January 2014Volume 4, Issue 1
ECRL Newsletter Logo  

E-Connect 
Pictured (l to r):  ECRL Assistant Director, Carla Lydon, ECRL Director Barb Misselt, Wayne Zaudtke and Ray Henderson
East Central Regional Library Board 
Members
 
At the December 16 ECRL Board meeting, two of its members were congratulated for their years of service on the ECRL Board. Kanabec County representative, Wayne Zaudtke and Chisago Lakes representative, Ray Henderson, left the ECRL Board after giving nine years and two years of service respectively to the ECRL system.  Zaudtke served the maximum number of terms allowed according to MN. Statute.  Henderson is moving from the area.

Their many years of service attending meetings and making decisions for their respective counties is deeply appreciated by not only ECRL but the communities and the county they each represented.
Upcoming Legacy Programming
(events funded with money from Minnesota's Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund)

 

Bev Proulx Presents Grandma Kept it Going
January 18 - 10:00 am 

Pine City Public Library

Using Bev's collection, we'll look at how women kept quilting alive during the tremendous changes of the 20th century.  

 
Family Lore Storytelling 
by Bob Gasch, storyteller 
Milaca Community Library  
Tuesday, February 11 - 3:30 pm

All ages are welcome to join us at the library as  
veteran storyteller, Bob Gasch, shares his talents 
and entertains with his many stories.
 
World War II Interactive Experience with Arn Kind 
 
Saturday, February 15 - 10:00 am 
Pine City Public Library

Tuesday, February 18 - 6:00 pm 
Chisago Lakes Area Library

Tuesday, February 25 - 6:30 pm 
North Branch Area Library

 
 
Learn about WWII through the eyes of a war correspondent. Mr. Kind portrays an Ernie Pyle-type news reporter embedded with an infantry company in France.  Join us for this entertaining and educational program.
 
Plus check out all the other activities going on throughout ECRL.  Simply check any of the following spots on our website:  NewsBits at www.ecrlib.org, Google calendar, ECRL Facebook page or read our tweets on Twitter.
ECRL Outreach Undergoes Schedule Changes

An outreach van was purchased five years ago to replace the ECRL bookmobile when it went out of service.  For many people the joy of visiting a public library may be "out of reach" either due to distance, transportation, age or physical disability. With the ECRL van we are able to serve those people where access to any of ECRL's 14 branch libraries is either difficult or impossible.   
 
Beginning February 3, 2014, ECRL Outreach Services will begin its first major schedule change in 5 years.  Service in Askov will be discontinued since no patrons came to the stop anymore.  All current outreach stops will either change the day, time or length of their stops starting in February.  The new schedule is being implemented based on an evaluation of the number of patrons visiting each outreach stop and the number of items being checked out at each stop.  The changes were approved December 16, 2013 by the ECRL Board and will be re-evaluated after six months.  

The new Outreach Schedule is as follows:
Braham - New Community Center every Monday from 12:30-4:30 pm starting February 3.
Onamia - Onamia Depot every Tuesday from 12:30-4:30 pm pm starting February 4.
Isanti - Isanti City Hall every Wednesday from 12:00 Noon --4:00 pm starting February 5.
Giese - Wagner Town Hall every other Thursday from 9:30-10:00 am starting February 6.
Duquette - Duquette Hall every other Thursday from 11:00-11:30 am starting February 6.
Jacboson - Community Center every other Thursday from 9:00-9:30 am starting February 13.
Hill City - City Community Room every other Thursday from 10:00-10:30 am starting February 13.
McGrath - Zion Lutheran church (in the winter) and the Pavilion (in the summer) every other Thursday from 12:30-1:00 pm starting February 13.
Sherlock Helps Promote Reach Out and Read
 
Dr. Amy Anderson, Curious George and ECRL's mascot, Sherlock, pose after the program.
Reach Out and Read is a nonprofit organization of medical providers who promote early literacy and school readiness in pediatric exam rooms nationwide by giving new books to children and advice to parents about the importance of reading aloud. Many local medical clinics throughout ECRL participate in the program. 

On Wednesday, January 8, representatives from the Fairview Clinic in Chisago City visited the Chisago Lakes Area Library with Curious
George. Along with Chisago Lakes Branch Librarian, Sarah Hawkins, Dr. Amy Anderson and ECRL's mascot, Sherlock, children and parents were treated to a program with stories and songs.
Following the short program children received free board books from the Reach Out and Read program, parents were given early literacy information and kids were able to pose with both Curious George and Sherlock for pictures. It was a great collaborative success between the Chisago Lakes Area Library, Fairview Clinic, ECRL and the Reach Out and Read Program. 
Forthcoming Print Fiction in the ECRL catalog
Search for any of these items in the ECRL catalog:
 
