Warren P. Sewell Memorial Library in the Spotlight!

The Warren P. Sewell Memorial Library in Bremen, Georgia was founded in 1973. Today, we are a member of the West Georgia Regional Library system and the PINES consortium.

We've come a long way from our humble origins. In the late 1980's, our original 3,500 square foot building expanded to 7,500 feet. Most recently, we had a massive renovation and expansion project that finished up in 2012. This gave us an additional 5,000 feet that allowed us to provide new study room spaces, a teen area, and a sort of "community front porch" that is one of the staff's favorite parts of the library. Additionally, most of our furniture and shelving in the main part of the library is mobile (leading a former director to call us "the library on wheels"). This lets us transform our space as needed for events, programs, and daily library work.

One of the things that we are proudest of at the Bremen Library is the close relationship that we have with our funding agency, the city of Bremen. While we know that libraries across the country have struggled over the years with support, we have been incredibly lucky that we have received consistent support from the city for our services, our expansion efforts, and the many projects and programs that we put out into the city.

We offer a wide variety of programming for the citizens of Bremen. In addition to pre-k storytimes, weekly movie nights, author readings, movie presentations to area special needs groups, and other events, we have a strong teen program that meets weekly. We're very proud of our work with teens because this age group can be difficult to reach and can fall through the library programming cracks between children and adults. So whether it is painting book ends for the YA section, our monthly YA movie, classes on Internet safety, or our teen book club, we put a lot of effort into ensuring that the teens of Bremen have a fun, engaging, and safe place for them to come after school.

Another program that makes us a bit unique in the library world are our weekly fitness classes. We're building strong bodies and minds at the Bremen Library with free weekly yoga and Zumba classes. Additionally, we have a group that gets together to walk on Monday nights. Not a lot of libraries do this, but we have experienced remarkable success in engaging the community and pulling a consistent audience.

In a community our size, we also act as part community and cultural arts center. We try to have a featured artist of the month and a featured collector. According to Lisa Walton-Cagle, branch manager of the Bremen Library: "Our goal was to be a community and to have that feeling. We wanted everyone in the community to feel like they belong." We have a strong and welcoming staff that we are fiercely proud of, and we think that we're one of the best public libraries around. So next time you're in the area, stop by the Warren P. Sewell Memorial Library in Bremen!

Save the Date! Mingle with the Admins - Saturday, Dec. 6

Date: Saturday, December 6
Time: 12-2 p.m.
Location: Manuel's Tavern, 602 North Highland Ave NE, Atlanta, GA 30307

Register for this event

 The GLA Atlanta Emerging Librarians planning committee proudly presents the 2014 installation of Mingle with the Admins, a luncheon for new librarians, MLIS students and recent grads to meet and greet with administrators from local Atlanta libraries.  We have invited a mix of public, academic, and special library administrators that will share information about their libraries and any open positions they may have available.

Soft drinks and appetizers will be provided.  Attendees can order a dutch treat lunch from the restaurant menu.

This is a great opportunity to meet administrators and hiring managers from libraries where you are interested in building your career.  RSVP to sign up to attend – space is limited!  We hope to see you there!

Please e-mail Jennifer Young at jyoung29@kennesaw.edu with any questions
 

Your 2014 AEL Planning Committee
Jennifer Young
Mandi Goodsett
Courtney Baron
Ruth Rowell

GLA 2015 MidWinter Planning Meeting Registration is Now Open

Registration Form

Committee Preference Form (online)
Committee Preference Form (paper)

Dear GLA Member,

It is time to register for the Georgia Library Association 2015 MidWinter Planning Meeting.
This year’s meeting will he held on Friday, January 16, 2015 from 9:00 am-2:15 pm at the Downs Continuing Education Center at Clayton State University in Morrow, Georgia.

The MidWinter Planning Meeting is an important event for all GLA members to meet and help plan activities for the year, especially those interested in contributing to COMO 2015, October 7-9, 2015 in Athens, GA.
Julie Walker will join us for lunch to deliver this year’s keynote address. Before becoming Georgia’s state librarian this past July, Walker served as deputy state librarian for six years and was previously assistant state librarian for technology, support services and strategic initiatives. She was associate director of the Athens Regional Library System from 1990 to 2003 and, before that, worked in various positions at libraries in North Carolina.
Registration fee for MidWinter Planning Meeting is $35 per person, which will include a continental breakfast and a hot lunch buffet. Registration forms must be received by Friday, January 2, 2015 to confirm your lunch reservation.


Mid-Winter Planning Meeting Agenda:
9:00 a.m. – 9:45 a.m.       Registration, Networking and Breakfast
9:10 a.m. – 9:45 a.m.       Paraprofessional Division and New Members Round Table meetings
9:45 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.     Welcome and Reports
10:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.   Annual Conference Planning Discussion
10:30 a.m. – 10:45 a.m.   Break
10:45 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.   Division meetings
11:30 a.m. – 12:45 p.m.   Lunch, speaker Julie Walker, State Librarian
12:45 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.     Committee meetings
1:30 p.m. – 2:15 p.m.       Interest Group meetings
2:30 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.       Executive Board meeting*

*(All Committee Chairs, Division and Interest Group leaders are encouraged to attend to give updates from the mornings business meetings)


Please submit your Committee Preference form by December 31, 2014 and let us know how you would like to join in GLA activities.   It is going to be an exciting year for Georgia libraries!

Have a safe and happy holiday season.
See you in January 2015!


Lace Keaton
2015 GLA President
lace@newtonlibrary.org

GLA Listserv Has a New Home

After a month hiatus, the GLA listserv has a new home at GPLS.

All current subscribers will be automatically subscribed to a new list and will receive a welcome email from gla-l-request@list.georgialibraries.org with the subject line: Welcome to the “GLA-L” mailing list.

To post to the listserv, send your email to: gla-l@list.georgialibraries.org

General information about the list is available at: http://list.georgialibraries.org/mailman/listinfo/gla-l