Operation Reading Road Trip

Library #37 Central Library; Mission Accomplished!

2011-06-23T19:34:00.011-04:00

On Tuesday, June 21, we visited the Buffalo and Erie County Central Library in downtown Buffalo, thus completing our goal of visiting all 37 branches within a year of our start date of June 25, 2010. It was a great visit! We were met by several library officials including Joy Testa, the PR person, and Maureen McLaughlin and her team of librarians. It was great to be so graciously welcomed. Within a few minutes of our arrival, newly appointed Library System Director, Mary Jean Jakubowski, temporarily left her meeting to greet us at the door. The staff was gracious and welcoming with children's librarians, Kerri Allessi and Kathy Goodrich, taking us on a tour of this beautiful, giant library (holding 2.5 million books!). On this tour we saw the Mark Twain Room, marking the time he lived in Buffalo and displaying some of the pages of the original manuscript of Huckleberry Finn owned by the library. It was a neat room and also contained a chair belonging to Mr. Clemmens and the original fireplace mantle from the home he occupied while in Buffalo. We also found a card catalog and of course, we had to learn how books used to be found before computerized card catalogs.

The highlight for us was entering the "Staff Only" freight elevator to descend into the closed stacks; a vast collection of non-circulatining books held off the main floor. We completed our tour in the children's section of the library where the girls saw nearly every book they have ever wanted to read!!!

Following our tour and our million questions, we left for a great dinner at the Washinton Street Market. The staff was polite and welcoming, providing us with a great meal and some extra chocolate chip cookies too!

We plan to enter a few more blog entries citing our lessons learned from Operation Reading Road Trip as soon as we can. We have been invited back to the Central Library next week for some final thoughts and comments.

Library #36 City of Tonawanda Branch

2011-06-12T11:30:00.007-04:00

What a great cozy library with a pleasant staff. There were lots of people here on a Thursday evening. Mom and the girls relaxed and read, while Dad and Sookie waited outside. The shape of the library with a giant skylight dome in the center let in lots of natural light. There were lots of carousel decorations to reflect the history of the area.

Afterward we went down to the River and Niawanda Park where Grandma and Grandpa met us for ice cream at Old Man River. The Niagara River was flowing by in the background. There was a zydeco band playing cool music while we ate. What a nice spot on a beautiful early summer evening.

LIbrary #35 Kenilworth

2011-06-04T13:53:00.008-04:00

Wow, would we love to live here! This library is right in the middle of a cute, quiet neighborhood- there were houses right next door! It is small but very well stocked and organized. We were relaxed and read for an hour or so. Before we knew it it was 8:00 and they were closing!

Paula's Donuts was our next stop. It was National Donut Day, so what better place to go and celebrate? MaryGrace chose the Donut of the Day which was a Glazed Red Velvet (yum!) Anna had a Classic Glazed, and mom and dad split an Angel Cream. Delish!

Great way to spend a family evening.

Library #34 West Seneca

2011-06-02T20:43:00.006-04:00

Today we dropped down to West Seneca to visit their cool library and check out the Charles Burchfield Nature Preserve. The long library had interior brick walls which made it feel very cozy. It also had a lot of natural light from the big windows at the end. There were a lot of fun places to sit and read.

We all (even Sookie!) had a fun time hiking around the Burchfield Nature Preserve. What a beautiful and peaceful spot! We hiked several trails and admired the flowers starting to bloom. And it didn't even rain- woo hoo! We skipped a few stones across creek and then played a bit on playground. Another great day!

Library #33 Grand Island

2011-06-02T20:30:00.005-04:00

Last Saturday we trekked across the big blue bridge to Grand Island. What a nice trip. The library was clean and cozy. Even after all these libraries the girls always manage to find something new the shelves! Anna found the 8th book in the Sisters Grimm series she has been looking and waiting for and was excited.

After the library we stopped at Kelly's Country Store for some penny candy. There were LOTS to choose from! The rest of the store reminded us of Viddler's- there was a little bit of everything.

