Library Foundation Silent Auction

The Library Foundation's holiday fund raiser this year is a silent auction of 3 baskets and an original painting by Sylvia Rutledge.

One basket was donated by the 1st United Methodist Church and contains chocolate, holiday mugs and lots of fun food for the holiday.

Two baskets were donated by the libray staff. One is a "Curl up and Read" basket. It has mugs, chocolate and some light reading in it. The other is for someone who would like to be up and doing. It has work gloves, batteries, duct tape as well as two action DVD's.

The centerpiece of the the auction is an awesome landscape by Svlvia Rutledge.

The auction will end at noon on Saturday Dec. 19th. Come in and bid often to support the library foundation.

Southeast Kansas Community Action Grant

We have received a grant from the Southeast Kansas Community Action Program for $5,969.95 to start our computer lab! We will purchase 5 laptop computers that we will use for free, public computer classes.

The classes will begin in January. They will range from the very beginning computer use such as 'Taming Your Mouse" to more advanced Internet topics such as "How to Ebay". If you would like to have a class on a particular subject, just let me know in the comments section below this blog.

Thanksgiving

With Thanksgiving just a couple of weeks away, we thought we would share a bit of Thanksgiving history.

Thanksgiving has been an American tradition for many years. In 1621 the pilgrims with the Wampanoags held a three day celebration. Only half of the people who came to America on the Mayflower had survived. These survivors, including 4 women and several children, gave thanks for the harvest that would help them live through the next winter.

George Washington proclaimed a Thanksgiving in December 1777 as a victory celebration honoring the defeat of the British at Saratoga. In October 1789, President Washington created the first Thanksgiving Day designated by the national government of the United States of America. Several Thanksgiving Days were proclaimed in the following years, not all of them in the autumn.

New York State adopted Thanksgiving Day as an annual custom in 1817. By the middle of the 19th century, 25 states and two territories celebrated a Thanksgiving Day.

President Lincoln, in 1863, was the first president to declare Thanksgiving a national holiday at the behest of Sarah Josepha Hale, who had spent 40 years writing to congressmen, lobbying five presidents, and writing countless editorials in her campaign to create an official day of thanks.

Every president since Lincoln has declared a Thanksgiving Day. For most years it has been the fourth Thursday in November. President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1939, 1940 and 1941 declared it to be the third Thursday in November so that the Christmas shopping season would be longer. This aroused such uproar that he changed it back to the fourth Thursday.

To find out more about Thanksgiving the library has many books about the holiday. You can check out books about Thanksgiving crafts, traditions, and stories of the pilgrims. We also have a great selection of cookbooks if you want to add something special to your feast. Many popular authors for adults and children, including Janet Evanovich, Eve Bunting, Jennifer Chiaverini and Dav Pilkey, have written books that include the Thanksgiving holiday.

International Magic Week

October 25-31 is International Magic Week. It is the week leading up to Harry Houdini's birthday Oct. 31. It is a time to celebrate magicians and the world of magic.

Coffeyville magician, Pete Walterscheid, the World's 41,532nd Greatest Magician, has a display of items he uses in his performance on display at the library. You can visit Pete's webpage to find out more about him. http://www.magicbypete.com/

Come by a see the display and check out a book or two about magic.

Community Bulletin Board

We have completed the new bulletin board for the lobby of the library. There are three sections to it. One is for the Genealogy Society, one is for Library events and the middle section is for Community Events.

If you have a poster or flyer for a community event that people in Coffeyville and the surrounding area might be interested in, bring it to the library and we will post it. All items must be taken to the circulation desk before they can be posted.

Drop by to see what is happening in the Library and in Coffeyville.

New At the Library

A new evening book club is forming. The first meeting will be after our author visit on Monday Sept. 14th at 6:30. Anyone interested in sharing their ideas about books is welcome to come.

Sept. 14 at 6:30, Christian-fiction author, Terrye Robins, will be our guest speaker at the first evening book club meeting. This teacher-turned-author will be sharing information about her writing career and giving reviews of her fun mystery novels.

If you are looking for inspirational fiction, you can find it easily, thanks to our new labels. Clear lavender labels are now on most of the inspirational fiction books and DVD’s. Thanks to Debbie Fesler for implementing this project.

