The Bainbridge Library publishes a quarterly newsletter called "Bainbridge Island Library News".  To view an issue, click on one of the links below:

 

The North Kitsap branches of KRL have a similar newsletter to the "Bainbridge Island Library News"  To view an issue, click on one of the links below:

Library Staff
Kip Bankart, who so ably manages our facility maintenance, has recently been selected to be the interim Head of Facilities for KRL.  Kip will be filling in for Chris Mathews, who is away through January on a medical leave.  Congratulations to Kip for this recognition.   

 

Kathleen Thorne will be retiring from her role as KRL’s adult programming coordinator at the end of this year.  She is looking forward to spending more time with her husband, and, of course, helping the Bainbridge library with programs such as Great Decisions. She will be greatly missed throughout the county, most especially for her tireless work on the One Community, One Book program.

Around the Library

A new test proctoring service will begin for all branches of Kitsap Regional Library in December.  University students and professionals seeking advanced certification may now register at the library for assistance with off-site test taking.  Information and guidelines will be posted soon.

Freegal will be coming to the library in 2012.  With this new service, library cardholders will be able to download up to three songs each week to their computer or portable device.  All songs are DRM-free MP3 format.  Once the songs are downloaded to an iPod or other player, they are yours to keep.

A new ILS (integrated library system, aka. library catalog) has been chosen!  After months of research, focus groups, and site visits, Polaris has been selected as the new vendor.  To see a preview of what’s coming, try a catalog search at www.sno-isle.org, another Polaris library.  We expect the new system to go live for KRL in May/June 2012.

Our very own Charlie Browne was recently recognized by the KRL board of directors for his outstanding service.  Charlie was a member of the ILS selection group this past year, working with other library patrons to provide feedback about what’s needed in a library catalog.  He has also been instrumental in training both library patrons and library staff in the use of the library’s digital collection.  Thank you, Charlie!

Services and Programs: Highlights from November
Librarian Tressa Johnson created a series of online eReader tutorials as part of a directed fieldwork project at the University of Washington iSchool last year.  Now a member of the Bainbridge Public Library staff, Tressa continues this excellent work with a new tutorial for Kindle users.  She and Charlie are also discussing an additional instruction class in January to meet the post-holiday demand.

In November, the Friends funded a new globe for the children’s room, refreshments for the early release program for teens, and refreshments for the teen leadership forum.  Our thanks go to the Friends.

Out in the Community:

Many thanks to Linda Long who worked with me (on a short timetable) to submit a $4500 grant request to Rotary.  If approved, these funds would be used for a teen room remodel.   In advance of writing the proposal, Ruth met with our teen advisory board in early November to get ideas from the group about how this space might be reconfigured.  Thank you, Ruth!

 

Librarian Audrey Barbakoff has begun submitting book and library-related articles to Inside Bainbridge, the web and social media site founded in the spring of this year.  Her most recent posting was titled “Best Gift Books of 2011.”  She is also working on a new book group to be held on the Bainbridge – Seattle ferry run titled, appropriately, “Ferry Tales.”   

 

Young Adult librarian Stefanie Graen recently introduced author Christopher Paolini to a crowd of 800 enthusiastic teens at the BHS Commons.  Paolini was in Bainbridge as part of a West Sound Reads event; he is the author of the best-selling Inheritance fantasy series:  Eragon, Eldest, Brisingr, and most recently Inheritance.

On a national level, children’s librarian Carmine Rau and her team of young writers/actors were selected as finalists in the 90-second Newbery contest.  Their 90-second rendering of Charlotte’s Web (www.youtube.com – search 90 second Charlotte’s Web) was recently played at festivals at both New York Public Library and the Chicago Public Library.  A great accomplishment!