Saturday Reading Program

There will be NO Saturday reading program on January 3rd. The next session will be held on January 17th.

Jeff Falkingham

Jeff will be at the Ortonville Public Library on Saturday, January 24th from 1 - 3 p.m. with his second book. The Friends of the Ortonville Library will be serving refreshments.

Library Assistant II position available

The Ortonville Public Library is taking applications for a Library Assistant II. This position is part-time and would include working evenings and every other Saturday. A complete job description and application forms are available at the library. For more information you can call 320-839-2494 and ask for Vicki. Applications are due by January 2, 2009.

Jeff Falkingham book update

I recveived an email from Jeff stating his second book is currently at the printer with a scheduled release date of January 1. Xlibris, his publisher, tells him they should have hard copies of the book during the week of January 19th. He is tentatively scheduled to be at the Browns Valley Library the morning of January 24th. We are going to try to work it out so Jeff can be here at the library that same afternoon. Watch for more details and a definate time later.

Quilt Winner

Joan Reiffenberger was the lucky winner of the New Year's Reflection quilt made by Viola Mehlhop of Ortonville. The quilt was yellow and blue and 85" x 75". She used about 20 yards of material. It took her six weeks to cutt and piece with the machine. She used 2 1/2 spools quilting thread. Started quilting on August 16th and finished on September 28th. It took her a total of 112 1/2 hours! Then she used 750 yards thread for the hand quilting! What a wonderful job Vi did. The Friends of the Ortonville Library certainly appreciated her making and donating this quilt to us. Look at the pictures on this site to see the winner with Vi.

Ken Halverson Update

I received an email from Ken Halverson today stating that a strange twist may be in the making with his family history. His granddaughter, Sierra (she was here on Saturday with the blonde hair without glasses) is a Johnson from her mother's side. Her mother is from Benson along with a long family blood line. It's now suspected that Oscar Johnson, the police officer that stopped the gang at Coggins and shot and killed his great uncle, maybe Sierra's great great great uncle or grandpa!
Watch for the second book coming in 2009 called "Life With Grandma and Grandpa".

Michael Larson to visit Ortonville Library

Michael Larson, Wheaton and Janine Ringdahl Schmidt will be at the Ortonville Public Library on Satruday, December 6, 2008 with their book "Nature's Christmas Story". It took him 27 years to write the children's book. Janine is the illustrator. Michael will read his book to the Saturday children's reading program kids and then go upstairs for a book talk with all that are interested in hearing how he started to write the book and how he finally got it published. The program starts at 10:30 a.m. The Friends of the Ortonville Library Foundation will be serving refreshments.

Ken Halverson

Wow! What a wonderful presentation by KenHalverson on his book "If Grandma is in Heaven, Watch out! The 1930's Bonrud Gang. We had over 40 people in attendance and all were well educated about Gangs in the '30s. Ken brought along a lot of legal papers, pictures, newspaper articles, etc. that really told it all. Thanks again to Ken for coming out and sharing his story with us. He is sending his second book to the printer and it should be out in January. This book follows his grandparents after they got out of prison. We will announce when the book comes out and, hopefully, have copies available for sale her at the library.

Fund Raiser

The Friends of the Ortonville Library Foundation will be holding a fund raiser on Saturday, November 22 from 9 - 1 p.m. at the Community Center. Sports ENT of Iowa will have hoodies for $18 each or 2 for $35; sweatshirts $15 each or 2 for $28; caps $5 each. Some of the names he has are John Deere, Harley, Country Girl, Fox, Playboy, Tapout, MN State, Mn Vikings, Timberwolves, Wilds. He has beanies and caps for all sports and a limited number of baseball caps. Come up to the Community Center and support the library. All proceeds will go towards library needs.

Saturday reading program

There have now been two sessions of the Saturday children's reading program. There are pictures of each event on the blog for you to look at. Upcoming dates are: November 8, November 22, December 6, and December 20th. On December 6th, we will have a special visit from Mike Larson of Wheaton with his new children's book which he will read to the children. On the 20th, there will be a special person making a visit! This program is open to all children ages 3 through kindergarten. Come and have some fun!

William Kent Krueger

Wow! What a great speaker and author. There was a nice crowd at the community center to see him and ask questions about his books. He was very pleased and happy to have been invited to Ortonville. As he said, I can go a few more feet and be in South Dakota! He enjoyed the area and said what a wonderful library we have. Thanks to all of you for coming to hear him and buy his books. I don't think he went home with any of them!. There are pictures on the blog from that evening for you to check out.

New Year's Reflection Quilt

The Friends of the Ortonville Public Library Foundation are raffling off a quilt called The New Year's Reflections Quilt. The quilt was made by Viola Mehlhop of Ortonville. The quilt is 85" x 75" and is in the colors of blues, golds, and yellows. The quilt is on display at the library. The raffle tickets are available from any member of the Friends group or at the library. The tickets are $5 each or 5 for $20. The drawing for the raffle will be held on Saturday, December 13.

