited to be able to work on two of these projects. Having a community website will help our local government, our local businesses, our schools, our library and would become a place for visitors to our area to find out what we have to offer! And of course, the SBLP part is a natural to me! If you get me started on how soon and why we need an bigger library here in South Benton we would have to sit down for a full pot of tea!

See you at the library!

Day 1- Leadership in Action

Regional Field Staff Associate, Beth Gilden, and Benton County’s Jane Barth lead the Leadership in Action training and had each of us participants introduce ourselves, tell what kind of boat we thought our community was as a likeness and then tell what we hoped to get out of our weekend training. It was interesting to hear everyone’s idea of what kind of boat South Benton community is. We were likened to a rowboat without oars, a rowboat with different people paddling in different directions, a skull with many seats still left to fill, or a tugboat trying to get a bigger boat moving in the right direction. I thought we could be likened to a little boat with an outboard motor; the motor needs to get started and lots of people are trying hard to get that engine started but we need help.

Beth then told us about Leadership in Action’s training and that the Ford Family Foundation pays it for. She told how FFF ‘adopts’ communities in rural Oregon and for five years they help these communities with training of leaders, projects that help the community and financial aide for those projects. At the end of the five years, FFF hopes that the communities they have ‘adopted’ will go on and build on the relationships they’ve forged together and will move forward with projects on their own. My take on it is that Ford Family Foundation doesn’t want to just give money to a community and hope that the funds are spent well. Instead they entrust a community with the training they can then use to help and further themselves along and show them how to work together for common goals with the money they will give. I love this idea! It’s a kind of take on the “you can give a man a fish, and feed him for a day, or you can teach him how to fish and feed him for a lifetime” proverb. About halfway through the day’s training, Tom Gallagher of Ford Family Foundation came and surprised us and brought the wonderful news that our South Benton County community has indeed been selected to be the next community that the Ford Family Foundation starts their five-year program with. I cannot stress the honor that this is to our community. Our program with start in Spring 2010.

Throughout the afternoon there were great times of collaboration with each other and lots of visiting and hearing each others ideas. I thought it was a wonderful chance to look at our community through another person’s eyes. At first, it was easy for everyone to think that not much has been working or happening for good in our community. (the glass is half empty!) But by the end of the afternoon, through talking and collaborating together we were wowed by what our community already has done and the abundance of great things happening here. (the glass is half full!) I can only guess what monumental things can and will be accomplished here in South Benton County with leadership and the right training!

Leadership in Action

Leadership in Action training is coming to South Benton County today. What's this you may ask? Well, I don't know... exactly! but I aim to find out in these next two days. The website for LIA is here... Leadership in Action The site says that LIA is "a two day Leadership training for your community hosted by Rural Development Initiatives, and The Ford Family Foundation". Several of our group from South Benton Library Project are attending, so between us all we should get a good idea of just what Leadership in Action is. Our South Benton community has had several informal meetings with Rural Development Initiative/Ford Family Foundation and from what I've gleaned it seems that this training and what comes from it will be a good thing for our area. So, starting today, "emerging" leaders will be trained on how to actually be a leader in our community. I'll post some updates on what we learn at this two-day training. I'm really excited because there are around 25-30 people attending from our South Benton area. Stay tuned for updates!

Check It Out!

The Corvallis-Benton County Public Library Friends and Foundation puts out a publication each month called "Check it Out". The South Benton Library Project has a prominent place on the front page of this month's issue. Here it is: Check it out!

