Germantown Public Library

The excellent “Video History of Germantown” is on sale now at the library.  This DVD is very well-made and includes lots of photos, video clips, music and sound effects.  It tells of the earliest immigrants to this area, early businesses, families, churches, baseball and more.  You’ll hear the voices of some of your friends and neighbors, as well as a couple of well known Cardinals’ baseball broadcasters.  There has been a recent price drop and now you can own the DVD for only $10!  We still have several copies of the pictorial history book for sale also.  This book sells for $21.99.  All proceeds from DVD and book sales benefit the Germantown Historical Society in its ongoing preservation work.

The library will be closed Monday, Feb. 16 in observance of Presidents’ Day.

Tax forms are beginning to come in!  We’ve been informed by the state and federal governments that we will not get as many forms as in the past.  So far we have Missouri forms, Illinois 1040s and instruction booklets and federal 1040A and 1040EZ forms.  Check back often as more arrive each week.  You can always get any forms or instructions you need at irs.gov.  If you don’t have a printer at home, the library will print the first form for you at no charge, but additionals will be $.20 per page.

For those patrons who’ve been enjoying eBooks through the 3M Cloud Library, we have good news.  eAudios are now also available through 3M.  As always, there is no charge and you search for titles through the library’s regular online catalog.  It’s on the homepage of our website.  When you get into the catalog, be sure to log into your account with your library card number and PIN before doing a search.  You can have 5 titles out at one time, you can have 5 titles on hold at one time and the loan period is now 3 weeks!  There’s never a late fee, as e-resources are automatically checked in at the end of your loan period.  Not finished with a title when it checks back in?  Just request it again.  Don’t see titles you’re interested in?  Go to the Wish List to see titles that have not yet been purchased by our library consortium and add any titles you’d like us to buy.  If you’re new to eBooks or eAudiobooks or have any questions about our holdings or your device, please stop in the library or give us a call at 523-4820.  We’ll be happy to help you.

Thanks to those who visited on January 17 and enjoyed the delicious cake.  Come by the library any time this month to see lots of pictures from the past 20 years on display.  Thanks for the memories!

We hope you can stop in the library this month to see the colorful works of art on loan to us from Anita Brandmeyer.  She has filled our display case with lots of her framed photographs, some blue-ribbon award winners, plus some of the pictures she has had published.

If you have a collection or handiwork you’d like to display in our locked and lighted display case, please call us at 523-4820 or come in and tell us about it.  We’d love to share what you love with the rest of the community!

Come help us celebrate this milestone.  There will be cake available all morning Sat., January 17 to share with all those who stop in.  The Germantown Public Library opened on Jan. 23 1995 with a little over 5,000 books, no movies and no computers.  That first year we loaned 3,410 items.  We now house more than 12,000 books, 350 movies and 400 audiobooks.  Last year we loaned nearly 11,000 items.  In addition, patrons can download eBooks and eAudios without setting foot inside the library!  We have 5 computers and 2 laser printers available for public use.  As you can see, we’re busier than ever and want to share this special day with all our supporters.  We hope to see you on the 17th!

Our Polaris circulation system upgrade is complete and working online again.  You should be able to get into your account, renew and request items and download eBooks and eAudiobooks.  So far everything looks fine from our end, but please let us know if you run into any difficulties or things don’t work for you the way they used to.

HAVE A HAPPY AND HEALTHY 2015!

Is one of your New Year’s Resolutions to get the kids reading more in 2015?  Have we got a club for you!  The 4-H will be leading a Book Worm Reading Spin Club on each of the Saturdays in January here at the library.  It runs from 10am – 11am each Saturday morning and is geared for children ages 5 and up.  There will be stories and prizes and the cost is only $10 for the entire 5 week program. In case of bad weather, call the library to see if the club will meet that day.

Friday, Dec. 26, our cataloging and circulation system will be offline for most of the day due to a scheduled upgrade.  The library will still be open and we will handle business by hand until the system is back online.  However, YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO RENEW YOUR OWN ITEMS OR PLACE REQUESTS FOR ITEMS OUTSIDE THE LIBRARY ON DEC. 26.  YOU MAY ALSO NOT BE ABLE TO DOWNLOAD 3M EBOOKS WHILE THE SYSTEM IS OFFLINE.  You will still be able to read any 3M eBooks you’ve downloaded prior to Dec. 26.  We anticipate the system will be back up and running on Sat. Dec. 27, but will advise as soon as it’s available.  Thanks for your patience!