Monday, May 25, 2015

338 Chapters: LaGrange County Library, Shipshewana, IN

This branch of LaGrange County Public Library is in a small town in northeast Indiana. As it says on the official website (http://www.shipshewana.org/), "the area is defined by its surrounding Mennonite and Amish communities and the small town character that make our town so attractive to residents and to thousands of visitors from around the country."
 
The first thing I noticed on entering was the enclosure for two guinea pigs, Scooby (colored like a calico cat) and Shaggy (who was sleeping in an enclosure, but seemed to have dark fur). I'm always looking for "something I haven't seen in a library before," and that something here is: guinea pigs!
 
The adult section of the library holds both "Adult Fiction" and "Christian Fiction," to meet the needs of its patrons. The non-fiction selection is quite small, but of course this is a branch library; many more resources are available through the county. A brochure from the Indiana State Library asks "What will your book club read next?" and offers Book Discovery Kits and databases. Nice.
 
Lutheran Ministries of Indiana and Kentucky are offering a 2015 Reading Camp this summer. I've heard of all sorts of summer camps: sports, computers, riding, sailing; but this is the first reading camp I've come across!
 
Crafts for Kids is a program offered on Thursdays afternoons, and News Notes for Parents are available from the Purdue Extension Service.
 
The children's area of the library has tables and chairs, stuffed animals, picture books, easy readers, and series books, including Dick and Jane, Barbie, Bob the Builder, Sesame Street, Search and Find, among others. There is a Lego club, and they are looking for more Legos, if you have some you no longer need.
 
The DVD collection clearly labels each case with the movie rating, G, PG13, R, and NR.
 
Finally, ten computers are available. And I learned that Shipshewana is named for a Potawatomi Chief. 
 
This is the second library I've visited that is in a log cabin; the first is in Cable, Wisconsin.
 
For more about this library, go to http://www.lagrange.lib.in.us/shipshe.html .
 
5/23/2015  car




 

No comments:

Post a Comment

Comments are welcomed, and I will respond to them. Please be tasteful; comments that are in poor taste will be deleted.
Sorry about the "verification" step; I added it after a rash of spammish comments.