"Art Techniques: Improving Your Art" Workshop

The Raton Plein Air Society of artists is hosting and conducting a new workshop at the Arthur Johnson Memorial Library. This workshop is for adults, 18 years of age and up, and will meet in the library on the first and third Thursdays of each month, beginning in February and running through May.

The name of the workshop reflects the goal of those who will be conducting and participating in these ongoing workshops. The medium focused on in the workshops will be oil painting. Five aspects of oil painting will be addressed: drawing, self portraiture, still life, landscape and surreal/fantasy. Techniques and demonstrations given by different members of the Raton Plein Air Society will aid those attending to prepare for the next meeting. The work of attendees will be shown and discussed within the limits of each painting type and assignment addressed each month.

The members of the Raton Plein Air Society have each been involved in painting for decades. Various degrees in architecture, design and fine arts were the springboard that led Society members to a life long involvement in painting. They invite anyone interested in developing their artistic ability to attend the initial meeting on February 3, 2011, at 6:00 P.M. Mr. Sam Hughes will give a demonstration on drawing for the first workshop.

Refreshments will be served.

New Mexico Newsbank : Access newspapers and magazines online at home.

The Arthur Johnson Memorial Library now provides a link on this blog through which library patrons with library cards can access three New Mexico newspapers and ten other national publications on their own computers at home. The New Mexico newspapers are:

Albuquerque Journal
Las Cruces Sun-Times
Roswell Record

National publications are:

Baby Talk
Family Life
Foreign Affairs
Newsweek
Parenting
Popular Science
State (web publication)
Stateline.org (web publication)
U.S. News and World Report
Washington Family Magazine

The text of these magazines is now available to you at home. Go to the arthurjohnsonmemoriallibrary.blogspot.com. On the right side of the screen, find the link that says "New Mexico Newspapers". Click on that link. It will take you to a sign up page which requires your personal library card number. (Those patrons who have 3 digit patron numbers must preface their number with a zero - 0.) Once you have entered that, you will find a screen on which you can take a short cut to the New Mexico publications or nation wide publications. Select one. Each of those search screens have places to put in key words and dates in order to search for specific articles or to read the publication.

This resource can be used at the library on the public access computers or on your personal computer at home. In either case, you must go to the library blog, arthurjohnsonmemoriallibrary.blogspot.com, to begin.

Since the Albuquerque Journal no longer delivers daily in our area but send the newspapers through the mail, it is no longer necessary to wait until the next day to read the most current issue of the Journal available.

Please try out the Newsbank and let is know what you think. This service has been made available to New Mexico libraries through the New Mexico State Library and paid for by this state agency.

Income Tax Forms (Free) and Printing Income Tax Froms Off The Internet (15 cents per page)

I don't know why income tax time seems to roll around so frequently. It usually seems like a year between each Christmas, but the distance between each April 15th seems to get shorter all the time. Part of the reason for me is that I start worrying in December about getting my personal forms in January and hoping that I get it all done before April 14th so I won't have to stay up all night in order to meet the deadline the next day.

When you work in the library and get shipments of forms sent for free handout by the IRS and the New Mexico Department of Taxation, taxes are also on your mind for quite a while. People ask for the forms before January 1st. In fact, people trickle in all year asking for last year's forms, forms from other states, forms from so many years ago that not even the IRS has them posted online. So taxes, like overdue books, seem to be an inescapable part of life at the library.

As far as the new tax forms go each year, I have never noticed a reliable 'received by' prediction from either entity. We are usually unable to tell patrons when the forms will be here. Sometimes they arrive (in part) before January 1st. More usually they arrive afterward in several batches that contain different forms. Sometimes New Mexico Income Tax forms are here first. Sometimes IRS forms are here first.

This year, no individuals are receiving paper forms and instruction books from the IRS in the mail. It seems that the IRS wants as many forms as possible to be submitted online. Or perhaps they are busy saving tax payer dollars by canceling all that printing. However it is, this has upset a number of people who have always used these forms. I don't blame them. Fortunately, the IRS is still sending forms to public libraries who filled out the request paper work for such forms much earlier in the year. We filled out that paper work.

