Yearly Archives: 2015

A Great Teen Lock In

This entry was posted in DPL Blog on August 12, 2015 by admin

This blog post is a few days late, but this time I have a really good excuse…

Last Friday was the Library’s Teen Lock-In! We had 14 teens ages ranging from 11-16 stay in the library all night for a variety of activities including games, crafts, a movie, and more. Here’s the play-by-play.

5:00 PM: I arrive and start setting up for the Scavenger Hunt and gathering other materials.

6:00 PM: Teens arrive in the Community Room!

What's Your favorite hobby? 6:15 PM: We play get-to-know-you games in front of the Circulation Desk. These included the Question Ball (a beach ball with questions written on it in Sharpie) and Magic Carpet Ride (in which a team has to flip over a blanket while standing on it and without losing anyone)

6:45 PM: Pizza from East of Chicago

7:15 PM: We start our Community Service Walk around the Library to pick up trash and pull weeds Chalk Art

7:45 PM: Drawing with Sidewalk Chalk!

8:30 PM: Scavenger Hunt around the library looking for “diamonds,” solving mysteries, and learning to use library resources.

9:30 – 10:30 PM: Games in the Community Room. I brought my Wii in and we played Just Dance 2 and 3. Even Jim participated! The teens had a blast!

11:30 PM – 12:30 AM: We made Paperback Hedgehogs out of discarded paperbacks and miscellaneous crafting supplies. They were super cute and easy, though a little time-consuming. Pat with Paperback Hedgehog

12:30 – 1:30 AM: Sardines in the dark. If you’ve never played Sardines, here’s how: Pick a person to hide. The rest count to 50, then go look for that person. When they find him/her, each person hides beside them. So, you end up with lots of people hiding in the same place until everyone finds the hiding spot.

1:30 – 3:30 AM: Movie (Disney’s Into the Woods) and games on the computer for those who aren’t into musicals

3:30 – 4:30 AM: Hide and Seek in the dark out front

girl with green cupcake 4:30 – 6:00 AM: Mug Cupcakes in the Microwave. Everyone got to come up with their own cupcake recipe, bake it in the microwave, and then decorate it with a variety of candy and sprinkles. While some of the combinations didn’t turn out that great, and one in particular looked a bit odd (green cake?!?!) everyone had a great time, and it was a perfect snack for the wee hours of the morning. When finished, the kids all washed their own mugs! Yes, I told them to, but they didn’t give me any trouble about it, so I still count it as a win.

6:00 AM: Wake up, everyone! We did have a few kids who were sleeping, so we woke everyone up and cleaned up the library. We sent a group to look for anything left over from the Scavenger Hunt and sent a group to help put away crafting supplies. While everyone was still a bit sleepy, they did a great job helping us put the library back together.

7:00 AM: Parents arrive to retrieve their teens.

7:30 AM: I go home, stopping by McDonald’s for a well-earned bacon, egg, and cheese bagel.

So, that’s how we stayed up all night with 14 kids and didn’t go crazy. I’m still recovering, but it was worth it. We had such a blast! And the group of kids we had this year was fantastic! I hope next year is just as fun.

Did you ever go to a lock-in? Tell me about it in a comment!

-Liz

Teen Librarian

Meet Author Melanie Police

This entry was posted in Adult Services on August 10, 2015 by admin

Join Dover, Ohio author Melanie J. Police on Tuesday, September 1 at 6:30 PM for this fun and inspiring Meet the Author event. Police is the author of the new book, How Self-Love Woke the Mama Bear: Opening a Gift After Nineteen Years.

“When you devote your life to raising two children and teaching hundreds of students, you dish out a lot of love. You give unselfishly. It feels good, albeit stressful, but you wouldn’t trade it for the world. There isn’t anything you wouldn’t do for these children, these adolescents, these young adults. Their joy is your joy. And after 19 years, you feel happy. Why wouldn’t you? You are making a difference in the lives of so many. Then one day you realize that while you have been busy shaping the lives of so many, you’ve only been dreaming of the life you really want. It’s not until that day, when something unexpected happens, when you find you’ve been living an amazing story all along, when you find self-love, that you really wake up and start living. A collection of short stories, journal entries, tributes to teachers, poems, and blog posts; the lessons on these pages come from children, students, and teachers I’ve had the opportunity to know, teach, learn from, and love.”

Refreshments and a book signing will follow the program, which is free and open to all. Copies of Self-Love Woke the Mama Bear will be available for purchase for $10.00/ea. Police is a teacher at Dover Middle School.

So What’s Up With Minecraft?

