2012 National Book Award Winners Announced

The 2012 National Book Award Winners:

Young People's Literature  William Alexander Goblin Secrets  (Margaret K. McElderry Books, an imprint of  Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing) Poetry   David Ferry,   Bewilderment: New Poems and Translations (University of Chicago Press)       Nonfiction   Katherine Boo Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity  (Random House) Fiction Louise Erdrich   The Round House  (Harper, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers)

Vineyard Haven Public Library Releases Strategic Plan for Services

The Vineyard Haven Public Library recently developed a long-range plan to carry out library services for the next five years. The plan is the outcome of a year-long planning process that assessed current library services and facilities, and gathered extensive feedback from the community.

With the rapid growth of eBooks, streaming audio and video services, combined with increased usage of libraries nationwide, the public library environment is more unsettled than it has been for many decades. To meet these challenges the Vineyard Haven Public Library Board of Trustees and Library Staff members engaged in a strategic planning process to involve the community in a discussion about what the library could and should become.

Library Trustees followed the Strategic Planning for Results model developed by the Public Library Association. This planning model identifies 18 services responses that cover the many resources and activities that a public library does for, or offers to, the public in an effort to meet a set of well-defined community needs. To help form the plan, the Trustees appointed a Long-Range Planning Committee that included both year-round and seasonal residents.

More than 250 community members responded to two surveys designed to help the library evaluate current services and desired improvements. Members of the public also gathered at two community forums to provide further feedback. It was clear from the participation at the two community forums that the Library is a vital part of the community and a place where people go for books, media, and information, but also for cultural events, as a gathering place, and as a hub for information about what is going on in the town. People place a high value on the services the Library provides and are appreciative of everything the Library and staff does to enhance their experience in the community as a whole.

The Library’s new plan focuses on four strategic initiatives and outlines activities that library staff and trustees will undertake over the next five years to meet the community’s vision. Under the plan, the library will continue to offer a large number of programs to promote lifelong learning and early literacy, and to provide books, films, and other materials in a variety of formats for all ages. In addition, the library will focus on providing information on local, national and world affairs in order to help library patrons become informed citizens and participate in community decision-making.

Although plan activities were slated to begin in July 2013, Library Director Amy Ryan says that both staff and trustees are already acting on initiatives suggested by the plan, such as improving safety around the library grounds, increasing online resources for children, and offering programs such as the Foreign Policy Association’s Great Decisions discussion group, currently meeting at the library on Thursday evenings.

Public Libraries must have an approved Long-Range Plan on file with the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners in order to apply for both Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) funds and the Massachusetts Public Library Construction Program. The library has been awarded two LSTA grants in the past five years, including a "Conversation Circles" grant to support English language learners, and an "Equal Access" grant to provide lifelong learning opportunities for older adults.

The complete plan is available on the library website atwww.vhlibrary.org, and printed copies are available for review at the library.

 

 

Vineyard Libraries Earn Stars!

We're happy to share that the Vineyard Haven Public Library has once again been named one of 262 "star" libraries (out of 7,570 rated) in Library Journal's annual rating of U.S. public libraries. The rating is based on four public service indicators—circulation, visits, program attendance, and public Internet use—from 2010 data collected by the Institute of Museum and Library Services. There are 9 "star" libraries in Massachusetts, also including the West Tisbury and Oak Bluffs Libraries on Martha's Vineyard. 8 of the 9 Massachusetts star libraries are members of the CLAMS network.

November Dates to Remember

The library will be closed on Sunday, November 11th and Monday, November 12th for the Veterans Day holiday. The library will closed early at 1pm on Wednesday, November 21st, and remain closed on Thursday November 22nd and Friday November 23rd for Thanksgiving.

On Wednesday, November 14th at 7pm, Edward Hoagland, one of America's great essayists, will speak at the library. Widely celebrated for his essays on travel and nature, Mr. Hoagland has written more than twenty books, both fiction and nonfiction. He worked at the Barnum & Bailey Circus while attending Harvard in the early 1950s and later traveled around the world writing for Harper’s, National Geographic, and other magazines. He has received two Guggenheim Fellowships and was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1982, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2011. He recently received the very prestigious John Burroughs Medal for his 2011 book, Sex and the River Styx. His latest book is Alaskan Travels. Join us in welcoming an American treasure.

Also in November, the Friends of the Library launch their "Sunday with Friends" winter series with Louisa Gould, a regarded maritime, portrait and travel photographer who has traveled to over 100 countries and territories. On Sunday, November 18th at 2pm at the Vineyard Haven Public Library, she will take you around the world with some iconic images and some never before released photographs. Countries that will be featured in the presentation will include Antartica, Burma, Cambodia, Morroco, Bali, India, Fiji, Vietnam, Spain, New Zealand, Egypt, Cuba. There will be time for questions, and refreshments will be served.

On Tuesday, November 20th at 7pm, the Martha's Vineyard Library Association is pleased to present the third in a series of talks by Phil Weinstein, Alexander Griswold Cummins Professor of English at Swarthmore College. Beginning with Ernest Hemingway's In Our Time (1925) and concluding with Elizabeth Strout's Olive Kittredge (2008), this course explores a range of American short stories. The goal of the course is not to sample the huge output in this genre, but to delve more deeply into these writers' concerns and literary procedures and to identify the characteristic voice of each. Books may be requested through your local library and a study guide is available at the front desk. This evening's program will be held at the Vineyard Haven Public Library and the text will be Raymond Carver's "Cathedral".