STORYTIME

Don't forget about our weekly storytimes at 10 A.M. every Wednesday.  Two lionhead rabbits named Trouble and Lefty joined us for a special storytime earlier in the year so come join us because you never know who might show up next.

Come in and see the new exhibit
upstairs in the museum.
Tie One On: Lets Cook

Be sure and check out our new framed
Bird's Eye View Maps upstairs
in the archives. 

Gift of 19^th Century Maps to Fayette Heritage Museum

A gift of two high-resolution color copies of rare 19^th century Bird’s Eye View maps of La Grange and Schulenburg was presented to Kathy Carter of the Fayette Heritage Museum & Archives by Rodney and JT Koenig, trustees of the Luck & Loessin Collection Trust.

The maps are the creation of Augustus Koch, a German-born cartographer who emigrated to the Unites States prior to the Civil War, serving in the War as a map-maker until his discharge in 1865.  By 1868, he had acquired the profession of an itinerant Bird’s Eye cartographer employing the skills he acquired during his military service, traveling across the country plying his trade.  All in all, Koch produced more than 112 Bird’s Eye maps in his career, 21 of them in Texas.  Fayette County was privileged among all other Texas counties to have had three of its localities recorded for posterity by Koch’s imagination; La Grange in 1880, and Schulenburg and Flatonia in 1881.

 JT Koenig had seen the Fayette County maps in the Amon Carter Museum’s exhibit on Bird’s Eye View maps and learned that the La Grange and Schulenburg maps were in the possession of the Witte Museum in San Antonio (the E. A. Arnim Archives and Museum in Flatonia has a copy of the Flatonia map).  Thinking that the Fayette Heritage Museum should have a copy of these historical documents, Mr. Koenig contacted the Witte Museum and it agreed to provide a copy of its original maps to the Luck & Loessin Collection Trust; a trust created by the late Eugenia B. Miller for the benefit of the Fayette Heritage Museum.  The maps are currently on public display in the Museum foyer.

NEW TITLES!

New Books

The Last Child by John Hart

Knock Out by Catherine Coulter

The End of Overeating by David A. Kessler, MD

Cemetery Dance by Douglas J. Preston

Gone Tomorrow by Lee Child

Don’t Swallow Your Gum by Aaron E. Carroll

Lincoln’s Men by Daniel Mark Epstein

Mommywood by Tori Spelling

The Necklace by Cheryl Jarvis

Pygmy by Chuck Palahniuk

Just Breath by Susan Wiggs

The Neighbor by Lisa Gardner

New Audio Books

Plum Spooky by Janet Evonovich

Texas! Lucky by Sandra Brown

Promises in Death by J. D. Robb

Paths of Glory by Jeffery Archer

New Children's Books

L is for Lone Star a Texas Alphabet by Carol Crane

Batty about Texas by J. Jayne Smith

Stuck in the Mud by Garry Parsons

Little Miss Patriot by Peter W. Barnes

The Baabaasheep Quartet by Leslie Elizabeth Watts

Too Many Frogs by Sandy Asher

Farmer Dale’s Red Pickup Truck by Lisa Wheeler

Armadillo Tattletale by Helen Ketteman

Little Blue Truck by Alice Schertle

Can Anyone Hear Me by Jessica Meserve

Dirt on my Shirt by Jeff Foxworthy

Ten Cows to Texas by Peggy Mercer

New DVD's

Homeward Bound

Homeward Bound II

The Water Horse Legend of the deep

Nights in Rodanthe

Australia

Night in the Museum

Twilight

Marley & Me

The Pink Panther

Journey to the Center of the Earth

High School Musical 3

Nim’s Island

 $$$$$$$$$$$$

Thanks to all who helped and shopped at
the April booksale.  It was a huge success!
The Friends of the Library raised over
$2400 to help support the library.

Come to the Library and pick up these Free brochures

 The Library has received several brochures from the National Institute for Literacy. They are:

Shining Stars: Toddlers Get Ready To Read

Shining Stars: Preschoolers Get Ready To Read

Shining Stars: Kindergartners Learn To Read

Shining Stars: First graders Learn To Read

Shining Stars: Second & Third Learn To Read

The Effect of Family Literacy Interventions On Children’s Acquisition Of Reading: From Kindergarten To Grade 3

A Child Becomes A Reader: Birth Through Preschool

A Child Becomes A Reader: Kindergarten Through Grade 3

Put Reading First: Kindergarten Through Grade 3

Literacy Begins At Home: Teach Them To Read

Big dreams: Preschool Through Grade 3

 The Library also received brochures about:

Growing Up Drug Free: A Parent’s Guide To Prevention

Early Warning Timely Response: A Guide To Safe Schools

Mission Accomplished

On Saturday, February 21, 2009 the cover slammed shut on a quest that began Tuesday, July 21, 1998.  That was the day the Houston Chronicle published a list of the Top 100 novels of the 20^th century compiled by the editorial board of Modern Library, a division of Random House.  Upon seeing the list, Marie Watts set a goal of having read each of the books in her life time.

            “I would not have been able to accomplish my goal had it not been for the Fayette Public Library,” Watts explained.  “When I moved from Houston in 2003, I headed straight to the library to continue my mission.  I was pleasantly surprised to see how many of the books were actually on the shelves.”  Watts continued, “The library is the crown jewel of La Grange and we are so fortunate to have such a resource.”  When she had completed all the books the library owned, she turned to the inter-library loan program in which the library participates.

Kathy Carter, library manager, agreed the Fayette Public Library does have a terrific collection of materials.  “Unfortunately,” she said, “It’s not possible to have everything patrons need.”  So, in order to provide as much information as possible to the community, the library participates in the Interlibrary Loan program. This service allows for a library patron to borrow materials or receive photocopies of documents owned by another library. The patron makes a request for materials through the librarian, who, acting as an intermediary, identifies owners of the desired item, places the request, receives the item, makes it available to the patron, and arranges for its return.  Most of the books obtained from interlibrary loan come from the Austin Public Library, the regional ILL resource center.  If, however, Austin doesn’t have the item, the request goes out through a national system and materials are sent from public and academic libraries throughout the nation.  There is no cost for this service other than postage fees for returning the materials to the lending library.    

            Watts explained that her parents were readers and read in bed at night rather than watch television.  She has adopted the same practice.  What’s next?  Reading additional novels listed by Time Magazine’s All-Time 100 novels published in 2005.  The list was composed by Time critics and picked English-language novels from 1923 to 2005.