August 2012
Volume 2, Issue 8
ECRL Newsletter Logo 

E-Connect 
 

What Does the Public Want?

 

What is the most valued service of east central Minnesota residents? Answer - books, DVDs, and CDs. What is the most valued format for things that they check out? Answer - print books, followed closely by DVDs, then eBooks.

 

ECRL recently completed a survey of what people value the most in our libraries. We asked: What services do you value? What types of materials? What new services would you like? The Board received the data and used it as a tool in the budget-planning process for 2013. The Board approved the draft budget on Monday, and sent it to the counties that support ECRL (Aitkin, Chisago, Isanti, Kanabec, Mille Lacs, and Pine) for approval and inclusion in each county's 2013 budget. Counties must set preliminary levies early in September.

 

Thank you to everyone who completed the survey. Here are the results.

 

Top valued services according to the survey:

  1. Physical materials to check out, along with the online catalog to find them, and interlibrary loan of items.
  2. Staff help for research
  3. Public computers and wireless access
  4. Library as community center

 Top-rated materials to check out:

  1. Print books
  2. DVDs
  3. eBooks
  4. Books on CD

 Most requested new services:

  1. Computer skills classes
  2. Later hours
  3. Self check-out
Staff Book Recommendations
Book recommendation
Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson (charming story with quirky characters set in the English countryside).
 
Life Gets Better:  the Unexpected Pleasures of Getting Older by Wendy Lustbader (getting older doesn't have to be depresssing)
 
Cat Skiddoo by Bethany Roberts
Ice Cream King by Steve Metzger (granddaughter loved both books; entertaining with great illustrations)
 
Storybound by Marissa Burt (a juvenile fantasy about a young girl who gets accidentally "written in" a book which is forbidden.

Legacy logo

Upcoming Legacy Programming

 

 Animals Nobody Loves

Thursday, August 16 - 2:00 pm

Chisago Lakes Area Library 

Presented by the Wildlife Science Center

Fun for the whole family! 

*All events are free and open to the public!

 

*All programs funded with money from Minnesota's Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.  Call your local ECRL branch for more information about each program.

 

Fall Preschool Storytime to Begin!

 

Cambridge Public Library

 Wednesdays, 10:30 am
 September 12 thru October 31
 Ages 3-5


Chisago Lakes Area Library

 Lapsit Storytime - Ages 0-2
 Wednesdays, 10:30 am
 September 12 thru November 14


 Preschool Storytime - Ages 3-5
 Wednesdays, 11:15 am
 September 12 thru November 14

 

Hinckley Public Library
 Fridays, 3:30 pm
 Starting September 7

 Ages 3-5


Isanti Link Site
 Wednesdays, 11:00 am
 September 12 thru October 31
 Ages 3-5


Milaca Community Library
 Thursdays, 10:30 am
 September 7 thru December 20
 Ages 3-5

 

Mille Lacs Lake Community Library

 Fridays, 11:00 am
 September 28 thru November 16
 Ages 3-5


Mora Public Library 

 Fridays, 11:00 am

 September 7 thru December 21
 Ages 3-5

 

North Branch Area Library

 Wednesdays, 10:30 am
 September 19 thru November 7
 Ages 3-5 

 

Pine City Public Library

 Wednesdays, 10:15 am 

 September 12 thru December 19

 Birth to Kindergarten

 

Princeton Area Library
 Wednesdays, 10:45 am
 September 19 thru November 21

 Ages 3-5

 

 Fridays, 10:45 am

 September 21 thru November 16
 Ages 1 1/2 - 3

 

Rush City Public Library

 Wednesdays, 2:00 pm
 September 12, 19, 26
 October 3, 10
 
Sandstone Public Library
 Wednesdays, 10:00 am
 September 19 thru December 12
 Ages 3-5

 

Wyoming Area Library

 Tuesdays, 10:30 am
 September 11 thru October 9
 Ages 3-5

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
ECRL's Mission
  
Connecting and strengthening communities
through the power of knowledge.

 

*East Central Regional Library is funded by the counties of Aitkin, Chisago, Isanti, Kanabec, Mille Lacs and Pine. 

ECRL also receives state and federal funds.  

 

Find us on Facebook

 

Author of the Month:  John Irving
 
A graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop, Irving established an international reputation with the publication of The World According to Garp in 1978.  He received the Best Adapted Screenplay Academy Award for The Cider House Rules in 1985 and has since published many bestsellers, including A Widow for One Year (1998) and Last Night in Twisted River (2009).   In One Person hit the bestseller lists in May 2012 and received outstanding reviews --- "a masterpiece of sympathy and imagination" according to Departures Magazine.

 

New Novels in the ECRL catalog:
Search for any of these items in the ECRL Online Catalog:

 

*Bartender's Tale by Ivan Doig
*A Killing in the Hills by Julia Keller
*Prophet by Michael Kortya
*Sweet Tooth by Ian McEwan
*The Romanov Conspiracy by Glenn Meade
*Sunless Sea by Anne Perry
*Far North by Michael Ridpath
*The Lawgiver by Herman Wouk

New DVDs added to the ECRL catalog: 

Search for any of these in the ECRL Online Catalog

 

*Diary of a Lost Girl (1929) starring Louise Brooks
*The Dark Mirror (1946) starring Olivia de Havilland
*The Line of Beauty (2006) starring Dan Stevens
*Battleship (2012) starring Alexander Skarsgard
*Bernie (2012) starring Jack Black
*Marvel's The Avengers (2012) starring Robert Downey, Jr.
*Sons of Anarchy:  Season Four (2012)

*The Vampire Diaries:  Complete Third Season (2012)

New Non-Fiction in the ECRL Catalog
Search for any of these titles in the ECRL Catalog

 

*The Armageddon Letters by James G. Blight
*Free Market Revolution by Yaron Brook
*The Fourteenth Day by David G. Coleman
*Butch Cassidy by W.C.  Jameson
*Reborn on the Fourth of July by Logan Mehl-Laituri
*Twitch Upon a Star by Herbie J. Pilato
*On a Farther Shore by William Souder

*The Heartbeat at Your Feet by Lisa Tenzin-Dolma 

 It's Back to School Time!

Search for any of these items on the ECRL Online Catalog: 

 

  

Picture Books


 

*Lucky School Bus by Melinda Crow

*Marco Goes to School by Rox Chast
*Harry Goes to Dog School by Scott Menchin
*Mittens at School by Lola Schaefer
*Mom, It's My First Day of Kindergarten by Hyewon Yum


Juvenile Fiction


*Brendan Buckley's Sixth-Grade Experiment by Sundee Frazier
*Case of the School Ghost by Dori Butler
*The Whites of Their Eyes by Andrew Clements
*Middle School,Get Me Out of Here by James Patterson
*Big Nate Goes for Broke by Lincoln Pierce


Juvenile Non-Fiction


*Little Rock Girl 1957:  How a Photograph Changed the Fight for Integration by Shelley Tougas
*It's Time for Preschool by Esme Codell
*The School Cool Joke Book by Sean Connolly
*New Kid, New Scene:  a Guide to Moving and Switching Schools by Debbie Glasser
*My First Day at a New School by Charlotte Guillain


Teen Fiction


Jinx by J. Torres
Friends with Boys by Faith Hicks
Play Ball by Nunzio DeFlippis
Spellcaster by Cara Lynn Shultz
Golden Lily by Richelle Mead