Ken Halverson author visit

Ken Halverson, author from Andover, MN, will be at the Ortonville Library on Saturday, November 15 from 1 - 3 p.m. Ken is the author of the book "If Grandma's in Heaven, Watch out! The 1930's Bonrud Gang". This is a true story of a gang that operated in the Benson and Montevideo area. They were responsible for many robberies, kidnappings, etc. Ken found out about the Gang after his relatives who were the members of the Gang had passed away. This is going to be quite a fascinating talk of his book and relatives who are living in the Montevideo area. The Friends of the Ortonville Public Library will be providing refreshments.

Big Stone Writers' School Schedule

The Big Stone Writers' School has a number of events planned in the months ahead. For October there will be a workshop at Zion Luthern Church in Ortonville on Thursday, October 16 at 6:30 p.m. On Saturday, October 18 they will be having their annual meeting at 9:00 a.m. at Zion Luthern Church in Ortonville with registration beginning at 8:30 a.m. On Saturday, October 25 there will be a Writers' Road Show at the Madison Public Library at 3:30 p.m.
On Friday, November 24 there will be a Jill Nelson workshop at the Ortonville High School from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. The workshop will continue on Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. On Thursday, November 20 there will be a Writers' Road Show at the Morris Public Library at 6:30 p.m.

Phil Bolsta website

The website for Phil Bolsta's book "Sixty Seconds: One Moment Changes Everything" is www.sixtysecondsbook.com

Author Visit

William Kent Kruger, noted Minnesota author who has won many book awards will be coming to Ortonville on Monday, October 20th. He will be at the Community Center at 7 p.m. Krueger writes a mystery series set in the nroth woods of Minnesota. His protagonist is Cork O'Connor, the former sheriff of Tamarack County and a man of mixed heritage--part Irish and park Ojibwe. The seventh book in the series, "Thunder Bay" was released in July of 2007. The latest title in the series, "Red Knife", is due to be released in September of 2008. He will have books available for purchase and signing.

Author Visit

Heidi Haagenson, author of the book "The Tenney Quilt: Celebrating the Women of Minnesota's Tiniest Town", will do a book talk and book signing on Saturday, September 27th from 10:00 - 12:00. Heidi currently lives in Willmar, MN. She will bring the 80-year-old Tenney Quilt with her, and will tell the stories of the women who created that quilt as a fundraiser for a cook stove in the town hall in what is now Minnesota's smallest town (population:6!)

Author Visit

Phil Bolsta, son of Ortonville native Kent Bolsta will be reading selections from his new book, "Sixty Seconds: One Moment Changes Everything" on Saturday, September 13 from 1 - 3 p.m. at the Ortonville Public Library. Following the reading and a qeustion-and-answer session, Phil will be signing copies of his book. To see more on his book, go to the website above.

Summer Reading Program

Well we are winding down the summer reading program for 2008. The following are some reminders: the final regular program will be held on Wednesday, July 23 at 1:00 for first through sixth grade and at 2:30 for preschool through kindergarten. ALL participants must submit their reading logs no later than Saturday, July 26th to be eligible for final prizes. Final prizes will be awarded after Chef Roberto's program on Wednesday, July 30th at 1:00.

Summer Reading Program

WOW! We had 51 kids attend in the first through sixth grade class and 14 in the preschool through kindergarten class. Today they made windsocks. Everyone had fun and enjoyed the stories.

Storytime in the Park

We have had two storytimes in the park. At the first one, Bill Watson was our guest reader. We had 24 attend this program. The second one, Kathi Thymian was our guest reader. We had 28 at this program. Come out and enjoy the nice weather and have stories read to you.

Summer reading kickoff

Dealing with weather created quite a flurry of activity yesterday, but in the end we had the kickoff at the Ortonville Public Library. We had between 70 and 80 adults and children. Games were played, registrations done, and ice cream enjoyed by all! Thank you to the Friends of the Library for providing the ice cream.

Reading in the Park

This summer the Ortonville Public Library will be doing a Storytime in Park. We will be at Lakeside Park each Tuesday, starting on June 10th at 10 a.m. for a storytime. There will not be activities, just a story time. This is open to anyone who wants to come and listen to children's stories. The storytime will last about 45 minutes. We will do this every Tuesday through August 19th. So bring your blankets and lawn chairs, get comfortable, sit back and enjoy some stories!

B.O.O.K.

The Ortonville Public Library will be having a new program this year called B.O.O.K., Building Opportunities for Outstanding Kids. This program will pair up first through 6th graders with mentors who are ninth grade and older. They will meet at their convenience for one hour a week to do reading and writing activities to help them over the summer months. This program will also start the week of June 9th and run until August 1st. If anyone is interested in being a mentor, please contact the library at 320-839-2494.

