 So our first session on big talk from small libraries today is on accreditation grants and seed library all in one year This is a session that is I'm very excited to hear is when it's close to my heart This is a library here in Nebraska Maltman Memorial Library of Wood River And they just became accredited for the Received their public library accreditation for the very first time this year. So congratulations Mandy and Deb Thank you. Yeah I Encouraged them strongly to come on big talk and share with you guys how they did it So we have here at Debra Fairbank banks is the director at the library and Mandy Kupersky is The library assistant there at the Maltman Memorial Library in Wood River So I'm just gonna hand it over to you guys to tell us all about what you've been doing for the last year All right. Thank you Krista. Good morning everyone We're gonna tell you a little bit about our library to begin with it's a one-story building originally built in 1964 by William Ward Maltman He donated the money in memory of his wife Rose who loved books and In 1979 we added an addition on here of 20 by 24 foot with the Merlewyn Freeman estate money Totally we got 1,980 square foot total. We're looking for our future to add on to this because we've absolutely in the last seven years I've been here filled wall to wall space There's a picture of the Freeman room we use that room just for the children's room and that's where we run our programs right now When I came here seven years ago, there was two chairs a table the newspapers and magazines in an open room So you can see where we've expanded to That's kind of the front area. It's for one side of it That's where our book club meets and our jigsaw January puzzles on the table there And have a meeting group area around the newspapers and magazines Basically to get a credit there were some steps that we had to take first thing is at least one library Staff has to take 13 classes online to be certified. We both took the 13 classes The library board has to have 20 continuing education hours The and that's the whole library board had to take it and that's they just came in they took webinars together and That's how they achieved theirs and then we did a technology plan the library staff here did that helped us with points More than anything and then between the library staff in the library board We got together and we did our community needs response plan our policies and our mission statement and That helped to get us accredited which we did within a year which usually takes three years we kind of you know Pushed through it. We took one class basically after the other because once we got started on Realized how much they really helped us with these plans and with our Policies and and that we really need them in fact We actually took some extra classes instead just the 13 because we found them very helpful to us. Yes and then there's the whole thing of staying accredited and for every three years to stay accredited accredited the Staff members that are accredited have to have 45 hours of continuing education And that's every three years. So if you figure 15 hours a year, it's really not that bad And then the library board has to have 20 hours as a whole like they did before which you know web And it's the same places that everybody can get theirs You can do your webinars your workshops and go to conferences and the board can go the conferences too If they want to see what it's all about Then you need to review your plans and policies We have it so that we do it every year that way it kind of helps with your Points that you get when you do your bibliostatic every year and With us we managed to get by on our first year. We're actually at the silver silver level So we were pretty proud of that Christa, is there anything else that we're missing for accreditation? Let me see. No, that's actually pretty good. Yeah, I'm Excuse me. All right Next we'll move on to grants you want to Ruby see several grants this year. We got The youth grant for excellence and we for steam. So we got Legals purchased to start a Lego club It's okay, that's okay. I was reading my paper. We just kind of yeah, we have local foundations It's a good place to look for your grants We have actually a community foundation and what they do is they take the money that and they have it Categorized into the different areas of the city. They have one for the schools. They have one for the library They have one for the parks departments and you know different areas of town And they have so much money set in our account and they hold the money for us And then we apply for a grant and with that money. We've actually gotten six laptop computers over the last seven years and It's we have a picture here of our computer area, you know, like we've said before we're really tight on space So and all of our computers are laptops which are cabled to the tables which make it Yeah, it's easier and you know, we just don't have the space to put any, you know desktop PCs up Mandy and Deb, I just want to jump in here a second Since we did just talk about it. We did have a couple of questions about accreditation. So I was going to answer for that Okay We here in Nebraska, we do public library accreditation and public librarian Certification so the staff becomes certified They do they they have up to three years to do within the three-year time period They have to do 40 as they mentioned 45 hours of continued education So the librarians to be certified and then boards over that same period of time as a whole I do 20 hours and then If they do that and then enter Submit an online form. They also have to Start out with submitting their public annual public library survey Those statistics