Tag: reed memorial library

two library staff holding up petals and pages ticket boards

Petals and Pages, perfect for spring

Published on by notthatrebecca

It’s a challenge so simple, it’s a breath of fresh, spring air. Complete a prompt from our activity list or read for an hour. Do either one five times. Fill out your tickets (up to five per person) and turn them in for the grand prize drawing. What could you win? Keep reading to find out.

Reed Memorial Library’s Petals and Pages challenge runs March 1 to 31st and is for all ages and all readers. You’ll get a matching magnet when you pick up your ticket board (so that you can hang it on the fridge). Want to get started right now? You can download and print your ticket board, too.

How do you complete the challenge?

Like we said, it’s super simple: any combination of prompts from our activity list or reading for an hour. The activity list has all sorts of fun choices like reading in the sun, reading a book about butterflies or spring sports, and even visiting the story trail in Dix Park. There’s an activity for every age and reading level so the whole family can participate.

Fill out your tickets and bring them in for an entry. Do it one at a time or all five at once, just turn at least one in by March 31. One lucky ticket will be drawn for the grand prize.

Do I want the grand prize?

Here’s what you will win:

  • LEGO Botanicals Tiny Plants
  • $20 gift card to Vance’s Carriage House Creamery
  • Prize books (your choice from our stash of books)
  • A trip for four to the Holden Arboretum (two adults, two children)

One month to read and/or complete fun activities, one grand prize to win. Pick up a ticket board in the library or download and print your own and get started!

Not sure what we’re even talking about?

Simply put, a library challenge is a fun way to ensure that you, your kids, your family, are reading and learning. A challenge can be set up like a game, a BINGO board, a checklist, a tracker, or some other fun way to record reading and activities. Prizes and rewards are given for completing challenges and sometimes along the way. Library challenges grew out of a need to keep younger readers on track during school breaks by measuring and rewarding reading. We think that rewarding reading is appropriate for everyone and all seasons. 

book titled, First Ladies, on bookshelf, facing

The First Ladies – A Reed Reads! Book Rec

Published on by notthatrebecca

The First Ladies by Marie Benedict

Where to find this book at Reed Memorial Library:

Darlene from Adult Services recommends The First Ladies, a fictionalized account of the friendship between first lady, Eleanor Roosevelt and civil rights activist Mary McLeod Bethune.

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Why are we leaving our tree up? Because it’s COLD out there.

Published on by notthatrebecca

Our Giving Tree went up in December when the cold weather was just getting started. It’s colder than ever now and the need continues. So we’re keeping our tree up, adding decorations and collecting donations through the end of February. You can help.

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A Sorceress Comes to Call: A Reed Reads! Book Rec

Published on by notthatrebecca

A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher

Where to find this book at Reed Memorial Library:

Katie from Adult Services recommends A Sorceress Comes to Call to readers who enjoy a good fairytalesque novel. This book is standalone, but it is similar to other works by T. Kingfisher in that it blends magic, fantasy, and horror.

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Your Guide to Finding Nonfiction Books This November

Published on by notthatrebecca

We’re nearing the end of our year-long Bookworm Challenge and November feels like the start of the home stretch. It’s time make a full throttle, wide open sprint towards the finish line. Nonfiction is the genre, giving you permission to pick anything to read, so long as it’s true. Cookbooks? Yes! True Crime? Of course! Decorating? Yep. Crafting? Sure. Rembrandt? Absolutely!

Creating a recommended reading list for nonfiction would be counterproductive since nonfiction is such a broad vista. If you know what topic you’re interested in, you can always search the catalog to find it. But what if you prefer to choose books by browsing around the shelves? For you browsers, lets acclimate you to the shelving system. Then, you can wander through the stacks but not wander aimlessly.

If you still remember the Dewey Decimal system from grade school or if you’re a frequent visitor to these shelves, you probably don’t need to read the rest of this post. Go wild and find your next read for Nonfiction November! If you don’t know the shelving system and don’t know where to start, keep reading.

First, all non-fiction is shelved by assigning broad topics to a numerical range from 0 to 900. This classification guide at right shows the ten classification categories. Inside a sequence, similar subtopics are shelved together, using more decimals and letters as you get more specific.

Let’s look at history as an example. History and Geography are all assigned within the 900-999.99 numerical sequence. Any true (nonfiction) book about historical topics will be shelved inside these numbers. Within the 900 sequence, you find subdivisions like geography and travel (910), biographies (920), European history (940), etc. The chart below, from the website LibraryThing, gives you an easy visual representation of this breakdown.

So if I were looking for a book about the American Civil War, I am able to browse everything our library has about the war in the 970-979 sequence. If I wanted to read about Chinese history, I would browse through the 950-959 sequence. Is it making sense yet?

We have some handy charts inside the library to remind you how the classification system works. If you’re a browser, don’t be discouraged. Reference the chart, look up a keyword in the catalog for a starting point, or ask one of our friendly library staff, “Where can I find books about whales?” Whichever way you use, with the broad shelves of nonfiction to choose from, you’ll have no trouble finding something that interests you.

We’re in the Bookworm Challenge home stretch – finish strong, bookworm!

Time for a little (Gingerbread) Madness

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Pumpkin spice is so over. It’s time for gingerbread, in preparation for this year’s #GingerbreadMadness. This year, you can win bragging rights and a prize for the best decorated gingerbread house. Keep reading to find out more.

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Borrow 16 million more items with your library card

Published on by notthatrebecca

Did you know that with your library card, you have free access to over 16 million books, audiobooks, movies, and music from public libraries across the state? This borrowing magic happens through a service called SearchOhio. Did you know that SearchOhio will deliver the item you borrow from Dayton, Cincinnati, Lima, or wherever, here to RML at no cost? If you don’t know, keep reading to find out how it works.

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You’re ALL Invited: Our Annual Halloween Party

Published on by notthatrebecca

It’s time to get dressed up in your favorite book-inspired costume and join us for our annual fun-for-all-ages Halloween party. Why should you come? You’ll miss all the fun if you stay home!

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Oh, the Horror! An October Book List

Published on by notthatrebecca

What’s the scariest book you’ve ever read?

In our year-long Bookworm Challenge, October is, of course, the month to get a taste of the horror genre. For your reading pleasure, we present a list that spans the barely-scary “cozy horror” to books you should read only during the daytime with all the lights on. We developed a ghost-rating system to make it simple.

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Older students need help, too

Published on by notthatrebecca1 Comment

A few weeks ago, we shared some free resources that can help you and your students with homework. Most of that post focused on helping younger students. “What about helping my middle and high schoolers,” you ask? “They have research papers, term papers, reports and presentations that can be pretty tough to complete.” We agree, and we have some help for your older students, too. Best of all, it’s available anytime and it’s all free.

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