Finally, a roast beef sandwich outside at Adrienne's topped off a great library adventure.

Library #32 Eggertsville Branch (Amherst)

2011-04-23T19:25:00.006-04:00

The Eggertsville branch is the first library the girls ever went to! We used to live in this neighborhood. When the girls were toddlers we would walk to this library, park the stroller in the hallway and sit and read --it was very fun to be back!

This library was busy on a Saturday morning. We especially liked the Bill Nye DVD set on the children's shelf. We sat and read for an hour even though our plan was to get to the Tonawanda branch as well. The librarian was very helpful and the people were friendly. Great spot!

On the way home we stopped at DiCamillo's Bakery on Main St. for a rye and cross bread for Easter. Then we were off to church to get our basket of Easter foods blessed.

Only 5 more to go!

Libraries # 29, 30 and 31; Eden, Concord and North Collins

2011-04-19T09:32:00.013-04:00

In honor of the Sabres quest for the Stanley Cup we performed our second library hat trick!

First we went to the Kazoo Factory in Eden. What a great spot- Karen and her granddaughter were enthusiastic tour guides! They showed us a cool map of the USA with hundreds of pins in all of the 50 states to show where visitors have come from. There were also dozens of notes from people who have come from all around the world! Anna and MaryGrace make their own

Kazoos using a machine that was almost 100 years old. The factory runs several days a week with help from disabled employees from SASI.
The Eden library has abeautiful curved, wooden ceiling. It is cozy and very well organized. The girls loved the way the children's series books were sorted in plastic bins. Al knew the librarian, Joyce, who used to be the librarian at the Orchard Park branch. She told us that the Eden Library was built largely with community support.
Then we were off to North Collins. This library had a neat kids section with some stadium seating for special readings. It was quiet and very relaxing.

The Concord library was small and very busy with lots of homey touches. There was an aquarium that was recently donated by a friend of the library, a stuffed owl for Harry Potter fans and lots of paintings done by local artists. We were told that every Wednesday there is a big flea market with a livestock auction- we'll have to come back for that!

Library #28 Dudley Branch, City of Buffalo

2011-04-19T09:22:00.008-04:00

Since our family is half Polish, part of our Easter tradition is to visit the Broadway Market. We arrived early to beat the crowds and get our palczek, chrusciki, pussywillows, painted eggs, and some chocolote covered Peeps! It was a fun time and a great Buffalo tradition. After the market, we drove to the Dudley Branch in South Buffalo. This small library was very busy this Monday just before lunch time. We liked the community room, section of books about Buffalo history, and the DVDs organized with a non fiction section. Nice stop and nice day!

Library #27 Kenmore Branch

2011-03-27T14:06:00.004-04:00

The Kenmore Branch on Delaware Road is in a nice neighborhood of beautiful old houses and Kenmore West High School. This place was very busy on the Saturday afternoon we visited. The girls scoured the shelves for fantasy books and Dan Gutman stories, and we ran into an old friend and her son while there! Nice library visit on a cold March afternoon.

Library #26 Audubon

2011-03-19T22:22:00.010-04:00

The Audubon Library Branch is one of the Amherst Branches. We had lots of schoolwork to do, so we ended up working and reading here for three hours on Saturday! The girls had no problem staying busy while Mom and Dad worked. It is a spacious building that has the feel of a college library. There is a nice lounge area in the back with a big bank of windows to look out while working on your laptop or reading a book. There is a good selection of dvds and a loaded children's section. Helpful staff helped us use a laptop. We had a great time at this library. It is a perfect place to get some work done!

Florida Library!

2011-03-19T22:20:00.007-04:00

While on vacation, why not visit a library? On our vacation in Fort Pierce, Florida we visited the downtown Fort Pierce Library branch. What a friendly staff and fun library! This library had a nice collection of books by local authors and a great children's section. Our favorite was the upstairs reading area with a view of the ocean! Great visit. If we get back to Fort Pierce next year, we will return.