This entry was posted in DPL Blog on August 4, 2015 by admin

First thing I learned: It is Minecraft NOT Mindcraft. When you work in the public library and you see kids obsessed with playing this video game on the library computers you have to stop and wonder. First, the game has very bad graphics and there seems to be no rhyme or reason to what happens on the screen. Now that it is the heart of summer we see kids arrive in packs to play the game and to interact virtually with each other, which is funny because they are usually sitting right next to each other. I admit they can get rowdy sometimes and a bit loud and yes, annoying. But I then think that at least they are at the library in a safe environment. So what is Minecraft all about? Did you know that Minecraft since its inception in 2009 is the third most popular video game of all time behind Tetris and Super Mario Brothers? Players create virtual worlds in Minecraft and basically dig holes and create blocks worlds. Thanks to Teen Librarian Liz Strauss and Technology Manager Kathryn Green, the library recently put together a Minecraft for Parents program to clue moms and dads in a bit about the video game that is currently king of the mountain. We also did a Minecraft Party recently that allowed the kids to stay after hours in the library and get as loud as they want and play Minecraft and eat pizza. So in my book the jury is still out. I like the fact that the kids are using their imaginations and not blowing each other up but to be honest it disturbs me that they spend so much time playing a video game while real life is happening all around them– if they could only look up from their glowing digital screens.

-Jim Gill, Director

Pie in the Library

This entry was posted in Adult Services on July 29, 2015 by admin

May the best pie win!

Members of the community are invited to participate in “Pie in the Library: A Community Pie Contest,” on Saturday, August 22 at 10:00 AM at the Dover Public Library. Bakers are encouraged to bring their best pies to a panel of special guest judges at this fun community event.

Contest rules are as follows:

Participants may bring up to two different pies to be judged.
Judging categories: sweet, savory and apple.
Please bring pies in disposable pie pans or containers; pie plates will not be returned.
Pies must be dropped off at the library Community Room between 8:00-9:00 AM.
Pie contest judging begins at 10:00 AM on Saturday, August 22.
Pie fillings MUST NOT contain any dairy products other than butter. No cream fillings, meringues, custards, cream cheese or pumpkin (if it contains dairy).
No dairy toppings such as ice cream or whip cream may be added to the top of the pie.
If it needs refrigeration, we cannot accept it.
Pie crusts and filling must be homemade.

This contest is for amateur bakers only.

Pies must be turned in to the Dover Public Library by 9:30 AM on Saturday, August 22. For more information, please call the library at 330-343-6123.

One Book, One Community 2015

This entry was posted in Adult Services on July 23, 2015 by admin

This year the Tuscarawas County Literacy Coalition and all the libraries in the county are please to announce that Jay Asher’s bestselling book Thirteen Reasons Why has been selected as this year’s community reading title. The One Book, One Community Project is a grassroots reading movement that aims to bring people together by giving them a shared experience! When we all read the same book, we all have something to talk about. The One Book, One Community’s goal is to break down the barriers between different groups of people to strengthen Tuscarawas County!

About Thirteen Reasons Why

When Clay Jenson plays the cassette tapes he received in a mysterious package, he’s surprised to hear the voice of dead classmate Hannah Baker. He’s one of 13 people who receive Hannah’s story, which details the circumstances that led to her suicide. Clay spends the rest of the day and long into the night listening to Hannah’s voice and going to the locations she wants him to visit. The text alternates, sometimes quickly, between Hannah’s voice (italicized) and Clay’s thoughts as he listens to her words, which illuminate betrayals and secrets that demonstrate the consequences of even small actions. Hannah, herself, is not free from guilt, her own inaction having played a part in an accidental auto death and a rape. The message about how we treat one another, although sometimes heavy, makes for compelling reading. Give this to fans of Gail Giles psychological thrillers.

Save the Date! Jay Asher will be coming to Tuscarawas County on Monday, October 12 at 7:00 PM at Kent State Tuscarawas. Asher will talk about his book and do a book signing. More details to come!

Annual Book Sale

This entry was posted in Adult Services on July 21, 2015 by admin

Attention book lovers! The Friends of the Library will hold their Annual Book Sale on Friday, August 14 from 9:00-6:00 PM and on Saturday, August 15 from 9:00-5:00. Thousands of books and other items will be available, including donated books, discarded library books, audiobooks, DVDs, & more. Items will be available for a donation to the Friends of the Library. For more information, please call the library at 330-343-6123.

An Evening with Wanda Brunstetter

This entry was posted in Adult Services on July 20, 2015 by admin

This is your chance to meet bestselling Christian fiction author Wanda Brunstetter! Hear a presentation, ask questions, and get a book signed! Wanda is the author of 50 books with more than 5 million copies sold and is considered one of the founders of the Amish fiction genre. Her work has earned national attention by Time Magazine, USA Today, and others. All of Wanda’s novels are based on personal research intended to accurately portray the Amish way of life. Many of her books are well-read by the Amish, who credit her for giving readers a deeper understanding of the people and their customs. Call the library at 330.343.6123 to register for this free program. For more about Wanda Brunstetter, click here.