Holiday Hours

We will close at 5:00 pm tomorrow, December 31, 2009. We will be closed all day Friday, January 1, 2010. We will reopen at 9:00 am Saturday, January 2. Happy New Year, everyone!!

Website Down

Our Library Kids website is down. Not sure when it will be up. Seems to be a problem with the server and beyond our control.
In the meantime, check here for news!

CONTESTS

There are two new contests to enter if you fancy yourself an artist or author. Visit our Library Kids website for details.

OVER 1,000 !!

The paper chain is officially over 1,000 links long! Thanks to our fabulous readers, the chain is now 1,011 links long. Each link represents a book that has been read. It is beautiful and fun! It is worth a trip to the library just to see it. How many times have you seen a paper chain that is over 1,000 links long? I will get pictures posted, but they don't do it justice. Speaking of pictures, the Children's Department has a Flickr page now. Visit and see the crafts the kids have made.

Mr. Boo it is!

Sorry I didn't get the announcement posted sooner. I have no excuse. I posted it to our webpage, Library Kids, and to our Twitter page, but I just plain forgot to post it here on the blog. I am so sorry! The library staff voted and the winner, by a landslide, was Mr. Boo. The winning name was submitted by Sterling Schurr. Mr. Boo is delighted with his name, although in the picture it doesn't look like it, I assure you, he is smiling.

There were lots of good names to pick from. Thank you to everyone who entered the contest.

Name that Ghost!

Our ghost is in search of a name. Enter the "Name Our Ghost" contest and win a book! To enter, come to the Children's Department and write your suggestion for a name on the official entry form. You must be under 18 years old to enter and you can enter as many times as you wish! Entries must be in by October 29th. The winner will be announced on October 30.

THE SUMMER READING PROGRAM PICTURES ARE IN THE PAPER!!!

The 2009 Summer Reading Program pictures are in the Friday, August 21, issue of the El Dorado Times.
They look great! Copies of the paper are available for 75 cents each, at the El Dorado Times office, 114 N. Vine, here in El Dorado. I will try to get a few copies at the library as well.
Thank you, Julie, and the El Dorado Times, for making it possible to get the pictures of these fabulous readers in the paper. We appreciate your generous support of our summer reading program.
Thank you, too, to the parents and teachers of these readers. Without your support the reading program would not be possible.
More thanks to come on Monday. I am writing this from home, and don't have the information I need to thank everyone who helped us this year. I mainly wanted to get the word out that the pictures are in the paper!

Successful Summer

The 2009 Summer Reading program is a success! Our readers read a total of 11,192 books. Those keeping track of time spent reading recorded 2,648 hours. Fabulous! Thanks to the readers, and thank you to the parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and teachers who helped make the summer a success.

If you earned the prize of your picture in the paper, today and next Monday, Aug 10, are the picture days. Just come to the library and we will take your photograph.

If you earned the prize of the swim party, be sure you have picked up your invitation. It is required for admission. It will get your whole family in to the pool.

You can still glue a lid on the art project and add to the paper chain, if you want to. The chain is up to 826 links! It looks great.

Time is Runing Out !

Friday, July 31st at 5 PM is the last day to record your reading !

STORYTIME ART ON FLICKR

The paper strip sculptures created by the preschool storytime groups are now on Flickr.
They are so much fun and amazingly intricate, just paper and glue. Circle Gallery & Frame Shop here in El Dorado donated the matboard for the bases. Thanks, Jeanne!

Stay tuned for more preschool art from the fall session, which begins September 3.

TWO PROGRAMS TODAY!

This afternoon at 2:00 the K-5th program will be all about the drama! There will be a reader's theater presentation of "The Boy Who Wanted the Willies!" Brianne will also have games, stories and a craft.
At 6:30 Magic Melton the Magician will dazzle us with mystifying feats of magic! This is the last of our special program for the 2009 Summer Reading Program. Everyone is invited to come in and help us finish with a bang!

Business as Usual

Programming resumes next week. Tuesday,July 7, at 2, K-5th program with Miss Brianne.





Also on July 7th, 6:30 P.M., Teresa Bachman, local, award winning folk muscian, will entertain us with her music, in the Clymer room. She plays banjo and dulcimer. This program is for all ages and it's free. Great for the whole family!

Teresa is also the director of the Kansas Oil Museum and Butler County Historical Museum. If you haven't been there, you should go. It is a fascinating window on El Dorado's past.

On Thurdsay, Preschool Story Time resumes, with stories about the beach! This is for ages 3-5, but everyone is welcome. We meet at 10:00 and 11:00, in the Clymer room for stories, songs, and crafts.

