Music soothing the community at Liberal Memorial Library

Musick has Charms to sooth a savage Breast,
To soften Rocks, or bend a knotted Oak.

I've read, that things inanimate have mov'd,
And, as with living Souls, have been inform'd,
By Magick Numbers and persuasive Sound.
What then am I? Am I more senseless grown
Than Trees, or Flint? O force of constant Woe!
'Tis not in Harmony to calm my Griefs.
Anselmo sleeps, and is at Peace; last Night
The silent Tomb receiv'd the good Old King;
He and his Sorrows now are safely lodg'd
Within its cold, but hospitable Bosom.
Why am not I at Peace?

--William Congreve, in The Mourning Bride, 1697

In this complicated world of ours, lately, it seems hard to find commonality. However, one thing that we can agree on is that music and song has a place in all of our lives. Whether that music is pop, rock, country, rap or classical, there is something on the music spectrum that we all enjoy and brings us all together.

The Liberal Memorial Library hosted two musical performances last month – the Swingin’ Saints Jazz Band and Scenic Roots. You couldn’t have two more diverse music styles between the two, but the community came out in force and supported both groups.

The Swingin’ Saints Jazz Band, under the direction of Seward County Community Instrumental Music Instructor Darin Workman and comprised of 14-18 community and student musicians, took the community back to the days when Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey and Benny Goodman were the kings of swing and ruled the music world.

Trombones, trumpets, and saxophones along with the piano, drums and bass brought the swing era back to Liberal as the community brought their lawn chairs and gathered out in front of the Library and listened to great music.

Scenic Roots is the sister duo of Erin and Amber Rogers from Concordia. Their music is a little bit different from the swing band, but no less toe-tapping or inspiring – it’s old fashioned bluegrass with banjos, guitars and dulcimers. The community welcomed them with open arms and packed the Library.

While the Library will take a break from the musical scene this month, we’ll kick it back up again in December. The First United Methodist Church Bell Ensemble will grace the Library with an assortment or holiday and instrumental music through the bells on Tuesday, December 3 at 7 p.m.

And a tradition continues, as the Library will once again play host to the Redskin Singers on Thursday, December 12 at 7:10 p.m.

Even though my esteemed colleague Doreen Wright wrote about this last week, it bears mentioning once again. The Liberal Memorial Library, in partnership with Southwest Kansas Library System, member libraries, and RBdigital from Recorded Books, is pleased to offer Zinio for Libraries.

It’s a free service which patrons can access through the Library’s website at www.lmlibrary.org. Click on the Zinio link, choose a magazine, set up a couple passwords and you’re ready to read on a computer or tablet.

Zinio’s unique technology digitally recreates a magazine page for page, including full color pictures, intuitive navigation, key word article search and interactive elements such as audio and video. (Insert “big name” magazines that library has) are just a few of the popular titles available.

Just remember, you need a Liberal Memorial Library card to use the service.

Events for November:

* Library and Lunch: The Silent Wife by A.S.A Harrison on Tuesday, November 12 at noon.

* Book Signing: You Never Know by Shyla Suddeth on Saturday, November 16 at 10 a.m.

* Hunger Games/Catching Fire party (middle school/teens) on Thursday, November 21 at 4 p.m.

* Book Chat: Thursday, November 21 at 6:30 p.m.

Thirty Ways to Use Your Library Card

September is National Library Card Sign Up month. What do you have in your wallet? A library card? You should! It gives you access to many services and books.  The American Library Association releases a yearly “ways to use your  library card” list. Let's explore some of the great ways you can use your library card and library services:

- Download an e-book.  Your library is where you can get e-books and other digital content. Download now – ask your librarian how! Through 3M Cloud Library that is accessible on our website, check out the titles that are available for download.

- Not sure how to download an e-book on your new device?  A librarian can show you how. Take a workshop on how to use your e-reader or other gadgets.  Doreen, our tech usually hosts a workshop on e-readers every season.

- Use a computer to finish a school project. Over 62 percent of libraries report they are the only provider of free public computer and Internet access in their communities.

- Use free Wi-Fi. Almost 91 percent of public library outlets offer wireless Internet access.

- Learn the secrets of using the computer. Nancy, one of our circulation clerks teaches weekly computer classes in the morning.

