It has been a good year of change for Ellinwood Libraries. We were able to add more digital content for our patrons through Hoopla and Libby (Sunflower eLibrary). We also added SORA, which is Sunflower eLibrary for our EGS students. 

Another addition, that is much appreciated, is the hallway fob that Ryan and Mike were able to hook up for us for keyless entry! With the changes that came about from COVID, our staff was constantly having to keycard students through the door. The fobs allow us to unlock the door remotely. Now, we may need to look into installing a doorbell!  

With the assistance of Monica Hammeke and Chase Gibson, we moved our storage from the basement to the second floor west wing. This allowed for a place for wrestling practice. We were also able to take some of the shelving from downstairs and again, thanks to Monica and Chase for cleaning up and painting, are utilizing them at the EGS library. Due to COVID issues, Monica also assisted in rearranging the EGS library to make it more manageable for staff and students. Thank you to the maintenance/custodial staff and weight-lifting participants for helping us in moving the shelving!

Rearranging also took place at ESCL. Again with the help of Monica, and this time Julie Blakeslee, we moved the reference section from the southwest corner to the east circulation wall. Then we moved the DVDs from the turnstiles to where the reference materials had been located. This has been very beneficial, in that they are out of the path of our little patrons to spin. The turnstiles and red carts were given and sold to libraries and patrons. Thank you also to Glen Burress for making the shelving work for our DVDs!

With over 20 years working at the library in the evenings, Kay Linden resigned at the end of 2020. We appreciate her years of processing, organizing, and working with patrons! Heather Dombroski was hired to work on Monday evenings. We appreciate her stepping into this position.

Baby and Me, StoryTime, and Summer Library are all back to their pre-COVID ways, with the addition of creating take-home activities for our littles and anyone who is not able to attend a session. This has worked very well! Treva Paden and Karie Gibson plan excellent read alouds and activities for our littles! We are happy with numbers and continue to reach out to our community with programming. 

Amy Hammeke keeps everyone up to date concerning library happenings with posts to Facebook. We received numerous compliments from Humanities Kansas as well as other organizations regarding the quality of our Facebook page. You can follow us at https://www.facebook.com/ellinwoodlibrary.

Amy and Monica have also done a wonderful job with our microfilm machine! She has assisted several patrons and even people from out of state who have reached out to us for information from the past. This is a great service that they provide!

Some of our displays created by Monica Hammeke last year included student participation. These were fun changes to what has been done in the past. We hosted the Twilight Stitchers Quilts, which are always welcomed! Some of the quilters referred to their quilts as their “Pandemic Quilts.” In April and May, Monica Hammeke requested that the high school seniors be allowed to display their artwork, since they missed out both last year and this year. Their competitive shows were still being held virtually. We also hosted an EGS K-3 Art Display provided by Lisa McMullen. For After Harvest Fest, Julie and Treva set up a Lights, Camera, Action display, and then we had a Welcome to USD 355 staff display. This fall, Library Intern Grace Hoskins put together the September “Student Favorites” Display and the October 4-H Display. The library also hosted Kent Blakeslee’s toy tractor display and Geraldine Menges’s snow globe display. 

Grace Hoskins also made space in the teen section for the audio books as well as organized the section. Career Readiness student Madisyn Schloctermeier has started a Senior Spotlight Bulletin Board and we are using it as a Check It Out feature in the newspapers and on Facebook. It has been very well received!

The library hosted Mandy Kern with her book “Ava: A Year of Adventure in the Life of an American Avocet”; Pam Martin with the Kansas Wetlands Education Center; Glenn Schraeder with Luna the therapy dog; EHS Tours by Larry Drees; and a Chamber Coffee welcoming new staff to USD 355. Author/entertainer Dino O’Dell performed at EGS and was very well received! We also assisted the EHS KAY Club with their gingerbread houses project during Christkindlmarket.

The Library Board accepted and staff implemented the COVID protocols as approved by the board of education throughout the year. 

I continue to be on the CKLS Board as school librarian representative and have been the president this past year. I attend monthly meetings as well as the CKLS Full System Board Meeting, where I am appointed to represent the school board and the library board. I also continue to be on the KLAEF Board and attended KLA in Wichita this year. I always come back with ideas for the library and next year hope for more of our staff to attend as well.

I am working with Chris Komarek on signage for the library, both on the highway and in front of our building.

ESCL had planned to host the CKLS Board for the month of December, but unfortunately, illness and the terrible windstorm didn’t allow it. We do appreciate CKLS for the meals provided to our library board and staff.

It has been a year of change for all of us, and we invite you all to come in and see what the library has to offer you!

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.