Library #24 and #25 The Reinsteins, Anna and Julia

2011-02-10T18:02:00.007-05:00

It ended up being a very snowy day when we visited these two Cheektowaga branches. Both have the name of Reinstien, Anna and Julia. We visited the Anna Reinstein Library first. Right on Harlem Road next to Cheektowaga Town Park, this library was very busy. The library had a great children's section, and excellent dvd selection. It also had a nice extra room for quiet reading that housed the magazines and newspapers.

We then went to Steglemeir Park to feed the nuthatches and squirrels. When Anna was little, we used to live near the park and would take lots of long nature walks there. If you are patient and still, the nuthatches will hop down and eat peanuts right out of your hand! But the snow was coming down so hard that there were no nuthatches to be seen. We were the only ones in the park to enjoy the big, fluffy snowflakes. It was quiet and cold.

The Julia Reinstein Library was a cool octagonal shaped library. It was also busy on this snowy afternoon. We read and searched around for almost an hour. This library is an easy place to relax and lose track of time. It was comfortable. On the way home, we stopped at Duff's and had some great wings. We saw the newspapers clippings and photos from when President Obama came to visit last fall. Another great adventure!

Library #23 Elma Library

2010-12-30T08:33:00.005-05:00

We arrived at the Elma Library after a few hours of sledding at Elma Meadows County Park. This was a blast! The hills were separated into 5 and under, 5 to 8 year olds, and then larger hills for everyone else. There was also a special hill for snowboarders. There were plastic toboggans and snowtubes flying everywhere! The girls had a great time. When we needed to warm up, we went inside the lodge and sipped hot chocolate by the huge fireplace.
The library was great. The staff librarians were friendly and proud of their library. We saw a new community room, still fresh with the smell of paint and almost ready for programing to begin in there in a few weeks. The end of the library featured a very old tree living inside a tall skylight type window. We found lots of books to keep us busy over the rest of the holiday vacation and long car rides coming up.

Library #22 Marilla Free Library

2010-12-30T08:27:00.007-05:00

On a cold winter's day we visited two libraries: Marilla and Elma (described in our next post). Just down Transit Road to Bullis, Marilla has the feel of a rural community, only minutes from our city. We were happy to arrive at this cozy library, with built in furniture and warm paneling on such a cold day. The friendly staff pointed out that the library began by a couple that had a book club requiring members to purchase a book that would later be lent out, thus beginning the library concept for Marilla over 100 years ago. The library has a placque commemorating its being built during the Depression Era, by the Emergency Relief Agency in 1936.

After our library visit we walked down to the four corners to the very quaint Marilla Country Store. It felt a lot like Viddler's in East Aurora- they had a little bit of everything. There was a small museum upstairs with different antiques from the town.

Then we went sledding at Elma Meadows and visited the Elma Library.

(sorry for the lack of photos, we currently cannot find our camera after this trip!)

Library #21 Lackawanna

2010-12-19T21:36:00.009-05:00

The Lacakawanna Public Library is a great library! Opened in 1922, it is the last Carnegie Library approved by Carnegie himself. Inside this beautiful building are several rooms all spread around the second floor. The rooms felt so homey because they each had a fireplace! One room even had a cafe- to enjoy your book with a coffee or hot chocolate! In the basement of the library is the Steel Museum where we found Mike, whose knowledge and enthusiasm for Buffalo's steel history is catchy. He gave us a tour of the small museum and answered all of our quesitons. He told us that the Steel Museum and the Rail Society will combine soon to open a large museum in South Buffalo, possibly as early as this Spring. We learned a lot here!
After the library visit, we headed to the Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens to see the pointsettia show. It did not disappoint! It is a great place to ease the chill of a cold snowy day in Buffalo. We strolled through a Panamanian Rain Forrest, the Florida Everglades, hundreds of pointsettias, and beautiful photographs of flowers.
We made Mass at Our Lady of Victory Basillica where MaryGrace likes to (try to) count all the angels. We toured the new Father Baker Museum in the basement of this beautiful structure. The museum details the life of this extraordinary Buffalonian.
Finally we stopped at Daises, a great family restaruant kitty corner to the Bascillica. A great meal and great service. We went home tired and happy!

