Category: Program

Thank you to our community for making 2019 even better! Here are the results of the 2019 statistics that we recently submitted to the Kansas State Library. Click here to see our amazing year.

As the Lansing Community Library comes to the end of summer and events are wrapping up, we will need to make some unexpected adjustments. The library recently had a long-time volunteer retire who assisted with shelving, keeping the collections straight, and helped with other projects. She volunteered about 30 hours a week at the library. This retirement moves up my need to evaluate the library’s programming. This evaluation is an important piece of keeping the library on track with its mission and goals and has been on my list of things to do. With the retirement of our volunteer, this evaluation now takes priority.

Over the last few years, we have added programs to build on past successes. In looking at all the programs offered at the library, I saw we have regular offerings for adults and pre-kindergarten patrons which focus on literacy and creativity. While we had an abundance of pre-kindergarten programming, what stood out was a lack of consistent programming for our school-aged patrons. With that information, I’ve decided to restructure our programming to include these age groups. We will begin offering various programs on different days, at different times, while covering different topics to encourage school-age participation.

In order to accomplish this, beginning September 1, 2019, we will only be offering Storytime on Friday mornings and continue our monthly Saturday Storytime and Toddler Time programs. We will be adding a monthly evening Storytime for families who are unable to attend during the day. We will also add “pop-up” programs beginning in late third quarter 2019 for a variety of ages and interests.

We look forward to continuing serving you and providing a wide variety of learning experiences for patrons of all ages in Lansing. Please share ideas for potential “pop-up” programs with me. I hope this realignment helps to encourage our families to visit the Lansing Community Library more often.

~Terri Wojtalewicz, twojo@lansingks.org

Our February Master Gardener’s program will be all about Victory Gardens presented by Loretta Craig on Tuesday, February 5 at 4PM. Victory gardens, also called war gardens or food gardens for defense, were vegetable, fruit, and herb gardens planted at private residences and public parks in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and Germany during World War I and World War II.  She will talk about the history of Victory Gardens during the wars and why we should do a Vegetable Garden today.

Our monthly Lego Club is back on February 6th! Join us on the first Wednesday of each month at 4pm to have fun with friends. We have the Legos, idea books, and the space. Legos are a wonderful way to excite children about problem solving and innovative thinking.

We are adding a few new monthly Saturday programs for families and children. On Saturday, February 9th at 10:30am we will host our first Family Storytime geared towards preschoolers. Join Miss Debbie as we have fun learning about Valentine’s Day, create mailboxes to receive special Valentine’s Day cards, and sing some songs.

Our new Toddler Time is starting up on February 16th at 10:30am. It is a fun program for babies up to 3-years with the same rhymes and stories you love with added sensory activities. Miss Emily has some squishy fun planned. One of the best ways for children to learn is by watching the grownups around them, so grownups are highly encouraged to fully participate with their child. Keep up to date with the new programs by visiting our website, www.lansingkslibrary.org.

We will be hosting Cote Smith, author of the new novel, Limetime. It is the prequel to the #1 podcast about a teenager who learns of a mysterious research facility where over three hundred people have disappeared—including her uncle—with clues that become the key to discovering the secrets of this strange town. See the trailer here.

Our next Paint & Sip Fundraiser is scheduled for Friday, March 8th. Doors open at 6pm and painting begins at 6:30pm. The Friends of the Library hold these fundraisers to help support the Reading Program events and prizes, Kids Create, and other special events throughout the year. We hope you will join in the fun as we create a fun painting (see below). The Friends will provide snacks for the evening and you can BYOB. Tickets are available online here or by clicking on the picture below.

Finally, the Library Advisory Board wants to hear from you! Have ideas, suggestions for programming or the collection? Want to share your comments? They are hosting a Question & Answer session at the library on Tuesday, February 26th from 5pm to 6:30pm. We hope you can join us as we continue to plan for the future.

You can find our calendar is on our website under Activities.

See you at the library!