Summer Reading Program

The Ortonville Public Library will be having their summer reading programs on Wednesdays starting on June 18th and going through July 23rd. The first session will be at 1:00 p.m for children in first through sixth grade. The second session will be at 3:30 for preschool (age 3) through kindergarten. All sessions will be held at the library. There will be books read, activities done and games played each session. The theme this year is "Look What's Cookin' at Your Library".

Summer Reading Program Kickoff

The Ortonville Public Library will be having their summer reading program beginning with registration the week of June 9-14. We will also be having a kick-off party at Lakeside Park on Wednesday, June 11 from 3:30 - 5. Penny Hornemann will be bringing her animals and some are babies for you all to see. We will be playing games and there will be refreshments. The program is open to all children ages 3 through sixth grade. Come to the park and have some fun.

Annual Book Sale

The annual book sale is tentatively scheduled for two weeks in May. We will start on Monday, May 5 and go through May 17th. Watch for more details coming up.

New Books

Please note on the right side of the blog is a list of new books. These are the new books we have received in during the month of March. They are linked to the card catalog for you to place a hold or order. Contact the library if you have questions.

Anonymous Response to PIN Numbers

From: vickig@ortonville.lib.mn.us
To: noreply-comment@blogger.com
Date: Thu, 21 Feb 2008 09:19:47 -0600
Subject: RE: [Ortonville Library Blog] New comment on February Fund Raiser.
I am sorry you are having difficulty with the website for our automated system. The new card will automatically assume the same PIN as your previous card. If you cannot remember your PIN number you used previously, contact us and we will erase the old PIN number off of your record. We do NOT have access to your PIN number so, therefore, cannot give you your PIN Number. On the Pioneerland website you can go to My Record to set up your PIN Number. You will need to enter your library card number and a PIN number of your choosing. You will be asked to reenter the PIN and then it should be set up for you.As far as no voice mail available during our Off hours, that is one of the decisions made when the old answering machine failed about 6 years ago not to replace. The reason being, many messages were left that did not pertain to library matters, and therefore, took valuable time to listen to. Two staff members have been cut in the past six years. There is no time to listen to non library related matters each time we open. We feel we do the best we can with the limted funds we have been given by the City and County to operate. We are available until 8 p.m. four nights a week and are here until 3 p.m. on Saturday. These hours should give EVERY patron sufficient time to contact us in person if they need to. Additionally if you do have concerns about our library hours, etc., please contace your city council and county commissioners about our funding. We do have staff email available at ortonv@ortonville.lib.mn.us or my business email is vickig@ortonville.lib.mn.us. These are checked daily for any questions or problems that patrons are having and need to be resolved. Thank you for your comments and if you need additional help with your PIN , please contact us. As you chose to do this anonymously, I cannot go in and delete your previous PIN number so you can create a new one. Vicki Grimli

February Fund Raiser

The Ortonville Library will be having a fun fund raiser on Saturday, February 2, 2008. The fund raiser will start at 10:00 a.m. and go until 1:00 p.m. We will be working with distributors of Tupperware, Home Interiors and Tastefully Simple to provide you an opportunity to purchase items for yourself and at the same time, raise money for the library. Come by the library and purchase some great items and support the library.

Adult Winter Reading Program

The Adult Winter Reading Program is underway for 2008. The program will run for 13 weeks, ending on April 5, 2008. The theme this year is "A Reading Winterland". All you need to do is come into the library and sign up for the program. You need to set yourself a goal as to how many books you will read during these 13 weeks. If you reach your goal, you will receive one of our 2008 coffee mugs with the theme printed on them. We also have weekly drawings. When you finish reading a book, return it to the library, and sign up for the drawing that week. The local businesses have been very generous again with donating prizes. The program is open to the first 75 people to sign up. Happy Reading in 2008!

Fund Raising Results

Thanks to everyone who purchased tickets in our raffle. We raised over $900! Our winners were: Christmas dinner-Vickie Skoog; Large doll-Amy Adelman; Small doll-Barb Wiese; Ice cream cake-Debra Reiffenberger; Andes Tower tickets-Trevor Kellor; Basket xmas napkins, etc.-Tim Scherer; Basket of xmas goodies-Kathy Zahn; Basket of xmas goodies-Lynette Wellendorf; $10 gift certificate to E.T.C. Consignment Shop-Connie Newman; and Crocheted xmas doilie-Carolyn Kvidera. Our Harvest a Pumpkin for magazine and newspaper subscriptions was also a great success. We received about $1,200 to keep our magazines and newspapers in the library for 2008. Thanks to all our great supporters!