STAFFORD — I have finished the almost three thousand page trilogy, “North and South,” by John Jakes. Why read this vast saga of the Civil War? The first book shows the division of the country, the people and families because of greed, religious beliefs, man’s inhumanity to man and political chaos.
Sound familiar?
The second book takes you into the apocalyptic days of a nation broken apart with the harshest acts imaginable. It is a time we never want to see again.
The third book is America trying to put itself together again with the same lessons that are still not learned. The trilogy is a real wake-up call for America today. The two families, one from the North and one from the South, brought together by chance friendships formed at West Point, are the hope that America can continue to be great.
Another saga has been the moving of library furniture. They definitely believed that bigger was better every time furniture was acquired! Work on a few more items and then we will have it finished. Come have a refreshing time at Nora’s Place!
During this time of preparing for taxes, don’t forget we have a shredder box for anyone that needs to get rid of old documents. It is a free service to our patrons.
Plans are beginning for the Summer Reading Program and First Fridays. At this time we are looking forward to another celebration of Stafford, probably on the First Friday of August. Other First Fridays are “Up in the Air.” If you have input let us know.
At the last board meeting we had a lot of discussion on our computer policy regarding children and computer gaming. In the past, Roblox was installed on each patron computer for the kids to enjoy with supervision. Roblox has been in the news lately, because predators allegedly are contacting children through the Roblox chat feature. This is also a problem with many other platforms. Are you aware of the safety of your children when they are on the computer? Quite frankly it is impossible to totally supervise every minute the kids are on any screen. We have always banned violent games but stricter measures are now in place. At this time: we have blocked Roblox from the library and will need to OK any sites, as usual, that children are using in its place. We will try to educate them on safe computer usage. If they don’t follow the rules they will lose their computer privileges at the library.
If I were a parent, I would have a serious visit about safe sites and limit screen time. Games are on Roblox that let them be the shooter at school shootings with the real victims names as characters. This is just one big eye opener, there are many more inappropriate games. I would also look into the purchase of an age appropriate filter on all screens that children have access to.
The Kansas State Board of Education’s Blue Ribbon task force study on the effects of screen time on the social, mental and educational effects of screens on children today has led us to limit children to two 30-minute times on the computer, with a 20-minute game or reading time in between.
This is the daily limit and children have to have a signed authorization on file from parents that they can be on our computers.
Let’s do everything to help our kids have enriching positive experiences on screens.
Coming up
• Monday mornings 10-11 a.m. Preschool Story Hour
• D&D every Wednesday 4-6 p.m.
• Winter Reads to Contentment Leads - Book Challenge has started.
• Every Wednesday except second Wednesday - ESOL with Rachel Sandoval, 6 p.m.
• Feb. 24, Recently Read - 5:30 p.m. – come enhance our conversation.
• March 12 - 3 p.m. Jennifer Gleason workshop on AI
• April 9 - Books, Balls and Blocks Developmental Screening Event
• The next board meeting will be March 11.
Gerry Hildebrand is the head librarian for the Nora Larabee Memorial Library, 108 N. Union St. in Stafford. Phone 620-234-5762, email larabeelibrary@gmail.com or visit Facebook at Nora Larabee Memorial Library. Library hours are 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday; 2-6 p.m. Tuesday through Friday.
