WPL Online - Adult Services News

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The Wadsworth Public Library and the Wadsworth Chamber of Commerce are partnering to present a Job and Career Fair on Saturday, March 13 from 1 to 4 pm at Wadsworth Public Library, 132 Broad Street, Wadsworth. The Fair will offer local residents the chance to meet directly with businesses seeking qualified staff; explore educational opportunities available in the area; learn about the services of area job development agencies including one specifically for senior citizens; and find out about the job and career development resources that the Library provides.

Job seekers attending the Fair should bring plenty of resumes and dress in business casual attire. This event is free and open to the public. No registration is required.

Employers interested in reserving a free table at this event can contact Brett Neff, Adult Services Librarian, at (330) 331-8612 or brett.neff@wadsworthlibrary.com. Job seekers looking for more information can visit this page for further updates or use the contact information above.

Sherilee Case, Job Developer for Goodwill Industries Akron, will conduct this season's Job Series at the Library. All sessions will take place Wednesdays at 11 am in Meeting Room A and will last approximately one hour. Dates and subjects are listed below. Registration is required. Please contact Brett at 330-331-8612 or brett.neff@wadsworthlibrary.com if you have questions or wish to register.

Resumes
Wednesday, March 3
11 am

Job Search Techniques
Wednesday, March 10
11 am

Application Process
Wednesday, March 17
11 am

Effective Interviewing
Wednesday, March 24
11 am

Adult Computer Classes for Beginners
Spring 2010

These classes are for beginners only. Each session lasts approximately 2 hours, including a 30 minute learning lab at the end. Dates, times, and subjects covered are listed below.

Mousing Skills I
Thursday, March 4, 10 am – 12 pm

Mousing Skills II
Thursday, March 18, 10 am – 12 pm

Keyboarding I
Thursday, April 1, 10 am – 12 pm

Keyboarding II
Thursday, April 15, 10 am – 12 pm

Basic Computers I
Thursday, May 6, 10 am – 12 pm

Basic Computers II
Thursday, May 27, 10 am – 12 pm

*Registration required. Call (330) 331-8612 or email brett.neff@wadsworthlibrary.com to register.

Computer Class for Experienced Users - Open Office Writer

Monday, March 8, 10:30 am - 12:30 pm
Saturday, March 20, 12:30 - 2:30 pm
Thursday, March 25, 5:30 - 7:30 pm

A class for experienced users interested in learning how to create and edit documents using the Open Office word processing program, Writer. Open Office Writer is very similar to Microsoft Word. Each hands-on class will last 2 hours, including a 30 minute learning lab at the end. *Registration required. Call (330) 331-8612 or email brett.neff@wadsworthlibrary.com to register.

iTunes, iPods, and Podcasts Oh My!

Monday, March 8 at 6:30 pm

Time to learn how to use that iPod you received as a gift last year. During this program we will learn how to download and install iTunes, use the program to dowload music, movies, TV shows, apps, and podcasts, and learn how to transfer these files from your iTunes library to your iPod.

For more information please contact Brett at (330) 331-8612 or brett.neff@wadsworthlibrary.com. Meeting Room A. No registration required.

Second Thursday - Canal Fever

Thursday, March 11 at 2 pm

Learn about the Ohio & Erie Canal from local historians Lynn Metzger and Peg Bobel. They will discuss the canal’s history as well as the research that went into their new book, Canal Fever. For more information please contact Brett at (330) 331-8612 or brett.neff@wadsworthlibrary.com.

Meeting Room A. Registration is not required.

Gaming @ the Library

Interested in learning new games? Want to test your skills against other gamers? Come on in to the library for some friendly competition. Beginners and experts welcome. Games, systems, and times below.

Call of Duty 3 (Xbox 360)
Thursday 3/18/10 @ 6 pm

Guitar Hero World Tour (Playstation 2)
Wednesday 4/21/10 @ 6 pm

Burnout Revenge (Xbox 360)
Monday 5/24/10 @ 6 pm

For more information contact Brett at 330-331-8612 or brett.neff@wadsworthlibrary.com. All programs in Meeting Room A. No registration required.

