Zach Stier, Ronda Kelley and Tammy Troup, Ericson Public Library, April 24, 2026

And today we are talking about the Ericsson Public Library, where we'll be speaking about the Ericsson Public Library. Mr. Z. Zach Steer in the studio. Hi, good morning. Tammy's in here too, and on the phone we got Rhonda Kelly. Good morning Rhonda. See, we got everybody going here. All right. Busy time. First I should say, because I was gonna say it, from the nationally recognized. Okay. I love my librarian. Yeah. Mr. Z. Zach Steer, congratulations. Thank you. I appreciate it. Again, it's a process because I was kind of reading through some of it, but somebody had to nominate you. I think I had maybe six or to nine nominations for the award, and I just want to say thank you to those that nominated me and, you know, our community and library staff and our library administration. It's a bittersweet. It's wonderful. Okay. Rhonda, Tammy, pressure's up. Okay. But you spend so much time out there with kids and stuff. Yeah, like I said, almost 15 years, you know, as an investment, but every day it's always a new adventure that we enjoy, so I appreciate it. Okay. Well, I've got that. Was this Library Week, by the way? It's National Library Week. Yes. So we're finishing that up and in a busy time. So April, now we're getting close to the end. Yeah. And we've talked about it in the past. May is kind of a transition time. Most definitely. So there will be a few programs for children and families next week, and then we roll on into May. So for especially children's, there is a special message that I always like to share, which is that, like you said, there's a transition month, so there will be no regular scheduled children's programming, but there will be a special story time on Wednesday, May 13th, and Thursday, May 14th, at 10 a.m. in celebration, starting in our celebration of our 125th anniversary. All right. So all of us are contributing to that. So those story time programs are going to celebrate children's books that were published during an era, so 1901. So Beatrix Potter's famous, Peter Rabbit, is the book of choice. There we go. Yeah. It's going to be a lot of fun. Some things just don't age, do they? Yeah. And just the history of that book and just that world and that creation is really fascinating on how it's stood really over 100 years. So we'll be doing that on the 13th and 14th, and then on the 21st at 4 p.m. I'll have a Peter Rabbit flower potcraft for our elementary kiddos, and I'll be posting that on our Facebook and as well as on our website, because it does require registration. There is 20 spots available for that program as well. And then our wonderful Ed students every year for the last couple years, they work with our elementary kiddos to create books. And so I selected two of them, and the rest will be laminated, and then they'll be available for families to enjoy at the library. But the two selected will be part of our story walk in May, which is located north of the swimming pool, again at McCos Park. So pretty excited to do that again as well. And then summer reading registration. Can't believe we're already here. All of us will be opening our registration on Tuesday, May 26. As a reminder, our program is open for children, teens, and adults. Lots of great things coming for that. And then our official kickoff for summer reading is on Monday, June 1. But this year, we have moved our carnival kickoff to the second Monday, which is Monday, June 8 from four to seven. More on that coming, but it's a busy time. We still... You've been hard to get everything squeezed in on the first, what about? Yes, just knowing where schools are, you know, when school is done for some. School is, yeah, because it's still going to linger. Yeah, definitely want to get families the time to transition. So more information coming, but I think we're over 30 organizations now. So and some new ones, which I'm excited about. So to be a part. Yay. Yeah. So in May, I'll just say we have lots of schools. We always do, but lots more this year coming to the library for field trips. I'm pretty excited about that. And then we'll be going out to talk about summer. So well, that's one of the things you do. It's a big thing. Time going out. Yeah. Come and be part of our program. So we appreciate our schools, public and parochial for allowing us to do that. So we don't have NIL to give to them, but they can come in, they can come in and be a part. That's exactly right. So I know a couple years ago, we did do a focus in May on mental health. And we still have that, still have that kind of in the works. Yeah. So we still have our group activating community voices. It's still an active group, but you know, we're working on a more specialized focus on loneliness. So we had to take some time to review that data and really create a sort of a map of our next direction. So we are, you know, always focusing on our patrons and providing programs such as yoga and mindfulness and Tai Chi. But that program that you were talking about with mental health, we're not dedicating May specifically, but we'll be working over the summer to start collaborating on future programs that we hope to start. Still have a lot of providers that come and do things. Tammy's going, oh, yes, we do. So Rhonda, I know you've got a lot of things that are coming up here. Same kind of transition time for you. Actually, all of the regular programs that we run for the tweens and teens just to close out the year. And then of course, we move on to the unique programming that we do during summer reading, which we're