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Library News and Events

Technology and Me: Online Security 

Featuring Aaron Windsor, Technology Instructor
Wednesday, March 27 at 6PM

The focus of this event is Online Security: Passwords, Phishing, and Safe Practices. Other topics that may be covered include:
  • How technology can improve the lives of those 55 and older,
  • Smartphones,
  • tablets,
  • apps,
  • Alexa
  • internet use,
  • magnification and reading aids,
  • health monitors and home safety,
  • staying connected.
Ask yourself: What inspired you to purchase your device? What kinds of problems have you encountered in regard to achieving any goals? At the event, Aaron will aim to help you overcome such barriers. This event sponsored by Lighthouse Center for Vision Loss and the Lloyd K. Johnson Foundation is free and open to the general public.
 


Winter Wednesdays

January 9 to March 27
Everything happens on Wednesdays starting at 6:00 PM.



It's back! The Winter Wednesdays Series offers free events to stimulate your mind and imagination all season long. Music, genealogy, technology support, making things, and more. Here's the line-up:
  • January 9: Enemy of the People with Grand Marais Playhouse. 
  • January 16: Completing Your Health Care Directive.
  • January 23: It Can't Happen Here with Grand Marais Playhouse.
  • Cancelled due to weather --- January 30: Tech Night for 55+--Smart Phone Use.
  • February 6: The Linklaters: People of the Border Lakes & Isle Royale, featuring Tim Cochrane.
  • February 13: Hot Reads for Cold Nights, featuring Terri Muhich.
  • February 20: 100 Days on the Road--Life as a Landscape Photographer, featuring Bryan Hansel.
  • February 27: Tech Night for 55+.
  • March 6: Walking the Old Road--Chippewa City & The Grand Marais Anishinaabeg featuring Staci Drouillard
  • March 13: What Is Spotted Wing Drosophila, featuring Diane Booth
  • March 20: Fast Friends at the Library
  • March 27: Tech Night for 55+
 

sign up to read with aspen

Aspen comes two Saturdays a month
11 AM - Noon
Call to sign up for a 20-minute slot: 218-387-1140



Who is Aspen? 
Aspen is a registered Pet Partners Therapy Animal, who loves a good story and can hardly wait to hear your child read.

What is a Pet Partners Therapy Animal? 
For more than 40 years, Pet Partners has worked to connect people with the healing therapy of animals. Aspen has been specially trained in various areas, including helping kids who need help with their reading skills. Working with a therapy dog also teaches kids to love books and reading. These types of programs featuring the opportunity for kids to read to dogs has grown immensely in popularity, and it is now offered at Grand Marais Public Library.

How does it work? 
Parent (and child) call to sign up to read with Aspen and her teammate/handler Lisa Bauer for 20 minutes. Or, parents can show up at 11, and if there is a 20-minute opening available, they will be taken on a first-come, first-served basis.

Call 218-387-1140, or stop into the library to reserve 20 minutes on these dates:
  • January 12
  • January 26
  • February 9
  • February 23

Winter reading program: story times

Every Tuesday at 10:30 a.m.



The Winter Reading Program has begun, and that means story times each Tuesday at 10:30 through February 26. Kids of all ages and their caregivers are invited to join us for stories, songs, rhymes, and more.

The Winter Reading Program lasts through March 2. Reading logs are available now for ages 0 - 18. Library membership is not required to participate.
 

Wundrous Readers Society

Thursdays, 4PM - 5PM



Youths, join the Wundrous Readers Society! We meet on Thursdays from 4-5pm for hot cocoa (in official Wundrous Readers Society mugs), doodling, and reading aloud! We’ll be reading from Jessica Townsend’s middle-grade series Nevermoor.
We review the plot at the start of every gathering, so you'll be ready to jump into the story each week even if you've missed a night.
 

Highway 61 construction project


Watch this video for a detailed explanation of the construction phasing, staging and traffic control to impact Grand Marais over the next couple of years.



Coming soon: "Project Status" link. 

24-hour library services



 
Libby is an app that allows you to borrow ebooks and e-audiobooks with more ease than the Overdrive app it replaces. The collection continues to grow, and offers new titles every month.

Bookmyne is an app that allows you to manage your library account from an Android or iOS (Apple) device. Check due dates and renew items here. You'll need your library card number and pin (usually the last four digits of your telephone) to use Bookmyne. Highly recommended by library staff.
 
RB Digital is an app that allows you to borrow (and keep!) digital magazines. RB Digital works with Apple iOS, Android, and Kindle Fire devices. Get registered at arrowheadmn.rbdigital.com. Then, get the RB Digital app from your device's app store and enjoy.
 

online tech help videos

Try these!


