Coming in January!

at the

Mary H. Weir Public Library

Monthly Book Review/Discussions held on

Saturday Afternoons

The book for our first discussion will be

The Beach Trees by Karen White

on

Saturday, January 19^th at 1:30

Copies are available here at the library in standard print, large type and ebook. Take a winter break with a trip to the Gulf Coast to meet the Guidry and Holt families and unravel events in the past that have created a bond between the two families. We will review the book first, and then discuss the book’s treatment of the themes of family, home, and loss. Everyone is welcome.

History of Weirton, West Virginia by Javersak

If you haven't purchased a copy of the History of Weirton, West Virginia by David Javersak which the Historic Landmarks Commission had published in 1999, you may have difficulty finding it. The book is no longer available for sale at the Mary H. Weir Library or at the Weirton Area Museum and Cultural Center. Several years ago, the Historic Landmarks Commission divided the remaining stock between the library and the museum so that the books would be available for sale at a public location. However, both organization have now sold all of their remaining copies. If you missed getting a copy, you may want to check used booksellers.

The library does have copies of the book that are part of the library collection.  Because this item is a valuable piece of our local history collection, library owned copies may be viewed in the building or or  may be checked out with a cash deposit which is refunded when the book is returned.

We do still have copies of the Images of America Book, Rock Springs Park for sale at the library. We also have several books and photographic calendars put out by the Weirton Area Museum and Cultural Center that are still available.

Grantseeker Resources Online Workshop

The Mary H. Weir Public Library will offer a workshop on Grantseeker Resources Online on Wednesday, December 5, 2012, at 2 pm in the Library’s Activity Room.

The workshop will explore the many useful features of GrantSpace.org, a website from the Foundation Center that is free for anyone to use. GrantSpace brings together related content from other Foundation Center databases into one space, based on your subject and skill interests. Thus it enables grantseekers and anyone curious about foundations and philanthropy to develop fundraising, grantseeking and nonprofit management skills, view webinars or listen to podcasts, find recent statistical information, and search topic areas that many foundations and nonprofits specialize in -- even to find job listings available in the nonprofit and philanthropic sector of the economy.

Time permitting, other free websites about grantseeking may also be discussed.

Lois Fundis, Reference Librarian and coordinator of the Library’s Foundation Center Cooperating Collection, would appreciate it if you call her at (304) 797-8510 to let her know if you wish to attend.  Knowing how busy the holiday season is for many people, she would also be willing to e-mail the workshop handout to you.

Colors of Autumn

At 5:30 p.m. on  Tuesday, October 23 the opening of a new photography exhibit will be held on the library grounds. Members of the Upper Ohio Valley Camera Club have captured the dazzling Colors of Autumn with their cameras and will share a few of them with the community in the outdoor exhibit area behind the library. As part of the opening night activities, a slide show of  spectacular fall photographs will be presented in the library Activity Room at 6:15 p.m. Refreshments will follow the slide show. The outdoor exhibit can be viewed from October 23 to November 24.

WV Collection

The library has always collected material of local interest, however until the last few years, that material was in the general Nonfiction or Reference sections of the collection. Several years back, we began to create a WV Collection to aid people researching local history or genealogy. This section is not limited to Hancock County items. Due to the proximity of two other states, we are also including materials form the adjoining counties in those states and places that served as immigration entry points for this area. Due to the limited availability of some these materials, they are non-circulating, and for now, they are shelved in a locked area. This material can be located using the library catalog. The Reference staff will be glad to retrieve any items that a patron needs for research. Some day we hope to be able to locate these items in a designated history room so that people can browse the material and comfortably work on research.


We have also been actively trying to add materials that will make the collection more useful to those doing research. Our newest additions to the collection include the following titles:

Commemorative Biographical Record of Washington County, Pennsylvania  Vol. 1 - Beers 

Tenmile Country and Its Pioneer Families - Leckey

Washington County, Pa Frontier Rangers 1781-1782 - Myers

Abstracts of the Washington Reporter, 1808-1814 - Malmat

These are records predate the town of Weirton and the state of West Virginia. In these early years the state borders were still in transition, so Pennsylvania records show names of many early settlers in the area that would become West Virginia. 