Our new Community Bulletin Board is located in the lobby of the library. We will display items of community interest in the center section of the board. Genealogical information will be on the left side and information about library programs will be on the right side. Please check at the desk if you want to have your community information on our board. Thanks to Elaine Wylie for making this project possible.

Welcome Bags are now available to people who are new to the community. When a newcomer gets a library card he or she will also receive a bag that contains information about Coffeyville and Kansas. Linda McFall and Cindy Powell created and produced the Welcome Bags. We would like to thank Country Mart for their donation of ‘green bags’ to hold the information.

Grants from the Gates Foundation and the Southeast Kansas Library System have allowed us to have two new computer workstations for people to use. These computers have Microsoft Word and Excel as well access to the Internet. We were also able to replace one of the computers in the Children’s area with a new one.

Yoga and Pilate classes are continuing. However the Pilates time has moved to Fridays from 9:00-10:00. Yoga classes are Tuesdays from 5:30-6:30. The instructor, April Foreman, provides very good workouts. No registration is required.

We are still giving Library Foundation book bags to anyone who writes a book review. It is easy. Just tell us what you liked or didn’t like about a book. You can find reviews from patrons on our website, cvillepublib.org. Thanks to Joy Duvall for spearheading this project.

Once a month we will have movie night at the library. The dates are Sept 17, Oct 29 and Nov 19. The shows start at 6:30. We provide the popcorn. The DVD’s will be current popular movies. Adrian Keith is the staff member who is making the movies possible.

A children’s movie will be shown on some of the days when school is not in session. The first one of this series will be on Sept 16th at 2:00. It will be a popular movie for grade school children. Again we will provide the popcorn.

Wii for Teens is a program for young people who come to the library to play Wii games on our new 46” TV. Wii for teens is on Wednesdays at 3:30. We also have Wii for Kids on Tuesday evenings at 6:30.

Starting Oct 1, we will be having a very special storytime for 2 year olds and their special adults. This will be a 20 minute program of songs, rhymes and stories. Tot Time for Twos will begin at 9:15 each Thursday. Registration is required for this program.

We are beginning a monthly newsletter. New issues will be available about the 15th of each month. If you want to know what is happening at the library, read reviews written by other patrons, see what classes and activities are available, be sure to pick one up.

Library's Facebook

The Coffeyville Library now has a Facebook Fan page. Facebook is a social network that connects people with friends, family and others who work, study and live around them. People use Facebook to keep up with friends and family through pictures and quick postings. Facebook is becoming the fastest growing networking site in the country. Currently the average Facebook user is female and 35 to 40 years of age, with the over 55 age group a close second. This allows grandparents to stay current with their grandchildren and children. So if you haven’t already, now is the time to join facebook and become a FAN of the Coffeyville Library.

Homework Kansas

The new school year will be starting soon and homework will become a part of life for many students. Have you ever wanted to get some help with your or your favorite student's homework? If so Homework Kansas is for you!

This online service will connect students with live tutors to help them understand their homework assignments. The tutors will help with the questions but will not give the answers.

Subjects for assistance include math, science, English and social studies. Assistance in Spanish is offered in the subject areas of math, science and social studies. An interactive screen is available for students to see how math problems work. You can upload a file so that you and the tutor can work on it together.

Help is offered through a K-12 Center, College Prep Center, and Adult Career Center.

People at any of the centers can work with a live tutor or use the Skills Center: Resource Library that has thousands of worksheets, tutorials and study guides.

New to the service is college entrance practice tests like ACT and SAT, graduate school exams like GRE and LSAT, Advanced Placement, ASVAB and TOEFL, and GED prep tests. HomeworkKansas will also offer assistance with sample resumes and cover letters, financial literacy and assistance with proofreading of papers.

You can get to Homework Kansas by going to our library website http://www.cvillepublib.org/ then clicking on the Young Adult link, then clicking on the words "Homework Kansas"

Check or Die

We have begun an inventory project at the library. While we are going through all of the books we find some that look interesting but no one has checked them out. We are putting these lonely books on a special display called "Check or Die"

If someone finds one of these books interesting and checks it out, the book is saved. It will go back to its place on the shelves. However if it stays on the display for three weeks and no one chooses it, it will die. Well, it will not really be destroyed, but it will be put in the book sale where we hope someone will give it a home.

