The library held its third in a series of four Long Range Planning meetings on Feb. 9. Having reviewed the perceived future needs of the patrons in the library service area, a definitive mission statement was discussed, aimed at committing the library to serve these needs. Following the completion of the mission statement next month, the library board will begin the process of determining the best structure and resources for the new library building being planned.

The library continues to offer a wide range of IRS tax forms and instructions in the lobby. For forms unavailable in the lobby, the library’s computers can retrieve them. The free public computers are available for job search, research projects, online education and general internet searches.

Despite recent bad weather, preschoolers continue to attend Storytime on Thursdays at 10:45. Groundhog and Valentine’s Day were celebrated in style (do you know the two other names for the Groundhog?).

Barbara Crossno (board), Jan Stevens (board lay representative) and John Stevens (library director), attended the annual membership meeting of the Friends of Central Texas Library System at Salado. Annual awards for 2009 were presented to Library Board Member of the Year (won by Barbara Crossno in 2008), Library Friends Project of the Year, Youth Volunteer of the Year, Librarian of the Year and a special award for Outstanding Service to CTLS.

The 2012 and 2013 biennial budget was presented and approved. The meeting concluded with installation of officers and a report on programs for 2010. Following the meeting, a dessert social was hosted by cookbook author Rod Stockstill. Rod made and shared some delicious dessert recipes found in his book “Cookin’ with Roy’s Boys”.

John Stevens drove through the snow to Gibbs Library in Mexia to attend a CTLS workshop for the Summer Reading Club to be held in June and July of this year.

We send a special thanks to Reed Jackson who donated additional office equipment to the library. And, to Joe Hancock for donating the book, “Extreme Measures” by Vince Flynn. It is a thrilling account of CIA intrigues in the war on terrorism.

We have been ‘weeding’ out books that haven’t been read in a while. Bags of romance stories and westerns are currently available for a donation to the library. The library purchased three DVDs: “Moonshot”, the story of Apollo 11 and man’s landing on the moon; “102 Minutes That Changed America”, the gripping story of 9/11, and “The Kennedy Assassination—- 24 Hours After”, showing the responses by the government to this tragic crisis.

These full-length presentations, along with others in a DVD format are for your use. One of the best gifts you can give your children is a library card. If they are age five to 16, you can sign for their card. Over 16 with proper ID, they can get their own card. Books, tapes, CDs, DVDs, magazines, newspapers and computer use are at your library for free. What they will learn there is priceless.