Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Tax Forms at the library


Did you know that in order to reduce costs the IRS will no longer be mailing tax forms and instructions to individuals? This change comes as an increasing number of taxpayers are filing their returns electronically. The Northfield Library has ordered basic forms and instructions from the IRS and the State of Minnesota. Those should be available in early January 2011. For special forms people can download at home (http://www.irs.gov/ or http://www.taxes.state.mn.us/) , use library internet computers (with their library card) or ask for assistance at the reference desk. The library charges 15 cents per page for printing.
The library is also developing a list of local tax assistance, free and paid.
Questions? Call the library at 645-6606

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Bringing Jon Home: The Wilderness Search for Jon Francis"


The Northfield Public Library will host David Francis, author of "Bringing Jon Home: the Wilderness Search for Jon Francis" on Thursday Oct. 21 at 7 P.M. in the library meeting room. Mr. Francis, formerly of Northfield, will speak about his family's search for their son Jon in the Idaho mountains in July 2006. The forward to the book was written by Patty Wetterling and she writes "This is an amazing story of love and commitment honoring the promise that we make to our children. I'll always be here for you. They did it. They brought Jon home." Mr. Francis will sign copies of his book after the talk. For more information or to make disability arrangements please call the library at 507-645-6606. For more information about the book and the Jon Francis Foundation go to:


Friday, September 10, 2010

Book Club in a Bag Kits are now available!































Good news! The Minnesota Book Award Book Club in A Bag Kits are available for checkout! Each kit includes 10 copies of a book, reader guides, and bookmarks in a handy canvas bag. Titles include winning books from the 2009 Minnesota Book Awards. Titles currently available include:

The Latehomecomer
The Plague of Doves
Hard Work and a Good Deal
The Compassionate Carnivore
National Monuments
Twelve Long Months
Stalking Susan

This project was funded in part or in whole with money from Minnesota's Arts & Cultural Heritage Fund.

To book a bag please see the librarian at the reference desk. For more information call the library at 645-6606.

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Hard Times Resources

The Reference Dept. at the Northfield Library has come up with a good list of local resources for people facing hard times due to the recession. The list is for resources in Northfield and Faribault and includes places to go if you are eating on a reduced or fixed income. Local food shelves are listed as well as places to go for a hot meal. Information on housing and health care is also in the list. We have added as much information as we can including hours and phone numbers. We will post this on our website as well as in the library. We will also distribute to many of the organizations listed in the guide. The Library has been a busy place in this recession. People use our resources every day because of unemployment or a reduced income. We hope this information will be useful. If you know someone who could use this information please share. Click here for the full guide

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Vintage Bands are Coming to the library!


The Northfield Library will host 2 of the Vintage Band Concerts this week.
On Thursday come hear the WindWorks Quintet at 2 P.M. This group will focus on woodwind quintet music as well as instrumental chamber music. The group hails from Northfield and the Twin Cities. On Saturday the Kentucky Baroque Trumpets will perform at 1:30 P.M. This group was founded in 2005 and in 2007 won the National Trumpet Competition in the Historic Ensemble Division. Along with the Baroque-era instruments, the ensemble also plays modern instruments, including all pitch trumpets and the corno da caccia.
Both concerts will be held upstairs at the library. For more information call the library at 507-645-6606 or visit the Vintage Band Festival website at http://www.vintagebandfestival.org

Thursday, July 29, 2010




Meet the Author!
Gayla Marty, author of Memory of Trees: a Daughter's Story of a Family Farm will be at the Northfield Public Library on Thursday, August 5, 2010 at 6:30 p.m. in the meeting room.
Memory of Tress is a muligenerational story of Gayla Marty's family farm near Rush City,
Minnesota. Cleared from woodlands by her great-grandfather Jacob in the 1880's, the farm passed to her father, Gordon, and his brother, Gaylon. Hewing to a conservative Swedish Baptist faith, the two brothers worked the farm, raising their families in side-by-side houses.
University of Minnesota Press.
St. Olaf Bookstore will be selling copies of the book.

Thursday, June 10, 2010

The New Books are Now Downstairs


Did you know that the new books are now downstairs? In an effort to make better use of our space we've moved a bunch of books around. The new books, fiction and nonfiction are now downstairs. Look for them in a convenient place right by the circulation desk.

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Food Preservation: What's New and Where to Find Credible Resources


Suzanne Driessen, University of Minnesota Extension Educator , will present a program on Wednesday June 9, 2010 from 2-3:30 P.M. at the Northfield Public Library on where you can find credible research-based food preservation information and tested recipes and methods that will enable you to preserve safe and wholesome foods for the home food preserver. This is a free program but registration is required. Please call the library at 645-6606 or stop by the reference desk.

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Ask us a question!!






There are lots of ways to ask us a question besides coming in to the library. If you go to our website at http://www.northfieldmn.info/ - click on "Ask a Librarian". You'll see 3 ways to contact a Northfield Library librarian and another way to contact a librarian somewhere in Minnesota anytime of day.

To contact a Northfield Librarian you can either:
* call us at 507-645-1802
*contact us by email using our webpage at http://www.ci.northfield.mn.us/library/askalibrarian
*or on that same webpage contact us via instant messaging on Meebo - Meebo is open when the library is open.