Review a Book

Joy has started a book review page on our website. If you would like to have your book suggestions on the page, just email her at jduval@cvillepublib.org. or you can pick up an easy form at the library. You will get a neat canvass tote bag, just for telling her what you liked about a book.

You can review any book, fiction or non-fiction. You do not have to like the book to review it. Sometimes knowing that a book is not worth reading will save other people the time of reading it.

To review a book send Joy the title of the book and the author. Tell here what the book is about, what you espceailly liked/disliked about it, then rate it 1. Don't bother, 2 Only as a sleep aid, 3 It's worth reading 4. Really good! I'd recommend it! 5. A Must Read!

New at the Library

We now have Wii gaming for children and teens! Children can come to the library on Tuesday evenings at 6:30 and Wednesday afternoons at 3:00 to play on the new library Wii. Miss Cindy will be organizing the games in the Junior side of the library.

On Tuesday afternoons at 3:00, teens will be able to play the Wii games in the Community room. We have basketball, tennis, golf, and boxing, some brain games and a Dance, Dance Revolution.

Friday afternoons at 2:00 we are showing a children’s movie on our new 42” monitor. Families are welcome to come and enjoy a cool hour or two watching a favorite Friday Flick.

We are able to present these programs thanks to the efforts of the Coffeyville Public Library Foundation, which purchased the Wii console, games, monitor and cart. The Foundation provides its support through the quarterly book sales and memberships. Membership in the foundation is $10 for individuals and $15 for families yearly. In addition to knowing that you are helping the library, foundation membership allows you half price for the community room rental, photocopying and fax services, and fines.

We are giving Library Foundation canvas tote bags to people who help us share there opinion about books. If you write a review, you will receive a tote bag. The review is simple. We ask that you tell us the title, the author, what the book is about, what you especially liked/disliked about it and a rating of don’t bother; only as a sleep aid, its worth reading, really good I’d recommend it, or a must read. With your permission, we will post the review on our website and have it available to people at the library.

You can see some reviews that are posted on our website, cvillepublib.org. Click on the Book Reviews tab at the bottom of the list on the left.

How To Make a Comment

If you have a favorite western book or any book that you would like to share with others, you can post a comment to this blog entry or any other 'post'. To make a comment, click on the word comment below and and new page will pop up.

In the box that says 'post a comment' write what you would like to share.

Your comment will appear in a day or two.

I would really like to hear what you have to say about the library, books, internet sites or any form of information.

Don Coldsmith

Don Coldsmith was an American author of primarily Western Fiction. A past president of Western Writers of America, Coldsmith wrote more than 40 books, as well as and hundreds of newspaper and magazine articles. His “Spanish Bit Saga,” a series of related novels, helped to re-define the Western novel by adopting the point of view of the Native Americans, rather than the European immigrants.

In addition to his career as a writer, Coldsmith was a medical doctor in Emporia, until 1988, when he chose to concentrate on writing. In addition, Coldsmith and his wife Edna were catttle ranchers and breeders of Appaloose horses.

Coldsmith attended high school Coffeyville and joined the U.S. Army in 1944. His role in the Pacific Theater of World War II led him to Japan, where he was among the first occupying troops. He was assigned to provide medical care for Japanese war criminals, including Hideki Tojo, the prime minister.

Coldsmith periodically taught history classes at Emporia State University. He was awarded the Golden Spur award for best original paperback for The Changing Wind of 1990. Other honors include Distinguished Kansan (awarded by the Native Sons and Daughters of Kansas in 1993) and the Edgar Wolfe Award for lifetime contributions to literature (1995). Coldsmith was in high demand as a speaker, especially when the subject was the High Plains and the American West.

Coldsmith died on June 25, 2009 after a stroke.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The library has a display of Western books by Don Coldsmith and other western authors.

Let me know which of the western authors you like best.

Value of Summer Reading

Summer is a lot of fun at the library. Children are coming in for storytimes, crafts, music, magic and more. They are participating in the Summer Reading program and getting bags, prizes and goodies just for reading. We have programs and activities for young people from birth through high school.

Why do we go to so much trouble and effort to keep the young people reading in the summer? Studies have shown that children who read four or five books during the summer can prevent the reading achievement losses that normally occur over those months. In a study in the Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk in 2004, researcher Jimmy S. Kim found that regardless of race, socioeconomic level, or previous achievement children who read more books fared better on reading-comprehension tests in the fall than their peers who had read one or no books over the summer.

