Mary Hurley

Greetings to all! The year 2019 has started out with cold, wet weather. We will be missing this in July and August (at least that is what I tell myself). The Mineola Memorial Library has lots of books, audio books, movies and puzzles to help get through the winter weather.

As promised, here are some interesting facts about the Library for 2018.

A total of 433 people signed up for library cards, bringing our total of active patrons to 3,504. The Library was visited 20,629 times (not bad for a city of under 5,000) and 38,280 items were borrowed from the Library, saving our patrons $690,621.78. We offered 347 programs for everyone from infants to adults, and they were attended by 2,400 people.

We found a value calculator made up by the Massachusetts Library Association and Chelmsford Library. They assigned values based on what a person might spend for various services such as movie rentals, event admission, and average cost of books. Based on their calculator, the value of services offered by the Mineola Memorial Library in the year 2018 was $712,637.50.

We could not do what we do without input from a great many resources. Patrons help us to know what is needed for our collections. A variety of volunteers help with staffing and we appreciate their efforts. We get ideas from a variety of places and try to implement what we can.

The Meredith Foundation and your donations help us to keep the library doors open, and we are very thankful for that assistance. We do our best to manage our resources in the best possible ways to offer as much as we can to our patrons.

Programs will begin again January 8 with Preschool Story Time at 11:15 a.m. and our After School programs at 4:15p.m. Wednesdays at 10:15 a.m. is when the toddlers (ages 18 months to 3 years) and their parents meet for Story Time and Thursdays at 10 a.m. is set aside for Bouncing Babies (infants to 18 month and their parents.

American Girls is a group for mothers and daughters to learn about history. They will meet on Saturday, January 12. You may attend if you sign up by closing on Wednesday, January 9 either by stopping by or calling the Library.

Mineola Memorial Library Book Club is reading “My Brother Jack” by Dr. Bill Knight. The club will meet to discuss this book on Thursday, January 17 at 6 p.m. This group has lively discussions about the selections and at the meeting will learn the title of the next book selected.

Wellness Wednesday will be offered the fourth Wednesday of the month at 1 p.m. for adults. Join Mrs. Pam and learn about a variety of health related topics on January 23.

Thank you all for a fabulous 2018, and we look forward to seeing you throughout 2019.

The Mineola Memorial Library received a donation from Diana Bankhead. Please, remember the Mineola Memorial Library is a 501(c)3 non-profit and your donations are tax-deductible.