In the last week I have received a notification from the IRS that we may receive forms by the end of January. That was followed immediately by an email that said a shipment had left their warehouse and might be to us by January 17th. Two days later I received an email saying that the UPS now had the order. Before any of these emails, we received Schedule M - "Making Work Pay Credit" - in bulk without any instructions, and 1040EZ forms without any booklets. In between the last two emails we received 1040EZ booklets and 1040A forms. I got another email today saying another shipment had left their warehouse, and UPS brought us a delivery of forms for Credit for the Elderly or the Disabled (no instructions), and perhaps six instruction booklets on Child Care and Dependent Care Expenses. Truly, the shipping methods of the IRS are mysterious. As for the shipping methods of the NM Department of Taxation and Revenue, they are currently non-existent since we have not yet received any forms or instruction booklets from them to hand out.

We will receive more forms and booklets. I hope they are all here soon. You can always call the library (445-9711) before making a special trip to pick up forms that may not be here yet. If you are in a hurry, we can help you print IRS forms and New Mexico tax forms off the Internet, as well as the booklets. Just be aware that it costs 15 cents a page to print at the library. That can get expensive when the forms and booklets provided to us by the IRS for the public are free - after they arrive.

Also, please pick up your forms in a timely fashion. Once the ones to hand out free are gone, we charge 15 cents a page to make copies of each form that we set aside for that purpose.

In the meantime, the IRS has declared that this year's filing deadline is April 18th, not April 15th. This is because there is a holiday specific to Washington D.C. only that celebrates the day President Abraham Lincoln emancipated the slaves, and it falls on April 15th this year. So we all have three extra days to get our taxes done.

I wish that made me feel better than it does.

Welcome to 2011 at the Library!

It's a new year at the library and we would like to thank all our patrons and supporters for what we know will be their faithfulness during the coming twelve months. As usual, we will be available to schedule the meeting room for clubs and groups; we will be happy to schedule class tours (one for home schooled children is already on the calendar this month); we hope to start developing an e-book collection; and we just want to see all of you who come in to check out books, movies, audio books, video games, music Cd's and magazines. Don't forget that we have fifteen public access computers. Time is limited only when all computers are in use, and the very least amount of time you can use a computer is half an hour. (The longest amount of time is all day!

Our hours are:
Monday - 1:00 P.M. to 6:00 P.M.
Tuesday - 10:00 A.M. to 6:00 P.M.
Wednesday - 10:00 A.M. to 6:00 P.M.
Thursday - 10:00 A.M. to 9:00 P.M.
Friday - 10:00 A.M. to 6:00 P.M.
Saturday - 10:00 A.M. to 6:00 P.M.
Sunday - CLOSED

Internet computers begin going down one half hour before closing.

Patrons who wish to get a library card must provide a photo ID. (Parents must provide their own photo ID when co-signing forms for their children.)

Regular books, movies, and audio books go out for three weeks for residents, six weeks for those patrons designated 'county'.

New fiction, music Cd's, magazines, and video games go out for one week.

Preschool Story Hour occurs every Wednesday morning at 10:00 A.M.

Summer Story Hour is for children from birth through 5th grade and occurs every Wednesday during the summer for 6-8 weeks. (Beginning date will be selected later for 2011.)

The Friends of the Library sell donated used books. They are always interested in finding new members. Call the library (445-9711) for contact information.

To all of you who use the library, we appreciate you! For those who have yet to discover us, we hope you come by soon.

Happy New Year!

Reading is good for stress!

'Tis the season. . .to be stressed. I love Christmas. But the week before is intensely stressful. I am one of those people who get packages in the mail just in time to get there, am wrapping gifts for stockings at midnight on Christmas Eve (unless I focus on doing it bits at a time for two weeks, which requires thought and personal reminders and, oh, yes, stress because I haven't done it yet), holds the family dinner and wants everything to look as perfect as possible, even though the tidy results of all that cleaning last for about thirty seconds after everyone walks in the door.

I saw the title of an article today on the cover of December/January 2011 issue of Natural Health magazine. It was "Instant Calm - A simple cure for days that feel crazed". I focused on that for a moment before I snorted. We can all eliminate stress instantly. It's simple. That's why so many people suffer from so much stress, right?