This summer slump has been recognized by educators for a long time. In order to encourage their students to participate in the library summer reading program, the principals of Coffeyville Community Elementary and the South Coffeyville Elementary school will have a special surprise for their students who bring their completed Summer Reading Certificates to school in August. Also the library will give a certificate to the school that has the largest percentage of children participating in the reading part of the summer activities.

Entering the summer reading program is easy. Come to the library, pick up a bag and fill out a registration form. You can do this anytime the library is open. As the children read during summer, they will receive a ticket for attendance at programs, number of books read or time spent reading, reading the special Bookshelf books and completing the program. At the final session, July 30th, these tickets can be redeemed for prizes. If you cannot come to the final session, you can redeem the tickets at the library from July 30 through August 15. You will get your Summer Reading Certificate when you get your prizes.

Reading with your child/grandchild/special friend during the summer is one of the best things you can do to help his/her school achievement and success in life. Participating in the summer reading program at the library can make it fun.

Staff Picks

Are you looking for a good book to read? Have you read all of the ones that your favorite author has written and are wondering what to read next? If so, Staff Picks are for you.

During the month of May the display at the Library is full of the books that the staff likes. Each book has the name of the person who picked it. If you find that you like the same books as a staff member, you can talk to the person about other books you might like.

Post a comment to let me know what some of your favorite books are.

Jennifer

We the People Bookshelf

The Coffeyville Public Library has been awarded a We the People Bookshelf - Picturing America. The Bookshelf is a set of classic books for young readers from Kindergarten through high school.
Each year National Endowment for the Humanities identifies a theme important to the nation's heritage and selects books that embody that theme. This collection of theme-related books is the Bookshelf. In addition to introducing young readers to good literature, the Bookshelf promotes understanding of abstract or general ideas through the power of particular stories.

Titles selected for the We the People Bookshelf might highlight important chapters in American history; or express universal themes that are integral parts of American culture. The books are intended to represent the rich texture of the American heritage, a tradition that has incorporated ideas and texts from around the world.
NEH awards the Bookshelves to libraries across the country for use in programs primarily for young people. In return for receiving a Bookshelf, libraries organize programs that highlight the theme and encourage young readers to explore the selected books. At our library, children who read one of the Bookshelf books during the summer will receive an extra Summer Reading ticket that can be used to select a prize. The children will write reviews for the books. We will post the reviews on our website. There will be a special program in the fall for the families of children who have read one or more of the books.
In the Picturing America Bookshelf, readers are invited to steer their way across the continent by river with Lewis and Clark in 1802, travel the railroad with Robert Louis Stevenson in 1879, or drive along the open highways with John Steinbeck and his dog Charley in 1960. Through the life and poetry of Walt Whitman emerge powerful images of the Civil War and Abraham Lincoln; through the life and lens of Dorothea Lange we witness the impersonal forces and human faces of the Depression.
The books are in the Children’s room at the library. People of all ages are welcome to check them out. If you would like to write a review or just make some comments about the book, let any of the staff know and we will be glad to post it on our website.

Image courtesy of Julie Paschkis
(www.juliepaschkis.com)

Save Money @ Your Library

Have you used the library to help save money during tough times? Share your story with Woman’s Day magazine!

The public library plays an important role as Americans face tough economic times. Libraries offer their communities access to computers and the Internet, financial literacy skills, assistance with job searches, and resources to help small businesses.

Do you have a story about using the resources and services at the library to save money, search for a job or manage your small business? If so, you could be selected to appear in Woman’s Day magazine.

Between February 17 – May 18, women 18 and over are invited to tell their story in 700 words or less and send it to womansday@ala.org. Up to four stories will be highlighted in the March 2010 issue of Woman’s Day. For more information and to read the official rules, visit www.womansday.com/ala.

The initiative was developed by Woman’s Day and the American Library Association’s (ALA) Campaign for America’s Libraries, (ala.org/@yourlibrary) ALA's public awareness campaign that promotes the value of libraries and librarians.

Swine Flu

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention is providing daily information about the swine flu outbreak. Their website also has infomation on travel notices and general information on the illness.