An interesting side note - The Leckey book includes a list of those who signed a petition to create a new state called Westsylvania between the Laurel Hills and the Ohio River. Westsylvania would have included most of West Virginia, except the Eastern Panhandle, Southwestern Pennsylvania south of the Allegheny River up to Kittanning, and part of Eastern Kentucky.

Family Movie Night

This year's Family Movie Nights will begin next Thursday, October 25 at 6 p.m. in the library's activity room with the final installment in the series based on William Steig's green ogre. Refreshments will be provided.

Story Hour

Due to a scheduling conflict, Story Hour will not be held this week, October 17 and 18. The schedule will resume as normal next week.

Dollar-A-Day Boys

Grant Seeking for Churches and Faith-Based Nonprofits

Please join us for a workshop and webinar screening on Wednesday, September 26th from 2:00 to 3:30 pm that will address how faith-based non-profits can find funding and assistance with grant writing.

It will offer an overview of the funding research process and offer tips on how best to identify funding sources for your organization, highlighting the electronic and print resources available for your free use at The Mary H. Weir Public Library.

For more information, call the library at (304) 797-8510 and ask to speak to Caitlin or Lois. Or email caitlin.irwin@weirton.lib.wv.us with any questions.

Foundation Grant Resource Center Services VISTA Position Opening

The Mary H. Weir Public Library has an opening for a  “Community Grant Resource Center Developer” for an AmeriCorps.Gov one year community service position at the Library’s FoundationCenter.Org--Cooperating Collection Services. Candidate should have four year college degree, be a self starter, be highly motivated and have good communication skills. Individual should have good computer software and media and social media skills. VISTA Project activities include supporting a public library grant writing and research center with a diverse community for nonprofits needing grant writing resouces. One year contract, monthly stipend, health plan and college tuition benetfit.

Interested Candidates should visit AmeriCorps.Gov for online register application for this position. Further inquiries can be made directly to Reba Crossen,, AmeriCorps Vista Program Director, United Way Square, Charleston, W.V., 25301, 304-340-3620, and to Richard Rekowski, Director of Mary H. Weir Public Library, 3442 Main St., Weirton, W.V., 26062, 304-797-

Sunday, September 12, 1982 - 30 years ago this week!

FIND A LIBRARY NEAR YOU

FIND YOUR LOCAL LIBRARY
INFORMATION INTEGRATED
WITH GOOGLE MAPS

DATA SOURCE:  IMLS

Sources:

• ALA Library Fact Sheet
• Bureau of Labor Statistics - Data
• Bureau of Economic Analysis
• Northwestern University Libraries information
• MIT Library Data
• Institute of Museum and Library Services
• Census.gov - Public Libraries in the U.S. 2009
• ALA - Funding Technology Access Study
• Volunteer Match - Engaging Volunteers
• Pew Internet - Libraries, patrons & ebooks

• ALA Quotable Facts - American Libraries
• Harrison County Library - Facts and Figures
• Stanford University - Library Facts
• Library of Congress - Fascinating Facts
• Libraries for Real Life
• Houston Library - Facts
• Library Journal - Annual Library Budgets Survey
• ALA - State of American Libraries Report - 2012
• NationalService.gov - Benefits of Volunteering
• ALA - Library Operating Expenditures

Thank you to StateStats.orgfor providing this infographic and other free web guides and tools.  

Summer Reading Celebration!

Yesterday we celebrated the close of out Summer Reading program for this year, and what a summer it has been! We had 58 children registered in the 3 to 6 age group, 59 children in the 7 to 11 age group and 17 youth in the 12 and up age group. That's 134 children, and each attended at least one of the 8 programs that were held! Several children attended them all. They started off with Aladdin and worked their way through Creatures of the Night, Mystery Theater and many other adventures. A lot of fun was had during those eight weeks, and over 1913 books were read!

