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Fleming Community Library |
| With only one full
time staff, one part-time person, and a
teacher’s aide, we are hopping most of the
time. We have been having students working
on going to History Day. They are finding
information and building projects and
display boards to show their information. It
seems like I get caught up in it, too. We
have students doing reports on people in
Colorado History and World History. It seems
like I field a hundred questions a minute
sometimes. LOL From helping find the books
on the shelves to getting material (ILL) to
checking out resources and everything in
between. It makes my day fly by. We also
have the basketball finals going on as well.
Being part of a school as well as town just
gives us that much more to be a part of. I work ten months of the year and so my helper does the summer reading program and the story hour. She has most of the little kids and their parents. She has an outstanding program with lots of participation. Our library is the jack of all trades, we are the clearing center for the computer labs, the AV check-out, our community room, and the trouble shooter on the laminator and computer problems that do not require our tech person’s expert attention. We recommend books to all patrons who ask, “What have you read that is good?” Being a small community we have learned the kind of books most of our patrons enjoy and try to have them on hand. Whether we get them from the area Bookmobile or buy them from the best seller lists. Our Friends of the Library is also an active group that supports our library anyway it can. They have a soup supper and then a program for a fund raiser each year. Most of the area people look forward to it and give generous donations above the cost of the supper and program. This money is used to buy the best sellers and other materials such as audio cassettes and videos. We share the town purchases and school purchases with all patrons and this seems to work very well. The town benefits from the non-fiction reference collection and the computers, which are furnished by the school as well as the location and the librarian. The town furnishes the adult best sellers, audio collection, and a part-time aide. Since the town is the user of the library in the summer, their aide runs the summer programs and hours. Our library is not open as many hours then but we make up for it in the school year. Our town patrons seem to read more in the winter when they cannot get out in their yards and work. We have a pretty town of around 425 people. Our school has a total of 212 students and around 30 to 40 staff members. We have set times for the lower grades to come to the library every week with their class. They get to exchange books and look at their new ones before going back to their rooms. We are a community that strives to cherish our young people and look out for our elderly. I personally pick our books and run them over to a patron who lives close to the library and has trouble getting here as often as she needs. I hope this gives you an insider’s look at our library.—Jeannette Loos, Director
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