that many of you may be familiar with across the country. Everyone does that Hopefully and that is information is all fed into an application form where they can then share for some more information With us about they do things that aren't maybe on the survey Um When and then as somebody asked also about the silver accreditation here in Nebraska, there are three levels you have accreditation bronze silver and gold and the more you can earn points to get to each level so depending on what kind of homage Based on you know, some of the funding that you get services you provide Education things your staff might participate in Those are the advocacy all sorts of different things you can earn different points and you can be their bronze With the lowest number of points silver middle and then gold highest on If you are an accredited library here in Nebraska, you do receive a state aid funding and it is You'll get a little bit more demand if you're a higher level So gold silver and bronze Also You are eligible then once you become accredited to apply for grants. So a lot of it has to do with the money you can You can Hear the library question the Youth grant youth grant for excellence that they mentioned Any of our grants you need to be accredited for and there's some other grants with some organizations We work with to that in order to apply for you do need to be accredited. So It gets you some more funding from us They get you the ability to apply for grants for things and that was one of the things Wood River actually kind of fast tracked them on their Accreditation last year since they were doing so good with all of their Continue education and they wanted to apply for the youth grant for excellence And that was coming up. So we made sure we helped them get all of that done So that they can then apply for the grant that they wanted through through the library commission So this is how we do it in Nebraska I know other states do have some states do have accreditation programs and they may work differently in your area But that's how we do it here in in Nebraska Yeah, and then someone does have a question and this now this I'll put this question out to you guys for your library But I will say the question is is the board appointed or elected? You're a library board Our board was appointed by the mayor and city council the names of people that want to be on it were submitted and they chose from them Yeah, okay They like volunteered and then we're chosen by yes Yes, otherwise you have to have an election and we've heard the cost of putting election to elect people into it Was not necessary Yeah On our board five people right five people as a minimum you need to have yeah But we have a certain state statutes here in Nebraska that Dictate how libraries work public libraries can work and they can either be appointed or elected the library boards It's gonna depend as you guys said from town to town how they choose to do it Yes, yes And I think that's everything about the accreditation and certification yet All right, that's just bragging rights you get to brand you get a senator Yeah Yes All right And we did get the youth grant for instance like you said this year We and we got because we need to be accredited to be able to receive this and it was wonderful Because these children are definitely enjoying the Lego room They are and that's through the library commission or your local library commission sometimes they have grants We've gotten continuing education grants and we've gotten like she said the youth grants for a youth grant for excellence So that's just some other options That's actually the Lego room that we got built. It used to be a little old storage room and we cleaned it out and moved everything to a building across the street that we were storing and Now we use that for our Lego room Dollar general they actually have a lot of really good literacy grants that they have that they give out every year You kind of got to catch them in their window they have an adult literacy grant a summer reading grant a family literacy grant and youth literacy grants and We have actually used them for our summer reading grants every year Well starting last year and we've tried again this year. We'll know in May whether or not we got it, but They have a cap on it all you got to do is go online to Dollar General Literacy Foundation and they will actually On there they'll you know, you can go to the grants and it says what the criteria is for each one of the grants and You know all your dates and stuff that you need. They're fairly simple applications to fill out, you know for grant applications. So Another grant that we've gotten was from the National Network of Libraries and Medicine We got a grant of $2500. Yes $2500 that we use for our after-school program kids the after-school program with school comes over and they send 25 kids every week on one day during the week and We do activities with them here at the library and since we got this grant We've actually been doing a lot of physical activity stuff with them We've gotten balls basketball hoops all sorts of sports equipment that we can actually use and It's not something that we'll just use for this is some will use more in the future too. So it was a really good deal to get it Ideas that they've actually recommended for their grants that they have as a health and wellness grants After-school programs like we used them for you could do family programs if you wanted to you could have like a family fun night You could you know have families come over and play games if we're lucky We got a park right behind us. So we can do a lot outdoor activities if we want you to for our library And we actually have a picture of this