http://www.thebestlibrary.net/joomla/images/publications/cio_marapr09.pdf

SBLP Meeting Agenda- March 9, 2009

7PM AT THE MONROE FIRE HALL


INDRODUCTIONS/WELCOME

APPROVAL OF LAST MONTH'S MEETING MINUTES

TREASURER REPORT

OLD BUSINESS

1. ELECTION OF AT LARGE MEMBERS & DISCUSSION OF VOTING - TERESA

2. COMMITTEE REPORTS

A. MONROE COUNCIL - CATIE

B. FUND RAISING - MICHELLE

C. KICK OFF EVENT - SHARON

3, LAND UPDATE - ROGER

4. OTHER

5. NEXT MONTH'S AGENDA IDEAS AND ADJOURN

SBLP Meeting Minutes - Feb. 9th, 2009

SBLP Meeting Minutes February 9, 2009

In attendance:
Lori Pelkey-Monroe Community Library Specialist-Acting Secretary
Teresa Landers-Corvallis Benton County Public Library Deputy Director
Alyce Bayne
Serena Logan
Evelyn Lee
Dena Elliott-Chairperson
Roger Irvin - President SBCE
Amy Erickson-reporter for the Tri-County Newspaper
Carol McGlasson - Monroe City Council Chairperson
DeeDee Smith
Catie Mange - City Council Liaison
Craig Pelkey - Treasurer
Howard Steele
Sharon Kavanagh- Publicity committee
Michele Gazica - Fundraising
Janeece Cook - Representing Strengthing Rural Families
Sandi Crumley
Serena Logan


Introductions / Around the room

Teresa read last month's meeting minutes- and then they were approved

Treasurer's Report: No much activity reported this month, a few donations/expenditures. The Nick Salerno Fund that is in a CD has matured again, a motion was made, seconded and approved for Craig to look into a longer term CD for this fund.

Old Business:
Brochure: As Teresa translated the brochure into Spanish, a few errors were found. We talked about what to do. Everyone was agreeable to leave the error as is. Teresa showed her Spanish version of the brochure. Lori Pelkey will be looking into a different company to reproduce it.

Land: Roger reported all is going well. Partition survey has been filed. Preliminary title report has been done. Sale should be final by the end of March. We talked about a need for an executive session with the City Council about re-zoning the property. This needs to be done before groundbreaking.

City Council Liaison: Catie updated us on her latest visit to the council. They have been very happy to have a liaison. Carol McGlasson reported that Catie is doing a great job updating the council on the Library's progress. The question was raised about getting a permit to build on the land before the property is re-zoned. Carol McGlasson reported that the city can only take the property once the library is built.

Kickoff: Sharon gave out copies of the Kickoff plan. The Monroe High School commons is booked for the event. On her Kickoff plan, the colored items are things that are needed. Janeece talked about an idea she had for for a young children's storytime at the event. Teresa is getting a model train for display. We talked about advertising, various ideas were put forth. Evelyn reminded us of the button maker that we helped purchase and said that the button maker is at the Museum. Dena will pick it up. We talked about putting "Are You On Board?" on buttons with an added ribbon saying "I am" after someone has donated. Contact Sharon about making food for the kickoff.

Depot concerns: Teresa reported that there are still concerns in our community about the safety of using the depot. We need to make a fact sheet about the depot to pass out at the Kickoff. The results of the chemical testing needs to be available for community members to see. The environmental study will have been done by then so results of that should be out too.

New Business:
Grant Writing: Michele Gazica is interested in giving it a try. But she needs to take classes to learn more. There is a class coming up, the question was asked if SBLP should pay for the class. John Norenna should also be sent. It was agreed that SBLP will pay for classes for grantwriting. There is also an upcoming class on April 3 called "Mobilizing your board to raise more money". Two people should be sent to this. During the meetings' conversations about grant writing and fundraising, Michele seemed to lean more toward Fundraising. It was decided to approach John Norenna to see if he will take over Grant Writing and this would free Michele up to focus on Fundraising. Dena will contact John.
Ford Family Foundation: Lori, Catie and Evelyn told about the meeting they went to with Rural Development Initiative. At the meeting about 100 names were gathered to invite to the March 13 and 14 Leadership in Action seminar that will be held at the Monroe Legion Hall. All were encouraged to attend as many things will be taught at LIA that will help our efforts toward a new library.

Evelyn reported that the teens from Teen Council would like a full kitchen in the new library. She also asked about the "greeness' of the new building and if potential growth of the City of Monroe had been considered in the design. She also offered the use of the Alpine Community Center for Howard Steele to use at a fundraising concert.

Blogs from the Corvallis-Benton County Public Library

I've known about a few blogs that the CBCPL has, but I've just discovered a new one called The Second Floor Librarians . Looks like it will be an interesting blog and might give more information about our library services. As you all know, Monroe Community Library is a branch library of the Corvallis-Benton County Public Library, but this blog here is not so much about what we do as a library (although I can't resist sneaking in a post every once in a while about our great library services!) but more about the journey our community is on while our new Monroe Library building is getting organized and then built. Believe me, I can't wait for the day when I have ground breaking pictures to post! Meanwhile, please check out the newest blog from our library and while you are at it, check out our other amazing blogs; Birth to 6 and Teens@CBCPL .

