Join us in December by visiting our StoryWalk: “Stickman” by Julia Donaldson and bringing your stick man to decorate our walk!
Stop by the library to get a craft kit to decorate your very own “stickman” to take along with you on our StoryWalk.
Otsego District Public Library
INNOVATE • INTERACT • INSPIRE
Join us in December by visiting our StoryWalk: “Stickman” by Julia Donaldson and bringing your stick man to decorate our walk!
Stop by the library to get a craft kit to decorate your very own “stickman” to take along with you on our StoryWalk.
We are VERY excited to announce a new upcoming collection at ODL: Rising Reader Activity Kits!
These are packs families will be able to check out that have phonics sets of books, games, flashcards, puzzles, and reading activities in them to help kids learn to read/improve their reading skills! The kits are based on the areas of vocabulary, phonics, comprehension, fluency, and phonemic awareness and are full of fun activities for families to do together. There will be multiple kits for preschool through third grade! Rising Reader Kits require parental supervision and are not for children under 3 due to choking hazards in some of the game pieces.
These kits were brought to us by the generous memorial donation of Albert Hoekstra.
The library roof was damaged in an April hailstorm, with over 1,000 holes! Since April, insurance has covered some very extensive repairs and complete replacement of the roof: the entire roof has been replaced by Division 7, some HVAC units have been replaced, while others were repaired, interior HVAC ventilation insulation has been repaired, the doorway in the teen room had been ruined and was repaired, the carpets were cleaned, interior ceiling tiles have been inspected and replaced.
In the end, 21 water damaged books were requested to be reimbursed for replacement. (It was very fortunate that the library’s interior contents were quickly wrapped in plastic following the damage to prevent any further damage to the library collection.) Between the library director and library’s maintenance man, over 80 staff hours have gone into facilitating and implementing repairs, which also were billed to insurance.
The work that remains is still daunting: the skylights are all damaged and need to be replaced. These skylights are structural and the quotes came in high. . All the skylights need to be custom cut and the work on these will cause a library service interruption. Other work to be done is replacement of the carpeting that did not come clean – in the back work space and Early Literacy Center, where water heavily came into the building, and cleaning of the leak from the skylight onto the roof of the Early Literacy Center.
We have been fortunate to work with a great roofing company (Division 7) and insurance company (Burnham and Flower) through this process and are thankful that the library roof is now solid and will protect our facility and collection for years to come.
UPDATES:
Updates will be posted below and on our Facebook page as they become available. Different sections of the library will be closed off as to accommodate repair access and safety. If materials wished to be checkout are not accessible we will reserve these items to be made available as soon as access returns.
December 3, 2020
The skylight repairs are beginning Monday, December 7! With the replacement of all of the skylight sections, they will have sections of our building closed and remove just one panel at a time. It is yet to be determined how much this will impact the temperature of our building on the days they are working, but it will definitely bring in lots of healthy fresh air during the install! Please dress accordingly and be aware of the not so silent library next week.
December 7, 2020
Today marks the beginning of our skylight install! Just a reminder that although the library will be open, some sections may be closed throughout the week and please dress warmly! We also ask that you do not walk into roped off areas. We will try to post daily what areas of the library are closed. Today they begin with the small skylight in the kid’s area.
Closed Sections:
• TV shows T-Z
• Teen Fiction S-Z
• Junior Graphic Novels S-Z
• Please enter the Juvenile and Teen sections from the back of the stacks.
December 8, 2020
Skylights on the install list are the two large southern panels. These are large and it will be chilly.Please enter these stacks from the back by walking around by the fireplace.
Closed Sections:
• Some of the Audiobooks
• History Room
• Adult Non-Fiction, Large Prints and Inspirational
December 9, 2020
Today’s skylight install are the two main center ones. Dress warmly and please do not enter roped-off areas. Please enter the Juvenile section from the back.
Closed Sections
• A few TV shows
• Teen Fiction R-S
• Junior Graphic Novels R – Z
December 10, 2020
The history room is closed today for replacement of the side wall skylights.
Would you like a library staff member to pick out books for you or your child?
Click on the Book Packs To-Go link that fits your request below and fill out a form. You can list your interests or genre’s you prefer and a staff member will choose up to 10 books that they feel you will enjoy.
Do you like a certain genre or want to learn about a certain subject? Does your child like dinosaurs, fairies, or any other subject? A staff member will choose books to match that subject. The library will put materials on hold for you. When you receive an email, you can pick up your Book Pack To-Go at our drive-through curbside window.
The library will have adjusted hours for the up and coming holiday. Please note that the week after Christmas the library skylights are being replaced and will be offering Drive-Thru Pickup ONLY services on those days.
Christmas December 24 – 26
CLOSED
December 28 – 31
CURBSIDE ONLY*
*This may change if skylight repairs finish early
New Year’s Eve December 31
CLOSING AT 3 PM
New Year’s Day January 1
CLOSED
Have a wonderful holiday with your family and friends!
The library will be closed for the holiday.
CLOSED: November 26 – 28
Have a wonderful, safe, and happy holiday with your family and friends!
STARTING MONDAY, SEP 28, we are expanding our service hours.
Building Open:
Monday – Friday 10 AM – 6 PM
Saturday 10 AM – 3 PM
Drive-Thru Window Available via Call-In:
Monday – Friday 10 AM – 6 PM
Saturday 10 AM – 3 PM (Window closed Noon-1 for lunch – building remains open at lunch)
The drive-thru holds pickup window will no longer be staffed continuously as we expand our service hours, but rather will switch over to a call-in model.
