Library Staff Directory
Posted Dec 22, 2014
'Tis the season when most of us look back at the year we're bringing to a close and examine what we did for the last 365 days, and what it meant to us. At the Library, we're already well into planning for 2015. But before we skip too far ahead, we'd like to share some of our 2014 highlights with you, our patrons - who are the reason for every season around here.
In 2014:
- Over 5000 of you came to over 200 programs at the library. Some of our favorites included Stone Soup Shakespeare's performance of As You Like It in May, YA author Scott Westerfeld's visit in October, and Daniel Goldin's book talk sponsored by the Friends earlier this month.
- Speaking of the Friends, they once again contributed generously to library programming - in particular the summer reading programs for birth through grade 12.
- The Friends also opened a Little Free Library right outside our doors on Murray Ave: 24/7 books for all!
- The Lucky Day collection came to be. Thanks to seed money from the Friends and guidance from your own wishes for more of the bestselling titles you love.
- We hosted the second annual Plein Air Shorewood gala and auction in September, with a crowd of about 1800 viewing the hundred or so paintings created in Shorewood during the three day festival.
- We opened the Play Learn Grow Early Literacy Center. Since September, it's been full of families playing make-believe, building with Duplo, and learning skills on the early literacy computers.
You checked out these items in HUGE numbers:
- Blockbuster movies based on young adult books, Catching Fire and Divergent; award-nominated and -winning titles like Dallas Buyers Club , Argo, and 12 Years a Slave; TV shows like Sherlock, Nurse Jackie, Doc Martin, and Girls being checked out in high numbers
- On a musical note, Pure Heroine by Lorde was the single most checked-out CD in 2014, followed by albums from Beck, The Killers and Ariana Grande.
- And you still love to read: Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline and Me Before You by JoJo Moyes topped the charts; Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Saints of the Shadow Bible by Ian Rankin (mystery), and The Martian by Andy Weir (science fiction) were all popular in Shorewood. The most checked out young adult book was Insurgent by Veronica Roth. In children's books, titles in the Geronimo Stilton, Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Big Nate series were all among the most checked out for the year.
We love being your library - and each year, we are fired up anew. 2015 already looks stellar:
- Adult reading program this winter (more info soon)
- Shorewood Reads 2015 in April
- Additional programs for kids and teens due to high demand.
What will 2015 bring for our community? Whatever it is, we look forward to being part of it.
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