Library #20 Aurora Public Library

2010-11-26T19:52:00.005-05:00

We braved the Black Friday crowds at an East Aurora landmark- Vidlers 5 & 10! This is a family tradition. We love it because the girls can do almost all of their Christmas shopping with their allowances! After a little shopping and eating ten-cent popcorn, it was time to relax at the Aurora Library. This cozy library sits right on Main Street in the village. We enjoyed the peace and quiet of the library, sitting in the children's section for a while before selecting a pile of DVDs from the very well organized video section. We had a nice chat with one of the librarians who recommended eating at the Riley Street Station, which we did, and we enjoyed it (it sits right next to the outdoor ice skating rink originally used for the Ice Bowl game). We enjoyed viewing the work of local artists on display in the library meeting room-many different subjects and mediums to see in the collection. It was a wintery day, and lots of fun.

Author Visit to Monkey See, Monkey Do... Children's Bookstore

2010-11-08T20:35:00.007-05:00

We were recently invited to Monkey See, Monkey Do... Children's Bookstore on Main Street in Clarence by store proprietor, Kim Krug. She had read our story in The Buffalo News, contacted us, and invited the girls to meet an author visiting her store. Ms. Julie Berry, originally from Medina, now residing in New England, was in town to sign books and meet with any patrons interested in her craft and titles. Anna and MaryGrace were thrilled. They were able to ask many questions. Ms. Berry and Ms. Krug were gracious, and even presented the girls with a signed copy of The Amaranth Enchantment , one of Ms. Berry's works. What a great book store, and what a great time!

Library #19 Boston Free Library

2010-10-17T12:26:00.007-04:00

The Boston Public Library is a really tiny and cute two story brick building that used to be the schoolhouse. We arrived just before it closed. We had a few minutes to check out some books, and then Marilyn was nice enough to stay late and show us around. She recognized us and was very excited to see us! She and the rest of the staff are very proud of their neat and homey library, and the fact that because they are small they have the time to know their patrons so well. She told us stories about some of them and their dogs, who are also welcome in the library! Lucky for Sookie, who was in the car! She had fun zipping around the stacks. Marilyn told us about a special resident of the library. They believe it is the ghost of Mr. Foley, who was the caretaker of the school. He gets upset when the library is messy and sends books flying off the shelves! When the library is decorated and tidy, he is relaxed and just a warm presence in the room. It is a very cool building with lots of neat details because it is so old .
On the way home we drove to Chestnut Ridge Park to see the Eternal Flame. It is really cool! We hiked down the ridge path off Seufert Road. The trail leads to a beautiful waterfall. Behind some of the rocks, in a little carved out spot, is a natural gas leak that burns a bright flame! It is neat to see fire and water together, and it gave a us a peaceful feeling. It was a tough hike, but with Sookie pulling us it wasn't so bad! And the day was perfect for hiking- sunny and cool and the leaves were colorful. What a great fall day!

The Buffalo News!

2010-10-17T12:11:00.003-04:00

Charity Vogel came to our house to interview us in early October. It was fun! A really nice article was published today's edition of The Buffalo News. We are very excited. Here is a link to the article on line:
http://www.buffalonews.com/life/article220785.ece

Above is a picutre of Ms. Vogel and our family.

Library #18 Niagara Branch

2010-09-18T17:06:00.004-04:00

The Niagara Branch is located on Porter Avenue near D'Youville College. We were greeted by Mr. Hoth, the branch manager, who loves his library. He gave us a tour of the library and told us about the many ways the library serves the community. There are many titles in Spanish, and ESL materials, too. The library hosts lots of tutoring, student groups, early childhood activities and fun community events.
We stopped here after going to Mayor Brown's Reading Challenge Celebration in the morning. Kids who read books and wrote reports on them over the summer are invited to the Convention Center to have breakfast with the Mayor! He gives away tons of really big prizes like bikes and laptop computers, and kids get to have their picture taken with him on stage. This year the girls won gift cards to Kohl's and WalMart. Yay! After a quick lunch at Elmwood Taco and Subs we were on our way home.