Thursday, February 12

Hello there! My name is Amy Davis and I'm one of the volunteers at the Monroe Library. Lori has asked me to sit down and tell you my thoughts about our library, so here goes.

Let me begin my introducing myself. I've lived in Monroe pretty much all my life (19 years) and am currently enrolled at Linn-Benton Community College as an English and Journalism major. One of my classes this term is Photojournalism, and my last assignment was to take an environmental portrait of a friend. I chose my favorite librarian, Lori. Turns out, my instructor loved the photo I took (you can view my blog post here, if you'd like).

I've been coming to the library since I was a young'un-- probably since age 3 or 4. I can remember planting myself in the children's book section and pouring over my favorites for hours and hours (or minutes and minutes-- that can seem like hours to a little kid). I love coming here and just browsing through the books. I'm one of those weird people who loves the smell of rows and rows of books. This space is so familiar, I consider it one of my homes away from home. When I heard about the South Benton Library Project, you can't imagine how happy I was. As comfy and cozy as this place is, it will be absolutely wonderful to be able to spread out a bit. I tell you, it can take some talented maneuvering for more than one person to shelve books in the Adult Fiction section without knocking anything over or bumping into the other person. Recently, the SBLP was featured in both the Tri-County News and The Gazette Times. Our new library will give us the chance to house even more books here (I hear the angels singing now!) as well as having more space for the Summer Reading Program attendees and more computers. Every time I walk by the scale-model of the new library, I can't help but be excited. I can't wait for construction to begin!

Last Night's Town Hall Meeting

It was a bit of a surprise to me when I walked in to the Monroe Council Chambers last night at 7:00 pm to find a full house! There was a Town Hall Meeting concerning our community's transportation needs and was headed by Sharon Fipps from Benton County Transportation. Why there is no bus service between Monroe and Junction City or between Monroe and Corvallis has often been a subject of conversation at the library here. Last night's meeting addressed this issue and Monroe's community came out in force to voice their needs. It came as a surprise to Ms. Fipps that there was a need to travel between Monroe and Junction City; she was prepared to hear mostly comments on the need to travel within Benton County. Travel between Monroe and Junction City crosses county boundaries and makes it difficult for either county's transit system to take on this challenge. There were many comments and suggestions from our community members, and even one of our Latina community members came and voiced concerns coming from our Hispanic population. It's downright hard sometimes to get between here and Corvallis or Junction City when there are doctor's visits, shopping trips or social events happening. And in the interest of saving gas in these hard times, something should be done to make travel possible and/or easier. Mostly what Ms. Fipps spoke about would happen in 2011-2013. This is very far away when the need is now. One idea suggested was for the City of Monroe to own it's own van/vehicle and hire it's own drivers to bring community members to either Corvallis or Junction City where they could then pick up on either Benton or Lane County's transit systems and continue on to their destinations. I loved this idea! Wouldn't there be grants out there that would make the purchase of a vehicle possible for something as innovative as this? Think about the publicity our small town would receive for solving this problem of transportation on our own! This sounds like a great possiblity to me...

January 12 Meeting Minutes

SBLP Meeting Minutes - January 12, 2009

December meeting minutes approved

Financial Report-Attached

The Corvallis-Benton County Library Foundation added a line for donating to SBLP on their fund raising mailer they send out each year.

Land Update-

Teresa Landers reported that the contract of purchase for the sale of the land was signed with the railroad! SBLP will be the one purchasing the land. We can now do the wetland survey. We also need to do the environmental study on the land. Then the partitioning--has to go through the City of Monroe City Council. Closing date for the sale of the land should be the end of April. Dena also found out that South Benton Community Enhancement's insurace will cover SBLP. Roger Irvin reported that we should update the city zoning where the land is. Right now it is zoned industrial. This should be done in a private session with the Monroe City Council.

