Chrisman Library Board holds meeting
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The Chrisman Public Library Board held their meeting on August 11th. For the month of July, five hundred and fifty-one items were loaned to patrons, three hundred and thirteen items were loaned to other libraries, one hundred and thirty items borrowed from other libraries, ninety-nine new items were cataloged, nineteen electronic books and four internet user sessions were recorded.
The child patrons of the library went for a long walk when Keegan from Douglas-Hart Nature Center stopped by for a visit. It was an imaginary hike with some very real lessons on wildlife habitats. The kids got to choose which way to go each step of the way.
They started out from the home camp and the kids voted on whether to go up the mountain or down the other way. Special hand signals were used. Mountain habitat won. The kids told them what kind of animals live in the mountains and Keegan gave some information on those animals. The supersized book that Keegan had displayed was a help, but the kids added animals that weren’t even in the book.
Next, they voted to go to the woods. Again, volunteering the names of animals that live in the woods. The discussion was lively and the kids were really engaged in the program. Lastly, the kids passed through the wetlands, identifying wildlife there and then back to camp. Quite a day!
The children go to pet Windle, an Eastern Box Turtle. Then a short game of ‘musical habitats’ ended the program.
There were seven kids, four adults, two staff and the presenter present for the program. The four adults were not involved in the program, but a couple of them commented on how good Keegan was.
The remaining library board meetings for the year will be September 8th, October 13th, November 10th and December 8th.
The library will be participating in the 4th Annual Library Crawl for the Illinois Heartland Library System. It will not cost to join, but they may want to give some small trinket to the travelers. The application needs to be completed by August 29th to be included in the ‘passport’ and publicity.
Details are set to be settled in September with the event taking place in October. The library will be closed on Friday, September 9th for Chrisman Days and the book sale. Volunteers are also needed to help with the sale.
The Chrisman Library was offered the opportunity to set up a table at the “Our Town” event to sell cookbooks and bookmarks.
The Chrisman Public Library’s history will be included in the Sesquicentennial Book. The Chrisman Public Library has grown in size over the years. We now have over twenty-two thousand books and over two thousand DVD’s. In the last year alone, we loaned out three thousand five hundred and fifty-five items to our Chrisman patrons and three thousand one hundred and fifty-seven items to other libraries. We are a member of the Illinois Library System which presently has over five hundred libraries.
We over a variety of services to the public including: public computers, open Wi-Fi, and affordable copy and fax rates. Patrons can view our collections online at cmnp.illshareit.com and also request books from other libraries. You can set up an account and see online what books you have checked out, what you have requested and you reading history.
In the past fifty years, the library has gone from hand stamping cards to a laser scanner and computer to keep track of a patron’s book borrowing.
The library moved from the old church building just a half block south of the square to the corner of Illinois and Monroe in the former Cook Drugstore in 2004. We now have more than two thousand six hundred square feet of space, good lighting and comfortable seating. We now have space for people to have small meetings. The library has been used by students and tutors, business meetings, candidate meet and greet, crafting ladies, and people just needing a space to converse.