Here are their tips on how to stay healthy:

Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. Throw the tissue in the trash after you use it.
Wash your hands often with soap and water, especially after you cough or sneeze. Alcohol-based hands cleaners are also effective.
Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth. Germs spread that way.
Try to avoid close contact with sick people.
Influenza is thought to spread mainly person-to-person through coughing or sneezing of infected people.

If you get sick, CDC recommends that you stay home from work or school and limit contact with others to keep from infecting them.

For more information go to their website: http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/ You can also sign up to receive email notices and to follow their information on Twitter.

If you would like more information about swine flu go to the Kansas Government Information site at http://ksdocs.blogspot.com/2009/04/swine-flu.html

Bloggers Help Raise Money for Injured Child.

A group of people who regularly contribute to the Topeka Capitol Journal blog have raised over $1000 to give to the mother of a child who was severely injured. Money could be directly given to one of the bloggers who set up the fund raising and it could be sent through the PayPal account of another of the organizers.

At the CJonline website each story has a blog (or web log) following it that allows people to make comments on the story. The blog on the story about the burned little boy begins with some people just talking about the incident. Then one of the bloggers asked if anyone would be interested in contributing to a collection that she was taking for the mother and little boy. Another asked if anyone had a PayPal account and he would be glad to donate. Soon a person with an account set it up for people to donate through it.

To find out more about the story go to http://cjonline.com/news/local/2009-04-16/fund_for_babys_mom_growing_fast

It is nice to know that even as people change the methods they use to communicate (online social networking instead of talking over the back fence) that the willingness to help people in need is still there.

Free Kids Circus Tickets

Walker Bros. Circus is coming to Coffeyville. The circus will be held at the Kansas Army National Guard Armory 2669 Perl Schmid Drive.

The circus will be here on Wednesday April 22. The shows are at 5:30 and 7:30 pm.

You can pick up your free tickets for children 14 years and younger at the Children's Desk at the library.

How Authors Write

When I attended the Kansas Library Association conference earlier month I had the opportunity to hear two authors, Roland Smith and Brad Meltzer. They spoke about how they write their books. Roland Smith writes adventure stories for children and teens. Brad Meltzer writes legal mysteries and thrillers.

Both authors do much research before they start their novels. Meltzer reads about and visits the places where his books are set and is able to describe these locations in accurate detail.

Smith writes notes on notecards about his research and story ideas. When he has finished his research he sorts through the cards and puts the ones he wants on large bulletin board making a storyboard like the ones they use in the movies. He then writes the story in a notebook. After several revisions, he types it into a computer.

Brad Meltzer gets to know his characters very well before he begins writing. He will write background stories for his ‘imaginary friends’. He knows which character broke his femur playing baseball, which one did not have a date to the prom and many other details of the lives of his characters. Most of this information is not used in his books. As he begins to write, he decides who the murderer is but much of the rest of the story develops along the way. He will outline 50-100 pages of the story, write that and then outline another 50-100 pages.

Meltzer said that he usually writes about ordinary people who can change the world. Sometimes a story will come to him from an outside source. He recounts how he received a letter from former president George H. Bush wanting an autographed copy of one of his books. That got him to thinking about what happens to former presidents. One minute they are the most powerful men on earth and the next they are out of office. This idea became ­The Book of Fate. Other books by Meltzer include The Tenth Justice; Dead Even; and The Zero Game.

Smith writes about things that he cares about. He was a biologist for many years before becoming a writer. Sea Otters Is a non-fiction book that he wrote after working to help save the animals after the Exxon Valdez spilled millions of gallons of oil in Alaska which killed many many birds and animals. Thunder Cave is set in Kenya among the Maasai people where Smith lived and worked as a biologist. His great love is for elephants which can be seen in his book Elephant Run.

The Kansas Authors Club is a group of people who like to write and to share the experience. The next meeting of the KAC is on April 18th at Windsor Place Campus Center, 2921 W. 1st St., Coffeyville, 9 am to 1 pm. Another local authors group is the Night Writers. Night Writers meets every fourth Tuesday -- 6 p.m. at Sycamore Landing, 701 Lewark, in Coffeyville. Both groups welcome anyone who would like to attend.
As Brad Meltzer said the best way to learn to write is to do it.