Library #17 Newstead Branch in Akron

2010-09-18T16:16:00.008-04:00

On Wednesday we visited the Newstead Branch Library in the cute town of Akron. What a cool, contemporary building! We loved the wooden beams on the ceiling, the very high windows (the place was full of natural light), and it even had a walk out veranda with benches for reading in nice weather. The children's section had clouds suspended from the ceiling along with butterflies. This library had many small touches that gave it a community feel: a coupon exchange box, a puzzle and game table, with a puzzle of the United States partially assembled and some paintings displayed from local high school art students. We met the librarians, they were very nice and very proud of their library. We checked out some books on pumpkin carving, and some more fiction for the girls.
We also went to nearby Akron Falls Park, an Erie County Park--we hiked the slow moving stream with giant boulders, it was amazing! We took Sookie, our dog, and she loved it! At the end of the hike is the falls; worth the effort. What a great park, just on the outskirts of the Village of Akron. Great day!

Library #16 Frank E. Merriweather Branch

2010-08-29T11:55:00.007-04:00

On Thursday we visited the Merriweather Branch of the library system, located near the Buffalo Museum of Science. What a beautiful library. Only a few years old, this branch is named for Frank E. Merriweather, the editor and publisher of The Criterion newspaper, the oldest minority newspaper in upstate New York. This library has a dome with different colored glass panes that really impressed us when we arrived in the library. This library is uniique in that it has circular rooms with the circulation desk at the center of the library.

This library also has a very impressive research library called the William A. Miles Center for African and African-American Studies,the largest research facilty of its kind in our area. It has display cases, many books, even microfilm and old reel to reel films on various subjects. This reasearch library is named after Mr. Miles, a Buffalo and Erie County Public Library System official for many years.

After checking out a bunch of books and getting a nice tour from the director, we headed to City Hall to drop off completed book reports for Mayor Brown's Summer Reading Program. A little ice cream at Anderson's on the way home capped off this adventure in a great way.

Library #15 Williamsville Village Branch

2010-08-19T20:37:00.007-04:00

Today, we went in our backyard to the Williamsville Branch on Main Street in the village of Williamsville. We pick up a fruit and vegetable share from a local farm at the train depot on Long Street during the summer months and have driven by this branch a lot of times. We finally were able to stop and check it out! This is another of the Amherst Library branches, so there were bikes on top of the book cases for the summer raffle. We liked the rocking chair and the mural on the walls of the local architecture, including the Old Red Mill, in the village. Next door is the Village Hall, and a statue made from the October Storm trees of Frank Lloyd Wright--since it was the week that residents voted on village disolution, he was holding an "I love Williamsville" sign. We checked out our books and then wandered behind the library to Island Park--what a great spot to sit and read or just play. We then went across Main Street to see one of our favorite places; Glenn Park and its beaufiful waterfall. A late afternoon well spent!

Library #14 Hamburg Branch

2010-08-19T20:26:00.006-04:00

Wendnesday morning was our trip to the Erie County Fair,and the nearby Hamburg Library Branch. We drove through the nice neighborhoods on the tree lined streets past Union Pleasant Elementary School around the corner to the small, but busy village library. We liked the old signs in the lobby showing that this was an Andrew Carnegie library at one time. The staff was very friendly and helpful and we found a pile of books to read. Mom also found the first dvd of the Little House on the Prairie series she watched when she was little. At the fair we had fun seeing the animals, winning goldfish and stuffed animals and of course, eating! What a great day!

