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David Bowie is back – Check him out at the Library

January 8, 2013

David bowieAfter 10 years of no new music, David Bowie released a new single this morning and announced that he will be releasing a full album this March.  The library has several recent books (and a few older ones) on David Bowie, and quite a few  music CDs that feature Bowie songs and even some downloadable music from Mr. Stardust.

To get ready for the return of the Thin White Duke, check out some of our Bowie materials.

History Buffs @ the Library

January 3, 2013
Stan and Janet Schwarze receiving the Wisconsin Governor’s Award from Lois Hagedorn, Clark Co., Wis. Register of Deeds, who nominated the website for the award.

Stan and Janet Schwarze receiving the Wisconsin Governor’s Award from Lois Hagedorn, Clark Co., Wis. Register of Deeds, who nominated the website for the award.

by Stan Schwarze

My wife and I lead a volunteer group that built and maintains a historical website for Clark County Wisconsin, where we grew up. The information on the website includes obituaries, marriage notices, anniversaries, community and township histories, individual listings for cemeteries in the county, etc.  We have had an active group collecting and transcribing material for this website for  the past 12 years. The Rochester Public Library played a significant role in making the site one worthy of receiving the 2009 Wisconsin Governors Award when it was sited as the best historical internet collection for that state.
One of the major sources of material for the website is the collection of newspapers on microfilm maintained at the Wisconsin State Historical Society in Madison.  The library has supported us by ordering, via inter-library loan, hundreds of newspaper microfilms from Madison.  We read these microfilms and make copies of the historical articles to transcribe
and display on the site.  The library has provided excellent microfilm reading/printing equipment that has made our job manageable.  We thank the library very much for the outstanding service they have provided.

Happy Holidays!

December 22, 2012

Christmas and New Year's closing

I Spy – 91/2 clues

December 19, 2012

magnifying glassSpend your Winter Break @ the Library solving a crime.
December 19 – January 2 all day in the Children’s area.

It’s a race to spot the clues and beat the competition.

Complete a scavenger hunt to win a cool prize and maybe save the world…or just the library.

Friend or Foe?

December 17, 2012
Friend or Foe? Should we be worried? What's going to happen in the Children's Area?

Friend or Foe? Should we be worried? What’s going to happen in the Children’s Area?

Coming Soon!

December 12, 2012
Coming soon! A Mystery in the Children's Area!

Coming soon! A Mystery in the Children’s Area!

The Children’s area continues its makeover

December 7, 2012

Chilrens TreeSeveral projects have been finished and several more are still in progress. The new carpet was installed this summer. The colorful layout, most especially the blue river, has been enjoyed by children. Over the past few months they have walked along the river, played with ducks in the river and even gone swimming (with the help of a little imagination).
The children’s information desk was opened in early August. It is nice for staff to be in the middle of the action and overhear the wonderful conversations happening at the nearby playhouse. During a recent morning on the desk not one, but three parents of small children stopped by the desk to tell staff “We LOVE the new library!”, “There is so much for us to do!” and “The kids love the library will all of the new stuff!”
The Art Room opened in September and 683 children and grownups made collages. During October, the Art Room had 812 visitors. In the first weeks a parent made a collage just for us that says “Thank you for this Art Room.”
The foot bridge has proven extremely popular, in fact, kids have called it “the most awesome bridge ever!” The best moment on the bridge so far was when a young mother and her preschooler played Three Billy Goats Gruff together; Mom was the troll.
Our new tree arrived the last week of November and we are expecting the new aquarium before the end of the year. The library recently received a grant from the Minnesota Children’s Museum to install a Smart Play Spot (early literacy play area), which will be completed by the end of February.
Stop by and visit the new and improved Children’s Division today!

Visiting Author – Bill Willingham

December 6, 2012

Poster for Bill Willingham EventYou are invited to the Rochester Public Library Auditorium on Saturday, December 15th at 2:00 p.m. to meet author Bill Willingham where he will talk about his career and inspire a new generation of artists. Participants of the library’s comic book class will be displaying their completed work.

Willingham has a lengthy list of works that include comic book issues of Sandman, X-men, and Batman. His current Eisner award-winning graphic novel series Fables takes popular fairy tale characters and puts them into a modern setting. He has also written two novels, Peter and Max (2009) and Down the Mysterly River (2011).

The Visiting Author Series is sponsored by the Friends of the Rochester Public Library.

Mystery in the Children’s Area?

December 5, 2012

FollowClues

Libraries Change Lives – Phil Henoch

December 4, 2012
Phil Henoch

Photo courtesy of the Post-Bulletin

The Rochester Public Library lost a good friend recently. Many of you knew him, many learned from him, and the community, as a whole, benefitted from his wisdom, forward thinking and generosity.
Phil Henoch was born in 1915 and moved to Rochester in 1973. He and his family purchased two McDonald’s stores and expanded to five; they did well.
Phil said, “I’ve spent much of my life trying to ‘pay back’ all I have received. As I say, ‘You have to put some water back in the well.’”
Phil demonstrated his commitment to ‘putting water back in the well’ in countless ways, the one that impacted the library the most was his becoming a founding member of the Rochester Public Library Foundation in 1996.
The new library building had been open for a year when Phil Henoch, Chuck Hazama and 15 others met. After much discussion, they realized and decided that in order to be an outstanding library, the library would need an ability to fund new ideas and projects that were not in the yearly budget.
Throughout the intervening years, the amount of funds in the Foundation coffers grew, guided by Phil’s leadership of the Finance Committee and his wise questioning and commitment to not only principal growth, but expenditures in library start-up projects. Judith Taylor, the library director at that time remembers, ”He did not speak loudly or often, but when he did, people listened.”
An article in the latest Rochester magazine about Phil had his answer to the question, “What board are you most active with now?” His answer, “The Library Foundation Board. Not the Library Board. I’m not smart enough to be on the Library Board. Our focus is to raise funds to help the library….I rank the library with the police department and the fire department. I think they’re on a parallel course in that they’re necessary for the health of the community.”
Even in the bad times he was serious about some of the funds going to the library even if it meant going into the principal one time. He said,” we are accumulating this money for the library’s needs; some should be spent there each year.”
Some of the projects the Foundation has provided funding for in the last five years include:

  • Children’s Division Improvements
  • Lobby Changes/Circulation Consolidation
  • Storytime Kits
  • Book-Group-in-a-Bag kits
  • Lock-A-Shelf
  • Little Tykes Computer
  • Digitizing Project
  • Children’s Literacy
  • Building Study
  • Marketing/Merchandising Project
  • Endeca – Online Catalog Project
  • Science Kits
  • DVD Conversion
  • Materials
  • Online Homework Assistance

Phil, through his vision and leadership with the Rochester Public Library Foundation set the stage for the library changing the lives of many people in the community for the foreseeable future.
He is missed. Thanks for everything, Phil.

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