Library Services
Everything we do for you, inside the library or out
Circulation Services
At our new circulation desk, books, videos, and audios are checked out electronically. Inquire at the desk if you need help in finding a book or other resource. We will be glad to help you. If your patron card is not barcoded yet, please bring it in to be barcoded or please inquire about card replacement ($1.00). That benefits you in the long run.
Children's Programs; Youth and Teen Services
Parents may bring in their toddlers and young children up to the age of 5 to be read to by the librarian or someone else on Wednesday, thursday or Friday mornings, or at other times as it is convenient and the librarian is available to read -- this program is throughout the year. The individual readings also include pop-up books! We also have a summer reading program. The librarian would be glad to assist home-schooled children to find reading materials that they need.
Teens are encouraged to join a new teen summer reading program, and also to sign up to help at the library or in the community.
Reference Assistance; Genealogy
The librarian is available to assist you with your reference and genealogy questions. Our reference collection is small, as there is much available both on the general Internet and in Texhshare databases provided to you by our state library. Go to www.tsl.state.tx.us/texshare/pl for reference resources, including books, academic journals, newspapers, and encyclopedias.
Our genealogy collection is also small, but we could guide you to Internet resources, other libraries' database lists, family histories and census or other records available in Heritage Quest in the Texshare databases. Our collection has an emphasis upon Texas, Virginia, Maryland and Georgia as well as colonial immigrants and their ancestors in England. Our goal for the genealogy collection is that it would not only be helpful for general research for everyone, but also include books that have the ancestry of people from Valley Mills. Thus, descendants of those from Valley Mills would have documentation on their ancestry at this library! Memorial donations are welcomed to help us to add to this collection.
We have begun a Genealogy group to meet at the library on a quarterly basis. A hand-out was given to those who attended the first meeting. This hand-out on how to research is still available. Come join us quarterly to help each other learn more about research.
To access census records, other records and family histories in Heritage Quest, a part of the Texshare databases, go to :
www.tsl.state.tx.us/texshare/pl
The Waco-McLennan County Library has a huge genealogy collection as well as computers with additional databases. Their library edition of ancestry.com has many more resources and documents than are available from a home edition. To access their web-site for many genealogy links, go to http://www.waco-texas.com/CITY_DEPTS/libraryservices/libraryservices.htm or simply type in Waco-McLennan County Library in a yahoo or google search.
The Clifton library near-by also has the ancestry.com library edition.
For Bosque County research, go to the Bosque County Collection [at Meridian], online.
Outreach Activities
We are always trying to reach more and new people of the community through our local newspaper articles and by word of mouth. At one time we sponsored a program at the high school, handing out paper bags with a pencil, pad and brochures. In 2009 we mailed out 300 brochures, and in February 2010 we mailed out 500 brochures with letters seeking donations for our expansion project. If you did not receive a brochure and would like to have one, please contact us or come by the library. We coordinated with the Food pantry to have our library team of teen-agers to assist with the collection and distribution of food. In November 2009 we had a booth at the High School health fair, distributing our brochure, our website address along with Texshare database information and a list of recommended medical websites.
The Library's Collection
The collection is divided into adult, Young Adult (YA) children's.
The children's collection is divided for upper elementary (JUV) and small children (E). A wide area between the shelves serves as space for reading programs for children. It includes both non-fiction, fiction, and the picture books. "Pop-up" [toy and mechanical] books are for in-house use.
The adult collection includes non-fiction and fiction as well as reference and genealogy. The fiction books are divided as to general fiction, Westerns, and Mysteries. The paperback collection is separate. Audios, videos, CD's and a few DVD's for both children and adults are available. Some fiction books are in the Large Print section.
Community Spaces in the Library
With our expansion we now have a large conference table for research or group meetings. The computer area is the gathering place for children and teenagers! Come see our expansion project!