Library #13 North Park Branch (city of Buffalo)

2010-08-12T21:30:00.012-04:00

This branch was great--while located in an unassuming part of a strip plaza next to K Mart on Hertel Avenue, this library was beautiful inside and reminded us of a Barnes and Noble book store! It had a nice hardwood floor, labels for each section of books, a room of computers and a neighborhood atmosphere. We saw Cindy, a librarian whom we met at the Crane Branch on Elmwood last month--all the people working here were very helpful and accomodating to all the library patrons. We found out this library is in search of a permanent home, and that they have a nice summer reading time on Friday evenings for kids.
After this visit we went to see Macbeth in Delaware Park; Shakespeare in the Park! We parked by the Albright Knox, walked past the statue of Young Abraham Lincoln, past Hoyt Lake and through the beautiful Rose Garden to Shakespeare Hill. What a great show, and what a great setting. We loved sitting there, seeing all the women act the parts on the neat stage, all while eating and drinking! The season is over soon, but next summer we will be there again--our city has the second largest outdoor Shakespeare theatre program in the country--very cool!

Library #12 Alden (Ewell Free Library )

2010-08-07T08:01:00.006-04:00

On Thursday, we took a nice ride out to Alden to see our first two story library--this beautiful building (almost 100 years old!) houses the children's library downstairs and the regular library upstairs. The main room upstairs contains the circulation desk, as well as separate rooms for computers and a teenager themed room. Throughout the library are wooden sculptures carved by a retired math teacher from the town--a scene of carved statues entitled "Let the Wild Rumpus
Begin", from Where the Wild Things Are was especially impressive! We arrived just in time to see a touch tank presentation by the Aquarium of Niagara (http://www.aquariumofniagara.org/)--we saw and touched sea stars, crabs and other sea creatures--we loved this. Great library with friendly people.

Library #11 Angola Branch

2010-08-03T20:38:00.002-04:00

We had never been to this neat little town right on Lake Erie. This library was very small, but very beautiful from the outside. The library had a lot of activity for a Monday afternoon, and had a great community feel. The librarians were very welcoming and suggested that we go down to the lake and get a hot dog at Connors, a famous lake front restaurant. We did, and it was fun and yummy!

Library # 10 Lake Shore

2010-08-03T20:29:00.006-04:00

On our way to the Southern Tier we came to the Lake Shore Branch of the library. This interesting building has a squiggly roof that represents the waves of the lake, complete with blue bricks. This small library had a lot of of people in it and a very youth oriented staff. We found out they have a ton of neat activites for kids. One of the libraians, Lori, told us about special nights when kids can come dressed up as princesses and pirates. They have movies, and many other fun things to do. What a great library. We checked out some joke books and were on our way to the Angola Branch a few miles away.

Library #9 Clarence

2010-08-01T11:15:00.004-04:00

We can't believe it, but it took 9 libraries to get to our wonderful home town library, Clarence. Our library is large, beautiful and full of helpful and talented librarians and volunteers. We are usually here once a week, if not more, picking up reserves, dvds, checking out books, and reading. There is a beautiful hand carved wood sculpture above the circulation desk, always nice displays in the lobby, and a magazine exchange you can participate in. This great library is in a park setting with a pond and walking trail around it, we like the founders walkway outside the door too. We love our library!
After this trip, we had dinner and then went to the Transit Drive-In Theatre (http://www.transitdrivein.com/) a great family experience! The drive-in was packed--we had lots of snacks, saw two movies and found out next time we can even bring the dog!

library #8 Lancaster

2010-08-01T10:42:00.002-04:00

The Lancaster Public Library is in the village and is a beautiful building. Inside, we found a curved ceiling covered with carpet, a four sided fireplace, and even a vending machine! This library is spacious and well-organized. They had a great kids' section. We can't wait to visit Lancaster again in the wintertime to sit by the fireplace with a good book after seeing the old AM & A's window displays around the village.