KansasWorks

Last Monday Susan Brakhage from KansasWorks presented a hands-on workshop at the library for people searching for a job.

KansasWorks is a good source for posting and finding jobs in the state of Kansas. Whether you're looking for that perfect job, that perfect employee or information on an industry or workforce. And it works absolutely free. You can find it online at www.KansasWorks.com.

Susan explained the Kansas WorkReady certificate. It is a nationally recognized certificate that lets employers know your skills before you even walk into the interview room. The certificate measures your skills in three areas, reading, locating information and mathematics and certifies you as a gold, silver or bronze candidate. Once you earn your certificate, you can show it to employers as proof of your skills in these areas.

Their website will guide you through building a resume that will show your qualifications and experience. You will also be given information about interview preparation and interview tips.

For more information you can contact the Independence office of KansasWorks at (620) 332-1669.

The library has several books that can help with job searches including these:
Cover letters that knock 'em dead by Martin YateResumes that knock’em dead by Martin YateJob hunting made easy by Carol SonnenblickHow to hold it all together when you've lost your job by Townsend Albright
You can use the free Internet computers at the library to look for jobs. Our website www.cvillepublib.org has links to job search sites. Click on the links tab on the left of the main page. The job links are at the bottom of the page. You will find links to KansasWorks, Kansas jobs and Coffeyvillehasjobs.

Six Early Literacy Skills and Storytime

Young children need a variety of skills to become successful readers. A panel of reading experts has determined that six specific early literacy skills become the building blocks for later reading and writing. Research indicates that children who enter school with more of these skills are better able to benefit from the reading instruction they receive when they arrive at school.

Vocabulary
Vocabulary, knowing the names of things, is an extremely important skill for children to have when they are learning to read. Most children enter school knowing between 3,000 and 5,000 words.
At storytimes we help develop children’s vocabulary by reading a variety of books with them, both fiction and nonfiction. One way that children learn new words is by hearing them in a story or by seeing a picture that relates to a new word.

Print Motivation
Print Motivation is a child's interest in and enjoyment of books. A child with print motivation enjoys being read to, plays with books, pretends to write, asks to be read to and likes trips to the library.
At storytime we have a lot of fun with books. We share our love for them and demonstrate how much fun a book can be.

Print Awareness
Print Awareness includes learning that writing in English follows basic rules such as flowing from top-to-bottom and left-to-right, and that the print on the page is what is being read by someone who knows how to read. An example of print awareness is a child's ability to point to the words on the page of a book.
At storytimes the children see how a book is read. Often we have the children repeat a phrase with us while we show them the print on the page.

Narrative Skills
Narrative Skills, being able to understand and tell stories, and describe things, are important for children being able to understand what they are learning to read. An example of a narrative skill is a child's ability to tell what happens at a birthday party or on a trip to the zoo.
Talking about what is happening in a story is one way we encourage narrative skills. We often ask the children what will happen next and come up with some interesting stories

Letter Knowledge
Letter Knowledge includes learning that letters have names and are different from each other, and that specific sounds go with specific letters. An example of letter knowledge is a child's ability to tell the name of the letter B and what sound it makes.
Letter knowledge can be developed by using a variety of fun reading or writing activities, like pointing out and naming letters in alphabet books, picture books, or on signs and labels. Playing with magnetic or foam letters is another way to become familiar with letters.

Phonological Awareness
Phonological Awareness is the ability to hear and manipulate the smaller sounds in words. Phonological awareness includes the ability to hear and create rhymes, to say words with sounds or chunks left out and the ability to put two word chunks together to make a word. Most children who have difficulty in reading have trouble in phonological awareness. Rhyming books and those with silly sounds are great at storytime.

Come to storytime with your child, grandchild or just a favorite young friend and see how Miss Cindy helps the children learn the basic prereading skills. Storytime is on Wednesday at 10:30.