ginormous basketball hoop that we got and we got back here in our little room and It stays here because it won't fit out the door No, we put it together and then we couldn't get it out the front door to store it when we need it So we decided had to stay but it does fold up It folds up to put away so we don't have the kids You know rooting around it all the time and we always have kids asking if they can have the basketball hoop down or something It just gives them one more activity that they can do in the wintertime when it's cold out Then comes to the library and they can do something fun here So and that grant was we were one of four in the nation to receive that So we're pretty proud of that one All right, another place you can look as you can actually look at your local companies We have southern power here subway pizza hut and Casey's We've actually used three of these already our southern power That is where you get our power from around here the rule places do and then our city gets their power from here We put in a grant with them to get new lights because we have got these dark Genji fluorescent lights that when you turn them on they hum because the ballast is are going out and We've had a lot of people complaining because it's really hard to see when it's cloudy out in here So we put in for a grant to get all new instead just the instead replacing the whole fixtures We looked into LED lights and we upgrade to LED lights And then just had an electrician coming in remove the ballast is from our light fixtures and direct wire these in yeah So we go ahead and We got the grant for that and then the grant came up just a little bit short But they even had for switching over to LED lights You would get a rebate back for each light bulb that you replace to an LED light So not only that we got that plus a rebate. They ended up actually paying for our lights and we came out $20 a head So, you know, they helped us out really good there subway We've used subway actually for we've had gingerbread contests and we've had subway donate gift cards for the winners Which has always been a real fun family thing to do every Christmas people really enjoy They sit down with their kids and they make gingerbread houses and then they can show them off in the library And we have subway. They donate stuff for our summer reading program They've helped us with we got free kids meals that all the kids that were in the summer reading program got a kids meal We've used pizza hut They actually are the ones that did the gingerbread contest for this year last year. We had subway this year We had pizza hut they gave away two large pizzas for the winner of each category for the gingerbread house contest and Then we get a personal pan pizza for each kid that does the summer reading program from them also So and we've looked into Casey's because you know, we've been talking about Editions so we've been looking into more local places and Casey's has a really good, you know It's you know, they ask for more donations You just got thought form wait a couple of months and they'll let you know whether or not So we're kind of keeping them in mind for when we get ready to do our addition to our building And that's all we have for grants. I guess Chris. Do you have any questions? Let's see. Does anybody have any questions? Somebody just just didn't just ask what about what is I guess the national network of medical libraries like you I guess why did we know more about that one? We actually How was that one? newsletter Okay It was in the newsletter. I mean, it's one that they have a website you can look on it and they have more information about their grants and You know, they even have all the grants they Have filled out they do have that you got to become a member It's just you go online and you fill out, you know some information about your library and stuff and then that's you know They want you to sign up for it. They just put your name on it. There's no Remember this this is from the National Library of Medicine that the It's through the US government. So it's a national network of libraries of medicine and their website is like their acronym and Lm gov, but you can just Google national network of libraries of medicine and you'll find it they have regions that they Have multiple states that each of the they're there are regional organizations. So for your state, they'll they may cover like five or six different States in addition to yours and they have people who are in charge of doing training and grants and things Through them for example here in Nebraska. We're part of the mid continental region which covers Nebraska Colorado, Kansas, Iowa I Have the different continents and stuff. I think you can type in your zip code if I'm a bright and it'll Pop it up when you go to sign up for it. Tell you where you are. Yeah. Yeah It's pretty it's a pretty easy website to navigate around They do a lot of good work there. Yeah they do And the only thing with that grant is because we were going to do like power bars and stuff like that and some granola bars for The kids and some bottled water and stuff But that grant does not cover any food or drink. Ah Okay, so that is a little stipulation that we did not know about So we had to have some board members come in and we had a bunch of people that don't like spending money Trying to figure out how to spend a thousand dollars It was a really tedious day But yeah, it's you know, there's something some of those you might need to call and ask about the stipulations on them Because there's some things they won't cover But they but they had some really good things that we got for the program We got those little like scooters that the kids sit on so we got the