If you need help and it's after hours or on Sundays when we aren't open go to that same webpage again http://www.ci.northfield.mn.us/library/askalibrarian - scroll to the bottom of that page and look for the Askmn logo. Askmn is a 24/7 reference service available for library patrons in Minnesota anytime - day or night.











So, what are you waiting for? Ask us a question.

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

77 Million People Using Library Computers

According to a recent study conducted by the University of Washington Information School (funded by the Gates Foundaton and the Institute of Museum and Library Services), a third of Americans - about 77 million people - used public library computers to access the internet in 2009. Low-income adults are more likely to rely on the public library as their sole access to computers and the Internet than any other income group. And people across all age and ethnic groups use library computers.

The use of library technology had significant impact in four critical areas: employment, education, health, and making community connections. In the last 12 months:

* 40 % of library computer users received help with career needs
* 37% of users focused on health issues
* 42% received help with educational needs (among these 37% used their local library computer to do homework for a class)
* Library computers linked patrons to their government, communities, and civic organizations.

According to Marsha Semmel, acting director of the Institute of Museum and Library Services, "There is no ambiguity in these numbers. Millions of people see libraries as an essential tool to connect them to information, knowledge, and opportunities." "Policy makers must fully recognize and support the role libraries are playing in workforce development, education, health and wellness, and the delivery of government services."

Unfortunately, up to a third of all libraries say they lack even minimally adequate Internet connections to meet demand. According to Allan Golston, president of the United States Program at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, "Library technology services have created opportunity for millions of Americans, but public libraries struggle to replace aging computer workstations and increase the speed of their internet connections." "This study highlights what is at risk, particularly for low-income individuals who heavily rely on the public library for their technology, if future public and private investment in public libraries doesn't keep pace with demand."

To read the entire report go to: http://cis.washington.edu/usimpact/

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Small Garden. Big Impact. Big Fun!


Small space gardening is great gardening. No matter the size of your yard, you can create your own back and front yard paradise. Come meet Eric Johnson, small space gardener in Minneapolis, writer for Northern Gardener and graphic designer, at the Northfield Public Library on April 15 at 7 P.M. His talk will include vegetable gardening, water gardening, perennial flower gardening, and container gardening. You will discover how to get explosive color, outdoor living space and use artful accents - all on the small size. You won't ever want to leave your own yard. For more information or to make disability arrangements please call the library at 645-6606.

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Aquabrowser is here!!

















We have a new catalog! Here are a few tips for searching:

1. Your catalog search defaults to searching just the Northfield Library. If you can't find the title, author or subject you are looking for after searching in the white search box, expand your search to "All Selco Libraries" by clicking on "Northfield" underneath "Select Selco Library" - drag or scroll (if you can't see the scroll bar - click the word "Hide" on the left side of the screen to close the "cloud" - the scroll bar will become more visible) up to the top and look for "All Locations". Your search will expand to all Selco libraries.

2. Your search includes not only results from our catalog but also from our electronic resources such as Ebsco (which includes journal articles). click on "article database results" at the top of the page.
3. You can refine your search by clicking on various things on the right hand side of your results page - ie. narrow by format, author, date, subject, etc.
If you would like to meet with one of our librarians for a one on one session on how to use our new catalog please call 645-6606. Ask for the reference desk.

Monday, January 25, 2010

Are you in a book group?


Are you in a book group? Do you have to come up with new titles to suggest to your group? Well, I'm in a book group too and just recently had to come up with a title for my group. You would think this would be easy for me. I work surrounded by books and booklists and a staff that reads A LOT!! But it isn't easy. So, I thought I'd tell you where I go to look for books for my book group. The ideas I present aren't in any particular order - one not better than the other. No doubt some are places you go to all the time. Hopefully there will be some new ideas.

1. The Northfield Library catalog - did you read an author you liked? Try another title by the same author. Did you like a certain type of book? - you can look at the subject headings and see if you can find something else like it.

2. Readers Advisory books on reference here at the library - goodness, what is Reader's Advisory? Well, it's what we say in the biz about helping people find good books to read. We have lots of these kinds of tools. Are you really into nonfiction? We have a book called "The Readers' Advisory guide to Nonfiction" (2007) - you can look up books in all kinds of categories including food and cooking, travel, science, true crime and history.

3. Websites - oh my goodness, as you know there are so many. Some of my favorites are National Public Radio - http://www.npr.org/ - they have a section on books (under Arts and Life); of course Amazon is great w/ the readers reviews as well as published reviews from library journals like Booklist and Library Journal and also the NY times.

Don't forget authors have their own sites if you are trying to figure out the sequence of titles in a series or just other books they've written. Just google the author's name.

I also love to go to http://www.webrary.org/ - this is a Reader's website done by the Morton Grove Public Library (Illinois) - check out the Fiction L booklists under Reader's Corner - some of the best book lists around.
4. Library databases - we subscribe to several good tools to help you find a good book - Novelist, Booknews, Dearreader.com - all are available free with your library card - just go to www.northfieldmn.info and click on "Electronic Resources".
The only problem with all of this is how will you ever decide which book to choose? :)
Oh well, happy looking and happy reading.