It's My Party and It Better Not Rain

 

7-18-2025

It’s the final countdown. Eight days until the end of the reading portion of the Summer Reading Program. All reading grides and lists are due no later than 1:00pm July 26, 2025. Drawing for the raffle winners will take place at 1:15pm. I am very excited about the changes made to the final Pizza Party beginning with the early drawing. This will allow both a guarantee of limiting winners to one prize and becoming a real celebration.

Nobody in the greater East Troy area with an ounce of compassion may wish/hope/think about rain for July 28^th. That will ruin the bounce house portion of the event. Arguably we would be able to face paint and make balloon animals, but our boldest change will have to stay at Martin’s Hardware Store if it rains.

This year Prairie Lakes Library System’s new Programming Consultant Kate Davis approached businesses in the three counties to solicit donations on behalf of member libraries. The donations we received didn’t fall in line with our traditional program. Most of them are coupons that will be offered up during a raffle at the Pizza Party. While winners do not need to be present to win the ice cream making kit on display in the library, they will need to be present to win these coupons. I believe the coolest of which is a free day pass (with shoes) for Climb @ the Loop in Burlington. That’s saying a lot as a free chocolate chip cookie from Casey’s is also in the offerings and I do love chocolate.

Before we reach either the due date or the party, Wednesday, July 23^rd at 2:00pm is the date and time for Mary Bub’s author talk at the IGET Community Center. (By the Pickleball courts.) Mary published her Letters to Betty: The Anatomy of One Woman’s Grief a year after the death of her husband based on letters written to an imaginary friend over the course of that year. That book was followed up by And So It Goes: A Companion to Letters to Betty, which can be described as a toolkit or workbook for others experiencing their own losses.  

Before Mary Bub’s program, on Tuesday, July 22^nd, our new website goes live. This is the second new website in seventeen months as our website provider announced his retirements six months after the last one. I’m looking at that as a rough draft. The next one is the revised final product. This is the version that will include the LocalHop calendars for the library and our Community Calendar. Check it out if you want to sign up for either Sourdough events electronically.

Reading Now: Storm Front by Jim Butcher

Listening to Now: David Copperfield by Charles Dickens

Registration Required

 

7-11-2025

July may be the busiest programming month of the year here at ETLPL. We have year-round ongoing programs for all ages, Monday afternoon summer programs, Friday afternoon art, reading grids due, and three adult programs to promote.

The last item on that list is the reason for recent email newsletter sent out to our adult patrons whose email address are on file. At this point I see using Patron Point to send these emails for three reasons: promote adult programming, highlight changes to our schedule three times a year, and welcoming new cardholders. The emails do allow recipients to unsubscribe from one or both of the first two types or all emails.

The beauty of the emails is that they will be infrequent, especially compared to these articles, and allow for immediate responses. Two of the upcoming adult events ask for advance registration with a deadline the week before the event. Included in the email are links to our new calendar which includes an online registration feature. Registrations can be made immediately and the event added to the home calendar at that time. The LocalHop calendar, which took the registration, has the ability to send an email reminder about the event. Given the infrequency of these events, that is helpful for patrons.

Registration is required for one of two reasons: events which involve more preparation than most or are expected to be popular and have limited space. In January when we ran Sourdough Made Simple the first time, registration meant we had enough starters and instruction pamphlets for everyone. In the end when registration reached 80 people for the two time slots, it let us known when the space would be full.

Miss Maria has a one-day teen program requiring registration in order to give her time to prepare. On July 31^st, she is planning to host a Teen Murder Mystery. This will be a role-playing adventure for which participants will be given parts to play as they solve the case. The choice of mysteries will be determined by the number of participants who register by closing on July 26^th.

This is also the final due date for summer reading grids. When we close that day Miss Maria will start preparing materials for the teens and I will draw names for the summer reading prizes. Last week Monday was the due date for the June grid as well as the Children’s Parade and FFA Petting Zoo. We had 333 in the library that day. Without the two programs I expect there to be a few less on July 26^th, but I’ll wear my running shoes just in case.

Reading Now: Storm Front by Jim Butcher (Book 1 of the Dresden Files)

Listening to Now: David Copperfield by Charles Dickens

Art Attack and Registrations

 

7-4-2025

This year’s Children’s Parade was a glorious way to kick off 4^th of July celebrations. We had eighty-one children and parents participate. Many of the children will, however, need a stern talking to before they get their temps as they broke a cardinal rule. Never pass the police officer. While Chief Swendrowski led the start of the parade, using the high school’s bus lane provided many of the bicyclists the opportunity to lead the finish. Perhaps we should add bike races to the final celebration on July 28^th.

This week is a short one for the library as we will be closed for the holiday and the carnival. Miss Maria will appreciate the breather as Friday’s Art Attack has been quite popular. The first week was a bit slow with eight participants, but now that summer is in full swing last week’s craft had twenty-nine participants plus their parents. This will definitely be a program we run again next summer. Miss Maria has also brought up the possibility of offering it one Saturday a month during the school year as well.

Moving forward with a program like Art Attack will be made easier with the new website we are soon to reveal. Our current website is only sixteen months old; however, six months after it went live, our provider announced his retirement. Prairie Lakes Library System stepped in and provided funding for a web designer and will host the new site. One of the changes we’ll make is in converting our calendar feature to the event management service LocalHop, also provided by PLLS. That’s a fancy way of saying our new calendar will allow us to add events with built in registration. This will be used for future Art Attacks and events such as the returning Sourdough Made Simple.

The final service PLLS provides its libraries that we are beginning to implement is Patron Point. That service allows us to send a variety of emails to patrons. The first of which went out this week. It provided information on adult programming for July and August. The two August events, Sourdough Made Simple and Sourdough Bake Off, include links to LocalHops registration page. The new website isn’t live yet, but the registration process is ready. For patrons without email, a call or visit to the library will allow for easy sign up. Benefits of using LocalHop include setting limits to the number of participants, but allowing for waitlist as well in case someone cancels and email reminders before the event so fewer people forget they signed up.

More next week on other features of the new website and upcoming programming.

Reading Now: Moira's Pen by Megan Whalen Turner (Short Story collection from the Queen's Thief series)

Listening to Now: Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride