Here Comes Money Smart Week!

Do money matters mystify you?

• How do I save for retirement?
• Are payday loans a good idea?
• How can I protect myself from identity theft?

Financial literacy, understanding how money works and what to do with it, is just as important as knowing how to read. That's why the Fresno County Public Library is participating in Money Smart Week, April 23-30. Government brochures and flyers are available, each geared to teaching people about financial matters from mutual funds to avoiding scams.

The WoW! Library staff are participating in several events.

• Saturday, April 23, 2016 -- Sierra Vista Mall, Clovis, noon-4pm
• Monday, April 25, 2016 -- Courthouse Park, Fresno, 11am-2pm
• Saturday, April 30, 2016 -- River Park, Fresno, noon-4pm

Each event will include information flyers for adults in English and Spanish, computers with games that teach financial concepts, a sample saving plan, and storytimes and piggy bank crafts for youngsters.

The FCPL has links to useful resources on renting, saving, retiring, and credit.

Shannon Morrison of the WithOut Walls Library talked with Kim and Kopi on KMPH-26 about Money Smart Week and the library's National Poetry Month writing contest.

http://kmph-kfre.com/great-day/at-the-library/at-the-library-44-money-smart-week

Knowing how to take care of your money is an important skill. If you don't watch your money, you'll watch it fly away.

Library Film Studies Drought Impact

A four-year drought has brought pain and anger to the San Joaquin Valley. Not only are the solutions unclear, even the questions are hazy.

Jonathan Waltmire of the WoW! Library team is project director for a new video documentary, Reflections of a Drought: a film, which shows the issues through the words of people in Fresno County dealing with the drought’s effects. The film was shown at the Woodward Park, Selma, and Mendota branches of the Fresno County Public Library.

Jonathan Waltmire answered questions about the film
at its Woodward Park Library premiere showing.

Funded by a competitive California Humanities grant underwritten by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the California Documentary Project seeks to understand the people and history of the state. Waltmire and videographer/editor Steve Thao interviewed ten people, from civic officials to farmers to homeowners, cutting six hours of raw footage into a 21-minute exploration of how agriculture, communities, and the public are dealing with the lack of water.

Waltmire says his biggest challenge was “trying to find a story that was balanced between urban and rural. There’s something for everybody, farmers and city dwellers. We’re all in the same boat together.”


Sarge Green, interviewed in the film,
spoke at the Selma showing.

“Reflections of a Drought” can be seen on YouTube or at the end of this post. Future plans for the documentary include having DVD copies available for checkout at FCPL branches.

Waltmire’s goal for the project was to “foster discussion on how people can mitigate the effects of the drought.” What surprised him the most was “how complex water management in California is. There is no easy solution.”

Librarians Pop-Up on Groundhog Day

You never know where the WoW! Pop-Up Library will pop up...or when.


Fairwinds and fun reading.

On Groundhog Day, Kenny Abramowitz, Joanna Chase, and Terrance Mc Arthur set up a Pop-Up at the Fairwinds-Woodward Park retirement community in north Fresno, bringing more than 100 books and videos to peruse and check out.

What Is This?
People have questions about the Fresno County Public Library's Pop-Ups:

The WoW! Pop-Up packs a lot of library into a little space.

• Is this a book sale?--These are library books, DVDs, and CDs to check out. It's a mini library branch for lending books, not selling them.
• How do I return the books?--The Community Pop-Up Library goes to different places at different times, instead of on a schedule. Library materials may be returned to any of the public library branches in Fresno County, or as far away as Merced, Mariposa, and Bakersfield.
• Do I have to have a library card?-- Materials are checked out with a user's library card, and  WoW! processes new library cards on the spot. Cardholders who don't have their cards with them may check out with proper ID.

  

  Joanna makes a card at Fairwinds.

• What if I don't see what I want?-- The Pop-Up Library is a sampler of library services and materials. Each event helps our staff learn what people want, and the goal is to match the books to the people we meet: children's and parenting books at a school night, cookbooks for a gardening group.
• How can I request a Pop-Up Library near me?--The Pop-Up Request Form on this blog site is designed to help library service users sign up to have a pop-up at their location or event. Filing a request more than two weeks in advance increases the chances of WoW! staff being available. Back-to-School night, church potluck, or shopping center--the Wow! Pop-Up Library can be there!

TNT. Computers. WoW!

A TNT grant. Sounds explosive, doesn’t it?

It stands for Technology aNd Training, using technology products to provide information services to library patrons. The WoW! unit of the Fresno County Public Library is participating in a TNT grant, providing computer classes to rural communities, focusing on skills that would help adults in job-searching. Librarian-instructors and translators make it happen.

 

Monthly classes take place in Parlier and Firebaugh, communities with great needs for computer training and job-search help.  The venues used are non-library buildings (Parlier Youth Center and Firebaugh’s First Baptist Church), with morning and afternoon sessions. January's classes taught basic computer terms, mouse skills, and how and why to get an e-mail account; that set will be repeated in February. March is resume-writing, and April is on-line job-hunting techniques. The resume and job-hunting classes repeat in May and June.

The WoW!-mobiles contain the supplies for a pop-up classroom, with laptop computers, projection equipment for visual presentations, and other needful things. Translation is provided for Spanish-speakers by Sonia Bautista and Carlos Estrada of the FCPL staff. After January's first sets of classes, a dozen adult students left with their own e-mail accounts that they could use for communicating with friends, shopping online, and filling out job applications. Information literacy--being able to use computers with confidence and without fear--is a major need for people in the 21^st century. According to Shannon Morrison, one of the teachers, class members “enhanced a skill they might not have had otherwise.”

If you are interested in building your skills at these classes, contact the Firebaugh branch library at (599) 600-9274, the Parlier branch library at (559) 646-3835, or the WoW! Library unit at (559) 600-9699.

 

Books for Them

 



Beanstack is a new library resource that matches your child to quality children's literature, from  board books for babies to pre-teen fiction.

Just Imagine
Imagine your own electronic librarian, one who knows your child and can recommend books that meet their needs. Each week, your "Robo-brarian" would let you know about worthwhile books that fit your child's tastes and reading level. It would track reading, reward achievement, and suggest enrichment activities.

What Does Beanstack Do?
Beanstack sends e-mails with book suggestions tailored to your child's interests. The website features themed combinations of booklists for reading, subject exploration  learning tracks, and learning tips.

How To Begin
To begin with Beanstack, parents (or computer-savvy kids) fill out a reader profile with contact information, reading level, and reading likes. Explore the service. Enter what books are read. Earn colorful badges.

Oh, The Things You Can Do!
Beanstack's learning tracks are aimed at children from pre-readers to twelve-year-olds. Learning tracks are grouped sets of activities about animals, plants, cultures, behaviors, famous people, and other topics. Each theme has its own activities to engage young minds and reinforce learning skills. For example, the learning track on "Autumn" includes seven books to read, music to listen to, crafts, games, and fun facts. This FREE service helps prepare youngsters for a lifetime of learning. Come on! Climb the Beanstack!

Music to Your Ears

Music--great music--is part of our lives, but it can cost you...unless you can find a way to get it free and legal.

Enter the Fresno County Public Library and Freegal.

The library subscribes to databases and online services to make them freely available to the public. Freegal's catalogue of over 8,000,000 songs and 15,000 music videos is ready to be streamed or downloaded to a mobile device or a home computer.

The collection can be searched by song title, artist, album, or genre. Library card holders can download three songs for personal use a week and stream three hours of FREE listening pleasure per week. Everything from classic performers...

 

 to current hitmakers...

 

 to one-hit wonders...

 to unique kinds of music...

are all ready to be heard.

A month of downloads can give you all the songs on a great album that you can put on a CD or store on a device, or make up a set of your favorite tunes to set a mood while you work or study. The music is for non-commercial use only, to play for small groups of friends or listen on your own.

Freegal is one of the ways the FCPL tries to meet the needs of Fresno County and its people. Give it a listen.

The Betty Rodriguez Regional Library--It's Open!

The Betty Rodriguez Regional Library opened Saturday, January 9, and team members from WoW! lent a hand. Amid speeches, music, refreshments, and a ribbon-cutting ceremony, dignitaries and the public stepped through the doors of the new library building for the first time.

Wow! staffers Joanna Chase, Jonathan Waltmire, Kenny Abramowitz, and Terrance Mc Arthur conducted tours, assisted with computers, gave directions, helped performers, located materials, signed customers up for new library cards,  and introduced people who should get to know each other.

Kenny and Terrance, together again.

 

To showcase the capabilities of the new Innovation Lab, experts made objects with the 3-D printer from "Star Wars" characters to a wrist brace. The lab will be a place for robotics activities, sewing, and building product prototypes.
In the fifty-person-capacity meeting room, local vintage string jazz band Scats on the Sly had the crowd dancing to its infectious rhythms of the 20's and 30's.

In the library's main area, a colorful, neon-like portrait of the group looked down on the crowds of library-goers.


After the band, the E&M Reptile Family thrilled and chilled children and the young-at-heart with bugs, amphibians, lizards, and snakes.

The Betty Rodriguez Regional Library, at 3040 N. Cedar Avenue (southeast of the Cedar/Shields intersection), housed in a former Fresh 'n Easy building, boasts more than twice the space of the old Cedar-Clinton branch. The area near McLane High School now has a state-of-the-art library that will serve the community for years to come.


Hmong New Year Celebration and WoW! Is There

Between Christmas and New Year’s Day, thousands gather at the Big Fresno Fairgrounds for the Hmong International New Year Celebration.

A festival of music, dancing, food, history, a beauty pageant, and meeting old friends and making new ones, it’s a great place to promote library services.

 

The Fresno County Public Library is represented with a booth near the outdoor stage, and the WoW! (WithOut Walls) Library is part of it, making library cards.

 
The Hmong people of Laos were recruited by Americans during the Vietnam War. After the war, they were persecuted by the ruling regime. Many escaped and became refugees. Today, the San Joaquin Valley is home to the second-largest concentration of Hmong outside of Southeast Asia, and the Hmong New Year celebration in Fresno is the largest in the world.

