Christmas Music at the Library

If you need a break from all the holiday chaos, visit your local library and enjoy some beautiful Christmas music!

Pocatello’s Marshall Public Library is proud to host a musical performance by Liquid Avenue. This group has four talented singers: Gregory Barker, Matthew Barker, Chester Kener, and Nicholas Nielson. They will be performing many Christmas songs including: We Three Kings, Angels We Have Heard on High, The King is Born Today, Deck the Halls, and more.

This performance is on Saturday, December 22, at 2:30. It is free and open to the public. Join us for some wonderful Christmas music and amazing talent at the library at 113 South Garfield in Pocatello. Questions may be directed to Becky Hadley at bhadley@marshallpl.org.

A Fond Farewell

A fond farewell goes out to our well-loved Early Childhood Librarian, Marcia Burnham. Marcia has been leading the story time activities for the littlest library users for more than six years. She has seen little babies who have visited the library for the first time with their parents or grandparents grow up and begin to attend school on their own! She has touched many lives over the course of her stay. Now she and her husband have retired and have moved back to Marcia’s home town of Sterling, Colorado. We will miss her and wish her the best in all her endeavors!

Kathryn Poulter, Children’s Librarian

All I Want for Christmas Is…

...new carpet, a small meeting room and some quieter space. These will all be added to the nonfiction floor of the Library – just in time for the holidays! In order for these to be installed, the Library will be closed December 8 through December 16.

Santa’s helpers (library staff) will move the books on the top floor to the ground level, all 40,000+ of them!!!! The empty shelves will be moved twice to accommodate the removal of the old carpet and installation of the new. The new carpet matches the carpet that was installed last year on the main level of the building. No more wrinkles or tears!

The Friends of the Marshall Public Library have purchased the walls for a new room to be located near the Reference Office. This room can be scheduled for small group use the same as the Community Room and Kids Corner.

Some tables and chairs will be moved to an aisle near the history books. With an entire row of books between the tables and the general area of the floor, the noise level will be less than in the current configuration.

Kris Castro, Reference Supervisor

The Library Needs Your Minutes!

We need minutes!

We only have one month left to meet our goal of 100,000 minutes in the national Million Minute Family Challenge. We are just shy of 85,000 minutes already logged so everybody get together with family and friends and play as many games as you can before December 31. Don’t forget to call the library and report your minutes. Remember, each game is timed, not the players. For example, if 4 people play Scrabble for 30 minutes, your total time is 30 minutes.

Come to our Game Day on December 29 from 10am-5pm and rack up the minutes! Thank you so much for all your enthusiasm towards our challenge and have fun playing games!

Caralee Workman, Circulation Librarian

Young Adult News

In November

In an effort to encourage youth in grades 6-9 to explore the databases on the library’s website, the Idaho Commission for Libraries (ICFL) sponsored a Kids Quest online adventure in October. This involved the kids working their way through several pages of an online quest, printing a certificate of completion, and turning it in to their public library. The ICFL had a drawing from these entries for an iPod Touch and Irving Middle School student Dylan won for his participation.

November 2-4, I had the opportunity to attend the third biennial Young Adult Literature Symposium in St. Louis, Missouri. I was excited to be able to network with other teen librarians from across the country, attend some interesting sessions, meet and greet several YA authors, and bring home about a dozen new books! AND I got up close and personal with the Gateway Arch, the nation’s tallest man-made monument at 630 feet!

In December

Want a new craft idea for Christmas? Hanna Geshelin of Pocatello Sewing School will share an activity for teens to create a special door hanger and share other fun ideas for textile crafts just in time for Christmas. This free activity will be held December 4 from 4-5pm and is open to all youth in grades 7-12.

In January

Winter Dreams 3….. An after-hours open mic night where teens can share their writing with an audience of their peers.

Kath Ann Hendricks, Young Adult Librarian

Winter Is for Reading

Warm up this winter by wrapping up in a warm blanket and reading. This January, the Marshall Public Library is having a winter reading program, "There's Snow Better Time to Read." This program will be for all ages and reading levels.

Participants will set goals of how many books will be read by end of February. When the goal is met their name will be entered into a drawing. For those under 12 the goal will be based on how many hours they read and for those under 5 the goal will be based on the hours someone reads to them. (The minimum goal is 3 books for those 12 and older or 5 hours for those under 12. One entry per person.)

Mark your calendars because the program will run January 7 through March 4. Grab a warm blanket and a book and set your goal to read this winter. Registration begins January 7, 2013.

Becky Hadley, Readers Advisor

Volunteer Match Partners with the Library

Pocatello’s Marshall Public Library is partnering with VolunteerMatch to reach out to potential volunteers.

With more than 80,000 participating organizations, VolunteerMatch is the Internet’s most popular volunteer engagement network. A non-profit organization that focuses on strengthening communities by bringing good people and good causes together, VolunteerMatch receives 8 million visitors annually.

The partnership between Pocatello’s Marshall Public Library and VolunteerMatch will bring volunteer opportunities to a new platform by presenting them online. Potential volunteers may search the opportunities for the library and other Pocatello nonprofit organizations by visiting Volunteermatch.org.

For more information on how to use VolunteerMatch to find library volunteer opportunities or if you belong to an area non-profit group that is interested in your own free VolunteerMatch account, please call Amy at the library at 232-1263 ext. 21. If you already know how you would like to give your time to the library and are ready to take the next step, please call Trina at the library at 232-1263 ext. 26.

Amy Campbell, Reference Librarian