the ball pit balls So we can play like the happy hippo game with the kids We got soccer sets and like playground balls the cornhole game a large pair of shoot Got a great big connect four set like a four foot by four. Yeah, it's huge like the basketball game that we had footballs base plates to play the games with some jump ropes and we taught health and nutrition with Full foods. Yeah So it was very good for especially where we have a lot of winter this year and Things were indoors, but there was a lot of those projects We can still use indoors and some of them we go to and we play the happy hippo game We actually use the elementary school gym because we're partnered with the elementary school for the after-school program So we can go there when we use it for the happy hippo game in the gym And they do really like if you partner with the school Mm-hmm. That was some of the right one things, you know, if you're working with a school that really it helps it out a whole lot and We use that to our advantage. So Right Since we're still on the topic of grants, we do have a couple of our related questions People are wondering if you had any grant writing experience before doing this. I Did not know I did I do have a lady that I know though and she's Offered help if we ever get stuck. She will come and help us And I know she said there's classes that you can take online that are free that will help you learn how to write grants I Don't really know what the online website was but I know she said they're always out there So but it's really not a one-person job. Let me tell you we we work together on him Because we can throw ideas back and forth of what we can think to put in those spaces and some of the things that we come Up with and you also have to realize that you have to report afterwards Some of them. It's just one time that you have to report back to him by a certain day and then some of them It's like the one for the National Network of Libraries medicine Yeah, it was four times we had to We had to report back, you know four different times and they had dates that you had to report back by so And to tell them what you were doing we submitted pictures of what we were doing We had to take pictures of everything that we purchased. Of course, you have to keep all your receipts You know all that and and they want to know if you're really using the program and and what kind of benefits you got from it Yeah, and you want to make sure do a really good follow-up so that Like if it's one that you use, you know, try to put in for again You want to do a really good follow-up so that you got a better chance to get in the grant again the next time Kind of like with Dollar General. We try to use them for our summer reading program We planned on using them again this year So we made sure to a really good report last year to hopefully improve our chances this year of getting help Yep, and every and every grant you write definitely has follow-up so remember that as you're doing the program to Write down things that you did that were really important or how they went if they went good They want to know if you did fulfill what you were going to do or if you did not do You know, it didn't turn out the way you thought it would turn out So you might want to just take some notes as you go through and highlight So when you have to fill out these forms because sometimes they're like every two to three months You have to fill one out for almost a year. All right. Go ahead. Okay. All right Next thing we have is our seed library. This is my favorite thing to talk about Um, we went to the Conference here a couple years ago when they actually were talking about seed libraries and I am in charge of our community garden here in town So this kind of got me excited Basically You got to start the seed library. I had to do a lot of research and We had to figure out some things about our library because we didn't have a space for this before so we had to figure out We're gonna put our seeds And that was a Big issue because we had you know, we don't have much room. So we had these old card boxes our catalog Yes, yeah, we had the card catalog boxes first of all and somebody keeps her crafting supplies in the card catalog So finally we got we got enough seeds that we moved up to I took over the card catalog and That's what we keep our seeds in that's actually the best way to store them But I mean you could use a box or anything depending on how many seeds you want to get Last year we probably had maybe two to two fifty two hundred fifty to seat for seed packets and you know, that was just kind of start off because we were going off, you know seeds everybody donated and stuff and Start working with the community library or the community garden To get more seeds. So we went ahead and we went from that to this year. We have 700 seed packets last time I counted The other thing is you got fair how you're gonna count your seeds some libraries actually that do have seed libraries I've heard where they scan them in and out through their scan system. They put a barcode on them We don't do that. We just I count the seeds at the beginning of the year and then you know We count them at the end and however many the differences. That's how many seeds we have actually checked out Some of them will limit the seeds that each person can take we don't hear because it's a small community and Somebody keeps bringing in a lot of seeds There's from the community garden and then we have another older gentleman that he gardens and he's brought in jars full of seeds for us So another thing is you got fair we have for a budget as far as how much you want to spend on getting it started Like I said, most of ours were donation