Community Liaison Contact:
Carol Van Baalen, Des Moines, Kent & Woodmont Libraries
LOCAL NEWS
How Does the Woodmont Garden Grow?
For a complete list of programs at your library, click here or open the attachments with this newsletter.
http://www.kcls.org/programs/
More Outreach in the Community
Last month’s newsletter highlighted the Let’s Read program, which has children’s librarians from Kent, Des Moines and Woodmont visiting “free lunch” sites at parks and school, bringing food for the mind with the library summer reading program. Selected sites are: Chestnut Ridge Park (Kent), Field House Park (Des Moines), Parkside Elementary (Des Moines), Meadow Ridge Elementary (Kent), Kent Elementary, Kiwanis Tot Lot #1 (Kent), and Morrill Meadows Park (Kent).
In addition, Des Moines Library is involved with a program called “Summer Boost,” partnering with the Puget Sound Educational Service District. The focus is to help get PreK kids and their families ready for kindergarten by getting them involved in summer reading programs at the library.
At the Kent Library, the Kent School District is busing students once a week to the library during July, to get the students signed up and involved in the library summer reading program.
Farmers Market
Meetings
The Des Moines Library Advisory Board will meet Thursday, July 12, at 7:00pm at the Des Moines Library. Special guest will be Jennifer Wiseman, Project Manager for the King County Library System, who will speak about the role of the library advisory board. Board meetings are open to the public.
SYSTEM NEWS
Take
Time to Read, a three year joint promotion of KCLS and the KCLS
Foundation, is taking place in July, August and September of this year.
Fourteen communities, 266 different sites – that’s how many local
businesses and organizations are hosting Take Time to Read posters this
summer.
At
your branch – in addition to a Take Time to Read display and book
poster, 15 librarians will be working as an online Reader’s Advisory
team. Starting July 1, patrons who visit our Facebook page, www.facebook.com/
SYSTEM HIGHLIGHTS
OPERATIONS
The
Enumclaw Library joined KCLS on June 1 and changes will be
gradual during the initial transition. Barcoding of the existing
collection should be completed by the end of June. Items will be checked
out using the Library’s existing system until Evergreen
is installed the first week in July at which point new titles will be
added to the collection. Hours of operation will remain the same until
the Library is fully staffed to support open hours seven days a week.
Expanded hours are expected to go into effect
by August 1.
KCLS has joined forces with over 70 library systems to issue a
joint statement calling on digital content providers to follow
basic principles that would give the public better and less cumbersome
access to eBooks while lifting restrictions that limit what libraries
can offer. KCLS has also joined another consortium
of public libraries that is looking at establishing a formal
organization to develop an official strategy to ensure public access to
all commercial digital content. A letter-writing campaign launched by
KCLS volunteers received national attention and many
volunteers have received responses from publishers.
Convey,
a
new initiative to foster civic engagement appropriate to the needs of
individual communities, is now underway in Kirkland. In partnership with
the Kirkland Library and the Kirkland Arts Center, individuals have an
opportunity to learn and offer public comment
on future uses of the Cross Kirkland Corridor. As a neutral third party, KCLS will gather and disseminate information and the public can
participate either in person or online through Dialogue, a customized online application. KCLS staff are working hard to reach all possible audiences through a
variety of communication channels. This project will end in
September and a collective report of suggestions and overall ratings
will be provided to the Kirkland City Council.
GOVERNMENT RELATIONS
The new
Tukwila Library received a timely and generous boost from the
KCLS Foundation when Board members voted unanimously to fund an
additional 2,000-square-feet of space to bring the facility up to a
10,000-square-foot library. KCLS’ Capital Bond program had
been revised to include an 8,000-square-foot library, but the Tukwila
City Council wanted assurance that the new library would be
10,000-square-feet before they could agree to a term sheet including
property acquisition and infrastructure costs. With the Foundation’s
support, KCLS was able to provide that assurance.
KCLS was surprised to learn that the
Literacy*AmeriCorps
program
fell victim to federal budget cuts and will be cancelled July 1. KCLS
has been the lead AmeriCorps agency for over a decade and currently has
28 members who provide
ESL, citizenship and early literacy programs and services throughout
the Puget Sound area, including Talk Time sessions that drew over 6,500
participants this past year. Staff is looking at ways to utilize KCLS’
large network of volunteers to help maintain
some level of service for those affected by the cuts.
KCLS
CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PLAN PROJECTS
View all at
http://www.kcls.org/bond/or
sign up here
to receive automatic updates on the KCLS Capital Improvement Projects!
Upcoming Dates