Grandview School

Had a great visit at Grandview school this morning. They invited me to tell them about the Summer Reading Program. I got to speak to about 120 kids and they were a great audience!
Thanks for the invitation and thanks for adding to our paper chain!
See you at the library!

Trail Mix Today

2PM today! Barbara Roths, Butler County Extension agent and our own Miss Brianne will present a Trail Mix extravaganza. Stories, games, and mixing of trail mix.
If you have food allergies, let us know!
Trail mix ingredients:
Cheerios, whole grain Goldfish Crackers, Craisins, M&M's.
There is no heat wave at the library! Come to the library and be cool!
See you there!

Bongo Barry Show a Rousing Success!

Bongo Barry was so much fun! Many thanks go out to the El Dorado Evening Kiwanis for making the show possible. We had a capacity crowd, babies to grandparents. Bongo Barry worked his musical magic on the crowd at one point and turned them and himself into human kazoos, with nothing more than a piece of waxed paper! I am not kidding!

He is posting a recording of the event on his website. Select the "Download Summer Shows" link . Or go here. User name: summer 09. Password:bongob.

Bongo Barry said the crowd was fantastic. I hope you were there!

Tomorrow, Preschool Story Time at 10 and 11.

Next Tuesday, June 23, at 2PM, Trail Mix Adventures, for K- 5th grade.

There is plenty of time left to register for the Summer Reading Program and earn prizes.

See you there!

Still so much fun to be had at the library!

Donate to the Library!

We are now officially on Goodsearch.com. Put Bradford Memorial Library in as your charity, do your search from there and they will donate money to the library! If you shop from any of the businesses on the site, a portion of the purchase also goes to the library! So easy!

If you go to the Pizza Hut at 2423 West Central, in El Dorado, on the 2nd & 4th Tuesdays after 4:00 PM, 20% of your purchases go towards the library! Stop by the library and pick up a coupon to take to the West Central Pizza Hut ONLY. Call Pizza Hut at 316-321-2340 for details. Thank you patrons! Thank you Pizza Hut!

WEEK TWO

We have two programs today. At 2:00 PM, the K-5th program. The theme today is music. The craft is musical instruments. Brianne is a little under the weather, so Kacee is filling in. Great stories, games and crafts await you!

Then, at 6:30 is the Mad Science program with Cosmic Chris! Mad kitchen science is the theme.
This program is for all ages, but is geared toward the K-5th crowd.

As usual, children under the age of seven must be accompanied by and actively supervised by an adult while in the library.

Enrollment in the Summer Reading Program is steadily growing, 271 have signed up and have read 891 books! Well Done!

PROGRESS-- WEEK ONE

The first four days have been a whirlwind of activity. The technical problems have been resolved and things are working like they should. 248 have signed up for the Summer Reading Program, and have already read 703 books! Art project is evolving and paper chain is growing!

We are showing the movie, "Bedtime Stories" tomorrow, June 6 at 2PM. in the Clymer room. It is rated PG.

Regular programming begins next week with the K-5th program at 2PM on Tuesday, June 9.
Thursday Preschool Story Time begins at 10 and 11 AM in the Clymer room. This is for 3-5 year-olds, but everyone is welcome.

Children under age 7 must be accompanied by an adult when in the library.

Tuesday evening at 6:30 Mad Science from Wichita will be here with creative kitchen science.
This is appropriate for elementary age kids, but everyone is welcome!

See you at the library!

DAY ONE IS DONE!

Thanks to everyone who got signed up for the Summer Reading Program, 154 on the first day! What a great start. We also had a really fun first program with "Meet the Instruments" 45 people turned out and we made lots of NOISE.
Thanks to all the musicians who donated their time and talent to make this event a success.

Thanks to Robin from the El Dorado Times for covering the event. We will be watching for the story in the paper. I hope there are lots of pictures. I forgot to bring my camera!

Up next is the movie "Bedtime Stories", rated PG, on Saturday at 2:00 pm., in the Clymer room. Everyone is invited!

READY...SET...GO!!

In spite of starting the day with technical problems, we are off and running . The reading program website can be accessed from the Library Kids webpage, "Technical Problems" post, or the "SUMMER 2009" tab at the top of the page.

We have been really busy today and lots of kids are already registered and have their accounts activated. As of right this minute, 125 have signed up! The art project is well on its way and the paper chain is growing.

We are getting ready for the first program tonight at 6:30, "Meet the Instruments".
Come on down to the Clymer room and make some NOISE!

TOMORROW IT BEGINS!!