Fundraising-

Our new Publicity Chairperson, Sharon Kavanagh reported her ideas. She envisions several events in rapid succession. The following is a list of ideas to generate donations for the new library

1. (Get on Board or All Aboard!) A grand kickoff celebration event at the high school commons for the whole community. Some ideas for this event include book activities, high schoolers reading to children, furniture with books out for little ones. Have the architect's model of the new library out in the middle. Sharon asked Roger Irvin to MC the event, he agreed. We will ask Lori Stephens to do her computer presentation on what the library will look like. She would like small speeches given by Lori Pelkey, Dena Elliott and Teresa Landers. A donation table will be prominent with opportunities to make pledges to the project. Also a huge suggestion box. Coffee and small refreshments will be served.

2. Within a week, have Dena Elliott's belated retirement fest (Dinner with Dena) to honor her years of service at the Monroe Library. Dinner will be served and a current list of Dena's friends is needed.

3. Approximately three weeks later we will start having desserts at the homes of patrons who love the library. They will invite 20 friends and ask to donate/support the new library. Should have a SBLP board member come to each dessert. A list needs to be started of potential patrons to host these desserts.

4. Art idea: have an art fair this summer after Art in the Park is ended. Show the children's art from Art in the Park. Maybe have the children do art at the show. Make buttons and bookmarks with art to sell at the circulation desk.

5. Before kickoff-everyone on the SBLP board is encouraged to make a donation or pledge to support SBLP. Many grants require this.

6. Find someone younger to do something on YouTube, Flicker, Facebook etc. We need a web presence besides the blog. Can we get an Eagle Scout to take this on as their project?

7. Howard Steele again offered to donate all the ticket money for a concert he will give. (Country and Cowboy western)

Next meeting will be February 9.

Attendees:
Dena Elliott
Janeece Cook
Page Pedder
Howard Steele
Serena Logan
Catie Mange
Craig Pelkey
Lori Pelkey
Teresa Landers
Sharon Kavanagh
Roger Irvin

Agenda-SBLP Meeting Jan. 12, 2009

WELCOME

1. APPROVAL OF MINUTES

2. FINANCIAL REPORT

3. LAND UPDATE: TERESA

4. FUND RAISING

A. PLAN

B. IDEAS: EVENT TO START US OUT - SHARON K.

C. FUND RAISING: COORDINATOR/CHAIR

5. GRANTS

A. CDBG GRANT

B. GRANT WRITERS

C. GRANT WRITING COORDINATOR/CHAIR

6. OTHER BUSINESS

7. AGENDA FOR FEBRUARY

SBLP Dec. 8, 2008 Meeting Minutes

Approval of last month's meeting minutes

Treasurer Report -

What to do with $96.57 left on Design Grant was tabled. Later it was decided this money would be used to pay for Posters similar to the brochures

Old Business

Policy changes-Discussion yielded consensus to adopt a Steering Committee

Monroe Light Parade- the decision to make a float and enter into this year's light parade was cancelled due to not enough people to help

New Business

Land- RR wants land completley insured-this will be discussed at the next South Benton Community Enhancement meeting, Dena Elliott will report to us in January
Once we own the land, a celebration should happen. Unveil the model, pass out brochures, have dessert and coffee. Have this at the High School? Publicity committee should take this over. Sharon Kavanagh volunteered to be the Publicity Chairman.

Bank account signer- It was agreed that Catherine Mange will be a replacement signer on the bank account replacing Janet Begg.

City Council Liaison report- On Nov. 20, three people from the city planning commission, three city councilors and one new councilor met with Catie Mange and Lori Stephens who reviewed the design of the new building. Several questions arose about the wording on the brochure soon to be printed. Ideas were discussed about these changes and it was agreed to change the wording on the brochures. Catie Mange reported on the Nov. 28 Monroe City Council meeting where she reviewed our last meeting with them and officially reinvited everyone to attend all our SBLP meetings.

Lori Pelkey and Lori Stephens were invited to the Jan. 6, 2009 Lions Club meeting to present the New Library Design to their group.

Next meeting will be January 13, 2009 at the Monroe Fire Hall.

Attendees:

Serena Logan, Dena Elliott, Laura Oakes, Alyce Bayne, DeeDee Smith, Craig Pelkey, Catie Mange, sharon Kavanagh and Lori Pelkey