Programs 

Saturday Afternoon Kids’ Club

October was our first month hosting a weekly Kids’ Club at the Sandy Library.  Kids’ Club is appropriate for Kids age 7-12.  All events are free, no registration is required.

• Week 1 – LEGO Club

Our very first Kids’ Club event was LEGO Club.  Three kids made fantastic LEGO creations which were displayed in the Library for the remainder of the month.  After the event we had a large number of people express interest in coming to our next one. Come in to see our current months’ display of LEGO creations in the Kids’ Room of the Library.  We expect that this program will grow considerably!

Week 2 – Card and Board Games

Ten people came to our first monthly board game afternoon.  This turned out to be a great family time.  Kids have been coming in all month to talk about the games they plan to bring to the next event in November.

• Week 3 – Drop-In Craft

Kids decorated pumpkins, did leaf rubbings, and created fall inspired art at our drop in craft. Ten people had a great time!

• Week 4 – Wii and Minecraft

14 kids come to play the Minecraft. Library Staff created a Minecraft server which 6 laptop computers connect to. Standard Minecraft can be played (Survival, Creative, etc.), or Minecraft.edu which allows creation of specials “seeds” where kids must complete specific tasks. Seeds can be used as a type of lesson plan. Staff plans to create seeds for upcoming months and build a replica of the Sandy Library within the game to be used as an information literacy instructional aid. Kids were also able to play Wii games and build  paper Minecraft characters.

Trick or Treat Trail

Sandy Library participated in the Main Street event Trick or Treat Trail.  We handed out more than 600 pieces of candy to trick-or-treaters and gave each one an opportunity to win a glow stick by playing corn hole.

Minecraft characters at Trick or Treat Trail

Library Coffee House

First Friday on October 4th brought the Coffee House into the library.  Local writer Dan Bosserman signed copies of his book Images of America: Boring.  In addition, Sandy residents we serenaded by Portland’s French troubadour, Eric John Kaiser who presented a lively evening of ballads and folk songs in French and English .

NaNoWriMo

November is National Novel Writing Month!  The Sandy Library has committed to getting the community involved in this national project, and providing coffee and space for writers to write in the Library. 14 community members came to our Kick-off party on October 23rd. 

Pirate Program – in partnership with retired teachers from the Oregon Trail School District

On October 28th three classes of 6th graders, each with 38 students visited the library to learn how to do research. Questions were designed to have students learn how to use the library catalog to locate books on the shelf as well as use databases that can help them with homework. 

Sandy and Hoodland Teen Advisory Board

The Teen Advisory Board met for the first time at the end of October.  Four kids came to the first meeting.  We brainstormed ideas for teen programs to hold at the library, talked about the results of the library survey that we gave out at both library locations, ate pizza, and talked about how to advertise to get more kids to come to our next meeting in November (spolier: November’s meeting had 14 teens attend!).  The first teen program we plan to hold will be in January.

The Evening Mystery Book Club has come to an end, leaving 3 clubs left active. Library Staff are working to meet the needs of the remaining clubs by offering additional services.

Display and Marketing

Patrons checked out 13 items from our October adult book display — Things that go Bump in the Night. Stephen King, Ann Rule, and Edgar Allan Poe are quite popular in Sandy.

Additionally, the library hosted a great display about personal collections.  The display featured books about collecting, and samples of teacups, depression glass, sea shells and more.

Staff

Library Staff got into the spirit and dressed up for October 31st.  Many came as book related characters.

In October, we said goodbye to a full-time Library Assistant who moved to join her family in the Midwest.  We interviewed nine candidates and hired two permanent half-time Library Assistants.  Katie Murphy and Thea Kuziemski may look familiar to you as they have been on-call staff at the library for years.  We’re so excited to have them officially join our permanent team!

Hiring Katie and Thea left a large hole in our on-call availability, which led to the hiring of two new on-call staff that had been identified through current and previous interview pools as good Library Clerk possibilities.  We welcome Kat Aden and Julie Steeves as on-call Library Clerks!  They have been fully trained and can be seen pitching in as we need them.