If you want to read about the designation, you’ll find that background in my previous post. In a nutshell, this means the West Michigan-area business community recognizes that KDL is not only a leading governmental entity, but that we understand that successful governmental entities place as much importance as their business counterparts on their fiscal health, service innovation, customer and employee satisfaction and civic responsibility.

This isn’t Lance Werner’s award, or even KDL’s award alone. It’s recognition of all the parts that make up this whole: the nearly 300 KDL staffers who make your library experience great every time; your communities, which recognize how crucial a healthy library system is to its overall health; and to you, our cardholders and taxpayers who support us in all we do. Thank you.

The Four Corners of the Sky is master storyteller Michael Malone’s novel of love, secrets, and the mysterious bonds of families. Malone brings characters to life as only he can, exploring the questions that defy easy answers: Is love a choice or a calling? Why do the ties of family bind so tightly? And is forgiveness a gift to others…or a gift we give ourselves?

We encourage you to join this global “library book club!”

Word Wise

Congratulations to the winning poets!

A Day’s Worth of Broken Haiku by Alex Courtade

A Ghazal in a Shadow by Alistair Poole

The Script of the Lost by Stephanie Sutherland

Unseen Actors by Karina Bursch

Stars by Makenzie Hutchings

Opening the Worn Cigar Box in the Basement by Hannah Fleming

The Perfect Kiss by Emily Anderson

That Sweet Aroma by Kate Ruehrdanz

The Broken Poet by Paige Jackson

Watching the Stars by Bethany Garvon

Summer Reading @ KDL kicks off on Saturday, June 1. Stop by your local branch to sign up, and don’t forget to pick up a program guide while you’re there. Our summer line-up includes dinosaurs, magic, animals, food and music, just to name a few! Watch this video to amp up your excitement!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrA_cvPZEP8

You do not have to have a KDL library card to get a free concert ticket. Watch the video below for full event details, go to Freegal and use your KDL card to download some of the artists’ music (on us!), then pick up your tickets today at any one of our 18 branches!

As part of this fundraiser to help support WGVU Real Oldies and the West Michigan Whitecaps Inner City Youth Baseball/Softball program, a classic car show in the parking lot starts at 3:00 PM.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oW8Q2_QrtkQ

In addition to the donations, over 70 KDL staff, family and friends were able to spend two great evenings at Kids’ Food Basket making close to 4,500 sandwiches and packing just as many sack suppers!

Kids’ Food Basket is a nonprofit West Michigan organization whose mission is to make sure children in our community do not go to bed hungry. The group began more than nine years ago by serving 125 kids every school day through its Sack Supper program, and now serves nearly 5,000 kids every day.

*top photo courtesy Kids’ Food Basket

A few numbers:

• Hits to the Book Bash website – 5,544 since February
• Participants in the Facebook quilt contest – 12,753
• Attendance at Book Bash – 1,467
• Dollars raised for KDL programs – $31,797
• 93 volunteers worked 1,245 hours

Thanks to everyone who volunteered, shopped and supported the event. See you next year!

Good news for eBook fans — new titles from major publisher Hachette Book Group are now available from the library again! Hachette stopped selling eBooks to libraries in 2010, limiting the availability of popular authors such as James Patterson, David Baldacci, Sandra Brown and others to only titles released before this date. But they are now once again making their full collection available for libraries to purchase.

KDL has purchased over 200 new Hachette titles, including:

• Life after Life by Kate Atkinson
• The Hit by David Baldacci
• Death of Yesterday by M. C. Beaton
• Low Pressure by Sandra Brown
• Beautiful Creatures series by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl
• The Fifth Assassin by Brad Meltzer
• 12th of Never by James Patterson & Maxine Paetro
• Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls by David Sedaris

Since lots of popular titles are now available for the first time, we’ve also increased the checkout limit to 15 items, so visit http://ebooks.kdl.org and start downloading!