the only expense that we had in it was the packaging supplies Other than that the seeds. Oh, sorry the seeds for the first year were Pretty much free for the library. So Different ways that you can get your seeds is you can buy them on sale at the end of the growing season I have made trips to Dollar General Here this last year and I got packages of seeds for probably 10 cents a piece We've gotten a lot of them on sale that way Donations we've had people Donate seeds. In fact, I had a lady the other day it brought in a whole variety of tomato seeds that she had ordered And then working with your community garden Like I said, we actually have an area in our community garden where we get all this See we have stuff so it doesn't cross pollinate so that you know, we can plant stuff to use for seeds So we don't have to worry about it Because that's something else you got to keep in mind when you're getting seeds They're donated is you got the cross pollination issue where You know something Some things can cross pollinate some things can't as somebody brings in a pumpkin that was sitting next to a gourd You could get a really funny looking pumpkin the next year and that's not what they were expecting So it's something that people need to look into we have Educational material we have Reading material and I can help them online or I can help people they want to decide if they want donate seeds to make Sure that the ones that they're donating when people do come into the sea library. They get what they're expecting to get So it's kind of a learning thing. It's you got to do a lot of looking online the farm former Sorry the farmers almanac has got a lot of information that you could use for it And so does some of the other growing websites like gurney seeds You can go on their website and they will actually help you out And if you have any questions you can actually call them and they will let you know what you you know what you can plant where and You know other information that you might need for either getting seeds or growing stuff And it's really good to have that information to teach people Because a lot of the people that we have it come in here for the seeds We have quite a few of them that they're just learning how to garden So, you know, they need to they're still trying to figure out how to do it and it's you know Not quite as simple as they think it is Clicked on the wrong thing. Yeah Yeah, okay Packaging seeds we've looked into you can buy a seed packets y'all these little envelopes and they cost quite a bit as far as I'm concerned and My printer does not have the setting to take little bee envelopes and print them off And I'm not gonna write on each envelope, you know all the information I do which on our envelopes We put on the type of seed that they are how many days is to harvest the where they're full sun partial sun shade Whether they're a vegetable a squash and ornamental because there are some things that people will They think that it's you know, you got yellow squash and then you have a crookneck squash Well, a yellow squash is one that you can eat and a crookneck squash is more of an ornamental gourd So we label it that way so that people have more of an idea of what they're getting and then we have the date that the seeds expire and the way that we figure that is I go online and I look up the shelf life for the seeds and then as every time we get a new one I have a little Excel program on my computer that has each kind of seed and how long they're good and Then we just put the date that they expire then every year when I go through them If it hits the expiration year, then you can take them out You can either donate them to the 4h or the FFA kids and they could go ahead and they could experiment with the seeds If they wanted to or if anybody wants them or you can just go ahead and pitch them The way that we make our seed packets is I actually use the little envelopes that you get a dollar general or dollar tree and we get the self-adhesive ones and what we do is we print them off our computer so three and five eighths by six and a half inch envelopes and I just make the what the seed packet is going to look like I do a seed packet on each side And then you cut the envelope in half and then you tape the side up where you cut it and then you've got your seed packets It's a lot cheaper than buying them and they look all pretty professional. I think so and they fit in the cart catalog growing They do fit in the cart catalog really nice. So usually they're on their side, but they still fit. I guess. Is there any questions Krista or? Let's see Excuse me. Somebody wants to know where you get your packaging supplies Dollar general Gotch tape and envelopes. Yeah, that's that's all we do is we just use the regular envelopes. I print, you know, I basically Put on the computer. I use some Oh Now I can't remember what it's called. It's through Microsoft. I Have a Microsoft, you know, you got a Microsoft I think word has it to where you're gonna do an envelope like you're just gonna type pre-addressed envelopes Right, right. Yes Yeah, I just get the pictures and I slap it on I basically make a seed packet on either side of the envelope and then I just cut the envelopes in half and tape shut the open end and Like I said the self-adhesive ones work better because then you have a straight top and it's glued for you The other ones with the you know, they have that V on them and that just doesn't work very good Good tips Yeah And this year we're doing a little bit differently that we left all the seed packets set out for people to look through Last year we were last year. Yes, and this year We're going to like print off pictures and put them in a notebook