Monthly Archives: July 2021

Changes Coming this Fall

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Can you believe we are looking at the coming of fall?  There is talk of kids going back to school, of football games starting up again, and of course Fair Week in September.  Change is a part of life and here at the library you will see some changes beginning in September.  First, our public hours will be changing slightly.  If you recall, library hours were changed due to the pandemic and we are excited to extend evening hours during the week–specifically for students needing our facility and resources for school work.  We will also be extending our hours on Saturday and shortening them slightly on Friday to make things more consistent.  Beginning in September, our new public hours will be: Monday-Thursday from 9:00 AM to 7:00 PM; Friday & Saturday from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM. 


Another major change you will see in September is the return of limited overdue fines for certain types of materials at $.10/day.  If you recall, the library went fine-free in 2020 due to the pandemic. The reasons for the return to limited overdue fines are twofold. First, prior to the pandemic, overdue fines made up over $20,000 of our operating budget.  This was money we could count on each and every year.   That translates into new books and movies for the library and services and programs for the community.  Frankly, overdue fine revenue will help us buy more new books, movies, and other materials.  Second, overdue fines will only be placed on new adult materials, Interlibrary Loan materials, and mobile hotspots.  There will be no fines on children’s library cards, nor fines on older items in the adult, teen, and children’s collections.  As you well know, there is great demand for the latest and greatest titles–especially with bestselling authors or Hollywood blockbuster films.  This will encourage borrowers to return new items promptly so they are available–at no cost, of course–for the next patron. 


Change is not always fun so please let me know if you have any questions about the changes coming in September.  The library remains committed to providing as many materials, resources, services, and programs as possible to the community at no cost..  Please know that any revenue from our limited overdue fines will be reinvested into the library so that we can continue to offer a plentiful, strong, and diverse collection for the community. Thank you and have a good rest of your summer!


– Jim Gill, Director 

Summer Reading Challenge Accepted – by 516 Kids This Year!

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Summer is zooming past us like it does every year.  It seems like as soon as we get into the swing of things it’s time for back to school, pumpkins and Christmas trees.

We have been super busy in the Children’s Department with the Summer Reading Program and awesome summer events.  We have hit a new record this summer with 516 kids signed up so far for the Super Heroes, Super Readers Summer Reading Program. 

The Summer Reading Program will be coming to an end on July 31, and kids have been reading and turning in their prize tickets like crazy!  It is great to see such a great response and excitement for reading!  What an accomplishment for these children to complete the Summer Reading Program challenge of reading 600 minutes!

It has also been a treat to see them at all of our summer events here at the Library. This week we had a Local superhero meet and greet with Storytime on Wednesday at 10:30 AM and next week will finish our programs with a comic book instruction class.  The class will be held on Wednesday July 28 and will be led by Unbound comic creator Doug Laubacher.  You can find this comic featured in The Bargain Hunter. 

Local Heroes wish our Local Olympian Hunter Armstrong Good Luck at Wednesday’s Story Time

It’s been a great summer so far, and we are looking forward to an awesome fall!

-Jen Gardner, Children’s Department Manager

Perplexing, Confusing, Brain-Stumping… Puzzles!

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Puzzles were created in the 18th century by John Spilsbury. The old term for jigsaw puzzles was called “Dissected Maps”. When he first designed this tool, he made a map of Europe into pieces This helped children learn geography! 

To this day, millions of people play puzzles. Studies show that puzzles help work left brain and right brain coordination. This makes puzzles great for children with autism to build fine motor skills.

Puzzle Facts: 

  1. Deepika Ravichandran holds the World Record for completing a 250 piece puzzle in 13 minutes and 7 seconds!
  2. The world’s most difficult puzzle is printed on both sides! It is a picture of Dalmations!
  3. Enigmatology is the study of puzzles
  4. In the U.S., 1.8 billion jigsaw puzzles are sold annually.

So why not give your brain some exercise and complete a puzzle! They are a fun group activity and you can even glue it together and frame it!

In the meantime, stop by the adult department and look at my collection of vintage wooden puzzles including: Sesame Street characters, Humpty Dumpty and even Snoopy!

– Ellen Lint, Library Assistant

5-Star Super Reads from our Super Readers

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This year’s Summer Reading Program, Super Heroes, Super Readers, is going, well, SUPER! We have had over 500 registered participants of all ages take part in our reading challenges for chances to win fabulous prizes.

The Adult Summer Reading Challenge is to read and rate books then turn in the ratings back to the library to share with fellow patrons. We’re collecting these ratings in a notebook that you can view at the library to find your next read.

Here are some highlights that have received five-star ratings from other readers. Maybe one of these is your next beach read!

  1. Devoted by Dean Koontz
  2. Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline
  3. Things You Save in a Fire by Katherine Center
  4. Warm Nights in Magnolia Bay by Babette De Jongh
  5. In a Book Club Far Away by Tif Marcelo
  6. Past Tense by Lee Child
  7. Missing and Endangered by J.A. Jance
  8. Grateful American by Gary Sinise
  9. Take a Chance on Me by Susan May Warren
  10. Golden Girl by Elin Hilderbrand

– Liz Strauss & Paula Fawcett

Plastic Caps to Plastic Benches

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On behalf of the library, I wanted to say thank you to the community for their overwhelming support of our plastic bench project. 

If you are not aware, the library began a partnership and a journey with an organization called the ABC Promise Partnership in the fall of 2020 with the aim of collecting plastic caps and lids which ultimately will be melted down and extruded into benches made of the recycled material.  If you did not know, the plastic that makes up caps and lids cannot be recycled with your average recyclable plastic. These plastic caps and lids would simply be discarded in the landfill. The ABC Promise Partnership strives to repurpose this plastic into something positive and useful in the community. 

For months and months we have been blessed with donations from the community. The donated caps and lids were sorted and weighed by volunteers (thank you Interact Club at Dover High School, library staff, and community volunteers!) and transported to a plastics factory in Indiana. 

At this time we have three benches made up of the donated caps and lids.  I wanted to say thank you to the sponsors who made the financial commitment to make this project a reality.

Starting with Dover Rotary and the Dover Exchange Club and expanding into donations from private individuals who care about leaving the world a better place, we were able to secure funding for five benches which will be placed on library grounds and throughout the community.

This project was a perfect example of how a group of people with a shared vision and a shared passion can transform something negative into something beautiful and sustaining. 

Thank you T-Valley!

-Jim Gill, Director