We will ask that patrons call the library from their cell phone when they arrive at the window. If you do not have a cell phone, you can call ahead from home before you leave for the library and schedule a pickup time.
If you do not have a cell phone and were not able to call ahead from home, there will also be a doorbell at the window that can be rung and staff will come to get your items. Calling us from the window or calling ahead is the easiest for staff and quickest for you because the staff can grab your items when you call and come to the window with them.
Holds can also now be picked up at the circulation desk inside the building.
We are very excited to offer a great new service this winter called Hoopla! Hoopla is a digital media service that allows you to borrow movies, music, audiobooks, ebooks, comics, and TV shows to enjoy on your computer, tablet, or phone!
There are no holds and multiple users can use the same title at the same time!! With no waiting, titles can be streamed immediately, or downloaded to phones or tablets for offline enjoyment later. There are hundreds of thousands of titles to choose from, with more being added daily. If you hear patrons complaining about the wait on holds on Overdrive, Hoopla is a supplemental service you can suggest! If you know a child who loves graphic novels or comics, Hoopla offers many digital comics! It also adds music and movie digital service to our resources here at ODL.
With hoopla, we will have immediate access to:
ALL of this content will be available to our patrons in one all-inclusive mobile app or website. The platform is simple, intuitive and free to our patrons. BEST OF ALL? There is NO WAITING for titles, the collection contains half a million titles and is growing every day!
Here are some other great features of hoopla:
IMPORTANT INFO REGARDING ODL HOOPLA USE:
Web or Mobile
You can stream titles instantly through your desktop browser or our mobile app. If you use our mobile app, you can also download titles to your device for offline playback later, where Wi-Fi may be unavailable. Titles are automatically returned and removed from your device at the end of the lending period. Hoopla can be accessed on your computer at hoopladigital.com or downloaded directly to your mobile device.
Expanded Service Hours Coming Soon – September 28!
The Otsego District Library Staff would like to thank you for all the positive encouragement in the past several months as the library has navigated the unprecedented process of reopening to the public during the Covid Pandemic. We have heard many great things about our drive-up window, and others are happy to be utilizing the building again since mid-July. We hope you will use the library in whichever way you feel safest.
As a public space we cannot guarantee all surfaces are sanitized at all times, but our staff does continue to work to sanitize throughout the day, especially in high touch point areas and the computers in between uses. We appreciate the community’s willingness to use the library while wearing a mask, social distancing, using good hygiene when visiting the library, and not coming to the library sick. We would like to thank you, we have had very few issues so far and we appreciate that!
We currently continue to quarantine items upon return. When you put your returns in the outdoor book drop, they are sent to the program room where they remain for a week before being checked in and re-shelved into the collection.
Today we have **exciting** news to announce. We will be expanding our service hours to 10-6 on Mondays-Fridays, 10-3 Saturdays, starting Monday, September 28, for both the building and the drive-up window. This adds an additional 4 hours of access to both the window and the facility on every weekday. The change starting Sep. 28 with the drive-up window will be that the window will transition to a call-in model. (You will call the library when you arrive at the window). At this time, our study rooms and Michigan History Room will also be available for public use by request and sanitized between uses. Building capacity limits will stay in place and the Friends Bookstore, Teen Room, and Early Literacy Center will stay temporarily closed.
We hope you had a chance to check out our Fall Newsletter https://otsegolibrary.org/newsletter/ and all the creative new services and virtual programs we are offering. A popular new service is our Book Packs to Go! https://otsegolibrary.org/bookpacks/ We are also eagerly preparing Rising Reader Activity Kits (thanks in part to the memorial donation of Albert Hoekstra!) for parents to work with their children on vital literacy skills – keep an eye out for those to start appearing later this fall and early winter in the children’s area! Our awesome staff continues to think of creative and adaptive ways to serve you at this time.
We hope you will remember your library is **Here For You!**
Have a great weekend!
Andrea Estelle, Library Director
Otsego District Library
We are excited to offer in addition to our OverDrive service called Libby, that should make eBook and eAudio use quicker, more enjoyable, and less complicated. Libby has been designed to make first time mobile use of our OverDrive collection simple, with added features over the OverDrive app that would be of benefit to existing customers.
Some of the benefits of using Libby are:
Libby will not be replacing the OverDrive app at this time but if you are a user of our existing OverDrive app, please feel free to continue using it. Libby does not currently support Recommend to Library or multilingual interfaces, but these features will continue to be accessible through the OverDrive app. Kindle format is not currently supported outside of US libraries.
Download Libby or visit libbyapp.com to get started.
In early 2023, the OverDrive app will be discontinued. We encourage you to make the switch to Libby, our newer reading app. Libby is made by the same people, with the same goal of connecting you to your library and to your favorite books, audiobooks, and magazines. Overdrive is the world’s leading provider of digital content to libraries and schools. We work with 36,000+ library and school partners around the world to offer their users 24/7 access to eBooks, digital audiobooks and streaming video.
If you’d rather not use an app on your mobile device then you can still read eBooks, listen to audiobooks, and watch video by visiting the Southwest Michigan Digital Website website on your computer.
Find out more about the switch and how to use Libby HERE.
Drive-Thru Closed 12-1 for lunch on Saturdays.
PLEASE NOTE:
Call the library at the Drive-Thru Pickup Window or ring the doorbell for reserve pickup service.