- Learn check mate: attend a library game night. Casandra, our children’s librarian hosts chess on Mondays in September and we have Teen Gaming and Dungeons and Dragons monthly. Dungeons and Dragons will be held on Thursday, September 12 at 4 p.m. and Teen Gaming on Tuesday, September 24 at 4 p.m.

- Take the kids to a free movie or pick up a DVD to watch together at home... or get a movie for free from your library's website. There’s usually a movie night every month!

- Save money while spending quality time: plan a family afternoon at place that’s free - the library!

- Attend preschool story hour with your child. Story Fun is held on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays at 11:15 a.m. and Wednesdays at 9:30 a.m.

- Librarians are early literacy experts... The library is in our second round of Family Place workshops this month for children ages birth to five years. It’s a chance for parents to mingle and chat with each other and our weekly specialist. They’re held on Thursdays at 6:30 p.m. Also, we have a brand new AWE Early Literacy Station in the children’s area particularly geared for those two to eight. It’s a touch screen with lots of educational materials.  The kids love it!

- ...that can put your child on the path to becoming a baby Einstein.

- Launch your future: Get free assistance with job searches, resume writing and interviewing tips...

- ...or become an entrepreneur. Learn how to write a business plan. Check out a book to do so!

- Get help with homework.

- Research your term paper.

- Explore new opportunities and research technical schools, community colleges and universities.

- Get ready for the SAT with online test-prep services.  We have a lot of online resources!

- Check out your favorite graphic novel.

- Trek to another planet in a Sci-Fi novel.

- Talk mysteries with people who like mysteries, too, at a library book club. Library and Lunch meets every second Tuesday of the month at 12 p.m. and Book Chat meets every third Thursday of the month at 6:30 p.m.!

- Learn a new language with books or online language-learning software. Talk like a pirate, eh? Try out Mango Languages offered through the State Library of Kansas.

- Empower yourself. Check out a book on auto repair or learn how to change a flat tire.

- Borrow or download an audio book for your next road trip or commute.

- Find a new hobby.  So many choices!

- Enjoy a concert. This fall we're excited to have events with the Swingin’ Jazz Band, Bell Choir, and the Redskin Singers.

- Enroll your child in a summer reading program.

- Learn new knitting techniques and get new patterns. Lots of books in the library collection on this one plus we’re clicking away every other Saturday this month for the Click for Babies campaign led by the Kansas Children's Service League.  We’ll be having Knit In’s on Saturday, September 7 and September 21 at 9 a.m.

- Join your Friends group. The library will be aiming to bring back our Friends group this fall at a special Kansas Humanities Council speaker event in October at an off-site location. Interested? Let us know!

- Take a cooking class. We don’t have cooking classes yet; we do have the next best thing: Recipe Swap every last Monday of the month at 6:30 p.m. where we do have noodle demonstrations and all around fun.

- Find a quiet spot, curl up with a good book and enjoy.

For the latest library programming take a peek at the library website or grab a newsletter from the circulation desk. Stay tuned and connected through our social media pages.  If you have any questions or suggestions about books or programs don’t hesitate to ask.  See you at the library this month!

Swing down to the Library

Swing on down to the Liberal Memorial Library and get ready for an evening, outdoor concert with the "Swingin’ Saints Jazz Band” on Tuesday, Oct. 9 at 6:30 p.m.                                                                                                        

It’s free to the public so bring a lawn chair and listen to music from the Big Band Era of the 1930s and 1940s. It also might be appropriate to bring your dancing shoes.

Under the direction of Darin Workman, the band is of comprised of 14-18 community and student musicians, who will take you back to the days when Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey and Benny Goodman were the kings of swing and ruled the music world.

You’ll hear the combination of trombones, trumpets, and saxophones along with the piano, drums and bass that will bring you back to an era gone by. Memories will start flowing and the urge to get up and start swinging and dancing may overtake you.

Come down to the library, bring a lawn chair and enjoy what sure will be a wonderful trip down memory lane and an exciting new experience for those who have never heard the Big Band sound.

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We are continuing with our journey into outer space on Mondays in October. Learn about the wonders of the universe and NASA programming at the Library through a series of fun and educational events, which will include speakers, demonstrations, and activities.

Monday, October 8: Movies and video clips on NASA, featuring “Toys in Space”

Monday, October 15: Aaron Johnson of the National Weather Service in Dodge City will be presenting a program on the introduction to the basics of the atmosphere and climate controls of the earth along with the beginnings of the NWS.