really excited about. So I will point out that for yoga, there are a couple days that we will not be having yoga. That is one of the differences for May. There will not be yoga streamed on Friday, May the 1st or Wednesday, May 13th or Friday, May 15th. But besides that, the other Wednesdays and Fridays, we will still be streaming our yoga class at 10 a.m. And you can sign up for that Zoom link on our website calendar. So that is one thing to note. And we did move our Be Fit with Books that we meet right now. We're meeting at Be Fit here in town. We moved that to May 30th to stay away from Memorial Day weekend. So that's like right at the end of May. And then in June, we will be moving over to the Daily Boss for the next six months. We have decided to spread the love around for different small businesses in town, which is great. I think it's nice. And it just gives a highlight for some of our community partners, which is wonderful. So that is a different date as well than what it would normally be. But yeah, we have our real reads. May will be closing out that program. And I did want to shout out the George Paul and Gracie Lowry Charitable Foundation that gave us the grant that has allowed us to do that program. It has been really successful in bringing tweens together in a book club discussion setting while snacking on pizza. Who doesn't love that? And it's been really nice to see them, you know, create a community within themselves. And the conversations have just been wonderful and insightful. So we did choose a classic book to close that one out. And that book does coincide with the library's anniversary, which we're starting to celebrate in May. It was a suggestion of one of the attendees that they wanted to do a classic book. So we chose Anne of Green Gables, because that was one of the most popular books the first couple years that our library was open. So I will say the book discussion, you do need to register for that. And there are still a few spots left. And that's for grade five through grade 12. But the movie that we're showing to coincide with that book is on May 19th. And that is open for everyone. So we're excited to talk about a classic book that brings a joy to a lot of people. So I'm excited about that. Lego Club still going on. That's May 7th. We did move our brain break just to coincide with the schedule for other things. So that is also that same day as Lego Club. Lego Club will be happening in the one room. And in the other room, we're going to do a Star Wars themed brain break since it's a couple days after May the 4th. We can still extend that little nod to Star Wars. We thought that would make it fun. And then the other thing that we're doing, we will have a display down here in the Children's Department highlighting books that were popular for that first, you know, part of our celebration for the Library's anniversary. So come check out some classic books. It's always great to revisit those. And then on May the 12th at 4 p.m. for a tween craft, kids in tween craft, we're doing Make a Trinket Box. And we're basing that on one of the American Girl dolls that were popular in 1904, who is Samantha. So, and if anyone is into American Girl dolls, we're hoping to have a display down here. That's still in the works. But if you have your favorite American Girl doll, bring her with you. We would love to have those along for our crafting section session. So I think that will be a lot of fun. Busy. Busy. What about on the adult side, Tammy? What are you working on? So busy. So as Zach and Rhonda both pointed out, this fall, actually October 2nd marks the 125th anniversary of the dedication of the Ericsson Public Library building. And kind of to honor that in those six months, a particular date, we're taking one month to just recognize one 25-year increment. So this, you know, in May, we've got 1901 to about 1925. And for that, we obtained some grant funds through the Leonard Good Trust over in Ogden. And they gave us some funds to bring some presenters and some speakers to our community. And in this summer, we're going to be going out into the community to just like Mackie Schoolhouse up in the northeast corner, our Prairie Garden, the railroad depot, I mean, all sorts of little places around our community just to learn more about our communities. And we're calling this series Journaling in Place. And each month, we'll have two or three of these kind of plein air events. In May, we've got one that's entitled Built in Place. And Professor Charles Irwin over at DMACC, he's going to give that one. And that one is, I think that's May 20. Yeah, May 20 at Built in Place. So he's going to be giving that presentation over at the History Center. And then the volunteers at the History Center are going to be leading a walking tour of downtown. So that'll be a really cool opportunity to just get to know our place and who made the decisions to lay it out, why it looks the way it does, and just kind of get to know Boone itself. Before that, we have an author talk with Kevin Mason. And Kevin Mason, he's a faculty member up at UNI. And a couple years ago, he did this really great project where he walked the Dragoon Trail. And then he wrote a book called Retracing the Dragoon Trail, which came out April 1. It's fantastic, it really is. I started reading that last week, and I was just blown away. But he'll be at the library May 13 to talk about that project in his book. And it really was, you know, kind of that inspiration for this whole project, because I was like, I really want to get to know this community, get to know this