Placitas library ladies: (left to right) Rebecca Watson-Boone, Suanne
Bryden, Dr. Loriene Roy, Anne Frost Grey, Norma Ruptier
ALA president-elect gives Placitas library the thumbs-up
—JUDY LABOVITZ, CHAIR, PLACITAS COMMUNITY LIBRARY
BOARD
On Saturday, July 22, the Placitas Community Library was honored
with a visit from Dr. Loriene Roy, president-elect of the American
Library Association. Dr. Roy was in New Mexico to attend a conference
on Native health-information services and to visit with library
colleagues at area pueblos.
The American Library Association, with over sixty-four thousand
members, is the oldest library association in the world. Its mission
includes enhancing learning and ensuring access to information for
all, through promoting high-quality library and information services.
Roy toured the Placitas library and met with members of the library's
board of directors and its volunteer staff. After seeing the nine-hundred-square-foot,
three-room building overflowing with books, she remarked “You
all are doing an incredible job of providing a full range of library
services in an inadequate facility and with only volunteer staff.”
Many libraries with much more staff and infrastructure do much
less. This is just the kind of community effort that needs and deserves
the support of its community and private and governmental granting
organizations. The mission of the Placitas Community Library is
“to provide a hub for library services and activities connecting
our community to the world in a warm and friendly atmosphere, [and]
to be 'una Placitas para todos.'” The library opened its doors
to the public in March 2004 and currently has approximately one
thousand patrons.
Roy, a professor at the University of Texas at Austin's School
of Information, is Anishinabe (Ojibwe), enrolled on the White Earth
Reservation, and a member of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe. She received
her masters in library science from the University of Arizona and
her PhD from the University of Illinois, at Urbana-Champaign. In
1999, she founded If I Can Read, I Can Do Anything, a national reading
club for Native children. She also directs Honoring Generations,
a scholarship program for indigenous students.
Placitas Library’s Summer Reading Challenge
a success, preschool story time up next
—NANCY GUIST, COORDINATOR, CHILDREN'S SUMMER PROGRAM
On Thursday, August 10, the Placitas Community Library held their
final children's event for the summer, a grand celebration in honor
of the children and their summer reading. The goal of the Summer
Reading Challenge had been three hundred books read by or to the
children over the summer. The grand total on August 10 was 1,175
books. Each child who participated was recognized and received a
certificate along with a personalized bag filled with prizes.
We also had two very special guests. Larry O'Hanlon, who works
with the Rio Grande Astronomical Society and is an independent science
journalist and a science correspondent for Discovery Channel News,
gave a presentation on solar energy. He grilled cheese sandwiches
for the children, using a solar cooker. He also set up a solar telescope
aimed at some solar sunspots, which adults and children alike were
thrilled to see!
Our second guest was Jeanne Whitehouse Peterson, a well-known
Albuquerque author, who read her latest book, Don't Forget Winona,
to the children. She had the children enthralled as she taught them
a song and read the story of a family escaping the Dust Bowl and
beginning the long trip west along Route 66 in hopes of a better
life.
Afterwards, she signed the book and donated it to the library.
The gathering ended with refreshments, which consisted of a lovely
cake donated by Raley's and lemonade.
PRESCHOOL STORY TIME
Beginning September 8 the Placitas Community Library will hold
story time for preschoolers at 9:30 a.m. on the first Friday of
every month through May. No registration is required. Simply stop
by with your preschooler and enjoy sharing the wonderful world of
books. It's also a great time to meet other moms, dads, and caretakers!
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