Library Board Chair's Message
Greetings from the Board of Trustees of the Forsyth County
Public Library. By working with the Library’s staff and administration, we hope
to make your visits to the Library a success in person, over the phone or over the
Internet. We believe that Forsyth County Public Library deliverers the best library
service in the Southeast and is improving every day.
Visit in person and greet the staff and if you are new, make sure you sign up for
your library card right away. Our Sirsi web-based catalog not only displays cover
art for most items, but usually offers annotations and reviews. You can also manage
your own account over the Internet including reserving books, checking any overdue
materials, renewing items, and updating address information. You can now choose
to receive your overdue and reserved book notices via e-mail, which is fast and
saves time, paper and postage. A new service available online is our NextReads service,
accessed through Online Resources. If you choose
NextReads on our website, you will be guided through selecting your own reading
interest categories. You will then receive regular emailed “newsletters” with annotated
recommendations of new and old titles in the Library’s collection matching your
areas of interest. It’s a great way to find out about new books to read!
Complementing
the Live Homework Help online tutoring service is an exciting web service called
“NCKnows, Answers from the Pros.” Through chat technology over your internet connected
computer, a librarian leads you to the answers you need, in real time, often using
a free-to-the-public database such as NCLIVE. The Library is literally never closed
and your questions are always answered fast and accurately.
Let’s talk about reading. The Library’s fall 2010 “On the Same Page” book selection
is The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett. Published in 1930, The Maltese
Falcon is about what it's like to want something-a fortune, a lover, or
even respect-so bad that you would kill for it, give up a chance at happiness to
get it, until finally the chase itself means more to you than what you're chasing.
The Maltese Falcon is a bomb that starts ticking in the first chapter,
ticks faster as it goes, and doesn't detonate until the last page.
When we opened our Lewisville Branch Library in 2007 we introduced easy self-checkout
using RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technology, which is more convenient
for customers than barcode scanning. A new Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA)
grant is allowing us to implement RFID at our Clemmons and Reynolda manor Branches
later this year.
To know what’s really going on, look for the “Library Page” in the Winston-Salem
Journal and the Chronicle every other month. Here you’ll read about new services,
major events and other news. And don’t forget to check the complete Library calendar
of Events, just click on Calendar of Events
on any library webpage or ask Library staff to print out a copy for you.
Last but not least, I am an optimist and believe that a new Central Library is around
the corner. If you agree, or have and comments, for your Library Board, address
them to me and drop them off at the Library nearest you.
Sincerely,
Donna L. Staley Chair
Forsyth County Public Library Board of Trustees