We’d like to take this time to remind parents that a library card is the most important school supply of all, providing access to a wide variety of materials and research services. It is not only the smartest card for kids – it is also the smartest card in mom’s, dad’s, grandma’s, or uncle Walter’s wallet. A library card is free to our district residents and very easy to obtain. Stop in and say hello to our friendly staff and sign up! You can even begin the application process online by opening the link to either our kid’s card brochure with application or our adult/family application. Simply print it, fill it out, and bring it in with photo ID and proof of address to either our main library on Victory and Five Mile, our Star Branch, or our Hidden Springs Branch library. Hope to see you soon!!

Have you read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows yet? If you haven't, you can always place a hold on one of the 183 copies available to our cardholders through the Lynx Consortium. You can choose to have your hold delivered to any of the Consortium libraries, whether you prefer our locations, the Towne Square branch, or maybe even a bookmobile stop.

Many thanks to the 180 kids and parents who attended our Harry Potter Release Party last Friday! Our staff and volunteers loved celebrating this magical event with you. We would also like to thank our friends at the Rediscovered Bookshop for the prize books we raffled at the party.

As we finalize planning for our upcoming fiscal year, I thought I would take a minute to post the fact that copies of the library's fiscal year 2006 annual report (Oct 05-Sept 06) are available at all library service desks and can also be found online. Some highlights are: 320,826 people visited our three library locations (apx 52 every open hour); 28,442 people of all ages attended library programming (an 11% increase over last year) and 597,000 items were checked out (nearly 14 items per man, woman, and child residing in the district).

The July "theme" for the Star Branch Mystery Book Club is "Gardening". Join us for lively discussion and fun. Just select a mystery book that has some kind of a "Gardening theme" in its plot. Such as a florist shop owner, retired botanist, PBS garden show host, or eccentric senior gardener.

Your choice can be a cozy, hard-boiled, or thriller type of mystery. That's why this book group is sooo cool! You get to choose the book that interest you! Just make sure its from the current "theme".