Yes, it rained...but not on our parade!

The Fall Festival weekend started off a bit damp, but we didn't let that ruin our parade.

How could we when Batman decided to join forces with the Library?!? Library Staff--Directors, Librarians, and even a Board Member--gathered around the BATMOBILE to work some of that Mayfield Mayhem out in the community.

We marched all the way through Main Street with Batman behind the wheel. Batman knows that you must have knowledge, wisdom, and intellect to outwit a villain and the Library is a great place to learn new skills, gain knowledge and collect information!

If you need to outwit a villain, or are just looking for some entertainment, visit the Library!

And if it is Superheroes you want, we have Batman books, Spiderman books, Superman books; but we believe that EVERY BOOK HAS A HERO, so we will help you find the perfect one!

Kids! Every Story Has A Hero -- Show Us Yours at the Parade Tomorrow!

Watch for Super Heroes marching down the street with a little beat!

Guess who your friendly librarians will be. Show us one of your super heroes while we pass you on the parade route. We will try to give our library friends some extra candy.

Find your Hugo winner at the library

They announced this year's winners of the Hugo Awards for science fiction and fantasy literature the other day at Aussiecon 4, the 68th World Science Fiction Convention, in Melbourne, Australia (I guess they move the announcement site around). The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi tied with The City & The City by China Mieville for Best Novel of the year. I just checked the catalog in Evergreen, and there are several copies of The Windup Girl available at the library. Now would be the time to check it out before the other sci-fi fans start liniing up for it.

Wow! Cool Shoes!

I thought my shoes were cool -- Converse One Stars covered with silver sequins. You may have heard me brag: “They sparkle, just like Edward.” (For those of you not familiar with the popular Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer, in her books, vampires cannot go out in the sun because they sparkle and become irresistible.) While I still think my sparkly shoes are pretty awesome, I will admit that my shoes fall a close second to those of Zionsville seventh grader, Lukas Janavicius. It all started last spring, here in the Library, when I found Lukas in one of our Duct Tape Days programs.

Using duct tape that is every color of the rainbow, teens made wallets and boxes. We even took the scraps and packed them into a duct tape ball. Little did I know that as I was showing and explaining to teens how to make duct tape fabric. Lukas’ mind was twirling with ideas.

“Thirty minutes after I got home, I’d made my first pair of shoes,” Lukas says.

There was more than just the one pair. Lukas worked hard to make these actual functioning pieces of his wardrobe. He added foam padding for comfort and reinforced the eyelets so the shoelaces would stay in place.

Like everyone who has an awesome new piece of gear, Lukas proudly wore his new kicks to school and it wasn’t long before kids began asking Lukas for their own custom pair of duct tape shoes. That’s right; Lukas was taking orders for duct tape shoes! So check out those feet walking down the middle school halls, they might be wearing shoes made out of duct tape. And, just think, the whole idea stemmed from a one-hour program at the Hussey-Mayfield Memorial Public Library.

Don’t feel left out, you too can find inspiration at the Library! Our next Duct Tape Days event, for Teens in grades six and up, is planned for Wednesday, September 8 from 4-5 PM. Plan on making your school supplies waterproof and virtually indestructible by covering them in duct tape. You may bring your own, but items will be supplied at the program. Registration is required, so register here today!

Weekend Downtime

Upgrades to the Library’s online catalog
will be installed this weekend!

That means our customers will not be able to access the catalog, or their personal Library accounts, during the process. We apologize for the inconvenience and hope you will stop by next week to enjoy our upgraded Evergreen Indiana system!
We will be offline from 7 PM Saturday, September 4 until 8 AM Tuesday, September 7. We encourage you to access your Library Account any time before Saturday night to check your due dates and renew items.
Customers will still have access to the Library homepage and the free online databases you can find there, such as Chilton's Automotive Repair Guides and World Book.

Don’t forget, the Library will be closed Sunday, September 5 and Monday, September 6 in honor of Labor Day. Materials returned to the Library Sunday and Monday will be checked in by our Circulation staff to reflect a return date of Saturday, September 4.
Thanks for using the Library and we’ll see you Tuesday!

Are you overdue for a Library Card?

September is Library Card Sign-Up Month and in the spirit of educational access for all, the Hussey-Mayfield Memorial Public Library and a number of Zionsville merchants are teaming up to provide prizes for visitors who register for a new Library Card by September 30.

Those in possession of a Zionsville Library Card not only have access to all of the Zionsville Library’s collections and services, but also to the materials of more than 70 other Indiana libraries. Students are able to use a number of research databases through the Library’s website as well as any number of reference books, educational films, and audio books.

Register for a new Evergreen Library Card and spin the “Wheel of Fortune” to win a prize. Bring your driver’s license, Indiana State Identification Card, or government-issued Photo I.D. showing your current address. Additional documentation, such as a utility bill, is required when the current address is not on the presented identification.

Register today to read tonight!

Library love

I love libraries and librarians. I have for decades, since my first visit to the Brownsburg Public Library and my introduction to Mrs. Campbell and Mrs. Sharp (whom I could never refer to as Lois and Jean, even as an adult). Those wonderful ladies have passed on, but the library building is still there on Main Street, though mysteriously much, much smaller than the first time I entered it. Brownsburg's current library is housed in a much more modern and appropriate building. I'm sure the librarians there are as smart and helpful as Mrs. Campbell and Mrs. Sharp.

The smart and helpful librarians I've come to know lately are at Hussey-Mayfield, the Zionsville Public Library. I'm grateful to them and to Jake Speer, the library's new director, for letting me write an occasional post on the library's blog site.

After a career in corporate marketing and communications, mostly at IBM in the New York City area, I'm now studying at IUPUI to become a librarian. This blog is an opportunity for me to share what I'm learning about the library world in general and the Zionsville Public Library in particular. More than that, I hope the blog will also be an opportunity for me to learn from you, the library's customers.

Libraries, including this one, are constantly changing to meet the needs of the communities who depend on them. I'm eager to know from you what you like about your library, what you'd like to see improved, and what you want from your library in the future. So please find the "Post a comment" box on this page and tell me what you think. (If you don’t see where to post a comment, just click on the headline of my blog post and you’ll be taken to a version of this blog page that does have a comment box at the bottom of the page.)

Meanwhile, I get to do what the Hussey-Mayfield librarians are too modest to do: Urge you to nominate your favorite librarian(s) for an I Love My Librarian Award. The Carnegie Corporation of New York and The New York Times are inviting "library users nationwide to recognize the accomplishments of librarians in public, school, college, community college, and university libraries for their efforts to improve the lives of people in their community. Nominations are being accepted online at ilovelibraries.org/ilovemylibrarian through Sept. 20," according to the press release.

Mrs. Campbell and Mrs. Sharp, if you're still keeping an eye on me, I'll tell you that you both would be my nominees.