*Dead Man's Fancy by Keith McCafferty
*Invisible by James Patterson
*Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King
*Moment in Time by Tracie Peterson
*Perfect Life by Danielle Steel
*Power Play by Catherine Coulter
*Purity Vengeance by Jussi Adler-Olsen
*Rainy Day Dreams by Lori Copeland
*Shadow Spell by Nora Roberts
*Skin Collector by Jeffery Deaver
Forthcoming Print Non-Fiction in the ECRL Catalog
Search for any of these titles in the ECRL Catalog:
 
*Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall
*Bridal Bargains by Denise & Alan Fields
*Changing the Way We Die by Fran Smith
*How to Travel the World for Free by Michael Wigge
*Life Inside the Bubble by Dan Bongino
*Merck Manual Go-To Home Guide for Symptoms
*Modern One-Block Quilts by Natalia Bonner
*Monument's Men by Robert Edsel
*What's Wrong with My Fruit Garden by David Deardorff
*A Year with C. S. Lewis by C. S. Lewis
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.  

 

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ECRL Staff Reads & Recommendations 
 
*The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert (c. 2013)
Print, Book on CD
 
First novel written by author, famous for her memoir Eat, Pray, Love. This is a beautifully written and well researched story of a woman botanist born into a family wealthy from the botanical trade at the turn of the 18th century. It is a fascinating study of that very early period in the history of the U.S. and the role of women in the economic and intellectual world. (Ceci Cross-Maser, Hinckley Branch Librarian)
 
*The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt (c. 2013) Print, Book on CD)
 
A wonderful novel that centers around the 13 year old boy Theo, who loses his mother in a terrorist attack at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Because of the incident he gains a valuable painting that travels with him at times physically and if not, mentally on his journey across the country and Europe in a 10 year time frame. Told in first person narrative, the book is very well written, the characters unforgettable and the story believable.  (Ceci Cross-Maser, Hinckley Branch Librarian)

*The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty (c. 2013) Print
 
The story of three women living very different lives in Australia, but when one of them finds an old tattered letter in the attic that's addressed to her, to be opened only in the event of her husband's death (and he is still very much alive), it opens up a Pandora's box. Their lives will intersect in ways none of them could foresee. (Jeanne Coffey, Sandstone Branch Librarian)

*Turn Left at the Cow by Lisa Bullard (c. 2013) Print, eBook

A juvenile novel about thirteen-year-old Trav who feels like a fish out of water in rural Minnesota. This is a coming-of-age mystery about a boy who discovers his dad may have been a bank robber.  He leaves California to visit his grandmother to find out the truth.   A story of new friendship, family and how sometimes the truth isn't always what it seems. Kids will love it and adults, too.  Trav even experiences his first Minnesota church hotdish event! (Vickie Sorn, Youth & Community Services Librarian)
 
*Little Wolves by Thomas Maltman (c. 2012)  Print

A father wonders why did my son commit this heinous murder, while a young pastor's wife wonders about the real truth behind her mother's death.  Two correlating stories come together in this psychological mystery. I found it difficult to follow sometimes and almost 
quit reading it. The book, however, was chosen as the 2014 All Iowa Reads selection. I enjoyed his first book, Night Birds, much more.
(Vickie Sorn, Youth & Community Services Librarian)
 
*The Maid's Version by David Woodrell (c. 2013) Print, Book on CD)
 
Forty two people are 
killed in a dance hall explosi
on in small-town Missouri in 1929, including Alma DeGeer 
Dunahew's vivacious sister Ruby. Alma, maid to a distinguished local citizen, is deeply scarred by her loss and becomes an outcast for telling her version of the deadly explosion's scandalous origins. Woodrell's prose is utterly magnetic, and in 164 pages draws the reader into the Ozarks, Depression-era setting and the tragedy that befalls Alma and an entire town. (Andrea Hermanson, Pine City Branch Librarian)
Forthcoming DVDs to the ECRL catalog
Search for any of these in the ECRL Catalog:
 
*All is Lost (2014) starring Robert Redford
*Austenland (2013) starring Jane Seymour
*Blue Jasmine (2014) starring Alec Baldwin
*The Butler (2013) starring Forest Whitaker
*Sherlock, Season Three (2014) by Martin Freeman
New ECRL 
Overdrive Titles
 (Search for any these in the Overdrive catalog)
  
eBook Titles
 
*Affair Royale by Nora Roberts 
*Beautifully Unique Sparkleponies by Chris Kluwe
*The Brethren by Beverly Lewis
*Dragonheart by Todd J. McCaffrey
*Haunted Moon by Ysamine Galenorn
*I Did it My Way by Bud Grant, Jim Bruton, et. al
*Metro Girl by Janet Evanovich
*Shade of the Moon by Susan Beth Pfeffer
*Sword Song by Bernard Cornwell
*Truth Stained Lies by Terri Blackstock

  
eAudio Titles
 
*6th Target by James Patterson
*Apprentice by Tess Gerritsen
*Baby, Don't Go by Stephanie Bond
*Changeling by Yasmine Galenorn
*Evidence by Jonathan Kellerman
*Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin
*Kisser by Stuart Woods
*R is for Ricochet by Sue Grafton
*Sex Slave Murders by R. Barri Flowers
*Testament by John Grisham