Over 40 Tech Support videos offer short, straight-forward instructions on a variety of topics, including:

  • Copy and paste
  • Make a phone call from your GMAIL account--for free.
  • Attach a file to your email
  • Crop your photos

Fast Friends

Did you miss this event? 


Fast Friends will return in 2019. Ask to join the mailing list, or speak to Amanda to learn more about the event format. 

  • Saturday, January 19 from 11 AM - 1 PM
  • Wednesday, March 20 from 6 PM - 7:30 PM

Connect with Cook County community members in a comfortable, welcoming environment--your library. Fast Friends is a casual and upbeat social event for adults with facilitated quick, meaningful conversations between guests. Enjoy refreshments, compliments of the Library Friends of Cook County. Can't wait to meet you!

Readers' comments welcome

Did you love your latest read? Tell the next reader! 


Grand Marais Public Library is helping readers share their reading experience with others. A slip of paper inside the cover of a book invites readers to leave a brief comment for the next person who may pick up that book. Notes should be anonymous,

 and may include things that give subsequent readers feedback about your reading experience.
 
If a user finds a Grand Marais book that does not contain a slip, they may request one at the front desk. This effort supports goals in our 2018 strategic plan to build a sense of community and belonging.


 

New digital magazine collection

Available now.



Arrowhead Library System, in partnership with Recorded Books, is happy to announce the launch of the RBdigital eMagazine Collection. RBdigital eMagazines offers full-color, interactive digital magazines for anytime, anywhere reading on desktops, mobile devices, and apps. You can browse the collection of over 120 popular magazines with no holds, no checkout periods, and no limit to the number of magazines you can download.  

To create an account and start downloading eMagazines, please visit http://arrowheadmn.rbdigital.com/.   

Director Steve Harsin announces RB Digital on WTIP. Listen in:

 

would you like to try e-books and e-audios?




This free app, created by Overdrive, is now available! Check it out. Visit the library for one-on-one help getting started. We want this experience to be as exciting for you as it is for us.

For those of you using the Overdrive app: Libby is replacing the Overdrive app, which will be discontinued in the future. The benefit of switching to Libby is a streamlined experience, where you can read or listen to your library materials "in the app," rather than having to switch over to OverDrive Media Console, Amazon.com and Kindle App, etc. Still have questions? Please ask!

FIber Arts Guild donates cloth bags to library users


Grand Marais Public Library is grateful to receive 16 cloth bags handmade and donated by members of a Fiber Arts Guild interest group. Over the years, the library has received recycled plastic grocery bags from members of the community. These are provided to customers needing to cover books from precipitation or simply carry them home. Until the Guild donated cloth bags, we had no alternatives to offer. We are looking forward to receiving another donation of the beautiful, personal bags Guild members created.

Hear more from the Fiber Guild in this WTIP Roadhouse recording:


 

Do you accept book donations?




The library can accept excellent condition new books (published in 2017 or 2018) only. Why? Read more.

mail-a-book program for county residents

Listen to this short WTIP audio clip

County folks, we know it can be difficult to return books to Grand Marais Public Library on time. Did you know you can borrow paperback books and other materials from the Arrowhead Library System via u.s. mail free of charge?

The items come to your mailbox; you return them through your mailbox. The same is true for city residents in assisted living. ALS Executive Director Jim Weikum joins Tracy Benson on WTIP to explain:


 

Library gets a New strategic plan, mission, tagline

Winter 2017



With much help from the community, the Grand Marais Public Library completed a strategic planning process this year that will guide our actions for the next five years.

Our new mission is:
The Grand Marais Public Library increases knowledge, inspires creativity, removes barriers, and builds community across Cook County.

Our tagline is:
EXPLORE.  LEARN.  CREATE.  CONNECT.

Our priority goals are:
  1. The community will increase understanding and appreciation of the full range of human diversity.
  2. The community will have increased knowledge and utilization of library resources and programs throughout the county.
  3. People will enjoy a comfortable environment that gives them a sense of community belonging.
  4. Young children will develop a love of reading and improve their literacy.
We invite you to review the Strategic Plan for more information.

The library gets 5 stars 11 years in a row

Grand Marais Public Library is pleased to announce it has once again achieved a 5 star ranking in the annual Library Journal Star Libraries standings. Last year, when Grand Marais was ranked a 5 star library for 10 years running, it was one of only 13 libraries in the nation to do so  Visit the Library Journal website to read more.