May and June at Carlingwood Branch

I know I've neglected you, but it's been an emotional roller-coaster of a few weeks, with wild and crazy things happening at work and home. Not to mention, you know, Canada Day plans!

Anyway, here's what has been going on at work, in a nutshell.

• We welcomed Caroline Adderson for an author visit on May 7.
• Our Books and Fun book club read Catwings by Ursula LeGuin, the Page Turners read Magic or Not by Edward Eager and the Homeschoolers’ Bookclub read Moon over Manifest by Clare VanderPool. In our teen book club, 4 teens came to discuss Numbers by Rachel Ward, and chose Kendare Blake's Anna Dressed in Blood for next month.
• We had three successful teen events in June: the Teen Café program (with Chillers donated by Second Cup in the Carlingwood Mall), a Wii program, and a "Get a job" workshop.
• A teen volunteer designed a banner wishing teens good luck on their exams. The banner was displayed overhanging the 3rd floor mezzanine. Our teen librarian also handed out 48 granola bars to teens studying (in one day!) We have seen lots of teens in the teen zone studying recently.
• Our wonderful Children's librarian visited several local schools to promote Summer Reading Club, and I visited the Gold Club at Dovercourt, two local seniors' residences, and set up an info kiosk at the Carlington Community Health Centre, to promote Carlingwood adult and senior programs. I also brought a colleague to visit the Council on Aging in Ottawa, where we delivered a PowerPoint presentation to 8 employees about library programs and services.
• We had two Digital Media workshops (two more coming up!). We helped people download library e-books with Kobo, Sony and Libre eReaders, as well as with iPads and iPhones.
• We launched our “Coffee with the Community” programs with Coffee with a city councillor, Mark Taylor, and Coffee with a police officer, Lori Fahey. As you probably know, these are programs close to my heart. In both cases, we partnered with Second Cup in the Carlingwood Mall to provide refreshments for free. We hope to run more of these programs in the Fall 2012 season. Feedback included: “Great idea! Very convenient, too. Heard about it from my neighbours,” “This is the type of councillor we voted for. A person who goes out to meet the residents, one-on-one,” and “I wish many parents can come out and listen to the police officer, because we have to work together to keep our community safe and healthy. Please keep it up and we would love to hear from officers more often.”
• We screened an NFB film, “The Hole Story,” about mining in Canada.
• We gave two groups from a LINC class of newcomers a tour of the library, and a brief presentation about services and collections.
• Our team, as well as the Bookmobile (my old friends) celebrated Canada Day 2 days early with the Michelle Heights Community House.
• I attended the June quarterly OPLA RA Committee meeting in Toronto. We are planning the RA in a Day conference in October, and special guests will include someone from Good Reads, a panel about online book clubs including Chatelaine.com and the Globe and Mail, and lunchtime author Deborah Harkness. You heard it here first!
  
• We had our first “Librarians’ meeting” at the branch, to discuss shared concerns. There are only three librarians at Carlingwood, and it's good to share ideas and support each other's work.
• We have a great new gardening volunteer, who has solicited donations from the community, which are being incorporated into our space. Most notably, we received a lovely rose bush and two trees, including a cherry tree and a bamboo tree. Here they are, getting ready to make their way in the world: