Among Friends - Goodnow Library

Among Friends

Friends of the Goodnow Library Newsletter

January 2015

Letter from the President

Dear Friends,

I would like to thank all of you for your support last year. In addition to memberships and our annual book sales we had a new fundraiser in September. With a lot of hard work on the part of Kathy Bautze, the Friends held their first Teamwork Trivia night. It was a fun evening and it was a big success.

With your help the Friends were able to make a generous donation to the Foundation to create the Community Gathering Space featuring new arrivals at the library and a space to relax and enjoy a cup of coffee. The Friends continued their support of the many children's programs, Sunday Afternoons at the Goodnow, and the museum passes to name just a few. With your support the Friends will be able to continue funding the many things that make the Goodnow Library such a special place.

On the afternoon of Saturday, January 31st, the Friends and the Foundation will cosponsor a STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fair for kids of all ages. There will be a wide variety of hands on activities for children and their parents to participate in. It should be a very fun afternoon that you won't want to miss.

In April we will be having our annual book sale. We normally collect books all year round, but we have been inundated with donations and no longer have space to store any more books. We would ask that you hold on to your donations until we start setting up the book sale in the Community Meeting Room the middle of March. We apologize for the inconvenience, but we only have a limited amount of space to store books.

Best wishes for a happy and healthy New Year! Ingrid Mayyasi

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DIRECTOR'S COLUMN

Dear Friends, Happy New Year! While we are looking forward to a whole new host of adventures in 2015, I would like to take a few minutes to look back over some of the highlights of 2014:

The library launched its first ever in-house website in January. Some new features include an online calendar of events, meeting room booking, and reading recommendations. We have had over 75,000 visits to the site, with a 58% return user rate and over 146,000 page views, with the most popular being museum pass information, room bookings and children's programming. 30% of visitors use a phone or tablet to access the site, which is why we are currently moving towards a mobile-friendly interface as soon as possible.

Also in January, we held a wildly successful Open House ("Kids Day Out at Goodnow") that was jointly hosted by the Foundation and Friends of the Library, and run by the staff, Friends and Foundation. Over 400 people attended. We received generous donations of prizes to raffle off a Dustin Pedroia signed baseball and a set of 4 BU Hockey tickets. Among things to do for kids was a scavenger hunt designed to show off all of the new additions to the room, Animal Adventures program, and free ice cream from Friendly's.

In May, coffee came to the library. For a dollar a pod, patrons began enjoying a "cuppa joe" with their visit. As one patron declared, "This library is officially the best library in the world!" If only everything we did got this response!

In 2014, we wrapped up our fifth and sixth Teen Study Weeks, where the library stayed open late three nights during finals and served pizza, coffee and candy to all the hard working high school students. Over 300 kids chose the library as the place to be as they prepared for exams. Our tireless Young Adult Librarian, Megan Statza arranged a variety of study breaks around the library, including coloring and a selfie mustache station.

This was also an exciting year for e-books. We increased our spending on titles available through the catalog, and began loaning Kindles, pre-loaded with a variety of books, including Fiction, Mystery, Teen and Kids titles. In January, we will start loaning out iPads too!

In September, we celebrated the paving of the path between the library and Dunkin Donuts. We hosted a StoryWalk--a path marked by the pages of a story book while Dunkin Donuts offered a decorate-your-own-donut station. Over 300 people attended the 2 hour event, and many people remarked how much more convenient and safe it was to traverse the path once it was cleared up.

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September is Library Card Sign up month, and we celebrated with a "Get Carded!" campaign, when just by showing your library card to certain local businesses, you got a special discount or freebie. This resulted in a 15% increase in new library card holders over the previous year, and lots of people using our self-checkout system, with their card or a barcode app. That's right, we upgraded our scanners to ones able to read smart phone apps such as CardStar or Key Ring.

In October, we unveiled a new service called hoopla whereby you can borrow free video, music, and audiobooks with your library card. It's super easy and you can stream it all from your PC, tablet or phone.

And finally, winding down the year, we hosted a Holiday Technology Petting Zoo. In two sessions during December, we set up an array of e-readers, tablets, gaming and TV devices for you to test drive. Families, older adults and curious patrons came to check out the latest in tech, including Chromebooks, Apple TV, Wii and Kindle.

All this and more! We celebrated another hot and humid Truck Day, the Friends first Trivia Night, lots and lots of programs sponsored by the Friends, and lots and lots (1,735!) of museum visits sponsored by the Friends. We are so grateful for their support, for without it, we would not have any programming, museum passes, the Sunday Afternoons at Goodnow, or even the beautiful gardens in front of the library. I cannot overstate how valuable and important this group has been and continues to be to the library and the community. If you want to support them, please become a member today!

Best wishes for a happy, healthy New Year

Esm? Green, Library Director greene@sudbury.ma.us 978-440-5515

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Friends of Goodnow Library Book Sale Shelves

Cold, stormy winter days are a great time to catch up on your reading. Whether you are sitting by a fire, relaxing in your favorite chair with a hot drink, or enjoying a getaway to a warmer location, books are great companions. The Friends of the Goodnow Library book sale shelves, located across from the main circulation desk next to the copy machine, are a great place to find a large selection of fiction, nonfiction, and children's books at bargain prices. Choose from a variety of fiction genres: adventure, science fiction and fantasy, novels, thrillers, mysteries, classics, short stories, or horror. On the nonfiction shelves, select from biographies, history, cook books, gardening, humor, and much more. Hardcover books and large paperbacks are $2 and small pocket size paperbacks are $1. In addition, each month the Friends feature a special half-price sale on their auxiliary cart located next to the sale shelves. The shelves and the cart are updated regularly with new selections so take a few minutes to browse each time you visit the library. Best of all, your purchase will not only entertain you, but it will also enrich the resources of the library. Proceeds from books sales help to fund special children's programming, the library's adult programming, all the museum passes, movies, the copy machines and printers, the planting and maintenance of the entry gardens, and special purchases like the piano and the train table and kitchen in the children's play area. Please support the Friends with your purchases. And please encourage your friends and neighbors to join the Friends and help us to enrich the programs and resources of the Goodnow Library.

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Did you know?

The Friends of the Goodnow provide museum passes for numerous museums. You may reserve passes by going to the Library's web site or by

calling the Library at 978-443-1035.

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