With help from Western New Mexico University and Power New Mexico, the Lordsburg Hidalgo Library had added five new public access computers, as well as a printer and scanner, where previously they had only one, for the ~5,000 residents they serve.
You can read the full article here: http://www.scsun-news.com/story/news/2016/03/25/lordsburg-library-receives-computers-printer-public/82281688/
The Silver City Sun-News reports that the public library is getting some new robots for the WildWorks youth hangout, thanks to s mini-grant from the New Mexico State Library.
“Up to this point we have used Lego Mindstorms robot kits and free game-building software from MIT to learn computer programming concepts at WildWorks,” said [programming and outreach librarian, Lillian] Galloway. “The addition of Cubelets and Sphero robots increases our opportunities to learn about coding and computer logic.”
Read the rest here: http://www.scsun-news.com/story/news/2016/03/23/silver-city-public-library-adds-robots-wildworks/82186692/
Alamogordo Daily News has a nice article about the city’s public library, which will be celebrating it’s 116th anniversary this weekend.
“The Alamogordo Public Library’s birthday celebration will be held from 1 to 3 p.m. on March 19 inside the library, 920 Oregon Ave. For more information, contact the Friends of the Library at 491-7910.”
The library opened March 1, 1900.
The new library has won several design awards.
Albuquerque Business First reports that the ABC Library @ Central and Unser will receive the 2016 Jeff Harnar Award for Contemporary Architecture in New Mexico, an award hosted by the University of New Mexico. The project is the first new city library built in Albuquerque in 17 years, and was designed to be a community landmark, UNM says. The submitting architecture firm, RMKM Architecture, will receive a $10,000 prize.
Governor Martinez does Storytime! (Dean Hanson/Albuquerque Journal)
Gov. Susana Martinez kicked of the 2015 Summer Reading Program in New Mexico’s libraries with a storytime at Albuquerque’s new Central & Unser Library.
“I’ve never been in a library that is this awesome,” Martinez told the children. “And it belongs to you!”
“During the summer break, sometime some kids don’t pick up a book,” she explained to reporters. “We’re trying to encourage them: ‘pick up a book everyday, read at least half an hour, enjoy it, get books that you like…”
Read the full story and watch the Governor speak at ABQJournal.com.
Kathleen Moeller-Peiffer will be New Mexico’s next State Librarian.
Ms. Moeller-Peiffer brings 37 years of experience in Library and Information Science, most recently serving as New Jersey’s Deputy State Librarian for Lifelong Learning. She has spent the past 11 years at the New Jersey State Library in programming, management, administration, and budgeting for 300 public libraries.
“I am eager to assume the role of director of the New Mexico State Library,” Moeller-Peiffer said. “I understand the complexity of a State Library administrative agency and look forward to making the very best library services available to the residents of New Mexico. My hope for the immediate future is to meet with library associations, organizations, and individual library leaders throughout New Mexico to understand both the successes and challenges of delivering library service in our state. I also want the New Mexico State Library to be in a leadership role for public libraries in terms of ‘best practices’ in library and information services,” Moeller-Peiffer said.
She will be begin her new role in early June.
More information from the NM State Library
Staff have been hearing and seeing things, prompting the Las Cruces Sun-News to ask the question: Do spirits linger in the stacks of Branigan Library in Las Cruces?
“Do ghosts read? I don’t know. But there may be attachments to a favorite book and emotions that go with it: loss and love. People love their books. And some spirits might go with a book when it’s checked out, and come back when it’s checked in,” Turner opines.
Well, that is certainly something to think about next time you’re browsing the shelves at the library.
Farmington’s Daily-Times reports that 16 year old artist Ashley Parker of Aztec, NM, recently won a national poster competition for Lights On Afterschool, a nationwide event started in 1999 “that provides youth an opportunity to showcase talents they learned during after-school programs.
For Ashley Parker, that program was Farmington Public Library’s Blended Zine, a magazine created for and by teens of San Juan County. She’s been contributing art to the magazine for the past two years, mostly Sharpie drawings.
This year’s Lights On Afterschool celebration is October 23rd, and Ashley will be at the Farmington Public Library from 4-5pm signing the posters that she designed.
Aztec artist Ashley Parker at the Farmington Public Library signing the poster she designed.
The Los Alamos Daily Post shared this picture of toddlers dancing at the Mesa Public Library in Los Alamos to celebrate the building’s 20th birthday. According to the paper, when the library made its move to the new building in 1994, children used little red wagons to help move books from the old location to the new.
The dancing is part of the Music & Movement program for kids ages birth to 5, held several times a week at the library.
Senator William Soules (D-37-Dona Ana) has been selected to receive the 2014 New Mexico Library Association’s Legislator of the Year Award for demonstrating “leadership in the advancement of libraries throughout the state…especially for his efforts on behalf of the public schools and libraries in his area.”
Sen. Soules will be recognized and awarded at a Heroes, Un-Masked dinner during this year’s New Mexico Library Association annual conference in the fall. An awards dinner will be held on Thursday, October 23 from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the Inn of the Mountain Gods Resort & Casino, Mescalero Ballroom, in Ruidoso.
“Receiving this award is an honor and I feel truly humbled to be recognized for the work I’ve done in the name of education. As an educator, it always makes me feel good to be appreciated in this field, and even better to know I’ve actually made a difference,” Sen. Soules said.
“I cannot wait to attend the dinner and extend my deepest thanks for this award. My hope is that my work will continue to benefit libraries around my district and throughout the state, and to continue to encourage New Mexicans to utilize and cherish the libraries in their communities,” Sen. Soules added.