In the stacks at the Windham Public Library - By Jen Alvino

Our first deliveries from the Minerva consortium began rolling in to the library last week. It is exciting to see the community already taking advantage of all that the consortium has to offer. If you haven’t taken a look at the catalog, visit our website or stop in and talk with a staff person for a quick tutorial. This week we will be connected to the MaineCat catalog which includes items from Portland Public, Bangor Public, the University of Maine system libraries as well as Colby, Bates and Bowdoin. This allows for even greater access to library items throughout the state.
 

Staff members are continuing to familiarize themselves with the new software and work processes. They are doing a great job learning while still providing the wonderful service that you have always received. I’m so proud of all the library staff members and how they worked as a team to accomplish the goal of joining the consortium. The transition went very well! 

You may remember that we held a fine amnesty in November. I would like to extend my thanks to those of you that visited us during our Food for Fines week. We sent out many letters and publicized this fine amnesty week widely. Many of you responded by bringing back long overdue items and giving us non-perishable items in lieu of fines on your account. This was so helpful to clear up our records before our software transition. We were able to make a sizable donation to the Windham Food Pantry. Thank you!

We have some exciting new monthly programs that have either recently begun or will be starting in 2015. We host a knitting group and beginning in January will hold a monthly genealogy program. Thanks to the support of our Friends group we have purchased a movie license and now show a tween/teen movie and a movie geared toward an adult audience once a month. In addition, in the Children’s Room on Monday, December 29^th at 1 p.m. children’s performer Buster B (a.k.a Shawn Hennessy) will lead us through song, dance and movement.  Join us! All programs are free and open to the public. Be sure to visit our website www.windham.lib.me.us and Facebook page for the most up to date news and information about all our programs or call 207-892-1908.

 I hope to see you in the library soon!

~Jen Alvino
Library Director