• 2nd:  Antiques with Kay - 6:30pm
• 6th: Women’s Club - 1pm
• 8th: Story Hour - 10:30am

• 9th:  BEE NAY SHE - 7pm
• 14th:  JFML Friends Meeting - 6:30pm
• 15th: Story Hour - 10:30am
• 16th: Quillmasters - 10am
• 16th:Zachery Johnson Concert - 6:30pm
• 20th: CLOSED
• 22nd: Story Hour - 10:30am
• 28th: Library Board - 5pm
• 29th: Story Hour - 10:30am

Lines from the Library
by Peggi Beseres

“I Love to Read Month at Library”

The Jessie F. Hallett Memorial Library welcomes the community to celebrate “I Love to Read Month” during February. Throughout the month we will have special programming for adults and children.

For children our Pre-school Story Hour, led by Story Ladies Deb Weide, Sharon Beaman and Peggi Beseres is held each Wednesday morning at 10:30. Story Hour continues throughout the month with fun-filled themes of Teeth, Valentine’s Day, Brrr…Cold, Movie Day & a special visit from magician Robert Halbrook on Wednesday, February 29 with his Frosty’s Birthday Magic Show. This event is made possible by a grant from Mille Lacs Electric Cooperative’s Operation Round-Up. New popular titles for young adult readers are arriving weekly in Curbside, our always evolving teen area.  Five high school students were recently awarded prizes for creating enticing READ posters (designed by Marian Segersten’s C-I Photoshop class) that will be on display throughout February. Those winners were Shyla Rocca, Megan Kayfes, Andrew Sorben, Dean Groat and Jared Foote.

Adult readers are enjoying a Library program of their own-“Hot Reads for Cold Nights”- with 55 registered readers. During the course of this popular winter program, over 125 books have been read since January 3. It is still not too late to sign up! In February the Library is proud to present “Sizzlin Thursdays.”  Each Thursday evening special presenters will be on hand to share their knowledge. On February 2, from 6:30-7:30, Kay Johnson, proprietor of Den of Antiquity, will present “Antiques Roadshow.” Each participant may bring in one item for free appraisal. On February 9, beginning at 7:00, the Bee Nay She Bird Council welcomes author/naturalist/photographer Sparky Stensaas.  On February 16, from 6:30-7:30, a concert by singer/songwriter, Zachary Scot Johnson, (www.zacharyscotjohnson.com) an acoustic guitar musician, will be featured.  All programs are free, open to the public and sponsored by the JFHML Friends Foundation.  Refreshments will be served.

The JFHML has many resources available for seniors. We have an extensive collection of Large Print fiction, mysteries and westerns with over 5,000 titles, along with many popular CD book titles.  A library staff member is happy to deliver materials if you are homebound, or unable to come to the Library.  The Hallett Library also sponsors the writer’s group Quillmasters which will meet Thursday, February 16 at 10:00 a.m.  Beginning February 1, certified AARP Tax Aides are on site each Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon from noon until 4 p.m. Call the Library at 546-8005 for an appointment to receive Tax Help on your 2011 tax return. On Monday afternoons (4-6 p.m.) we offer Adult Basic Education (through C-I Community Education) with licensed instructor Blenda Hagberg, for those working on the completion of their High School diploma.

The JFHML Friends Foundation meets on Tuesday, February 14 @ 6:30 and continues with their fundraising efforts Backstreet Books and the “Shelve the $35,000 Funding Gap” campaign.  Our computer lab features 9 PC’s with high-speed internet access, and two laptops for teen checkout. We also provide wireless connections for laptop owners. The Library’s shelves are stocked with enticing materials to improve your life. We provide 108 current magazines, an archive of older periodicals on shelves available for checkout and eight local, state and national newspapers. We have 1913-2007 Crosby-Ironton Couriers on microfilm, copies of C-I Crosironites (yearbooks), new bestsellers, CD books, and DVD’s arrive daily. And coming in fall of 2012, we will offer e-books for our patron’s reading convenience. Make the choice to come and check out the possibilities available at 101 First Street SE. Friend us on Facebook. Love your library! Visit us at www.hallettlibrary.org.

AARP Tax-Help

Volunteers are on-site at the JFHML beginning February 1st

Tuesdays & Wednesdays, Noon-4 p.m.

By appointment ONLY

Call 546-8005 to schedule your time slot today.

This service is provided to low and middle income individuals with an emphasis on helping seniors.


2011 Year End Stats for the JFHML:

These figures speak volumes about the number of people and the types of services
used by our local Library.

In 2011- Over 35,000 people walked through our doors.

We checked out over 46,500 books, audios, DVDs and magazines.

12,261 people used our computer lab PCs.

1,655 accessed our Wireless capabilities.

Our processor entered 1,838 materials into our computer system and deleted 585 from that system also. We presently have 44,000 volumes in our library (this statistic includes all formats i.e. books, Large Print, CDs, DVDs, audio books, etc.)

We received 250 titles from the Esther J. Horsager Memorial to add to our Children’s Collection.

We subscribe to 108 periodicals and receive 8 local, state and national newspapers.

In 2011-333 new patrons signed up for Library Cards.  We have a total 4,900 active patrons.

With the help of a $12,000 HOP (Healthy Organizations Partnership) StartStrong grant from the Initiative Foundation, in February we formed our JFHML Friends Foundation (our 501 c-3 fundraising arm of the Library) and developed our 3 year strategic plan.

In 2011 we recorded 2,270 Volunteer Hours. The Friends collected $3,000 in membership fees and had sales exceeding $5,400 in the Backstreet Bookstore which they opened in July. All proceeds from the Friends directly benefit programs, services, materials and technology at the JFHML. In 2011 the Friends Foundation sponsored the following: Two Author Talks, 3rd annual American Girl Doll Tea, Girl’s Night Out, WinWay resume writing program for computer PCs, and a MAVA volunteer handbook webinar for staff.

Over 10,000 people have visited our website www.hallettlibrary.org since its start-up date of September 1, 2009. We currently have 121 Facebook Friends. This site is updated monthly by John See of Tadpole Media.

Story Hour was held 39 times, to a total attendance of 1,887.

The 28th year of our popular Summer Reading Program was a smashing success in July with 20 volunteers in attendance the four Thursday mornings of programming. A total attendance of 284 was recorded over the 4 week program.

We now have 32 “In Honor of”/”In Memory of” plaques displayed on shelving in our Library.

In 2011, the Library collected/raised $20.800.00. This does not include monies from the Hallett Trust or the City of Crosby. $775 was raised for our 2012 book budget with our 1st annual Jingle Books campaign held in December.

In 2012 we look ahead to more programming for the community and the continuation of services.  We hope to communicate clearly our $35,000 funding gap as a direct result of a decrease in our operating grant from the Hallett Trusts. We plan to make our card catalog on-line accessible in the spring, and in the November/December of 2012 The JFHML will begin to provide e-books to our patrons.