Friends come from the funniest places...

When I was catching some sun in front of the Main Library earlier this week, the Loretto Line trolley drove by. I heard the tour guide say to the visitors (and thus, Washington Ave.), "Do you know the Santa Fe Public Library doesn't charge late fines? Isn't that great?!"
Alas, the trolley passed by too quickly for me to hear the spontaneous applause of the tourists.

But, seriously, we don't charge late fines for your overdue materials! We only ask that you return them by the due date so that other patrons can use them.

For more information about checking out, check out our Library FAQs.

Now, if only the sun would come back out so I could catch some more rays...

Summer Reading 2008!

Catch the Reading Bug!

2008 Summer Reading Program

June 9th through August 2nd

Crafts, Clowns, Magic, Metamorphosis...

Gypsies, Juggling, Snakes, Stories...

Caterpillars, Butterflies, Bugs BUGS BUGS!

and best of all,
Books and Parties and Prizes!

Check our schedule for this summer's events!

Why log into your personal record before you search??

When you go to the library catalog, it's a good idea to log in to your record first.

Why?

• Once you are logged in to your personal record, you will be able to go directly to searching our databases without putting in passwords.


• You can renew your books.


• You can look at your holds, and change your pickup location if it's not already waiting for you someplace.


• You can freeze your holds when you go out of town, so that you don't lose your place in the queue for something you've been waiting for forever.


• When you place multiple holds, you will not have to reenter your personal information.


• By going to 'Modify Personal Information' you can make sure we have your correct address, telephone number, and e-mail address, and choose how you receive your notices.

SF New Mexican celebrates Power Readers Program!

Today's Santa Fe New Mexican celebrates the Southside Library's Power Readers Program!

Congratulations!


© 2008 The New Mexican, Inc.. Displayed by permission. All rights reserved.

Class Shows They Care!

For the third year in a row, Mr. Rueda’s 5th grade classes have earned money for a special donation to the Southside Library. Mr. Rueda teaches at César Chávez Elementary, which is just under half a mile from our Southside Branch.

Several of his students are regulars at the library and we are looking forward to seeing more of them this summer for the summer reading program!

Pictured here are Mr. Rueda and his student, Hector Madrid, presenting $135.74 to our Children’s Librarian. Thanks kids!

Written by LW
Photo by TT

Spring Preschool Story Time

Preschool Story time at Southside Library this spring was hopping! After the long winter we had, it was fun to read stories and sing songs about birds, bees, flowers and trees!

For Earth Day the children listened to songs about our Mother Earth. The children helped me demonstrate how clouds affect rainfall by using cottonballs and water and made penny banks out of recycled cans or made a clay creation.

There is some great stuff for Earth Day ideas on Kaboose.com. For our Arbor Day theme, we know children notice things that are high up, so when we talked about trees and how important they are, and the different changes they go through in the seasons, they were excited about designing their own tree, complete with leaves, birds, and blooms.

The Preschool story time families had a special treat when Library Services Director, Susie Sonflieth, did a presentation on planting using cups and seeds for the children to take home, and the kids helped plant some Marigold and Bachelor Button seeds for the library patio. It was really windy that day, but circulation staff helped Susie make it fun for the families to be able to make a little project for them to take home.

Our flowers in the patio are coming up already! Kudos to Susie who has a green thumb, and kudos to all the rain we are getting right now. Yay!

Post and photo by TT at SSL

Spring is a good time for...technology?

With the green buds and occasionally warm weather, you wouldn't think that Spring would be a great time to spend countless hours at the computer screen. Thankfully, with the cool breezes and occasional rain, not to mention pollen count, being inside to update the blog and library website is a great way to spend the day.

If you've been on the website lately, you may have noticed that the appearance is slowly changing. One thing we're trying is a different font, which has generated a discussion at the library about which font is the most readable on the screen. If you enjoy the finer points of web design, you might want to read this article from Usability News.

