Alpine Public Library News

What are caves?  How are caves formed?  What creatures live in caves?  What is spelunking?

Children ages 6-10 — Come on a cave exploration every Wednesday morning in June from  10:00-11:00.

Learning centers and story time for infants, toddlers, preschoolers and kindergartners.  This is a “hands on” program and often messy, so please wear play clothes!  Every Tuesday morning from 10:00 to 11:00 in June-August.  For children ages 0-5 years.

Four Marathon residents attended the Texas Library Association Conference in Dallas April 14-18. Carol Townsend, librarian of the Marathon branch of the Alpine Public Library attended classes on library management and summer reading programs. Friends of Marathon Public Library president, Steve Griffis, who is also West Texas sales representative for University of Texas Press, manned an exhibit booth at the conference. Library volunteers Sky Townsend and Arlene Griffis worked in the UT Press booth and Arlene attended some classes, as well. 

On Wednesday Carol and Arlene attended the Author’s Luncheon where Carol was recognized as one of eight recipients of a Tocker Foundation grant which issues stipends to librarians from small communities, thereby enabling them to attend conferences such as TLA. The two women also attended the Bluebonnet Award Luncheon on Thursday, which honored author Lucy Nolan whose book Down Girl and Sit: On the Road is the winner of the 2007-2008 Bluebonnet Award for children’s literature. 

During the conference Carol and Arlene were able to purchase approximately 100 new books which will be added to the shelves of the Marathon Library. Carol would like to thank Carole Henthorne and Lynn Lindsay for keeping the Marathon Library open while she attended the conference.

Marathon Public Library has received “We the Peolple Bookshelf” from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the American Library Association. The collection contains the following books:

Abigail Adams: Witness to a Revolution

Abraham Lincoln the Writer

Amistad

Breaking Through

Elijah of Buxton

Flowers for Algernon

Freedom Walkers

The Gettysburg Address

Give Me Liberty

Lincoln: A Photobiography

Lincoln’s Virtues: An Ethical Biography

Lyddie

Many Thousand Gone

Pink and Say

Saturnalia

That all People May Be One People

The Ugly Duckling

Four Books in Spanish:

Pink y Say

Lyddie

Senderos Fronterizos

Flores Para Algernon

We wish to thank Arlene Griffis for applying for the grant for us. This is the third year Marathon Public Library has received this book grant. We also have new books recently donated so please come by the library to check them out. We are a great little library with wonderful community support.

Carol Townsend
Branch Manager
Marathon Public Library

Workforce Solutions/Upper Rio Grande and the Alpine Public Library have teamed up to offer the community free basic computer classes starting April 14th at the library from 6-8PM. The course will meet three days a week (days to be determined at the first meeting) for two weeks. New classes will continue to be formed as need and funds permit.

Participants will learn an introduction to computers including parts of the computer, how to search the Internet and how to set up and use an email account. Classes will be instructed by Ninfa M. Rodriguez, Career Counselor at the Workforce Solutions/Upper Rio Grande who will be able to accommodate both English and Spanish speaking students.  Applications for the classes are available in Spanish or English and can be picked up at the Alpine Public Library or Workforce Solution Center in Ward Plaza office #4. Seating per class is limited to six participants on a first come first serve basis, to ensure that participants get plenty of one-on-one instruction.

For further information please contact Anitra Clausen,Director, or Valerie Richard , Circulation/Reference Manager, at the Alpine Public Library at 432-837-2621. You can also contact Ninfa M. Rodriguez from the Workforce Solutions/Upper Rio Grande at 432-837-9800 extension 2762.

Great Pictures from SLM classes at the Ft. Stockton Library. We all had a great time learning together/

Carol/MPL Branch Manager

Anitra Clausen and Carol Townsend attended Small Library Management class at the Ft.Stockton Public Library on April 7^th and 8^th, 2008. There were two graduates from the class, Carol Townsend, Marathon Public Library and Julie Layton, Dell City Library.       

  LIBRARIAN COMPLETES STATE TRAINING PROGRAM 

Carol Townsend, branch manager of the Marathon Public Library, has joined the ranks of some 450 librarians statewide who have graduated from the Small Library Management Training Program, administrated by the Texas State Library and Archives Commission. This two-and-a-half year commitment included the completion of five core courses covering topics Administration and Planning, Collection and Development, Reference Services and Technology. 

The small Library Management Training Program enhances the management skills of library staff members in smaller communities who have not had formal library school coursework. According to Dawn Vogler, library management consultant and coordinator of the program, the training sessions are intensive, stimulating, and exhaustive. “It’s quite an accomplishment to successfully complete the program,” she notes. “The participants leave the program with a greater confidence and with some very practical skills they can apply within their libraries right away.” 

Participants are encouraged to apply the theories and practices learned to their own unique situations, and to network with other librarians in their region. Carol Townsend’s active involvement in the State Library training program represents an substantial commitment of time, energy and personal expense. She received over 50 hours of continuing education credits for her participation.Marathon Public Library branch of Alpine Public Library

Carol Townsend/Branch Manager