You asked and we listened. Positive changes began on January 1st. We are happy and excited to bring you extended library hours and checkout periods for books and audiobooks. Our new hours are:

• Monday                              9am – 6pm
• Tuesday – Thursday     9am – 7pm
• Friday – Saturday          9am – 5pm
• Sunday                               Closed

We also extended our book and audiobook checkout periods from 2 weeks to 3 weeks. We appreciate your feedback and support in making these changes happen. The Library Board will have a Question and Answer session on February 26 from 5:00pm – 6:30pm. Drop in anytime to share your ideas.

Beginning in February, we are adding a few new monthly weekend programs for families and children. On Saturday, February 9th at 10:30am we will host our first Family Storytime geared towards preschoolers. Our new Toddler Time is starting up on February 16th at 10:30am. It is a fun program for babies up to 3-years with the same rhymes and stories you love with added sensory activities. One of the best ways for children to learn is by watching the grownups around them, so grownups are highly encouraged to fully participate with their child. Keep up to date with the new programs by visiting our website, www.lansingkslibrary.org.

We will be hosting Cote Smith, author of the new novel, Limetime. It is the prequel to the #1 podcast about a teenager who learns of a mysterious research facility where over three hundred people have disappeared—including her uncle—with clues that become the key to discovering the secrets of this strange town. See the trailer here.

Our next Paint & Sip Fundraiser is scheduled for Friday, March 8th. Doors open at 6pm and painting begins at 6:30pm. The Friends of the Library hold these fundraisers to help support the Reading Program events and prizes, Kids Create, and other special events throughout the year. We hope you will join in the fun as we create a fun painting (see below). The Friends will provide snacks for the evening and you can BYOB. Tickets are available online here or by clicking on the picture below.

You can find our calendar is on our website under Activities.

See you at the library!

Thank you to all the patrons who participated in this year’s Winter Reading Program. It was such a hit! We had 94 people read 1,958 books! Last year, we had 76 people reading 432 books. The winners of the Winter Reading prizes were:

• Basket 1: Brandi Renner
• Basket 2: Ricardo Vazquez
• Basket 3: Olivia Stockton
• Basket 4: Alice Walters
• Basket 5: Salena McLilly
• Basket 6: Sofia Vazquez
• Basket 7: Annie Vodarick
• Basket 8: Christine Farrington

Many thanks to the Friends of the Library & the Ice Machine Co. for sponsoring the prizes this year. We couldn’t do it without our business partners in the community. If you are interested in sponsoring other events like the Reading Programs and Special Events throughout the year, just let us know.

We want to hear what you have to say – join us on Tuesday, January 22^nd at 5:30pm to share ideas with our Library Board members. We are evaluating the services we provide to you and want to know what you think. Help us plan for the future.

We are pleased to announce that author, Cote Smith, will be at the Library on January 23^rd at 5:30pm. He has just released his 2^nd novel, Limetown, about a teenager who learns of a mysterious research facility where over three hundred people have disappeared—including her uncle—with clues that become the key to discovering the secrets of this strange town.  It is the prequel to the #1 podcast, Limetown.

To keep up with the latest going on at the Library you can sign up for the newsletter by going to our website (www.lansingkslibrary.org)

Strange things have been happening at Lansing Community Library after everyone has gone home. Books falling from shelves, chairs moved around, and lights turning on and off on their own! Who or what has been causing these things to happen? And why?

Age Groups :

• Kindergarten – 5th Grade
• 6th Grade – 12th Grade
• Adults

Turn in your short stories by October 15th to be in the running for one of the gift cards for the top two stories in each category. The Grand Champion’s story will have an excerpt published in the Leavenworth Times. A celebration for all of the contestants will be held on October 30th at the library. Get the details HERE.

We are excited to introduce a new way to log your child’s books for the 1000 Books Before Kindergarten program.

You no longer have to wait to get new log sheets and print off their milestone certificates. Just log into the website to set up your child’s account and begin reading away! The website is  accessible by clicking on the 1000 Books picture below. Be sure to use your child’s name to set up the account so the certificate has their name on it. Paper copies of the log sheets are still available – we are just offering another way to participate in the program. Stop in to add stickers to the milestone ladder and pick up prizes along the way.

Remember storytimes and Books & Babies count in the reading log. In 2019, join in on our special 1000 Books quarterly events.

Enjoy!