Ark Valley News - From the library

From the library
By Janice Sharp, director
Last Updated: December 03, 2015

Unsold books, magazines find good home

The library's Food 4 Fines campaign began this week, and will continue until closing Dec. 19. Patrons can bring in one nonperishable food item for each $1 in existing fines. The food items should not be expired, damaged or opened. Please consider the nutritional value since the donated items will be taken to the Valley Center Food Bank. The Food 4 Fines program is an effort to have our overdue materials returned while helping collect food for area people in need.

We spent several days last week boxing up the remains from the book sale and reorganizing the library. We estimated that we had about 5,000 books for sale. We sold 695 books and 15 other items donated by staff and patrons.

The remaining books were distributed as follows: 50 books to a homeless shelter, seven boxes of books to Harbor House, eight boxes of books to the VA, 64 boxes of books to Open Door Ministries, and 38 boxes of books plus 1,239 magazines to the Sedgwick County Jail.

Our weeding process is an ongoing process. We had weeded about 3,500 items from our collection that were either out of date, in bad condition or had not been read in at least three years. The book sale is over, and we'll continue to weed areas that were uncompleted.

The weeding process makes room for the new materials we add to the collection on a continual basis for our patron's reading needs. We usually keep several years of past magazines, but we have revised our policy to keep one year of most magazines and selectively keep three years of magazines that are consistently used. This is our ongoing effort to make the library more efficient and user-friendly.

We're in December which, for me, translates to the end of the year coming quickly. We have several events during December, beginning with an adult coloring night at 6 p.m. Dec. 3. Those attending are welcome to come and go as their time permits. We will have colored pencils and some coloring sheets available.

We will have a Winter Family Fun Day on Dec. 12, with crafts and a movie from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Kids can pick up a paper Christmas stocking in advance to decorate, then return to the library for display and judging on Fun Day.

We will have story time this week and the week of Dec. 7. After that, story time will go on hiatus for the holidays and resume Jan. 5.

Valley Center CARES for Kids is a local charity that provides community assistance, resources and emergency services to families in need in the Valley Center school district. Its goal is to serve between 75 and 100 local families through the Christmas Kids project this year.

To adopt a family, contact Nicole Burdette at either 755-7050 or Nicole.Burdette@usd262.net.To donate, contact Nancy Dugan at either 655-0657 or Nancy@DGWWichitalaw.com. Donations may be sent to Valley Center CARES for Kids, c/o VCIS, 737 N. Meridian, Valley Center KS 67147.

Upcoming Events

December is "Read a new book Month" and "Write to a friend Month"

Dec. 3 — Story Time

Dec. 3 — Adult Coloring Night

Dec. 8 — Story Time

Dec. 9 — Story Time

Dec. 10 — Story Time

Dec. 12 — Winter Family Fun Day

Dec. 14 — Library Board Meeting

Dec. 15 — City Council