so they can select from the notebook We'll go in the back room and pull what they want We don't get mixed up that way or misplaced when people stick them in where perhaps we already had them sorted And we've had a problem with kids come in and they'll take a whole bunch of seeds They walk by they just yeah, we had some kids that they just they walk by and they just grabbed a munch They didn't look through them or anything. They just grabbed a whole bunch of them So we kind of had to put a stop to it That's one of those things that you learn the hard way what you can and can't leave out for you know All right, so it does want to know how many seeds about how many seeds do you put in each envelope? Okay, like for pumpkin seeds squash seeds. I usually put about six That's enough to make two hills because I put about three usually put three in a hill Because if you're thinking about some of the people are gonna smaller gardens if they want more seeds They can come get more packets Some of the smaller ones like well tomatoes these I also do about six because you know one tomato plan will make quite a few But when you get to the smaller ones I just kind of guess because with lettuce and celery and carrots you really can't count those so Yeah, I just kind of guess about how many you would want in them It's kind of you gotta know, you know how serious your gardeners are and what they're gonna want in there so and it makes it if You do it so you know it stretches it a little bit further sometimes because like well There's little packages that you get at the store How many people buy those and they only use a couple seeds out of them and then they storm in their garage Well, if you storm in your garage and they get froze and they get hot they don't work so I Will take those packets and I will make a you know two or three seed packets out of it because That way you don't have all those leftovers they get rid And someone wants to know do you have any issues with people hoarding the seeds? No That they will share with us what they didn't need they'll bring it into us now they yeah, we'll take it and repackage it for others Yeah Really really like them though they get all excited over a mountain if they get them all planted, but you know Things like I said, it's no cost like all of our pumpkin seeds Because we have a lot of seeds go to the community garden We actually have it's a whole block and it's a community garden and the produce from the community garden for the ground That doesn't get used me and some volunteers go out and we Plant stuff there last year. We actually gave away 250 to 300 pumpkins and gourds here in the library and And Yeah, and that's not we had 60 pumpkins and gourds that we actually got it here in the library So we had seeds for the seed library. So I mean it's one of those things where we get plenty of seeds and like I said, I have another There's an older gentleman. He's a really big-time gardener and he brings stuff in by the bags full so Yeah, you don't like the only cost we really have is the packaging so Okay, so you don't have to actually once you start this kind of a project You don't really really spend money to replenish the seeds every year because the people using the program do correct You have to be replenishing So it's the physical use of the packaging is really what the budget needs to be thought about Yeah, and I mean if you don't have a lot of gardeners that are going to bring in seeds That's where you know, you could end up with quite a bit of an expense in seeds and I bought a lot of you know when I got my seeds before I always did a lot you buy them on Amazon You can get them on bulk you can get them from gurneys You could probably try calling seed companies and get some donations of some seeds so in fact some of the stuff that started this was actually I had a We had a gentleman that worked at the local co-op and A lot of our seeds we got that first year was he gave me this little box that they have had that he's gotten from Seed companies or something had dropped it off and he goes I ain't gonna use them So he gave him to me and they went to the you know seed library. So Sure So somebody has actually I think is a pretty Obvious question that I didn't really think about when you start talking about this Well, I can explain exactly how a seed library works people are actually borrowing seeds I mean they have to and then returning those same seeds Yeah That is a really good question Basically like I said you can the one library that when we learned about they checked it They checked the seeds out and then they would go back through and they would just delete those But then they would keep a tally of them. They're not returning the seeds Basically, it's more of a community service where your packaging seeds for people to use they can try new seeds and Or they can come and get their seeds there Some of the people don't have the money if you go into town, you know during the beginning of the season some of these packages of seeds are two to four dollars for a package of seeds and You know that and with these you're getting a lot more of the local grown seeds and stuff that is grown around here and It's just it's more or less a community service. You're not checking stuff out and then you know, basically it's free seeds Right and then when and then the people who are using them not every time But if they can they will then bring back the seeds from what they've grown Yeah, some people do some people don't it's just matter of whether or not they know how to do it You know, we've gotten we've also had seeds brought back to us and a baggie and they're moldy. So It's kind of a learning, you know, it's a learning curve. So But you do