Happy New Year! As you might know there have been many changes for the Library this year (and we are only 20 days into the year). We had the bad news about the state cutting our funding, having to reduce our hours and the loss of two of our staff members. Rest assured, the remaining staff and the Board of Trustees are working hard to keep the library going.

One thing that you can do to help is to take one of the two surveys (adult or teen) posted on our homepage. These surveys help us out tremendously when it comes to the programs we plan, the types of materials we buy and things we do to make the library a better experience for everyone.

Another great thing is that we are now on Facebook! Check it out for updates on materials bought, programs and other important things.

Now for a few reviews... "My Life in Ruins" was a great movie. If you loved "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" then you will love this movie. A travel guide on a four day trip around Greece finds love and fun. "Away We Go" is about a couple who, after finding out his parents are moving abroad a month before the baby is born, set out to find a new place to live that would be close to either family or friends. It was a really good movie and one of the bonus features discussed how the cast and crew created a greener set.

I recently read a book that will shortly be released as a movie. "Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief" is a story written by Rick Riordan. The book deals with a young man, Percy Jackson, as he discovers he is the son of a Greek God (won't tell you which one...read the book). He is sent on a quest to find Zeus's lightning bolt and the person (or God) responsible for stealing it. Along the way he battles many foes that come right out of Greek Mythology. It is a great book, fast paced, never dull and there are four more books in the series. I'm off to read the second book, "The Sea of Monsters."

Afternoon All: Look the sun is currently shining. Yeah the rain has stopped.
Any way I have a review of the new Stephanie Plum book that just came out yesterday and yes I already finished it.

Finger Licking Fifteen...what can I say...it's in true Stephanie Plum style. I won't give you the story because I don't want to spoil it for those of you who haven't read it. Stephanie has relationship problems, car problems, and FTAs that she just can't seem to get her hands on...which is nothing new in the world of Stephanie Plum. I nearly had tears coming out of my eyes as I read this book. So I highly recommend this book and the rest of the series to anyone who enjoys a good laugh and a good crime/mystery story.


For those of you who have never read Stephanie Plum...let me give you a brief synopsis of the story. Stephanie is an umemployed Jersey girl who convinces her cousin Vinnie to hire her as his newest bounty hunter. She is helped by her friend and former prostitute, Lula, and Ranger, a drop dead gorgeous and mysterious fellow bounty hunter. Her man problems don't just stop with Ranger, she has an on again off again relationship with georgeous Trenton Cop Joe Morelli. Stephanie has a colorful family...especially her Grandma Mazur (who carrys a gun and has a habit of getting into trouble).

There is more than just the regular series, there is the spin off series...the in between numbers as they are called. These all deal with the holidays. Currently there are four ("Visions of Sugar Plums", " Plum Lovin' ", " Plum Lucky" , and "Plum Spooky." These books really don't tie into the regular series but it helps to read them. The stories further Stephanie's man problems with the introduction of, Diesel, a man with special powers (and I don't just mean his good looks). He is what Janet Evanovich calls an Unmentionable. He asks for Stephanie's help locating other Unmentionables who are in trouble and those Unmentionables always resemble the holiday icon the book is dealing with (Santa Claus, Dracula, Aphrodite, Leprechauns).

All and all this is a great series, full of laughs, action and romance. Anyone interested can come on down and request them. Hint: The first on is called "One for the Dough."

Have a great day folks!

Morning All,

Well it's almost summer...but you wouldn't know that by the weather. And the summer means Summer Reading Program. It officially kicked off this week. And reminder, the theme is Be Creative @ your library. Remember kids, the more you read, the more tickets you can turn in and the more chances you have of winning the laptop at the end of the summer. And for a second year, the Berks County Public Libraries Friends Group has bought a second laptop just for the teens.


I decided to keep our coupon swap up permanently. It will be up Wednesdays through Sundays. I am going to take them down Mondays and Tuesdays so the coupons can be sorted through and the expired ones pulled.

Oh, I found a neat blog that I wanted to share with you all. This nice young lady came into the library yesterday and asked to take pictures of the library. I sat down with her and talked about the library and future of libraries. She is a recent graduate of library school and is currently on tour with her musician husband. She is visiting local libraries and talking to different librarians. Her blog is at the following address.... http://sojourntosomewhere.com.


DID YOU KNOW? The library has a scrap booking night. We get together monthly to scrapbook, converse and just have a great time. We are fortunate enough to have a representative from Creative Memories there to help us with any questions that come up. Also she sets up her merchandise for you to look through and buy. Our July date is July 24th and it starts at 6pm and usually ends at 10 but it has been known to go later than that.

Happy Tuesday Everyone! I just wanted to fill you all in on two important bills that the PA House and Senate would like to pass that would hurt our 2010 funding. The House would like to pass HB 1416 which would take about 6% of our state funding away and decrease the funding that goes to Access PA (which is where we get books from outside of Berks County and from all over the US) as well as Power Library (which is used for research). NOW for the really bad news...Senate Bill/Proposal 850. The PA Senate wants to take away HALF of our state funding, take away Access PA (By the way, the library does receive funding from Access PA) and take away other databases (Power Library, Ask Here PA just to name a few).
What does that mean in 2010 for your small town library? WELL.....it means that we would lost about a quarter of our budget. Without that money we would have to cut hours, cut staff, cut materials bought, cut programming! So......what I am asking of my loyal patrons is this...Write letters, send emails, visit your congress men in person, urge others to write. If you need to find your reps here is the web address to go to http://capwiz.com/paschoolfunding/home. This will not just affect public libraries but all school libraries as well. Thank you.

DID YOU KNOW?
We have a weekly story time for the little ones. Every Monday at 11am, our wonderful Assistant Director/Children's Programmer, Alicea, conducts the story time. She tells tales, sings songs and does crafts with the little ones. Then twice a month on a Thursday night (6:30pm) she or our Library Assistant, Megan, does either a story time or a make & take. Our Make & Takes usually revolve around a holiday that might be coming up.

Okay we are going to try this again with the blog and maybe I can keep with it. We're busy around the library these days getting ready for our Summer Reading Program. For those of you who have never heard about it, let me give you the cliff notes version. The Summer Reading Program is a 10 week program that is run nationally every year to get kids to continue to read and to improve their reading skills. Each state picks its own theme for the year. This year our theme is Be Creative @ our Library. We are going to be doing things with music, art, literature, etc. The Assistant Director/Children's programmer has lots of cool stuff lined up program wise. We also have tickets for the kids to fill out as they are reading. When they have filled a ticket, they bring it in for Creative Cash, which they can spend in our toy store. Then at the end of the summer, all the libraries in Berks County take their tickets and put them into a big barrel. Then one name is picked and the winning kid gets a brand new laptop.

Adult Program wise, we will be holding our first ever coupon swap on June 6th from 10am-2pm. So when your done with the Bernville Yard Sale, you can stop in for the swap. I haven't worked out the details yet but check back here for them soom.

The Board of trustees is looking for fresh faces this year to add to our board. Anyone interested should stop by the Third Monday of the month at 6pm and let them know your interested. We are looking for enthusiastic people.

Also, I want to try a new did you know about the library in each of my postings. This is just so you may learn something about the Bernville library you didn't know before. Okay, here is the first one....

"Did you know that we offer, once a month, a movie matinee." We have an 8 foot screen (so no squinting to see a small tv), a dvd player and projector. The admission is FREE and conveniently Redner's is downstairs so you can stop there to buy snacks before you stop in for the movie. I try to show family movies and 99% of the time they will be movies that have just come out on DVD.

Have a great evening folks and try to stay dry.