Archive for the ‘Library News’ Category

The year of 2012 will mark the City of Alton’s 175th year anniversary. Mayor Tom Hoechst, the Alton City Council and community organizations are already busy planning great activities and events to celebrate this significant milestone.

As part of the events and to foster participation of Alton citizens of all ages, The Hayner Public Library District will be sponsoring two competitions for any child attending schools in the Hayner library district (Alton, Godfrey and Foster Townships) or any child being homeschooled within the Hayner district. The two contests include an original poster design competition and an original essay competition.

There will be three levels of judging for each of the two contests (poster drawing contest/essay contest). The three levels of judging are: elementary school age, middle school age and high school age. A Grand prize winner will be picked for each judging level in both competitions. The grand prize winner will receive a Kindle Fire and their work will be featured in the Alton 175 Year Commemorative Booklet to be published by the City of Alton and the Alton Telegraph. The winners will be recognized by the Alton City Council and their work displayed in various sites throughout the community. Continue Reading

One of the most popular items for holiday shoppers this year is eReader devices. Happily, for some time now, The Hayner Public Library District has been offering patrons eBooks that they can check out, free, with a Hayner Library card.

Kindle Instructions

Nook Instructions

Sony Instructions 

The Hayner Public Library District offers a voter registration service at both the Downtown and Alton Square libraries; any eligible resident of Madison County may take advantage of this free service.  Several members of our staff are deputy voter registrars and will be happy to help you register to vote, locate your Madison County polling location, or answer any questions you may have about voting in Madison County.

 Please call the library before you visit to ensure that a deputy registrar is on duty.

To register to vote you must be a United States citizen, 18 years of age by the date of the next election, and a resident of your Madison County precinct address for at least 30 days immediately prior to an election. 

Two forms of identification are required to register through a deputy registrar; at least one of the two forms must show your name and current address.  It is required that you use your Social Security number (at least the last 4 digits) or your complete Illinois driver’s license number when registering to vote.

The last day to register to vote prior to the March 20, 2012, General Primary Election is February 21, 2012. Registrations cannot be taken between February 22, 2012, and March 21, 2012.  Registration reopens March 22, 2012. 

More information about Madison County voter registration, absentee ballots, voting by mail, early voting, polling locations, and more is available on the Madison County County Clerk’s website at www.madisonvotes.com.

The next time you visit Hayner Library at Alton Square Mall, be sure to look to your right as you enter the facility to view the artwork of Dr. Pat Dailey. Dr. Dailey, an Alton resident, is a man of many talents.

Originally from Warren, Ohio, Pat attended Youngstown State University in Ohio and graduated with a BA in Education. He continued his education at Bowling Green State University, earning a Master’s degree in Biology and a PHd in Entomology, the branch of zoology dealing with insects. As a graduate assistant at Bowling Green University, he worked part time as a biological illustrator. In 1981 he accepted a job at the SIUE Dental School in Alton. There he was employed as an electron microscopist. Electron microscopy is a function of cellular biology requiring the study of cells through an electron microscope. While employed by SIUE, he also illustrated a chapter in the medical text Ten Cate’s Oral Histology. He illustrated the chapter on Bone Development written by Dr. Bill Witson of the SIUE School of Dental Medicine.

Continue Reading

The large print collection at the Hayner Downtown Library has been moved from its previous location upstairs; it is now located on the main level in the former Illinois Room. Aside from allowing more space for large print materials, the new space is nice and bright and best of all, no stairs!

The space opened up by this reconfiguration will be used to shelve our teen and young adult collections, separating them out from the youth materials. This will also allow us more space for the youth materials currently occupying the old Reading Room space.

Fresh paint and other cosmetic touches provide a great lift to the display of materials, and all three collections are more accessible. Visit us soon and let us know what you think!

Give a Family History Gift This Year!

Have fun creating gifts and legacies for future generations at the same time!  Some families make calendars filled with pictures of their children and activities.  Last year, my brother and sister-in-law framed an aerial photograph of Grandpa’s old home and farm and gave it to us for Christmas. Looking at the picture stirred memories of going to their house when we were children.  Another idea is to make a Christmas ornament. Resize a photo of an ancestor to fit into a small Victorian-style picture frame. Top it with a red bow and an ornament hook.

If you already have information about ancestors, put together interesting stories about them with their pictures in a CD, a book, or a scrapbook. Give them to your parents, siblings, children, and grandchildren. If you need inspiration about how to write family stories, browse the different family histories in the Genealogy & Local History Library.

Get together with your siblings and pull out the old family photos.  Before long you will be reminiscing about growing up. Get everyone’s permission to record your discussion. Write down everyone’s memories and couple them with photos. Be sure to put in the funny photos! Give everyone a CD or printed copy.  You will be surprised at which child or grandchild becomes interested in the family history!

Continue Reading

Tutor.com To Go. Now students can connect to a tutor using their iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad.  The app is FREE to all Tutor.com account holders with a Hayner library card.

Mango Mobile Library Edition. Learn to speak a language while you’re on the go, free from the App Store. As a Hayner patron, you can now access fast, easy, and effective language learning no matter where your travels take you!

For more information, contact Reference at Hayner Library, 618-462-0677 ext. 2864.

Each month we recognize our volunteers who completed 25 hours volunteering throughout our libraries.  Congratulations to the following volunteers: 

Carol Ackerman, David Allen, Bev Ambrosi, Connie Clayton, John Gibbons, Jan Harnetiaux, Sarah Johnes, Judy Kamler, David Mundy, Rosemary Ruedin, Jim Ryan, Lindsay Schoonover, Nick Sheppard, Carol Sobotta, Barb Ulffers, Luke Visconti, and Anna Wong.

We have some exciting news to share with our patrons: The large print collection at the Hayner Downtown Library has been moved from its previous location upstairs; the new large print collection is now located on the main level in the former Illinois Room. We hope that this location will be much more convenient for our patrons (no more stairs!).

Library Assistant Hector Lozano organizing the new large print room at the Hayner Downtown Library.