Financial Literacy – Managing Money in Tough Times

Wednesday, March 31 at 6:30 pm

Making financial decisions can be daunting during a tough economy. Learn practical strategies to enhance your money behaviors, reach financial goals & manage debt. Bring your questions & get answers to living through the tough times. Presented by OSU Extension, Medina County, Western Reserve EERA. Meeting Room A. No registration required.

Computer Class for Experienced Users – Open Office Calc

Saturday, April 3, 12:30 – 2:30 pm
Thursday, April 29, 10:00 am – 12:00 pm
Thursday, April 29, 5:30 – 7:30 pm

This class is for experienced users interested in learning how to create & edit spreadsheets using an Excel-style program called OpenOffice Calc. It will last 1½ hours with a 30-minute learning lab at the end. *Registration required. Call (330) 331-8612 or email brett.neff@wadsworthlibrary.com to register.

Second Thursday: New Words of 2009

Thursday, April 8 at 2 pm

Acai, locavore, staycation, carbon footprint … what do these new words mean? Join
Adult Services Librarian Brett Neff to learn some of the words added to the Merriam-
Webster Dictionary in 2009, discuss how they are used & where they came from.

Saturday, April 10 at 1 pm

Experience the value & fun of technology by playing around with some of today’s popular gadgets. Wander from station to station, trying out each device, observing it in use, or simply asking questions to learn more. Touch & connect with an iPod, digital camera, or cell phone, as well as some of the Library’s new technologies like laptops,
video games & Playaways, plus so much more.

Explore the Cuyahoga Valley National Parks

Monday, April 12 at 6 pm

Jocelyn Buckley from Cuyahoga Valley National Park Association will give a presentation about Cuyahoga Valley National Park, Ohio’s only national park. Learn the history, some of the attractions & get suggestions on how to best use one of the state’s most beautiful landscapes.

Sports Talk Roundtable

Thursday, April 15 at 6:30 pm

Join Todd Stumpf, sports reporter from The Post Newspapers and Adult Services Librarian Brett Neff to discuss anything & everything in the wide world of sports—the Cavaliers & the final stretch of the NBA season, March Madness excitement, the Tribe & MLB spring training, or even local high school sports. All sports fans welcome. No registration required. Meeting Room B.

Saturday, April 17 at Noon

Share your excitement over the next Freddy Krueger release with Librarians Brett & Sean & other horror fans at Freddy Fest! We’ll show the first three Freddy movies released, in order, in their entirety. Adults & teens (with signed permission slips) welcome. Popcorn will be provided. Attendees may bring their own snacks and drinks.

Tuesday, April 20 at 6:30 pm

Celebrate National Poetry Month with Peace Stanzas—a Traveling Stanzas collaboration project between Wick Poetry Center and Glyphix design studio at Kent State University. Experience the creative talents of Kent State Visual Communication Design students with area student writers, grades 3-12, as they promote awareness of poetry and graphic design within the community.

Bring us your used ink cartridges!

Looking for a great way to recycle & do a bit of good for the Library? Bring us your empty ink cartridges! We can accept any HP, Dell, or Lexmark cartridges, whether from your home or business printers. Look for the green recycle box near the public computers on the first floor.

Laptops now for home use --
Thanks, Westfield Group!

The recent donation of used laptops from the Westfield Insurance Group has not only allowed the Library to offer more openings in its computer classes, but also means that the older laptops we used to use for those classes are now available to be checked out and taken home. You may borrow a laptop for one week, provided that you are at least 18 years old and that your library account has no outstanding fines or fees.

The laptops come with a wide variety of software applications including the Microsoft Office suite, Picasa (photo management), Open Office, instant messaging applications, and several Internet browsers.

Those wishing to borrow a laptop for home use should fill out an application at the Customer Service Desk.

Wadsworth Library board adds layoffs to list of cuts

At its September 21 meeting, the Wadsworth Public Library Board of Trustees approved the latest in a round of cost-cutting actions designed to deal with the loss of over $300,000 in state funding in 2009. The measure passed included the layoff of seven employees plus a reduction in hours for numerous other staff. Combined with those who took the board’s voluntary retirement incentive, plus the loss of other personnel through attrition, the Wadsworth Library staff has been reduced by almost 30 percent in the past 18 months.