have to be careful as to what the seeds are that you get in you have to make sure that you know When because there's some seeds that you don't want brought in that people could bring in so you kind of got to watch that too Any other questions? one here Do you and I assume because of where we are geographically the question is do they do you check these out all year? Or is it just during like, you know, the growing seasons? We can check them out all year. Somebody wants to grow anything indoors, but mainly Yeah, mainly people start hitting us up about, you know, here pretty soon. We've had people back there looking so Yeah, it depends on people like to start something inside some people don't so right, right Now I've been adding flowers to it too so That's something that people can be starting now indoors and It's a learning curve. I can grow vegetables and stuff just fine flowers. I'm still learning on so We're we're slowly getting it in there So you mentioned the other library that actually had barcodes and check them out and stuff and you know, you said you don't do that But do you are you able to count this so you but you do track as sort of like a circulation for How do you keep track of that for statistics to see how it's going? Count packets Yeah, yeah, like we had a whole bunch of I just got done packaging a whole bunch of seeds and what we did was we sat there and we Counted all the seed packets and Then I'll count them again at the end of the year or if I add more then I'll have to you know count before I add and You know, so, you know, how many you got in between so that's That's the easiest way I could come up with to do you know to do it and every time I go through them We kind of take an inventory if we have seeds that we're getting low on I'll put them on the list And then we kind of let people know that hey, you know, we're run low on tomatoes So if you want to on a tomato seeds or if it has tomatoes tomato seeds, you know Sure It's pretty good guessing game. No, yeah, and I have to wonder I wonder is this and I should know this because as we collect these Is this included in your public library survey statistics is circulation somewhere I didn't because I didn't get a count done until this year So hopefully we're playing on adding that because we actually added that and we have actually had people start they rode like Jigsaw January they started checking out puzzles too. Ah, yeah I need to add both of those and come up with some kind of account for both of them. So Work in progress Anything you quote-unquote check out or circulate can be part of your statistics. Yeah Yeah, and that's where we're gonna but we got a like the puzzles I think we're gonna try to put in our computer system So it's gonna be me taking a lot of pictures of puzzles so they can look at them online Because we don't have the storage Over here. What we did was we took over the old city building And it's kind of become our little storage locker and like our cake pans. We don't have room for those here So we have all those in tow to cross the street So they have to look online and they have pictures that be to the cake pans and then they pick out what they want Then we go over and we get it and The puzzles will be the same because we got a lot of puzzles And then we do have one more question that's about the community garden Dad how I know you mentioned that you did bring some of the things to the library But how generally is the produce from the community got garden distributed to the community? I have got these They're a little kid organizer toast so you can stack up and I actually have a bunch of those that I bring them I have one set that I can bring here and another set I can take to somewhere like the senior center and As the garden produce gets picked it gets brought in and put in those totes and anybody that wants to come and get it Can come and get it comes up They know where they know where to go to find where you go Yeah, and they know when the watermelons and stuff are done, too. They got that figured out pretty good But and then we have local gardeners what if they have a surplus of stuff they bring it in, too So it's just growing from what it started out to be. Yeah It's just one of those things that it's one more service that we provide for our community Yeah All right, go ahead continue with your presentation Well, I think that Else you want to add Krista, I mean I'm a fast talker apparently you're great you're doing great Yeah All right. Well, we did have a few other questions that were on here So I think well because we have a bit of time here for your session Okay, I'm talking about the seed library. They want to know if you have a garden club in your community We have the garden committee They're the ones that we are the ones that actually kind of helped to make decisions and stuff and we write the grants if we need anything added to it What we actually do is like this year we've had we've had a peach tree donated. We had Was it two flats of peaches that were brought in this year? Yeah So we actually got rid of two flats of peaches and those one were so good I wanted to add another tree. So we actually got a grant this year It's you know back to the you know, right in a branch and stuff But yeah, we got a grant this year and now we got a tree that we found It's got four different varieties that apples and it self pollinates because apple trees usually you have to have two and That whole group of people has helped to get the grant so we can get that tree and they'll plant that tree this spring Yeah, and then we try to get you know, they're We're trying to get the garden going it kind of had a couple of rough years and here We're trying to get it back up