Library #7 Collins Public Library

2010-07-26T22:20:00.004-04:00

On Saturday morning, we stopped by the Collins Branch on the way to Griffis Sculpture Park in Ashford Hollow near Ellicottville. What a beautiful library. We spent a longer time here than we were supposed to, but we found tons of great books, friendly librarians, and a nice setting to browse through, and sit and read. The children's section was excellent, with lots to choose from. MaryGrace found some American Girls books on Josephina, her new American Girl Doll, and Anna checked out some Dear Diary books. We had lots to read for the twenty mile car ride over to Ellicottville.
Speaking of car rides, our GPS had us get to Griffis via Zoar Valley Road--this was like a roller coaster ride! This crazy, bumpy, windy road was the most fun of the whole day. Griffis Sculpture Park is a gem in our area--if you like the outdoors, hiking and art, especially on a large scale, check this place out. Here is the web address: http://www.griffispark.org/

Libraries #4, #5 & #6--East Clinton, East Delavan and Riverside

2010-07-23T21:11:00.014-04:00

Today was the hat trick of libraries! We visited three of the City Branches in one day. On the way into Buffalo to listen to the music at M & T Plaza, we stopped at the East Clinton Branch.
After the music, we stopped at the East Delevan Branch, and then took a ride through Black Rock to the Riverside Branch. What a day! Here are some notes about each branch:

We knew we were in the East Clinton neighborhood when we saw all the cool Polish street names, like Gorski Street and even, Polish Street. This library was small, homey and busy on this Thursday morning. We signed out a few books and learned about the library's summer reading program, which we want to sign up for.

At the East Delevan branch we met the librarian, Ms. Jamie Smith. She gave us a few prizes and was very welcoming. We discussed our goal of visiting all 37 branches of our library system, and she mentioned that there used to be 53 branches before 16 of them were closed a few years back. That would make our library visit very challenging! She told us about a few of the other area branches and we could tell she takes great pride in her library.

The East Delavan community library was also very busy and had a real nice children's section. One of the highlights was a special shelf dedicated to the books on the Mayor Brown Reading Challenge list. This is a program sponsored by the Mayor of Buffalo where kids read books throughout the summer, write reports and become eligible for prizes in the fall.

This library has an ongoing book sale and there's a nice beach display for summer outside in the window.

Our last library stop was at the Riverside Branch. The first thing we noticed is that this about twenty year old branch looks brand new, due mostly to the extraordinary landscaping created by the maintenance person for the library, very nice! Inside the library, we met Ms. Linda Rizzo, who used to work at our home branch at Clarence--she was also very nice and welcoming. The center post of the library is pained like a beach with a lighthouse on it along with 3 dimensional stones and birds! Great place.

MaryGrace read about three Mo Willems books from the East Delevan Branch to Riverside, so we returned them.

We were in our grandparents' old neighborhoods, so Dad showed us Grandma and Grandpa's homes that they grew up in--this was neat!

Library #3 Crane Branch, Elmwood Avenue

2010-07-17T15:24:00.003-04:00

We just returned from a visit to the Crane Branch Library, in the City at 633 Elmwood Avenue. We were coming from the wedding of MaryGrace's teacher, Ms. Blersch, at the Chapel at Canisius College, and then a nice filling meal at Elmwood Taco and Subs. When we entered this library, we had the feeling of a small community library. It was very busy with all kinds of poeple this Satruday afternoon. Many had bike helmets and their bicycles were parked outside. The libary has a few pets, including a tank of fish and a dwarf hamster (like Anna's Skilltes) named Ruby Crane, who has her own facebook page! The girls checked out a bunch of books and we used the self check out for the first time. Great community library!

Library #2 Clearfield Branch in Williamsville

2010-07-14T20:09:00.004-04:00

We just returned from the Clearfield Library, one of the Amherst Branches. This Library is part of the Clearfield Community Complex that includes a park, tennis courts and a very fun looking public swimming pool. Inside, this medium sized Library was very busy! It is well organized and we found the children's section very well supplied. There is a raffle for bicycles this summer--children that check out five books get a ticket to have a chance to win one of four different bicycles. We thought this was cool. We had fun at this library.

Orchard Park Library-#1

2010-07-07T15:25:00.003-04:00

We went to the Orchard Park Branch after going to work with Dad. It is a pretty big library inside. MaryGrace checked out a few A to Z Mysteries. We asked the librarian to be the first person to sign our log book, so she stamped it!
Anna and MaryGrace