May Newsletter: A New Challenger Approaches!

May Newsletter: A New Challenger Approaches!

Check out what’s going on at the library in this month’s newsletter.

Featured: A New Challenger Approaches!

Get those book spines cracked and those eReaders charged, the summer reading challenge is just around the corner! The challenge officially begins June 6 and runs through August 15. 

Track your reading minutes and complete activities to earn prizes at every level, and be entered into drawing prizes. If you complete the challenge, you’ll also be entered to win a grand prize! You can sign up at elpl.beanstack.org, or come to the library and pick up a paper log.

Check out this video for more information:

Also, save the date for our summer reading kick-off party! Library staff can help you register for the challenge, and you can celebrate the start of summer with free ice cream, a dance party with DJ Kevin, glitter tattoos, arts and crafts, and more! We’ll also have princesses in attendance, and you’ll get to meet them and take your picture with them!

Featured: Who’s That Mascot?

It’s Sir Howard, the new teen mascot! This fuzzy scamp is now the face of the teen room here at ELPL. Check out some fun facts about this cuddly gentleman!

Featured: Mental Health Awareness Month

May is Mental Health Awareness Month! Learn about some of the resources available to support yourself and others in your life.

• The library offers five Verilux HappyLight Therapy Lamps! Light therapy lamps mimic the sun’s rays, and may help boost your energy, mood, focus and sleep. Borrow one for free with your library card!
• Silas the Comfort K9 is a golden doodle who works with an ELPD social worker to de-escalate and provide comfort in stressful situations. He also holds office hours at East Lansing City Hall!
• Community Resources: There are many community resources we can connect you to.    
  • The Salus Center is an LGBTQ+ Community Resource Center that offers a variety of recreational and support group programs, and can connect you to support for mental health, health care, education, housing, legal aid, and more. 
  • Michigan 2-1-1 is an easy way to find help with mental health, utilities, housing, food, and healthcare. Call or text 2-1-1 and an operator will connect you to local resources; operators are available 24/7 and offer help in 180+ languages. You can also live chat online or use a keyword search on their website to find what you're looking for. 
  • The Community Mental Health Authority of Clinton, Eaton & Ingham Counties (CMHA-CEI) is a public agency serving children and adults in Clinton, Eaton and Ingham Countries, which provides crisis services and counseling. 
  • MSU CAPS combines the clinical services of counseling and psychiatry in one setting, providing a variety of individual and group services for students seeking help.

You can also learn more about mental health topics from books in our collection. Check out these curated lists:

• Healing from Trauma
• When the News Scares You: Helping Children Cope
• Mind Matters: Teenage Tales about Mental Health & Neurodiversity
• Mindfulness & Meditation
• Zen titles
• Top Mental Health Titles

For more information about mental health resources, check out our blog. 

Featured: One Plan, Two Plan

Come learn about the library’s new strategic plan! We’ll be at the Hannah Center on May 21 with other city departments to share all the exciting things we’re working on. 

Featured: Expanding hoopla!

With the new fiscal year, we will be consolidating our digital library; starting Tuesday, July 1, we will no longer offer CloudLibrary, and all titles currently in CloudLibrary will transfer to hoopla. By consolidating our resources, this change will allow us to expand access to hoopla! There are two big ways this will make your reading experience easier than ever:

First, we’re excited to introduce Flex Borrows to our hoopla collection! Flex Borrows give you access to a rotating selection of popular eBooks and audiobooks that work more like traditional library loans; one person can use one copy of a book at any given time. Due to regulations in the publishing industry, many of the new and popular titles you’ll see are only available through the “one copy/one user” model. Flex titles may require placing a hold if they’re currently checked out, but they don’t count against your monthly Instant Borrow limit AND and you can return them early to free up space for another. 

Starting July 1, you’ll have ten Flex Borrows you can use on a rolling basis. This is in addition to the existing ten Instant Borrows available per month, which let you check out titles immediately with no wait; an unlimited number of readers can use the same copy at the same time. Between your Instant and Flex Borrows, you now have up to 20 check-out opportunities each month! This means more choices and greater flexibility in how you enjoy your digital reads! 