The personnel reductions come after a series of other cuts that included the elimination of staff raises; a decrease in hours of operation by 14 hours per week; a decrease in the number of Sundays that the Library is open during the school year; curtailment of materials purchases; and elimination of bookmobile service to Grades 2 and up as well as neighborhood stops and visits to area senior housing. In addition, the Library ceased the printing and mailing of its quarterly newsletter and ended all programming featuring paid presenters, including the 21-year-old Sunday Syncopations concert series.

In light of the cuts to the purchasing budget and in an effort to keep more library materials in active circulation, the Library has also contracted with Unique National Collections, a collection agency that specializes in assisting libraries to recover missing items and outstanding fines and fees.

While the Wadsworth Library receives $1,018,539 from a local operating levy approved by voters, state funding accounts for 46 percent of the annual budget. By state law, Ohio’s public libraries are funded by a set percentage of general revenue. In the new biennium budget, that percentage has been temporarily reduced from 2.22 percent to 1.97 percent, representing an estimated loss of $84.3 million. This reduction comes on top of a decline of approximately 20 percent already realized as the economy has faltered.

“The Wadsworth Library board is committed to providing service to our community which has supported the Library through the local operating levy,” said Wadsworth Public Library Director C. Allen Nichols. “However, the economic reality is that we can’t continue as we have in the past. The Library is going to be a very different place.”

Digital newsletter subscriptions now available

While the LIbrary's newsletter will no longer be printed and mailed to area households, it will still be available in digital form on our webpage. So that you won't miss a single issue, we invite you to subscribe to our e-mail notification system that will generate a notice each time a new issue is posted. Your address will ONLY be used for library communications. Click here to subscribe.

Take the Library with you...
...anywhere on the web!

Keep the Wadsworth Library catalog close at hand with the new LibX Browser Toolbar, now available for downloading to your computer. Available for both Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox, the LibX Toolbar lets you search our catalog from any location on the Internet. The real "wow" feature is that any time you visit a website like Amazon.com or Barnes & Noble, a small icon of the Library's logo will appear next to book titles -- click on the icon and be instantly connected to the catalog where you can check availability and place a request.

The Toolbar comes with no spyware or advertisements and is easy to remove if you decide you don't want it anymore. Give it a try!

Have you heard about Pelican Post?

Pelican Post is a free materials-by-mail service designed for those who are not able to make independent visits to the Library. Just about anything from the collection -- including items from the teen and children's departments -- may be borrowed. We'll be happy to send you books, videos, DVDs, books on tape or CD, music CDs, or magazines -- just let us know what you need! Receive your selection in your regular mail & return them to your mail carrier in the pre-paid vinyl pouch.

For more information about Pelican Post, contact the Outreach Services Department at 330-335-1296 or outreach@wadsworthlibrary.com. (Please note that this service is only available to those living within the Wadsworth City School District.)

Loanable laptops are now available!

Ever drop in at the Library to use the Internet and find all of the public computers in use? Now you can borrow a laptop to use anywhere in the building! You need to be 18 or older, have a valid Ohio driver's license or other state-issued ID, and a Wadsworth Library account in good standing. Laptops may be borrowed for up to two hours per day and are available on a first-come, first-served basis.

For more information and to fill out a laptop loan application, see a staff member at the Customer Service Desk.

eBooks (and other great things) are here!

Now you can download electronic books, audio books, videos, and music free of charge from the Ohio eBook Project, from home or office or from a special computer station at the Wadsworth Library. Browse and search hundreds of great titles and download them to computers, transfer them to portable devices, or burn them onto CDs for reading, listening, and viewing anywhere, anytime.

To start exploring, click on the link labeled "Download Books, Music & Movies" from the menu at the right side of this page. The OverDrive Download Station at the Library is located in the AV room. Bring along your MP3 player and USB cable or blank CD/DVD disks for burning right from Download Station. Blank disks are also available for sale in the Friends of the Library gift shop, Books & Baubles.