Back to School!

In preparation for the new school year, the Mary H. Weir Public Library will present two workshops for local educators. These workshops will highlight library programs and resources that may supplement classroom learning. We will also preview library programs on the fall schedule. 

On Tuesday, August 14, we will focus on materials appropriate for the Elementary students. On Wednesday, August 15, we will focus on materials appropriate for Middle School and High School students. Both workshops will be from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. and are designed to develop an awareness of newer library services and services less obvious to the casual library user. The workshops are free and open to anyone working with students

Book Donation

In honor of  Sue Krukowski's retirement from the Hancock County school system, a series of children’s books has been donated to the library’s collection in her name. These books by Rob Scotton, famous for his Russell the Sheep Series, follow the adventures of Splat, a young black cat. The books donated include:

Splat the Cat: Good Night, Sleep Tight

Splat the Cat Sings Flat

Splat the Cat and the Duck with No Quack

Splat the Cat Takes the Cake

Love, Splat

Secret Agent Splat!

Splat the Cat

Splish, Splash, Splat!

In these books, Splat starts school, takes swimming lessons, solves a mystery, and shares a Valentine with someone special. Four of the titles are I Can Read books, designed for new readers. The books in the I Can Read Series have short sentences, familiar words and simple concepts to build confidence and independent reading. The library would like to thank Sue Krukowski and the Hancock County Schools for this generous donation that will benefit the children of our community!

Storms Affect Card Catalog

The library is open today and operating on a regular schedule. However, due to storm damage in other parts of the state, there is no power in Clarksburg. Since this is where the the server for our card catalog is located, we will not have access to the card catalog in the library or remotely until their power is restored.

Summer Reading Begins

Great turn out at Summer Reading this week! This week's theme was Aladdin. We had 86 children attending the three sessions. Next week, the older children will participate in a Mystery Theater on Monday. On Tuesday, the theme for the two younger groups will be a Pirate Treasure Hunt. It's not too late to join the fun!

Consumer Health Information Workshop

The Mary H. Weir Public Library with local libraries and community health agencies will host workshops on consumer health information and the evaluation of information materials and collections used by the public on Thursday, June 7, 2012 The workshops will be a presentation of the National Network of Libraries of Medicine, Southeastern Atlantic Region at the University of Maryland, Baltimore.

Certifications to be awarded:

Workshop attendees will receive CE certificates from the Medical Library Association.

Attendees will be eligible for additional online CE classes (after the workshop).

Thursday, June 7, 2012

9:00 A.M. to 12:00 Noon                                                                                  3 MLA CE

“Beyond an Apple a Day: Providing Consumer Health Information at your Library”

This hands-on class will cover the information seeking behaviors of consumers. Its will also address the recommended core reference collection, as well as databases,  newsletters and periodicals. It will cover the reference interview, disclaimers, and privacy as well a networking with medical librarians. The class will introduce the students to the Medical Library Association and its local chapters. It will describe possible ways to market this service in the community.

Objectives include: Participants will examine health information of patrons, challenges of providing health care information, planning a consumer health service, budgeting, collection development and consumer health on the Internet.

12:30-1:30                                                                                                              1 MLA CE

“From Snake Oil to Penicillin: Evaluating Consumer Health Information on the Internet”

Where do you turn for trusted health information? This course will provide you with tools to determine whether health information web sites are trustworthy and reliable or whether to look elsewhere. Criteria for evaluating heath information web sites will be provided and interactive assignments will reinforce concepts.

Objectives include: Participants will become familiar with unique issues surrounding health information on the Internet, understanding web-based resources and why people post information to the Internet. Participants will also evaluate health information web sites using a set of criteria provided to determine if sources of health information are trustworthy.