All the things I have read about dealing with stress require us to do something. Meditate. Eat right. Eliminate caffeine. Exercise. Sleep more. Sleep less. Make a list and don't lose it. Prioritize. Eliminating stress requires those who are already trying to keep up to do something else to eliminate the consequences of what you are doing. Does this seem counterproductive to anybody except me?

Well, I read the article. You never know. It might actually have one teeny suggestion I could implement without making a special trip for new vitamins, changing my bedtime or giving up coffee and chocolate, especially in the middle of the holiday season. As usual, it suggested vitamins that aid in calming, exercising, being in the sun 20 minutes a day without sunscreen or sunglasses, prioritizing, giving up caffeine, and meditation.

But wait. Under 'cultivate active rest', reading was listed as a form of meditation that gives focused attention to the moment! Finally, something that I do every day. Reading relieves stress and I don't have to feel guilty about it. I can remind myself, and anyone else who questions this expenditure of my time, that too much stress causes long term health problems and reading can help that.

So pick up a good book this holiday season - one you actually want to read - and enjoy yourself. The library will be happy to help you reduce stress.

They are tough on overdues in Texas!

A 25 year old woman in Bayton, Texas, was taken to court after she did not return overdue library books for seven years. She didn't show up in court and was jailed on contempt of court charges, in addition to the charges for the overdue books. This was on the day before Thanksgiving. Her reason for not returning the books was that they were burned in a fire, which she said her landlord and the fire department could verify. But she never told the library and she did not show up for court.
A detective in the Bayton Police Department said this case is uncommon, but he also added, "It's a part of the deal, part of the agreement that you enter. It's just like anything else. . .you can't take something that doesn't belong to you and just hold onto it."
This is a rather extreme reaction to overdue books, although if you bring up the subject with almost any librarian, they will probably start grinding their teeth before unclamping their jaws and responding in a reasonably civil manner. Library books and materials are returned late everywhere. Usually it's just a matter of forgetting about it, receiving a notice from the library or finding the things yourself, returning the materials and paying a fine. Librarians understand that. When you are busy and the kids are in sports and the dog is at the vet's and your husband has the flu, library books are about the last thing on your mind. But at some point, most people with overdue books return them which makes everyone happy. There is no reason for a librarian to grind their teeth over the run-of-the-mill overdue book.
It's the patrons who have them out for years that cause the angst. It's when someone comes in and says, "What do you mean we owe $112.00 in fines? We couldn't return them, we moved to California! But we're back now. Are you SURE we can't check out?" It's when the library sends overdue notices and gets them back because the person has vanished. It's when a brand new book or DVD or video game gets checked out and apparently the patron thinks it now belongs to them forever. "Cool! The public library is free!"
Yes, you can check the materials out for free. But you can't keep them. They are paid for by the funding entity (city, county, school system) and legally belong to them. Besides, if you check something out and don't bring it back, you can't check anything else out. Think of what you might be missing! And think of what other patrons are missing because you didn't return it.
We appreciate our patrons. The Arthur Johnson Memorial Library is used by a large part of our community and you should know that we are not going to go as far as the library in Bayton, Texas, when books are overdue. (No need to change your name or leave town.) Just keep turning in those things you have checked out so we can keep checking out new things to you. It's what we are here for, what we like to do, what we hope you enjoy, over and over and over.

Public Libraries Administered by Private Companies

There is a new trend in this day of cost cutting. (Actually, it's not brand new, but it does have to do with cutting costs.) Public libraries owned by cities and municipalities and formerly funded and operated by the same, are being turned over to private companies to operate. It's all about the bottom line. Theoretically this saves the city or municipality money. This is actually true. The private company looks upon the library as a money pit. This means fewer employees are hired, hours open to the public are cut, book budgets are slashed and the bottom line is a lot lower.

Unfortunately, this does not add up to real public service. A patron told me a story the other day about the library in his daughter's Texas town. It is going to be turned over to a private company to operate. Not only would the hours be cut and the people doing the work be more like clerks than librarians, the actual library administrative work and decision making would be done from the company's office in the east. That meant there would be no librarian on the premises to make purchasing decisions, be familiar with the needs of the public using the library, be acquainted with a single person who entered the building, have any idea if the lighting was adequate, if the books should be shifted, if another book shelf could be fit in to hold more in certain sections, if things like reference books were properly updated or even if the floor was vacuumed and the doors were unlocked on time to let people in.

