The Plainfield Friends of the Library will be having a sale of gift-quality used books Saturday, December 1 and Sunday, December 2. The Saturday sale will be from 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM and Sunday from 1:00–4:00 PM.  Books in this sale will be individually priced. Come over and find some great holiday deals for all the book lovers in your life! Also, be sure to check the ongoing sale in the library that our Friends maintain on a permanent basis.

The modern form of Halloween is thought to have developed from the Celtic celebration of Samhain (pronounced “Sah-wen”). The Celts are an ancient civilization that live in what is now Ireland, Wales, Scotland and parts of England, but once was spread out over almost all of Europe, as far a field as modern-day Turkey.

Samhain was a New Year celebration; the Celts counted a day from sundown to sundown and celebrated the coming New Year on the eve of November 1. They would light bonfires as part of the celebration to help guide the spirits of all the people who died in the last 12 months to the otherworld. The Celts believed the spirits would be given access to the otherworld during Samhain and would leave food and drinks out for these wandering spirits. One way they acquired food and drinks was to go from house to house, dressed up, and perform in exchange for treats, and in imitation of the wandering spirits they would sometimes play pranks or tricks.

As the Celts converted to Christianity, many of the traditional Celtic folk holidays were combined with Christian celebrations. In the sixth century, November 1 became the Feast of All Saints, or All Hallows, and the day before was called Hallows Eve, which eventually became Halloween.

I found the information for this using KDL’s access to the Gale Virtual Reference Library, one of the many awesome online databases KDL offers. Just navigate to the KDL website, click “Reference Resources,” then “Research Databases” and chose a subject category to see some of the databases  KDL cardholders can access.

There are storytimes, and then there are storytimes like the two below coming up at the Walker branch:

Few things get kids doing the happy dance better than hanging out with firefighters and police officers. Celebrate the City of Walker’s 50th anniversary at 10:00 AM on Monday, November 5 with a special storytime featuring local celebrity readers Greg Long, Walker Police Department deputy director; and Bob Walker, deputy director of the city’s fire department. Join us for stories, rhymes, music and movement and a special craft.

Fiftieth anniversary celebrations at the branch continue at 10:00 AM on Wednesday, November 7 with a special storytime featuring local celebrity readers Mayor Rob VerHeulen and WZZM Morning Show reporter Stacia Kalinoski. Join us for stories, rhymes, music and movement, plus make your very own time capsule!

Storytimes are for children ages birth to 6 with a caregiver.

Cue the Pete Townshend guitar stylings; we’re talking ’bout a new generation of library users.

Some may be surprised by the findings of a recent study that found that those age 16 to 29 are reading as much or more than the previous generation and are more likely to be using their libraries. And while they embrace eBooks, that generation does not want the technology to replace traditional print books.

At KDL, this is not news to us; it’s an assurance that our programs and resources aimed at young people are sought after, that we’re more relevant than ever to their needs and that they consider their libraries “their” spaces.

What are we doing at KDL? We’ve revamped many of the teen and children’s sections of our branches to make them more welcoming and exclusive to those age groups, we continue to see a strong use of databases not found on the Internet for school research and we have the largest selection of eBooks of any library system in Michigan that is available only to our cardholders.

KDL also has seen record-breaking numbers of children and teens who take part in our summer reading programs, which have the highest participation of any single library system in the state.

All of this is because of you, our KDL cardholders. You have told us what you want from your library — how you want us to invest your tax dollars — and we have listened. We plan to keep listening, and evolving, as what you need and want from your library evolves.

Lance Werner
KDL Director

Go on a scavenger hunt with everyone’s favorite Pigeon at the East Grand Rapids branch. Pigeon invites you to find things that begin with the letter “P.” During your visit, check out a Mo Willems book so you can share a little bit of Pigeon love at home.

This article originally appeared in our Early Lit Bits eNewsletter. Read the most recent issue online or sign up to receive this monthly update highlighting early literacy tips and resources for parents and caregivers.

Lots of you have been taking advantage of KDL’s extensive collection of eBooks and eAudiobooks — we’ve recorded over 200,000 checkouts so far this year!

And now we have a great new feature on our ebooks.kdl.org site: you can search the entire catalog of digital materials offered by our OverDrive eBook/eAudiobook service, and with just a simple click of a button, recommend titles that KDL doesn’t yet own!

To do this, just search for your selected title. If you don’t see it listed in the Library Collection, click on the Additional Titles tab to see OverDrive’s complete collection. Anything that KDL does not currently own will have a Recommend button next to its listing. Simply click this button to request that the library purchase the title. You can even choose to be notified by email if KDL buys it, and to be automatically placed on hold for it!

Note that not all publishers are willing to sell eBooks to libraries. If you can’t find a particular title listed in OverDrive’s “Additional Titles” collection, please feel free to fill out the “Recommend a Purchase” form on our website and we’ll see if this is the case for your requested title.

Happy downloading!

Just in time for Halloween, view 10 of the most popular novels in Adult Horror this month at KDL – click on the link to the KDL Top Ten List!  What’s your favorite scary story?

Ever notice how kids look at adults they consider cool? At KDL’s Wyoming branch, that’s how kids look at Youth Librarian Monica Walen.

Now others are taking notice. Walen has been named a recipient of the Expanded Learning Opportunities Network’s Rising Star Award.

The ELO is a 14-year-old public-private partnership of the City of Grand Rapids, Grand Rapids Public Schools and the community. Their Rising Star Award is given to those who demonstrate “extraordinary effort in developing, implementing and improving his or her program for children and being a team player with others for after-school programs.”

Branch Manager Lori Holland credits Monica with increasing teen participation in summer reading actities by 63 percent over the previous year. Monica visited schools in the spring to promote the program and recruit teen volunteers. She also instituted several after-school programs, such as ”Science in the Stacks” and an after-school chess club for all ages that recently garnered media attention.

Monica’s other projects include working with Team 21, a Wyoming Public Schools after-school program, to offer a young authors event, and she is serving on the Teen Film Festival committee in partnership with Celebration! Cinema, KDL and the Grand Rapids Public Library .

“Providing activities for our younger patrons after school is one of the best parts of my job at KDL,” Monica said. ”Even if it’s as simple as giving them a safe place to hang out and do their homework, I feel rewarded.”

Her secret for kid-whispering: “I try to see the world the way my younger patrons do—open and full of wonder and excitement—and it helps me relate to them. It probably doesn’t hurt that I’m also loud and bouncy.”

Kenneth Kraegel, author of King Arthur’s Very Great Grandson, will read from his book during the regularly scheduled Spencer Township branch storytime on Thursday, November 1 at 6:30 PM. Bring the kids to meet a local author in person! Kenneth also will have copies available to sign and sell.

UPDATE: We’re back in business — the phones are working.

Those who call KDL’s main number — 616-784-2007 — currently hear a message that we are closed. Please note that the Service Center and all our branches are open during regular business hours today but the phones are not working. We’re working on it and will let you know when the problem is repaired. In the meantime, if you have a question that needs immediate attention, you can email us at contact@kdl.org. Thanks for your patience!