land. Let's talk about Dragoons and what happened. Right, right. I mean, yeah, I mean, Mason's project is just, is really fantastic. So that's going on in May, the author talk, and then the built-in place talk with Charles Irwin. And we have a couple classes still with Jean Lucas. She's offering Tai Chi at the library on the 13th early in the morning. I'm doing it. Make the ball. On the 13th, we have the Boone Senior Group meeting at the library. And they just get together and just network and share resources and kind of present about the different services that they provide. On the 18th, we have Tom Keener with the ISU Extension, and he's giving a class called Cooking for One or Two. And, you know, I got to tell folks, you kind of missed out on his brain health talk that he gave a couple in March. What are the first ones? Yeah, it was so well done. And then there was this, he like assembled the salad for us right there. And this one, he's making a protein-packed scrambled egg muffin with roasted vegetables. I'm looking forward to that one. And I'll be giving another Google personal account management class on Gmail. And then on the 27th, we have the kickoff for the Menace Band Concert. So that'll be a lot of fun. Almost forgotten about that. Yeah, we'll be at the performances throughout the summer. And on the nights that I'm there, I'll have it craft. And so I've got a fun one planned for this one. And it's going to kind of coincide with kind of a vintage-y theme. Will we be having our pedal library out there? Oh, yeah. Just curious. Bringing the bike out. Yeah. So, yeah, I mean, once again, just a packed month and, you know, just really looking forward to bringing these events to the community and meeting folks who are interested in these things, too. So, and again, this really is, like you said, building towards the summer. So for summer, what kinds of highlights do you want people to know you're focusing on? Oh, sure. Sure. So there's still the summer reading program. And the theme this year is plant a seed, read. And with that in mind, you know, we really want to encourage people to challenge themselves, you know, think about what can they read or what media can they be exposed to that's going to help them learn a new skill, change a perspective, or, you know, gain a new perspective, change an opinion, whatever they can do to plant a seed and just start mulling things over in a new way. Good. Okay. Rhonda, what are you looking at for the tweens, teens again, once you hit summer, summertime? Yeah, I will, I will throw a couple teasers out there. The very first Saturday storytime, which actually falls just before the carnival. We should have a very special guest at our storytime. So be watching for that announcement. Okay. And with the theme, we're kind of going a little bit also with the skills that Tammy had mentioned, but also kind of a garden and nature theme. So we're going to be doing a tea cup fairy gardens. And I just put a request out there if anybody has any old tea cups they'd like to donate, that would be great. Bring them to the children's department. And we also are doing a library garden tea party again this year, but it will have an Alice in Wonderland mad hatter theme. So those are the few highlights. Okay. And we have going on so far. So that's just for summer reading. I mean, you got everything else going on and then all the history stuff too. Exactly. We, yes, we just have so much as we always do. It's going to be a busy, busy time. National Library Week, of course, was this week. So we always encourage people. I know there's also some talk going on about what are we going to do? Are we going to make some upgrades on our website? I know that the board talked about that this week. I think when they met, yeah, I think it was this week. But those are just some of the things that you guys have to keep tabs on. And so a lot of activity comes on to the website and or comes off your Facebook page. And plus, absolutely. I'm one of those that keeps getting the text messages about different activities that are going on. You got a lot. Nice. We do. People need to sign up for that if they haven't yet too. It's going to be a busy time. Yeah. Yeah. And honestly, Jen, we couldn't do it without the community support. And I know, I know that sounds so trite and, you know, kind of cliche. But, you know, we're a very small team and we're doing so much that sometimes, you know, dates might get wrong on something or something might get misspelled. And people are just like, Hey, man, you might want to fix this. Whatever it is. And, you know, it's if we were in an environment where people were really, why is this, you know, not why, why isn't every eye dotted and T cross, you know, we couldn't do it. But, you know, we really have just this loving supportive community that is, you know, just co creating awesome experiences here. And do I gotta be remiss if I didn't throw out that Jamie, the director, again, working on digitizing all of those newspapers, what she got to the, what did she say from 2000 about to, well, whatever 80. Anyway, there's a, there's a gap. She's looking to fill right now. So, yeah, a lot of it. And for people I don't know, who knows, it's digitized. You can find it on, on the website. Yeah, user. Yeah, there's great resources on our website. All right. I appreciate you taking time to come and visit us. Going to be busy during the month of May. And we look forward to having a lot of activity going on and busier when you hit summer reading program. Thanks so much for joining us today. Thanks, Jim. Thanks, Jim.