on its feet. So Where actually is the community garden is on your property or is it just somewhere else and down? we have a gentleman that he owned a Vacant lot that actually he still owns the property But they have put water lines in and that's where our community gardens at now. It's just across the road of ways It's not very bad. Yeah, it literally it's like three or four blocks from my house. So guess who gets to go check on it It's a real good hobby, so Let's see speaking about the produce in the beginning before word spread about where to get it Did you have any sort of trouble with the issue of excess produce too much and not what not sure what to do with it We really haven't because once we kind of started with the community garden. I brought it I'm not a real big veggie eater. So I always tell people if I plant this stuff will you come eat it? So we've had a lot of people that oh, yeah, we'll take whatever you plant and we had Was it a hundred pumpkins we gave away in one day probably I think so I brought in a whole pickup load of pumpkins and we just lined the tops of our shelves and we had a movie day and The kids when they got done with their movie. They all picked out pumpkins and took them home. So and Some I'm picked out a few more and then you know the parents picked out some and It worked pretty good and this last year our patrons have grown to over 7,000 that we had this last year Which is a big growth on our library because of all the extra activities that we offer here Because it's kind of like we're the center of the city where the hub of the city with all these different activities for people They're they're picking up on this everything is just Growing growing very fast for us Yeah Yeah, we could try it. We just keep trying to add more different stuff and it kind of gets people's attention So It is and that's We find some pretty cool stuff to do so that's we're just running out of space to put it in So yeah, I'm hoping to expand. That's our next big project. Yes, great Our board has stepped up and got meetings together with some of the city council to to work on our edition That's greatly important from that too. Yeah Just have we should have a couple of minutes for you So I have a key mark two more things here that people are asking about or mentioning Talking about grants that are available as someone is actually showing that there's a new IMLS Institute of for Museum and Library Services has a new grant They just know specifically for small libraries called accelerating promising practices for small libraries The special initiative of the National Leadership Grants for Libraries Program to support projects that strengthen the ability of small and rural libraries and archives to serve their communities So that might be another grant for people to look into Yes, big IMLS to something that is specifically focused for our smaller rural libraries that we're talking about today. Awesome That's what we've been trying to do is Yeah, we need to share is the information of grants and what's out there and available to all the small towns Yes It's hard sometimes to find the ones that you can apply for yeah Well, and you want to make sure that what you get is legitimate True, you know because I worry about that when you search them online whether or not they're you know Yeah, is it a real work place? Yeah. Yeah, I kind of it kind of makes you wonder there's a whole bunch of other stuff that you could look up that's not real online and you know so you kind of You know tread lightly on that stuff too because you don't usually get the full amount of money You have to you should give like a 25% of your own Funds into the grants a match of a match. Yeah. Yes. Do you want to make sure when when you're applying? And then we have one other question if anybody has any of the last minute questions they want to get in for Deborah and Mandy go ahead do it. We can we still have a couple of minutes here with them I'll go back to accreditation and this is really it could be a question for me For here in Nebraska, how does accreditation work if the library no longer has a library board? No, if the library has become part of the county Here in Nebraska in order to be accredited you have to have a board of some sort, but it can be a county library board Here in Nebraska in order to be a legally established public library you have to have a board But it doesn't have to be a Local town board it could be you are a county library. So there's a county board in some way that is Designated to run the library But if there's no board at all and some other group is running it then they wouldn't really be legally established anymore So wouldn't be eligible to do many of the things that we do here. That's just here in Nebraska All right Any other last-minute questions for Mandy and Deborah before we wrap up their their session Any other last words from you guys? It was very good thing to take the classes. They really helped us to grow and understand things better so If I can do it anybody can do it Yeah, it's really not that hard. It's you know, it's on the computer all you got to do is it's Takes a few hours a week sit down and get them done So and even if you get flustered with one class if you get a hold of you know Whoever's in charge of that class they can help you out with it or it's Yeah, and we learned a lot from those classes even if you don't get accredited Taking those classes would be a huge help because we learn a lot of things that we didn't realize before so and it's helped out with our accreditation That's the idea. Hopefully it all all works together. Yeah, it did All right, great. Well, thank you very much Mandy and Deborah. Yes. Yes. Thank you. Thank you