 

Festivities began the day after Christmas, with Terrance Mc Arthur of WoW!, Gaoneng Lee, and Vincent Petrelli representing the FCPL. Terrance brought the laptop, hotspot, and barcode reader needed for card-making. Vincent had lightning-fast fingers for entering application data. Gaoneng had the Hmong language skills to explain library services to the more than 140 people who stopped at the booth to talk on that day. WoW! librarians and other library personnel will be at the fairgrounds to provide services during the celebration. 

One of the features of the 2016 celebration is a series of exhibits on the Hmong culture, its part in the CIA-sponsored war, the migration to the USA, and how the people have survived and thrived in a new land over the past 40 years.

 If you go to the 2016 Hmong New Year Celebration, look for the FCPL booth at the north end of the fairgrounds, west of the main stage. We hope to see you there!
 
 
 

WoW! in Washington, D.C.

The view from our meeting room…

Our meeting room – The Indian Treaty Room 

WoW! Librarian Michelle Gordon is Fresno County Public Library’s representative to the Central Valley Network for Integrating New Americans (CV-NINA).  NINA is a technical assistance grant funded by the Department of Education, spearheaded by the White House Task Force on New Americans.  There are five networks nationwide that received this technical assistance grant.  CV-NINA has been involved in numerous community events over the last couple of years.  This past June, CV-NINA organized and held a small Naturalization Oath ceremony at Fresno State.

Arriving outside the EEOB:

On October 29^th and 30^th, the five networks gathered in Washington, DC.  Included in this gathering was a White House Briefing for over 30 federal employees representing multiple agencies including: the Department of Education, United States Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS), Department of Labor, Institute of Museum and Library Services, Department of Health & Human Services, White House Domestic Policy Council and White House National Economic Council.

Liset Caudillo from Proteus, Michelle Gordon from FCPL, Ana Melendez from The Maddy Institute, Lisa Agao from FAS

Lisa Agao of the Fresno Adult School

Before her flight back to Fresno, Michelle managed to spend a little time at the Library of Congress.  She got her Reader’s Card for the LoC and used it to enter into the main reading room at the library.

The Library of Congress

On Display at the LoC was this letter from Thomas Jefferson to John Adams where he makes the statement “I cannot live without books…”

WoW! promotes Early Literacy at EPU's Children's Center

EPU, Exceptional Children’s Center, welcomed Shannon and Kenny of the WoW! Team to promote free childhood literacy tools the library provides for parents during EPU’s Halloween Toddlerfest. 

Shannon and Kenny in action!

We made “Baby’s First Library Cards,” for kids aged 0-3, which gives children a head start on reading and developmental learning skills.   The library also offers Early Learning Centers at select branches which provide toys, games, and resources that build both literacy and the parent-child bonding experience. 

We showcased the library’s new children’s tablets, the LeapPad Ultra, and the iPad Air which are available for a 2 hour in house checkout, where kids can learn and play with new technology!  Parents were delighted to see how excited and captivated their kids were while using the tablets.  “My daughter was so well behaved; where can we use this?” said one parent.   Most branches have AWE Literacy Station touchscreen computers as well.

 iPad Air

Children's Tablet Checkout Locations (2 hour in-library use)

LeapPad Ultra- Cedar-Clinton, Fig Garden, West Fresno
iPad Air- Sunnyside, Mendota, Orange Cove

Parents were also excited about one of our most popular services “Dial-A-Story,” where you can call 559-600-TALE (8253), and listen to a children’s book read aloud.  A great way to keep your toddlers occupied and engaged!

And don’t forget to check the schedule of the Storytime events held at various branches!

WoW! on the Air

The WoW! Library team will go anywhere to tell people about library services. On October 5, Terrance Mc Arthur appeared on KMPH-26's "Great Day" morning program. on their "@ the Library" segment, he talked about the WoW! program, the Community Pop-Up Library, and the Senior Pop-Up Library.

http://kmph-kfre.com/great-day/at-the-library/at-the-library-105-wow-program

The Pop-Up Library program takes library service outside of the branch buildings and brings it to events and locations all over Fresno County. If you see us, walk up and say, "Hi!" We're friendly.

WoW!

Signing off.

WoW! Staff Helps Bring Storyland Back to Life!

You never know where the WoW! library team will turn up next. How about the middle of Roeding Park? We were there!
Entertainment, crafts, and new library cards were on the bill when The Fresno County Public Library helped bring Storyland to life during their recent grand opening weekend.  Entertainment joined with literacy for fun, interactive family events. The  craft area was a popular spot for children and young-at-heart adults.

After being closed for renovation, the longtime Fresno attraction reopened with safer walkways, brighter colors, and live characters to go along with the ever-popular statues, buildings, and interactive play equipment.

 

Beautiful art from Doug Hansen's "California Mother Goose" series surrounded library volunteers as they helped children make creative crafts, while WoW! staff issued cards on the spot.

Joanna Chase makes another library card. Go, Joanna!

This event took place September 5th through the 7th, 2015 at Storyland, located inside Roeding Park. For more information, contact Storyland and Rotary Playland at (559) 486-2124 or their website page: http://savestoryland.com/

--Mark Halvorsen