If you or someone you know loves chocolate, you can help your local library by stopping by a Pennstar Bank in Susquehanna County and buying one or more of these cute little milk chocolate bars--only $1 each. Chocolates by Leopold makes the chocolate--it's local and it's delicious. Pennstar takes care of the sales, and Montrose Publishing prints the wrapper, so it's a true community effort. Proceeds benefit the Association. Most local Pennstar locations participate, so look for the bars when you're banking!

Dick Smith (Carrizo) with Susan Stone (Administrator/Librarian) and a new book with plate.

Because of the state funding cuts, our budget for 2011 is going to be even further reduced. We are very happy to report that Carrizo Oil & Gas has made a donation of $5,500 to our materials budget. This will cover the Outreach Services children's book collection, which serves the entire county through our network of branch libraries, deposit stations, and Books-by-Mail, as well as the six county school districts, homeschoolers, preschools, and daycares. With the generosity of companies like Carrizo, and the tremendous amount of support we get from individuals, we stand a good chance of filling the hole in our budget made by next year's reduction in state funding. (That's approximately $21,000, but it could increase.) We thank all of our generous donors!

L to R: Charles Cesaretti (Finance Committee), George Stark (Cabot Oil & Gas), Kim Harwood (Finance Committee), Gladys Bennett (President), Duane Hinds (Second VP), Larry Newhart (Treasurer), Susan Stone (Administrator/Librarian).

The Outreach Services "Books on Wheels" van is crucial to providing our services. Not only does it transport thousands and thousands of items all across the county--to our branches, deposit stations, the six county school districts, day cares, personal care homes, and the correctional facility--but it also allows our librarians to bring story hours and summer reading programs to remote locations. When we learned that our van (a 1999 Chevy Astro) would not pass inspection without thousands of dollars for short-term repairs, that the Association couldn't afford anyway, the Board was at a loss.

We are delighted to report that Cabot Oil & Gas has come forward to underwrite the cost of a new van: a 2010 Dodge Caravan with 26,000 miles. We extend our thanks and appreciation to Cabot for this very generous and crucial donation. We also want to thank Phil Chamberlain of C&F Motors Sales for finding us such a clean, almost new vehicle. Finally, we thank Pump'n'Pantry, who have generously covered the ongoing costs of running the van for many years and continue to do so.

By cutting less-used databases, despite the budget cuts we have been able to restore access to two extremely popular family history resources: HeritageQuest and Ancestry Library Edition. These had been funded by the Northeast Library District but had been canceled. We have now purchased a year's subscription for Susquehanna County. HeritageQuest can be accessed from anywhere with your library card. Ancestry Library Edition, which the district had purchased only for the main location, is now available at all four libraries (Forest City, Hallstead-Great Bend, Montrose, and Susquehanna). You must be on a library computer or on the library's wireless network to access Ancestry, but the wealth of resources is well worth the trip! The HeritageQuest link is on the left, under Resources, and the Ancestry link is also on the left, further down, under At A Library.

One of the best databases available through POWER Library, the Oxford Reference suite, was canceled as of 12/31/09. They have offered us a special deal to provide access for Susquehanna County Library patrons through the end of September, at which point the state may be able to re-add it. This is a great one-stop source for all kinds of general reference. The link is on the left, under Resources.