It's Growing in Popularity

I finally decided I needed to figure out this Kindle thing.  Is it a book?  Or, is it a gadget?  People swear by this little machine.....they say they love it!

I checked out this Kindle from Menomonie Public Library.  With 17 Kindles to loan out, you have a good chance of checking one out for two weeks.  I'm not totally convinced I like the Kindle, but I'm giving it a try.

I will be talking to the Library Board about Kindles and their popularity and what it means for our library.  Should we jump on the bus and join the Kindle phenomenon?  What do you think?

Lisa

Double Delicious

This is the time of the year when I can experiment with new recipes, so I was very excited when I discovered this new cookbook called "Double Delicious."  I requested the book off  our library catalog (MORE).  The claim to fame on this cookbook is that the author, Jessica Seinfeld uses pureed vegetables to sneak in more fiber and more nutrients.  Seinfeld also makes her recipes low-fat! 

I only had a two week span of time to get busy cooking and baking, since this cookbook has multiple holds and other customers are waiting to receive the book as well.  My first recipe I made were these delicious whoopie pies.  These wonderfully chocolate, moist treats call for spinach puree in the batter!  How cool is that?  I also made a pot of creamy chicken & rice soup that used both carrot and cauliflower purees. 

I then found time to make the three-berry cobbler recipes that called for carrot puree in the cobbler batter....turned out so yummy.   I continued on to make the chocolate yogurt cheesecake, which called for using greek yogurt, sour cream, brown sugar, carrot puree and whipped egg whites.  The recipe also called for making a graham cracker/nut crust.  I gave that dessert an A+

Lastly, I chose to cook up a broccoli & orange soy sauce dish and served it with rice.  Another very tasty recipe that also used carrot puree.  I had so much fun with this new cookbook.  And where did all the food go you ask?  Of course I shared with my co-workers....and my hubby was a food taster as well.  Oh, did I  mention I'm on a diet, hee, hee!

Our 15 Seconds of Fame!

Rural Libraries Deal With Huge User Increase

So Amelia Cerling, News Anchor and Reporter from WEAU 13 News, called me yesterday morning and asked if I would be willing to do an interview about how public libraries are dealing with higher usage and shrinking budgets. Her first stop would be the Bloomer Public Library and then she would hop on over to little Colfax to speak with me.  I basically had one hours to pull my thoughts together on what I would say about our economic situation concerning increasing library usage and our operating budget. 

I'm guessing about 15 minutes of video footage was shoot during my interview in the morning, but I think they only took about 15 seconds of my actual interview and aired that on TV.

I was very excited that WEAU finally decided to call upon the "small" public libraries in the area.  So many times the larger city libraries are featured, and the small rural libraries become forgotten.  Yes, our budgets are small, but we still have the same  impact in our communities like larger public libraries.  We are all feeling the pinch.

By the way, in 2009 our Internet usage rose 88% and for 2010, it rose another 29 %......I think that speaks for itself!  It's not hard to understand the economic impact here.  When the economy hurts, public libraries see their patron usage rise.  I sure hope our Wisconsin Legislators will understand how important public libraries are in their communities.

Click here to see the WEAU video clip and article from yesterday's news report. 

Winter Wellness With Herbs

The Colfax Public Library will be hosting a Winter Wellness With Herbs program on Thursday January 13th, with herbalist Lisa Yakish.

Get informed abut what herbs will help keep you and your family healthy throughout this winter season.

The program starts at 6:30 and is open to the public, no registration is required.

Questions?  Email us at cocirc@colfaxpubliclibrary.org or call 715-962-4334 for more information.

Happy Holidays!

Wishing all our patrons a very Merry Christmas and a Happy new year!

The library will be closed December 24th and January 3rd in observance of the Holidays.

Digitized Tornado Photos

1958 Colfax Tornado

As part of a Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the Colfax Public Library has digitized the collection of the 1958 tornado photographs taken my professional photographer, Ron A. Blakeley. These items are now part of the University of Wisconsin Digital Collections’ (UWDC) State of Wisconsin Collection and are freely available online. The ability to keyword search the text and images is a great new tool for local history research. In addition, having digital copies of the 1958 Colfax tornado pictures preserves it for future generations.


The Colfax 1958 tornado photographs are part of a larger regional collection entitled Chippewa, Dunn, Eau Claire, Pepin, St. Croix, and Rusk Counties: Local History Collections. This collection showcases selections from the local history collections of the Baldwin Public Library, Chippewa Falls Public Library, L.E. Phillips Memorial Library in Eau Claire, Rusk County Community Library in Ladysmith, Pepin Public Library, Somerset Public Library, Menomonie Public Library, Colfax Public Library, Durand Community Library, Woodville Community Library, and Carleton A. Friday Memorial Library in New Richmond. These libraries, and several other Indianhead Federated Library System members, serve as repositories for important local history documents. The Indianhead Federated Library System is comprised of 53 member public libraries in West-Central and Northwestern Wisconsin.

The Chippewa, Dunn, Eau Claire, Pepin, St. Croix, and Rusk Counties: Local History Collection was funded, in part, through a 2010 Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) grant. These grants provide financial support for public libraries to digitize and make available online, their local library resources. For more information about LSTA grants in Wisconsin, contact the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI) Division for Libraries, Technology, and Community Learning or visit the LSTA grant Web site at http://www.dpi.state.wi.us/dpi/dltcl/pld/lsta.html.

To access the 1958 Colfax tornado photographs, go to http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/WI.IndianheadLocHist. There are many other valuable Wisconsin resources on the UWDC site. If you need assistance, please call the Colfax Public Library @ 715-962-4334, or stop by for more information.

Favorite Picture Books for Christmas Season

In The Christmas Alphabet kid's can follow the holiday season from A to Z in this lovely alphabet book.  As each lettered door is opened a fantastically wrought paper pop-out appears depicting images of Christmas time.  

Minerva Louise is definitely my favorite chicken.  I bet some giggles will break out when this book is read, especially when Minerva thinks the chicken (angel) on top of the Christmas tree has laid some pretty colored eggs in the branches.

Eric Carle's Dream Snow is a gem filled with collage images of a farmer dreaming of snow.  Clear pages  with snowy blobs add the illusion of Mr. Farmer and the animals covered in snow.  Mr. farmer awakes to find real snow covering the ground and realizes he better hurry and get some surprises set out for his animals.

In the book, The Snow Tree, the animals of the forest find a way, in the white of winter,  to remember the colors of the year.  Each animal brings something of a different color to decorate a special snow tree.

Kids will enjoy feeling the embossed pages and looking at the colorful animal images along with hearing the story of friendship, peace and the glory of nature.

Share one of these books with a child in your life.  Reading to and with children really does help children develop so many learning skills, plus it is time well spent with someone you love.

Happy Reading!

 

Click on the title links to take you directly to the MORE to request a copy of these books.