RANDOLPH PUBLIC LIBRARY DRAWS STATEWIDE CONTEST

The Randolph Public Library will be the focus of a statewide design competition for young architects and architect interns, according to Kristopher Tiernan, one of the four young architect interns who visited Randolph in May and met with members of the Randolph Library board, Randolph selectmen's board, and Friends of the Randolph Library.

The competition, open to members of the New Hampshire chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) will offer a cash prize for the best design created to fulfill Randolph's needs for a library and, possibly, a community center. A panel of senior architects in the NH AIA will judge the designs.

Tiernan's group included Bob Cook and Markus von Zabern, all of JSA Architects, Inc. of Portsmouth, and Brent Chappell, of Udelfman Associates of Hollis. All graduated from their various architectural schools within the past few years and are not yet licensed architects, but are working with established firms. As director of the young architects committee of the NH AIA, Tiernan proposed the concept of a practical design competition "that would actually help a community."

He learned of the Randolph Library committee's interest in new ideas when their proposal for design assistance from Plan New Hampshire was turned down. The Randolph proposal was one of several passed on to Tiernan by Plan New Hampshire, which each year is able to select only three of the many proposals they receive.

The central issue for the Randolph group, however, was the limits of the library that now serves the community. At present the library is open only in the summer for restricted hours: only Saturday mornings in June and September and for four hours on Wednesdays and two hours each on Saturday and Monday through July and August. The Library Committee would like to have a year-round library. Space is a major problem. The library is housed in a former one-room schoolhouse on Durand Road. A former outhouse location and shed spaces have been altered to serve as office space and children's room. Shelves have been built nearly to the ceiling and there is a desperate need for more room, said Randolph Librarian Yvonne Jenkins.

- reprinted with permission

NESMITH LIBRARY IN WINDHAM RECEIVES LSTA GRANT

The Nesmith Library has been awarded a Library Services and Technology Grant (LSTA) in the amount of $1,300 to expand the foreign language section of its collection. Assistant Library Director Marija Sanderling, prepared the grant application, which she titled, Say 'Cheese,' in Chinese. The LSTA grant program was implemented in 1997 to help libraries improve their services to their patrons. LSTA funds, where Congress appropriates annually, are provided to state libraries, using a population-based formula. In New Hampshire, the majority of its allocation is dedicated to covering the costs of statewide services such as database licensing support and interlibrary loan deliveries. Occasionally, the State Library also offers competitive grants to fund projects in basic technology, enhanced Internet connectivity, improved access to library and information services, preserving New Hampshire documents, etc.

Congratulations to the recently elected Nesmith Library Board of Trustees. New officers include Chair Mary Lee Underhill, Vice-Chair Shirley Beaulieu, Treasurer Holly Eddy, Vice-Treasurer J. Gross, and Corresponding Secretary Rich Kieck. The continued presence of Dr. Murray Levin and the Hon. Pat Skinner on the Board is invaluable.

LITERACY KITS PROMOTE READING, FUN BETWEEN PARENTS, CHILDREN

For parents looking for a fun and educational way to spend time with their children, the literacy kits available at Windham's Nesmith Library might just do the trick.

The kits are an innovative way to help promote literacy in children. Each kit has a particular theme and contains a book, an object such as a puppet or stuffed animal, and an activity card. The card list things relevant to the theme, such as fun facts, questions to promote discussion about the story between the parent and child, and questions to stimulate the reader's imagination.

"It gets kids having a good experience with books and gets them reading more and more books," explained Beth Strauss, Nesmith's youth services librarian.

The 17 kits, which patrons can check out of the library, are part of the First Teachers Project, a collaboration between the library, the Windham School District, local kindergartens and the business community. The program recognizes parents as their children's first teachers and seeks to make the parents knowledgeable about early literacy skills so their children arrive at Golden Brook School ready to learn.

The kits were purchased from Childcraft, a Lancaster PA.-based company that sells educational products for children, using a grant provided by the N.H. Department of Education's Best School Initiative.

Strauss, who serves on the committee that oversees the First Teachers Project, said the kits, which are appropriate for children between 6 months old to pre-school age, dove-tail nicely with the program's mission.

"[We want] to increase parent-child interaction, to get kids used to language and books," Strauss said. "We want the kids surrounded by words. Any way for kids to see, hear a lot of languages, [to be exposed to] an environment rich in language."

Raya-Jan Zaczyk, a Windham mother of four children, has used about six of the kits with her two youngest children, 22-month-old Misty Lynn and 6-year-old Ian, who starts first grade this year.

Ian and his mother recently used the measuring tape in the kits that included Leo Lionni's book Inch by Inch so Ian would better understand concepts of sizes and numbers.

"It reinforces the book, which was nice," Zaczyk said.

Zaczyk said the kits' bright colors and the ability to play with an object included in it holds Misty Lynn's attention.

"She was thrilled to come to the library to get a new kit," Zaczyk said. Ian likes to read along, she added.

Some of the other kits include Ellen Stoll Walsh's book Mouse Paint, about three mice that discover jars of paint and explore the world of colors, and Laurence Pringle's book Dinosaurs! Strange and Wonderful, which describes different kinds of dinosaurs. Strauss said all the kits have become a hit at the library.

"The kids are very excited," Strauss said. "The parents have gone nuts over them."

-reprinted with permission