ELLINWOOD — Another year is coming to an end, and we are grateful for all who continue to utilize our School/Community Library! Looking back over the past year, we continue to learn, change, and grow with the needs of our library.
Our Library Board consists of President Amy Hammeke and Vice President Marlene Clayton; other members include Delores Schwertfeger, Dick Waters, Dirk Ricker, Deanna Rogers, Irlan Fullbright as our mayor representative, and new member Karie Gibson who took Melissa Dickson’s place.
In December of 2017, Ellinwood School/Community Library was recognized by Library Journal as a National 5-Star Library. We have maintained that status in 2018.
A few of the events we have hosted include:
Author Roy Bird gave a presentation at Chamber Coffee on the Chisolm Trail. There were 43 people in attendance.
Hospital Town Hall Meeting - We had 34 in attendance. Lindsay Bogner, who requested the use of our facility, was pleased with the meeting. Irlan added that it went very well.
Twilight Stitchers Reception - We thanked 15 members of the Quilt Guild on March 29 for their beautiful displays and congratulated them for 20 years of membership.
Kansas Republican Gubernatorial Candidate Jim Barnett conducted a meet and greet with the public on Friday, May 25.
StoryTime and Baby & Me Totals
StoryTime facilitated by Jean Garner - 183 children contacts
Preschool facilitated by Kala Robl - 124 children contacts
Baby & Me facilitated by Michele Martin - 147 children contacts
Nicole Hudson has replaced Kala Robl as the library assistant at the Grade School
Jammin’ Randy kicked off our Summer Library Program on June 4 with 91 in attendance.
Melody Johnston, first-grade teacher, was our new summer library facilitator and she did a fabulous job. She will be back again next year.
Summer Library Enrollment
Early Literacy Children (birth to 5 years) 53
School Age Children (ages 6-11 years) 99
This summer, my daughters and I boxed up 50 boxes of books from the basement to be picked up by Drew Kaufman and 10 boxes of children’s books will be sent to Ethiopia. Luckily, they were not touched by the flooding in the basement.
In August, 4-H brought in a display and program and we had New USD 355 Staff Welcoming.
We showcased 100 books to read in a lifetime display and a Halloween display by Dennis and Lois Hammer.
In November, we celebrated our 50th Anniversary of being a school/community library. Thank you to those of you who attended.
For Christkindlmarket, we hosted two New York traveling actors who performed “A Christmas Carol.” The Public Education and Library Foundation paid for their performances for the Grade School and High School. Our library board donated $250 for the Christkindlmarket performance, and the Ellinwood Community Theater paid the remaining cost to fund this event. It was well received, and several have asked for us to bring another one of their shows back to Ellinwood.
Last Thursday, we hosted PAC Reading Night and had 72 people in attendance.
Through the month of December, we hosted a crochet display by Robin Gray and decorated Christmas Trees by the students of Ellinwood Grade School.
Along with the CKLS Board, I have been appointed to the Kansas Library Association Educational Foundation as the school librarian representative. Part of their mission is to approve scholarships toward a degree in library science, as well as mini-grants to the KLA Conference.
Mildred Burroughs is resigning her library position and we are sad to see her go. We appreciate her time with us. We are happy that we found a good replacement and are looking forward to working with Melody Johnston!
Again, thank you for utilizing our library. Looking ahead, we will be showcasing an art display by Alyssa Bliven in January, as well as our popular repeating displays in the spring. Wishing you all the happiest of New Years!
Sheri Holmes is the director of library and media services for the Ellinwood School and Community Libraries. She can be reached by email at sholmes@usd355.org.
