June so soon??

 June is upon us, bringing many events!  On Tuesday, June 5th, at 8 am, there will be a panel discussion featuring Wells Fargo Chief Economist John Silvia.  It will be in the J. Henry Kegley Meeting Room.  Tickets are $25, which includes breakfast.  Please direct inquiries to Sarah at 276-821-6148.

Michelle & Pam have activities galore planned for the summer!  First up is the Scholastic Book Sale in the Children's Department.  It starts June 1 and will run one week.  They have some great books and gift ideas for the young and young at heart, so check out the sale!  The Summer Reading Program will start June 11th; promotional materials may be picked up in Children's or in the YA section. The Teens will have an Open House Party on June 3 to register. Some favorite events will return, including (sorry, Janice!) Snakes Alive on June 27th.

Avoca's SRP will also be divided up into three age groups to meet on different days.  Details will be available at the Avoca Branch Library. The theme is "Dream Big:  Read!"

The Discovery Series is sponsoring Storyteller & Grammy Award-winning artist Bill Harley on Tuesday, June 19th, at 7 pm.  Reserved seating is $20; otherwise, it's first come, first serve.  This will be in the J.Henry Kegley Meeting Room.   Mr. Harley will be doing a presentation for the Children's SRP the following day, at 10:30 am. Again, please direct inquiries to Sarah at 276-821-6148 or to the Children's Department for questions about the SRP presentation.

Our crafty Joyce has been hard at work the past few months on a very special project:  turning shirts into quilts!  She has made three quilts for Pam and her children using flannel shirts.  She also made flannel earrings for Pam. 

 

The Artist as One with Her Work

Speaking of art, the new exhibit in the Virgie R. Fleenor Gallery will feature the art of Barbara Carter  The display will be up June 1st-30th.

A comic of note

 Non Sequitur is one of my favorite comics.

Staff Notes

Be sure to check out the staff bulletin board next to the staff entrance for updates about insurance, city notices, etc.  Also, Susie has posted a thank you note. 

It's been like old home week with Nancy P. and Joan putting in some hours lately.  It's great to have you both here!

We have two new volunteers, Penny M. who is calling reserves and Christy H. who is with Reference to see if she wants to become a librarian.  Welcome, ladies!

 Thanks, James!

Circulation staffer James Estep put in a lot of  hard work to bring Confederate re-enactor and historian  Dave Goetz to the library.  Mr. Goetz did a wonderful presentation on John Singleton Mosby, the "Gray Ghost of the Confederacy."   All the attendees seemed to enjoy the program and we hope to have Mr. Goetz back when his book about Mosby is published later this year. Thanks also  to volunteers Kris Parker and Nancy P. who acted as hostesses for the program and who made us look really good!

Happy Birthday!

Debbie (belated!)           May 19 

Nancy W.                     May 25 

As usual, Debbie brought us a cake on HER birthday!  Thank you, Debbie, it was delicious!  It always reminds me of George, too.  

Happy Memorial Day!

Happy (and Safe!) Memorial Day, everyone!  

Condolences to Susie and Nancy W.

Susie's father passed away on Saturday.  You can read the obituary and post condolences here.

 Nancy W. lost her mother as well.  Here is the link to that obituary: Elisabeth Bo Windrow Pope

READS, Events, & Staff News!

 Reads

The READS program is proving popular!  In less than a year, from July 1, 2011 to April 30, 2012 there were over 8000 checkouts from Bristol and over 400 from Avoca. Remember, when a patron gets a card it will be 24-72 hours before the card will be active in READS.  If the card is an older one and the number still doesn't work, please let Christian know.

  Movie Weekend

The BPL Movie & Discussion series will continue on Saturday, May 12 at 2:00 pm in the J. Henry Kegley Meeting Room.  This month's feature is "Throne of Blood," the Akira Kurosawa adaptation of Shakespeare's Macbeth.  Spread the word!

Bristol Makes Column

Our recent guest, Sharon Randall, has mentioned Bristol twice in recent columns! You can read them online at Sharon Randall.  Click on the headings for the April 24 and May 1.

Caterpillar Crawl

Saturday, May 12 is also the Caterpillar Crawl Carnival sponsored by the Junior League!  It will run from 10:00 am until noon, and will be held in the library's Piedmont parking lot.  They will be using some of our tables which will be waiting for the Junior League members in the hall outside the large meeting room.  They will return the tables to the same spot.  If you have further questions, please see Michelle.  It should be a fun event! 

  
Bristol Historical Society Meeting

FYI: Joe Tennis will be the featured speaker at the next meeting of the Bristol Historical Society.  This will be on Monday, May 14, in the J.Henry Kegley Meeting Room at 6:30 pm. He'll be speaking about George Washington and Benjamin Franklin.