2009 Summer Reading Program, Be Creative @ Your Library, officially begins tomorrow, June 1st! Registration for the reading program, the art project, the paper chain, and special programs, starting with "Meet the Instruments" at 6:30 pm in the Clymer room.
I'll see you at the library!
It's time to READ!!!

SUMMER READING PROGRAM

We are counting down to the beginning of the 2009 Summer Reading Program, "Be Creative @ Your Library". It is for ages birth through those who have finished 5th grade. Registration starts June 1. It will be online again this year. Go to our children's department webpage, "Library Kids" for more details and for a complete schedule of events.

The link to register will be on the Bradford Memorial Library webpage, same as last year.

We have lots of fun activities planned and some really great entertainment.

Kids who have finished 6th grade will be in the teen program. There is also an adult program. Call the library 316-321-3363 for more information on those programs.

Our first program is June 1st at 6:30, "Meet the Instruments". Local musicians will be here in the Clymer room with musical instruments to visit with the kids. Kids can hear how the instruments sound and ask the musicians questions. They will even get to try playing some of the instruments! We will begin with a short cartoon about musical instruments. After the cartoon, the kids and musicians can visit.

Don't forget, we Twitter!

READ ON.

Something new has been added!

We are up and tweeting and now, we are also communicating through cyberspace via "Bradford Kids" our new Children's Department webpage! You can go there and download Summer Reading Program information and event calendar We have a Parent/Teacher feature as well. The page will be growing and changing. We welcome comments from you. Please look us up and tell us what you think! And don't forget Twitter!

Read on!

Tweeting

We are all a twitter in Youth Services. You can now follow our tweets on Twitter!

Spring Session Almost Over

Thursday, April 30th, is the last day of the Spring 2009 session of Preschool Story Time. We will resume on Thursday, June 11. For the summer session, we will meet at 10:00 and 11:00, on Thurdsays, in the Clymer room.

We had a great time this morning with the firefighters, Tony and Derrick. Derrick put on his gear, boots, pants, coat, red hat and all! They each read a book to the group, and answered questions. They even stayed while the kids made their crafts, a dalmation dog stick puppet and a firefighter's badge.
Thank you to Tony and Derrick and the El Dorado Fire Department for making this morning's story time so special. Robin, from the El Dorado Times newspaper was also at story time, so be watching the papers for pictures!

Next week we will have stories about flowers.

For the month of May, Brianne and I will be busy getting ready for the 2009 Summer Reading program. The theme this year is "Be Creative @ Your Library." More news coming soon!

We have a new children's department website in the works. It will have information for kids and parents. Stay tuned for updates!

Read on!

APRIL - A BUSY MONTH AT THE LIBRARY!

Come in and see our fabulous art show! In honor of the “Week of the Young Child” April 19- 25th, we have art, created by preschool age children, on display in the Children’s Department of the library for the whole month of April. There are over 300 pieces! The work was created by children from First Baptist Day Care, First Baptist Preschool, Educare, 4-year old program and Early Education at Skelly school, El Dorado Headstart, Flinthills Headstart, and our own Preschool Storytime.


To kick off the week, on Sunday April 19th at 2:00 pm, is Colin O’Brien. He plays banjo, fiddle, guitar, sings and dances! He puts on an energetic, interactive show. It is for kids of all ages! Saturday night, April 18th, he will be performing at the Iron Horse Concert Hall, here in El Dorado.



April 20th, there will be a balloon launch from the park behind the library at 9:30. Mr. Dale (Dale Tower)will be there to add music to the fun.

Later that day, Brianne is showing the movie “BOLT” on our BIG screen in the Clymer room. It is free and open to everyone.

On the 22nd Brianne is presenting a “Go Green” program for Earth Day, from 4:00 to 5:00 pm. This program is for K – 5th grade.

Thursday, April 23rd, is a special Preschool Story time. Local firefighters will be our special guests!

Preschool story time is winding down the spring session. We will meet April 9, 16, 23 and 30th. Then, we take the month of May off so we can get ready for summer.

We have had great coverage this spring of our story times by our local paper, The El Dorado Times. Thank you to Robin and Julie. It has been so much fun to read about our story times and see the pictures.

To celebrate National Library Week, April 12-18, it is time for FOOD FOR FINES! Bring a non-perishable item for $1.00 of your current library fines. There is no limit to how much you can bring in. Call for more information 316-321-3363

William Allen White

It is now possible to vote for your favorite William Allen White book at the library! If you have read at least two of the books from this year's reading list, you can vote. Come to the Children's Department and cast your vote. Voting ends April 14th.

Read on!