And since Spring is a season of constant change, we thought we'd open up our blog to comments from our readers. Please feel free to let us know what you think about our blog and website, and what changes you'd like to see!

We're Number One!

The Santa Fe New Mexican's Generation Next section has named The Library the #1 place to read a book!

Beating out coffee shops, trees, and lakes, the public library attracts teens with Young Adult book sections, graphic novels, manga, DVDs, Teen Programs and homework resources.

Best of all, when teens need a reading/homework break, they can get online at our computers!

Thanks for making us Number One, Generation Next!

Load up for Summertime Reading!

ONE DAY AND ONE DAY ONLY!
FRIENDS OF SANTA FE PUBLIC LIBRARY
SUMMER VACATION HALF-PRICE SALE

Saturday, May 17th

11 a.m.—3 p.m.

Southside Branch Library, on the Portal
6599 Jaguar Drive

Parking entrance on Valentine Way

Prices:

Paperback books, Audio music tapes, CDs: 3/$1.00 or 50 cents each
Hardcover books @ $1.00
Audio books @ $2.00 per title
Videos @ 50 cents each

First Lady Visit: Getting Buggy for Books

On Tuesday, May 6th, NM First Lady Barbara Richardson, along with State Library staff, visited the Southside Library to kick-off the statewide 2008 Summer Reading Program. Everyone loves this summer’s theme, “Catch The Reading Bug.”

The Children’s Room staff arranged for classes from Agua Fria and Cesar Chavez schools to participate in the festivities. From Cesar Chavez Elementary, Mr Rueda’s, and Ms. Rhodes fifth grade bilingual classes, and from Agua Fria Elementary, Ms. Love and Mr. Gorman’s 4th grade bilingual classes were able to attend the event.

Lydia Wren, Children’s Librarian, did a group rendition with the kids of “The Green Grass Grows all Around, all Around.” Mrs. Richardson read “The Diary Of A Spider” by Doreen Cronin and “Farfallina and Marcel" by Holly Keller. The Summer Reading Program is designed to motivate children and families to read during summer vacation, encourage use of the library by past and present users of the library, encourage new users and promote library services and materials. And most of all have fun!

The Summer Reading Program will have sign up starting June 9th. Registration will include a reading log that children will turn in to earn incentives. There will be Preschool Story time for ages 2-5 years along with a bug craft and also a school age craft every three weeks. There will be Free Programs for Entertainment every week during the Summer Reading Program, and a party for the participants at the end of the program in August. Flyers for the Program will be available during the first week of June. Come over to the library and get Buggy for Books!

Article and photo by TT at Southside

Main Library Media Services Open on Sundays!

Yes, we’re open on Sundays! Yes, even the Media Services area!

The Main Library has begun opening its Media Services area on Sundays. The area is open the same Sunday hours as the other parts of the Main Library, 1-5pm.

So when you’re downtown leisurely enjoying a Sunday afternoon, stop by to check out our DVDs, audiobooks, music CDS, and videotapes.

For more information, please call the Media Department at 955-6784.

May Day

This is one of those forgotten special days in the US. But in England and Ireland one can still dance around a maypole in small villages on the first of May and wear a crown of flowers.

When I was in kindergarten our teacher Mrs. Leng would have us work for days the week leading up to May Day making “baskets” of rolled construction paper cones to be hand colored with crayons and a pipe cleaner handle attached

Then on the day, she would line us up, have us put a handful of flowers from her garden and blossoming fruit tree twigs into the cups and march us up to the high school. There we would thread our way through the congested hallways to hang the “baskets” on the doors of each classroom. We were pretty pleased with ourselves and ignored the high school scoffers who viewed us “ babies with their baskets.” Some of those scoffers are now in assisted living or nursing homes and they welcome the visits of school children. Getting old changes one’s view.

I suggest that everyone give someone a flower or a basket of flowers on May Day—I know I am heading across the street to my 87 year old neighbor. She probably has more flowers than I do, but I make a mean paper cone basket. Now to find some pipe cleaners.

Happy May Day.