Staff News

Last Saturday, the local Civitan Clubs organized folks to gather on State Street to try to set a world record for the most people in two states and two cities at the same time.  They had everyone line up down the center line.  There was at least one familiar face in the crowd:

Moira McKenzie

It will be about two months before the Guinness World Record folk will respond, so we don't know yet if the attempt will be an official record or not.

Please keep Susie and her family in your thoughts and prayers as they continue to go through a very difficult time.

Be sure and turn in all sick leave and annual leave slips to Brenda!

Go Ahead, Make My Day!

There's a card of appreciation from Barbara Neimczak on the staff bulletin board. She's writing on behalf of Art in Public Places to thank Doris and the staff of the library for helping to make the Artistic Excellence exhibit such a success.

Doris made someone's day this past week:  a patron stopped at the Reference Desk to say how much she and her son appreciated all the help Doris had given her and her son with his project, including scanning photos and emailing them.  The patron indicated that another library had not been so accommodating.  Kudos to Doris for making us look good!

Janice H. had a message on her answering machine from another patron who wanted to praise the good folks at the Literacy Academy for helping him to find a job.  He said he just wanted someone else to know what a fine job they were doing and how much he appreciated it.  A round of applause, please, for Karen, Linda, & Randall!

Joyce got a thumbs up for her hard work in getting the Frances Kegley Conference Room ready after after a group had left a difficult clean-up job.  As the patron said, "Joyce, you rock!" 

Do you know of a staff member who has made someone's day?  Let Jeanne know!  

May News & Events!

The library has purchased a new program to help people create a resume quickly.  It's Cypress Resume and it will help tailor a resume to fit the job industry desired.  To access it, people will go to our website and click on "Resources."  From the list on the left, they click on "Careers and Jobs."  Cypress Resume is the first entry. The same program will also create a cover letter and list of references. Patrons can access it from home as well as from the public computers.  They sign on by using their library card. Promotional materials will be available soon, including details of how to access the program.  Try it out by clicking here.

May Upcoming Programs

Next week is Children's Book Week and Michelle will be having special program every afternoon from 4:00-4:30 pm. On Saturday, May 12, the Caterpillar Crawl will start at 10:00 am in the Piedmont parking lot beside the library.  Be sure and stop by the Children's Department and take a look at the autographed poster and picture of Eric Carle!  He's the award-winning author of The Very Hungry Caterpillar.  

The BPL Movie Series will feather "Throne of Blood" on Saturday, May 12 at 2:00 pm.

Saturday, May 19,  is the Civil War presentation by Dave Goetz.  This should be a neat program! There will be some folks coming in period costume.  The program will start at 1:00 pm. 

Staff News

As many have heard, Susie's father is in the hospital.  He has a few more treatments to undergo.  Prayers and good thoughts would be appreciated.

Welcome back, Becky!  We have missed you. We all hope your hand continues to heal well.  Becky's husband Ronnie also had to have surgery recently.  As Becky said, 'It's been the wounded tending the wounded."  Continued prayers and good wishes are appreciated.

HistoryMobile, Holocaust Remembrance and more

Remember The Civil War HistoryMobile from last year?  It's going to be here again on Friday, April 20th and Saturday, April 21st from 10am-6pm, and will be in the same location:  the lower parking lot near the plaza.

The library will be hosting another Civil War program on Saturday, May 19, starting at 1:00 pm.  Thanks to the hard work of James Estep, Civil War enthusiast  Dave Goetz will be lecturing about General John Singleton Mosby. This is a free event; more details will be available later.

In observance of Holocaust Remembrance Week, there will be a book display downstairs in the new book section downstairs near the fireplaces.  Mr. Barry will be doing a presentation on Sunday, April 22, at 2:30 in the J. Henry Kegley Meeting Room.

Avoca Branch Library will be having a Book Sale to raise money for programs.The Friends always have a wonderful sale with lots of great buys! Hours for Book Sale are Thursday, May 10^th and Friday, May 11^th from 10a.m. - 5p.m., and Saturday, May 12^th from 9a.m.- 12p.m.

Hope everyone saw the front page of the  Bristol Herald Courier on Wednesday with the great photos from the Dollywood Penguin Players! They put on a great show Tuesday morning.

Staff News

Feel better wishes go out to Melba, who had some (ouch!) dental work done, and to Janice's Bill.   

FYI: Some staff members have said they want to continue to honor Wanda, so don't be surprised if there's still a lot of pink on Wednesdays. 

Wellness & You

The "Wellness and You" seminar will be held on Wednesday, May 16 here at Main in the J. Henry Kegley Meeting Room.  The theme is "Feeling Good, Feeling Fit."  Please bring pen or pencil with you.  For more information, you can email persnl@bristolva.org.

 

 

Wanda Battum

Wanda passed away Friday, April 13.  You can view her obituary and post condolences at Blevins Funeral Home.  The family will receive friends at Blevins on Sunday, April 15 from 1:30-3:30.

Wanda was a wonderful friend and co-worker.  She is very much missed.