To Register:

Call The Mary H. Weir Public Library at 304-797-8510 or email refdesk@weirton.lib.wv.us.

These workshops are being held with the support of the Mary H. Weir Public Library, Lynn Murray Memorial Library, Swaney Memorial Library, and the Public Library of Steubenville and Jefferson County, The Weirton Medical Center, and The West Virginia Northern Community College, and the Franciscan University of Steubenville

Literacy Tutor Training

A two day training for Literacy Tutors will be held Friday, March 23 from 1:00-4:00 and Saturday, March 24 from 9:30 to 4:00.  This training is suitable for new tutors and those who have been previously trained but would like are refresher course. For more information, call the library at 304-797-8510 and ask to speak to the Literacy Coordinator. She can be reached Tuesday and Wednesday 12:00 to 8:00 or Friday from 9:00 to 5:00.

Upcoming Workshops - WV Deli

There will be two additional workshops in March on using ebook readers to access the material in WV Deli. These workshops will both be held at Swaney Memorial Library in New Cumberland. The first will focus on using Kindles and Kindle apps to access the material. It will be held at noon on Tuesday, March 13. The second workshop will focus on using the Nook and similar devices. It will be held on Thursday, March 29th, also at noon. If you are considering purchasing a device, you are welcome to attend either or both workshops.

Happy Birthday to Dr. Seuss on March 2nd

Shown are some Dr. Seuss books that were among the many memorials added to the collection in honor of our former Children's Librarian, Sandy Reardon
Click here for more ways to celebrate all things Seuss!

Invitation for Public Input

The Mary H. Weir Public Library is currently preparing to submit its “5 Year Technology Plan” as required by the West Virginia Library Commission.“The Mary H. Weir Public Library 5 Year Technology Plan” will be written by the Library Board and staff with input and comments from users in the local community. It will be approved by the Mary H. Weir Public Library Board and filed with the West Virginia Library Commission.

“The Mary H. Weir Public Library Technology Plan” will cover July 1, 2012 through June 30, 2017 addressing public information and services and the technology that may be used to provide these services.

The Library has scheduled three public meetings for community input for this 5 Year Technology Plan. Email your planned attendance to refdesk@weirton..lib.wv.us or accept open invitation to:

Weekday meeting -  Wednesday, March 14, 2012  10:00 A.M. to 12:00 Noon.

Evening meeting - Wednesday, March 14, 2012   6:00 P.M. to 8:00 P.M.
Weekend meeting - Saturday, March 17, 2012  10:00 AM. To 12:00 Noon.

The Library will accept input by email from anyone not able to attend meetings. The public is invited to respond to one or all questions:

During the next five years,

1 What services do you want your Mary H. Weir Public Library to provide?

2. What could or should the Mary H. Weir Library provide to the community with technology?

3. Can the Library  “do it better” with technology in the future? How?

4. What opportunities do you see for the resources of the emerging technology at the library to benefit you and impact the community?

Please send your response to refdesk@weirton.lib.wv.us by April 3, 2012

A Little Presidential Trivia

Yesterday was Presidents Day. It seems that some presidents have a great deal written about them, while others remain a mystery to us. We don't hear much about President Tyler, but over the weekend I saw one of his grandsons being interviewed on television. Now, in case you're not up on your presidential history, President Tyler was born in 1790! It seems that he had a son by his second marriage when he was 63 and that son had a son by his second marriage when he was 75. Tyler's grandson, Harrison Tyler, is now in in his eighties and living on the family plantation in Virginia.

At the library, we have two books based on odd bits of presidential trivia. Both are written by Matthew Algeo. The President is a Sick Man concerns a little known secret surgery performed at sea on Grover Cleveland. Harry Truman's Excellent Adventure tells the tale of a road trip Harry and Bess Truman took alone after he was president. Today we can hardly imagine a former president getting into a car and traveling across the country unaccompanied by staff or guards, but that is exactly what Harry Truman did.