Monday, October 22: Space Food. What did the astronauts take we them to eat in outer space? We’ll find out. And you’ll get a chance to taste space food!

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Just for a refresher, here’s are the policies of the Liberal Memorial Library.

Liberal Memorial Library’s collection includes more than 77,000 items: books, audio books, videos, DVDs, magazines, music CDs, reference materials, puppets, and audio files through the Kansas Library Card.

Library cards are free to all residents of Kansas. A form of state identification must be presented to show that a patron is a Kansas resident along with a piece of mail. Out-of-state patrons are required to pay an annual fee of $25 per family.

All library patrons over the age of 18 MUST present a government-issued form of identification and a utility bill.

Library cards are sent through the United States

Postal Service to library patrons and should arrive within one week of application.

A patron cannot check out items until they receive their card in the mail.

Children are entitled to the same check out privileges as adults. They must have a parent or guardian present to get a library card. This parent or guardian will be held responsible for the safe return of all library property and any fines or fees that are accrued.

The staff asks that parents or guardians monitor the appropriateness of library materials that their children borrow. The library staff is not responsible for making that judgment as individual families have different ways of deciding what is suitable for their children.

All materials in the library may be checked out for two weeks, except for DVDs and video cassettes which may be checked out for one week.

All library patrons must have their own library card to check out materials.

In an effort to circulate as many materials as possible a patron is limited to no more than 15 items: which may include four DVDs, six VHS, six audio CDs (including audio CD books and music CDs), six audio cassettes, six magazines, one equipment, and four interlibrary loan items.

Overdue items are $.10 per day except for DVDs which are $1 per day.

Materials may be renewed in person, by telephone, or online.

Most materials may be renewed twice unless another patron has reserved the item.

DVDs, video cassettes, pre-literacy kits, and items that have placed in the New York Times Bestsellers cannot be renewed.

A request for renewal of interlibrary loan materials must be made three days before the due date or they may not be subject to renewal.

Rocket into the library in August

The summer reading programs have winded down this month.  Adults have two more days to get their tickets into the library for drawings.  The High Readers Party was a bowling feat. Participants in the Murder Mystery say it was a smashing success.  Our last event of the summer will be on Friday, August 10 where those individuals who earned t-shirts and certificates can pick them up beginning at 2 p.m. lasting till 3:30 p.m. They can be claimed any time after that as well.

In the month of July, the library hosted a weekly space-themed film.  The library received a NASA Summer of Innovation Mini-Grant this month from the National Space Grant Foundation with the plan to continue this theme with a six-week program during the fall (from September through October) to educate on the wonders of NASA.  The weekly sessions will be geared toward middle school aged children.  During this period, we will be presenting programs and activities that will incorporate aspects of the NASA Summer of Innovation modules.

Sessions in store during the fall will include Mars vs. Earth where we will compare the two planets showing the physical differences and similarities between the planets and taking a look at the lore between the two planets in popular culture.  What is the fascination with Mars?  Discussion will be focused on the events of NASA and its mission to Mars, in particular the Mars Rover Curiosity.

A Space Food program will also be held.  We will make Asteroid Potatoes and examine foods that were taken into outer space such as Tang and Freeze dried food. Nutritional value and the physical demands of eating in space will be examined.

Space Rocks! Meteorite Game will spark curiosity about the universe and reinforce a better understanding of the origins of meteors, meteoroids, and meteorites.  To discover why space does indeed rock!

The library will have a speaker from the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center in Hutchinson. By focusing on the human story of space exploration, they will entertain and educate as they present.  We anticipate that the program will enlighten and have a positive effect in our community.

In other news, the next Library and Lunch will be held on Tuesday, August 14 at noon. ”Lone Wolf” by Jodi Picoult will be discussed.

The library will have an award-winning acoustic duo Stephanie Bettman and Luke Halpin on Tuesday, August 7 from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.  They create a “fully acoustic, delightfully eclectic sound that is far greater than the sum of it[s] parts.  Together they weave a spell that takes the audience from up tempo down home fiddlin’, to soulful sorrowful ballds, to super hooky folk/pop. You’ll be hooked from the first fiddle line to the last sweet harmony.”

For the latest library programming take a peek at the library website or grab a newsletter from the circulation desk. Stay tuned and connected through our social media pages. If you have any questions or suggestions about books or programs don't hesitate to ask. See you at the library this month!