Go Local Kansas

New website makes it easier to find health care servicesin your neighborhood: Go Local Kansas

Kansas City, Kansas – A new web site makes finding health care services faster and simpler for Kansans.
Go Local Kansas (http://www.golocalkansas.org/) launched on January 29th. Consumers can search by location, type of facility, or a specific disease or condition. Contact information for health care providers such as hospitals, county health departments, support groups, nursing homes, and community clinics from all counties in Kansas will be available.
Librarians from Dykes Library at The University of Kansas Medical Center, the State Library of Kansas, public libraries and the Kansas Regents libraries contributed to the web site. Project Director, Amy Ritterskamp says the statewide effort by public libraries is an important part of the project. “This wasn’t the easiest way to develop the web site, but it was the right way”. Karen Cole, Director of Dykes Medical Library grew up in WaKeeney, Kansas. She wants people to know Go Local Kansas is for all Kansans. “Sometimes people in central and western Kansas are skeptical about city people coming in and telling them what’s good for them. I’m from western Kansas. We’re going to do this the right way, with input from the entire state.”
All records on Go Local Kansas will be reviewed once a year to make sure they are current and accurate.
In a typical day, nearly one half of the people who use the Internet will use a search engine to find information according to the Pew Internet and American Life Project. Ritterskamp says using a search engine isn’t always the best way to find information. “If you’re trying to find a health care provider to help you manage pain, for instance, it will just take a couple of clicks in Go Local Kansas to find phone numbers and addresses of a variety of health care providers that provide services related to pain. “ Ritterskamp says another thing consumers will appreciate about the web site is the lack of ads. “If the resource meets our criteria to be included, we include it.”
Karen Cole, Director of A.R. Dykes Library says Go Local Kansas will be a real benefit to families. “This site is great for people who are looking for health care services for a relative in another part of the state. “
Governor Kathleen Sebelius declared January 29th, 2009 Go Local Kansas Day and encourages residents to visit the site “today and every day in 2009 to locate health resources in their community”.
Go Local is an initiative by the National Library of Medicine, which is part of the National Institutes of Health, and is highly integrated with MedlinePlus.gov, their patient information web site. Currently 26 states have active Go Local sites with more in development.
Go Local Kansas is part of a statewide health information initiative encouraging Kansans to take charge of their health. Kansas Health Online (www.kansashealthonline.org), a health information web site launched last year sponsored by the Kansas Health Policy Authority and developed by biomedical librarians at Dykes Library, includes tools and tips to make healthy lifestyle decisions, information on diseases and conditions, and a guide to health policy in Kansas.
Additional story angles:News You Can UseKansas NewsKansas State NewsLocal NewsHealth NewsHealth ReformConsumer NewsConsumer Health
Interviews can be arranged throughout the state.

Contact:Amy RitterskampDykes LibraryThe University of Kansas Medical CenterPhone: (913) 588-7168Fax: (913) 588-8675aritterskamp@kumc.edu

Weight Loss Support Program

Was one of your New Year's resolutions to lose weight? Was it hard to do by yourself? If so our new program is just for you.

The first meeting of the Weight Loss Support group will be on Tuesday Feb 24 from 6:30 - 7:30 in the Community Room at the Library. Cindy will have lots of great ideas on delicious food that is low in calories.

For more information call Cindy at 620-251-1370.

Think Spring

The seed catalogs are coming and it is time to think of your spring garden. We have a wonderful display of gardening books. Take some home to dream away the gloomy days planning your garden.

Tax Forms

Tax forms are here. You can pick up your Kansas Income Tax and Kansas Homestead forms. We also have the Federal 1040, 1040A, and 1040EZ. If you are are a senior citizen looking for some help with your taxes, call the Coffeyville Senior Citizens Activity Center at 251-7890. Help will be provided there on Thursdays from 9:00 am until 2:00 pm from Feb 5 through April 9. 2009

Health and Fitness

Is losing weight or eating healthily on your list of New Year's Resolutions? If so, come into the library and check out our display of healthly living books and DVD's.

Google Tips and Tricks

Google has become one of the main ways that people get their information. Indeed the words to ‘google something’ has become synonymous with ‘looking up information about something’

There are a few Google tricks that come in handy. If you need to use a calculator, you can put your question into the search bar and it will display the answer. You can use a formula as easy as 5+7 and it will display the answer. You can also ask what is 3% of 7.15 and you will get the answer.

Google also has a conversion feature. If you want to convert from US to European money. You can type in “1 US dollar in Euros” and the answer is displayed. You can also convert centimeters to inches, kilograms to pounds and so on.

Google also has a translation feature translate.google.com. You can see a webpage in a different language or you can use it as a multi-language translator