Then there are presidents who have inspired many books. Our library has over 70 items listed in our catalog about John F. Kennedy and an equal number on Abraham Lincoln. In fact, there have been so many books written about Abraham Lincoln, that historians at the Ford's Theater Center for Education and Leadership have created a tower of books written about him. The tower is 34 feet high and 8 feet in circumference. It contains 7,000 of the approximately 15,000 books that have been written about Lincoln. 

E-Reader Help Session

If you have just received an E-Reader or are considering purchasing one, you may be interested in a help session we have scheduled for this Thursday, January 19th at noon in the library's Activity Room.  We will be discussing the differences between some of the most popular types of E-Readers and how to access library materials with them.

Obituary Index

Quite a few years ago, the library started a project to index all of the obituaries published in the Weirton Daily Times newspapers that we had on microfilm. We decided to work on this project because people were coming into the library to look for obituaries, mostly for genealogical purposes, but they didn't know the date that the notice had appeared in the paper or the date that the person had died.  Locating this information on a roll of microfilm was a very time consuming process and many people were leaving in frustration before they could locate the information they needed. Although some papers now have searchable digitaized versions of the current issues, this was not true when we started this project and  is still not true of many of the back files.

The library staff organized a volunteer project to begin indexing the obituaries in these back issues by having people go through each issue on microfim and write down the name, age, location if listed, and date the obituary appeared. These notes were then typed in to a digital file and transferred to a web page. This has been an ongoing project for well over 10 years now with many volunteers from several different organizations involved. It is a useful tool for our staff to use when helping patrons, and since it is available online, it is also useful to many others. We can tell people are using the index by the hits to those specific web pages.

At this point we have 80 years of the Weirton Daily Times on microfilm and the index is completed for 50 of those years! We are currently working our way up from 1931 through the late 1970s with some volunteers, and a staff member is taking a few minutes every day to keep up with the current newspapers. While transcribing the obituaries for 2011, we discovered that over 2,000 obituaries appeared in the Weirton Daily Times last year!

We often have complete years that have not been posted online, so if you find that you need to locate information for years not posted, call the reference desk. They will gladly check our printed copy to see if the year has been recently completed.

New Year Brings New Services

We are very proud to announce four new databases that are now available at the Mary H. Weir Public Library! These databases will be a great resource for those researching history and genealogy.

The first and probably the most familiar is Ancestry.  Ancestry is a huge searchable database of historic public records from all over the world. It includes census and voter lists, birth, marriage and death records, military records, immigration and travel records, newspaper and periodical records, criminal records, church records and many others. It also makes available many useful blank forms to record your information.

Heritage Quest is the second database we have acquired. It searches census records, historical books, PERSI (Periodical Source Index), Revolutionary War Records, the Freedman's Bank, and the U.S. Serials Set. PERSI searches articles from local history and genealogical magazines and newsletters from all over the country. The Freedman's Bank was a Savings and Trust company set up right after the Civil War to serve freed slaves and African American soldiers. Although the bank failed in 1874, the records may provide a great deal of information about the people who were its customers. Details may include parents, children, spouse, birth date, residence, and occupation of the customer. The Serial Set is also known as the United States Congressional Serial Set and contains documents from the House and Senate.

Historic Map Works contains maps from all around the world. There are maps from Europe that are 400 years old. Some of the maps from this part of  the U. S. date from the 19th Century and list land owners and businesses.

The Sanborn Maps focus more on towns. They were insurance maps. We have purchased access to the collection for West Virginia. The maps for Weirton date from 1915, 1919, 1923, and 1929 with updates.  In these maps, all of the buildings in town are shown and often their purpose is given. It also list little details like the size of the water pipes going down the streets and the type of utilities in public buildings. In addition to maps for Weirton, there are maps for Chester, Newell, and New Cumberland in Hancock County and Follansbee and Wellsburg in Brooke County.

All of these databases are available at all Mary H. Weir Library computers.