The patron's daughter had seen what happened to a library in another town close by when it was turned over to a private company. No new materials (books, DVDs, Cd's, etc.) had been purchased for two years. Yes, it was a money saving deal.

Public libraries have traditionally been supported by public money. Yes, they have their business aspects. Bills have to be paid, physical plants (the actual building) have to be kept up, contracts signed, equipment purchased, building codes and federal requirements, such as the Americans With Disabilities Act, have to be met. Patrons are a lot like customers, and librarians have to use the funds at their disposal to serve the largest patron base possible. But there is a lot more to libraries than the business side. There is real public service where trained people familiar with the collection and with computer usage do their best to help others. They may be paid with public funds, but that is appropriate, since they are providing a free public service. If you live in a small town, it is comforting to know who you are going to be dealing with when you go to the library. The librarian does not live in another state. You can actually talk to him/her face to face.

As for the patron's daughter, she has taken her children to the next town and gotten library cards at that public library - because that is what it still is, a real library that serves real people.

Raton Science Cafe : "Giant Waves and Rogue Waves"

The Raton Science Cafe will meet at the library Thursday, December 9, 2010, at 7:00 P.M. The topic will be Giant Waves and Rogue Waves. A collection of the best 90 slides from five different sources will be shown. Giant waves can be surf waves, tsunami waves, and rogue waves. Their power is illustrated by many photographs of damageed ships and oil rigs; and in a few instances - the actual rogue waves. A handout shows 21 of the favored locations of rogue waves. Viewers may also have a CD-ROM copy of the presentation. If you are interested in reading up on the subject beforehand, the library holds a copy of "The Wave: In Pursuit of the Rogues, Freaks, and Giants of the Ocean", a best-selling non-fiction book by author Susan Casey. The presentation will be followed with food and drink refreshments.

Dennie R. Gum has published a new book!

Dennie Gum, the assistant librarian at the Arthur Johnson Memorial Library, has published a new book titled, "Unknown Lover". This is a modern romance involving three friends and their struggles and personal decisions regarding their attachments for one another. Dennie has previously published "Winter Dreamer" and has a third book in process. We are proud to have her books available to the public. If you wish to read "Unknown Lover", call and reserve the book. The library has two copies, both of which are flying off the shelf as our patrons enjoy this story by our very own library employee.

Vote "Yes" for Bond B for libraries on November 2, 2010!

As libraries are more used and needed in this time of economic recession, their budgets are being cut because there simply isn't enough money to go around.
On the statewide election ballot Bond B, if passed, will provide $7,000,000 to go to New Mexico public, school, tribal, college and university libraries to update their collections, equipment and databases. This money is not distributed until the library has purchased and paid for books and materials, computers (including parts, and needs to make the patron computer experience as up to date as possible), and online data bases that charge for their information. The State of New Mexico checks all submissions for reimbursement from libraries to make sure that the funds are used properly before each library receives any of these funds.
At this library, we have been able to purchase new computers, new headphones, new parts such as increased memory, as well as many books, DVDs, audio books, music and periodical subscriptions. While the city does provide many things for the library, including funds for the books and materials, necessary budget cuts have left us with only the GO Bond funds to keep our public access computer network up and running.
Not only will public libraries benefit from much needed funds, but the school libraries throughout Colfax County will also benefit. The following figures are based on charts prepared using existing distribution formulas, population figures and existing libraries in Colfax County. These figures give you an approximate idea of how much money libraries in this county will receive if Bond B passes on November 2, 2010.
Public Libraries
Arthur Johnson Memorial Library $11,233.68
Eagle Nest Public Library 3,080.30
Fred Macaron Public Library (Springer) 4,200.30
Shuter Library of Angel Fire 3,983.44

Public Schools
Cimarron Municipal Schools $10,501.60
Maxwell Municipal Schools 6,098.27
Raton Public Schools 11,329.76
Springer Municipal Schools 8,201.66
Moreno Valley High School 3,127.45

TOTAL FOR COLFAX COUNTY: $61,756.46

Please vote "Yes" for Bond B and help all the libraries in the county provide the much needed materials and computer services for our citizens. Every penny of it is needed.
Thank you!