Shirley Bruursema, a member of Kent District Library’s Board of Trustees, was recently named “Person of the Year” by both the Dutton and Cutlerville communities. 

Shirley moved to Gaines Township 44 years ago and has been promoting the library and preserving area history ever since. She has served on library boards for the past 26 years and was the driving force behind the Gaines Township branch expansion in 1987. She is also president of the Lakeland Library Cooperative.

“I see Shirley as having a passion for libraries and we have certainly benefited from that,” said Michelle Boisvenue-Fox, KDL’s Assistant Director for Public Services. “She is tireless, certainly, but it’s the passion I see and admire in Shirley.”

For more information, check out this recent article from the Advance Newspapers.

Please join us in congratulating Shirley on this wonderful achievement!

There are many fun and easy ways for kids to work on prewriting skills and increase their letter knowledge. 

For indoor fun: take play-doh, or make your own, and shape it into long, snakelike rolls.  Then use the rolls to shape letters or numbers.  You can then talk about letters while your child is also building hand strength.  You can also make a batch of pudding and put some into a large gallon size Ziploc bag.  If you lay the bag flat and evenly smooth out the pudding, your child can then “write” in the pudding again and again. 

For outdoor fun: spread some sand in a tray and have your child write in the sand to make letters or shapes.  You can also give them a bucket of water and a paint brush and let them “paint” letters, numbers and shapes on the driveway.  Kids LOVE to learn how to spell their name, so starting with the first letter of their name is a great place to begin!

If you are a history buff or just want to learn more about your ancestors, check out HeritageQuest, a comprehensive online database of genealogical resources. Find out about people and places with this resource, which includes searchable census images, family and local history books, Revolutionary War records and much more!

This database is provided by the Michigan eLibrary (MeL). For more information, view a guided tour of this database.

After you load your audiobook in iTunes, you don’t need to convert the tracks and place them into your books library file.  Instead, you could create a playlist where you can easily find your current audiobook on your iPod.

First select all the files containing your audiobook.  If you didn’t join the tracks, there will be a lot of them.  Right click and select the options tab.  Enable Remember Position (so you can stop listening and pickup at the same spot) as well as Skip When Shuffling (preventing the audiobooks from be shuffled with your music).

Next create a Smart Playlist and enter the author’s name for the Artist Contains Field.  Click on the plus sign to create a new field, select Album and type in the name of the audiobook in the next field.  Click on the plus sign again and choose Plays is 0.  This will ensure the files are automatically removed from the playlist after you have listened to it.  Make sure the Live Updating box is checked and click on OK.

Be sure to stop by the library to find your next great audiobook!

All Kent District Library branches will be closed Monday, July 4 for Independence Day. For additional 2011 holiday closing information, please view our holiday closings page.

We appreciate your patronage and wish you a Happy 4th of July!

While you’re waiting for the final Harry Potter movie, check out KDL staff’s favorite summer blockbusters. They’re free to check out, but popcorn is not included.

What’s your favorite summer blockbuster? Let us know in the comments!

If you want it, we’ve got it! At KDL, we are committed to providing the popular materials that you would like to read, listen to, or view.  Look what’s new this month:

Split Second by Catherine Coulter
A Dance with Dragons by George R. R. Martin
Quinn by Iris Johansen
The Lincoln Lawyer (DVD)
Source Code (DVD)
Rango (DVD)

Place a hold on one today. Enjoy!

If you had to choose three books or movies that would definitely be on your “Hot Titles” list, what would they be?