Second, we’re also investing more resources towards our Instant Borrow collective cap. On hoopla, our library can only reserve a certain number of Instant titles for our members, and there’s a limit to how many items can collectively be checked out per day. Since we have so many enthusiastic readers, we often hit our collective cap for the day early, meaning people have to wait to check out their books until the daily limit resets. By putting more money towards hoopla, we’ll raise the collective cap, reduce the number of times we hit our daily limit, and allow more readers the chance to check out books instantly!

These changes are our way of balancing our budget with the needs of our readers so everyone has a fair shot to browse the books they want, anytime of day. 

We will continue to offer materials through both Libby and hoopla. Since Libby is provided through Woodlands Co-op, a resource-sharing group that we’re part of, this service will not be affected by these changes. 

Important! If you currently have titles on hold in the cloudLibrary, you will need to place a new hold on the title in hoopla or Libby. Unfortunately, the holds will not get transferred with the titles. We apologize for any inconvenience this move causes.

Please reach out to the library if you have any questions or concerns. Thanks for your understanding as we optimize our collection.

Featured: Thanks, Friends!

At Books, Bites, and Bids, the Friends of East Lansing Public Library generously matched the $11,000 we raised through our silent auction fundraiser! In addition to this, they presented us with a check for over $40,000 to support staff education, professional development, library programs, and more! Thank you so much, Friends!

Featured: Spring Institute

Our team had a great time at the Spring Institute for Youth Services conference! Gillian and Dr. B presented on how to run a successful animation club for kids, and everyone came back with lots of energy and new ideas on how best to serve our young library visitors!

Featured: Upcoming Programs

Library programs are free and open to the public; you don’t even need a library card! Unless otherwise noted, no registration is required.

• Family Playtime (kids 10 and under): Monday through Friday, 2-5pm  
  • Enjoy special games and toys available in the Children's Area!
• Saturday StoryTime (kids): Saturday, May 17, 10:30-11:15am  
  • Read, sing, and play!
• Urban Bees: Community Science Training Workshop (all ages 8+): Saturday, May 17, 11:30am-1pm  
  • The workshop will start with a presentation on bees native to the Great Lakes Region, tips on identifying them, and their favorite plants. The event will end with hands-on activities practicing insect identification and photography and an introduction to a new community science project, "Urban Bees of the Great Lakes Region," which aims to use community observations to better support urban bees.
• Teen Bingo (teens): Monday, May 19, 3:30-4:30pm  
  • Come play and win prizes!
• TLC - Teen Leadership Council (teens): Saturday, May 24, 4-5pm  
  • Plan teen programs, earn volunteer hours, and make your voice heard!
• Land-Based Songwriting Workshop with Elexa Dawson (ages 12+): Friday, June 6, 3-4:30pm:   
  • Discover how the places that made us inform our creativity and worldview with acclaimed Potawatomi singer/songwriter, Elexa Dawson. Sign up at elpl.org.
• Summer Reading Kick-off Party (all ages): Monday, June 9, 5-7pm  
  • Register for the summer reading challenge and celebrate the start of summer! We’ll have free ice cream, special princess guests, music with DJ Kevin, glitter tattoos, arts and crafts, and more!
• Stroller Stories (kids): Monday, June 16, 10:30am-12pm  
  • Join us for a walk from the library to Patriarche Park and back! We will start with a story at ELPL, then walk 20 minutes to the park. On our way, we will sing songs, participate in a scavenger hunt, and finish with a story in the park before returning to the library. Feel free to bring a stroller, a small bike, or simply yourself!

Spotlight: Michigan Night for Notables

Some of our staff got to attend the Michigan Night for Notables Celebration at the Library of Michigan! This year’s keynote speaker was Curtis Chin, who we were honored to host at the library for an author talk earlier in April! 

Night for Notables is an event that honors works set in Michigan or written by Michigan authors. You can check out the 2025 Michigan Notable Books here!

Director’s Corner: Thanks for Your Support During National Library Week

One of the things that makes East Lansing so special is how engaged and supportive this community is. Time after time, you show up for the library whenever we need you, and on April 11, you did it again!

I’d like to extend a HUGE thanks to everyone who came out to our annual fundraiser, Books, Bites, and Bids! Thanks also to our basket donors, many of whom were local small businesses, who helped us create amazing baskets for our silent auction. Together, we raised over $11,000 to support local history initiatives, which will be generously matched by the Friends of East Lansing Public Library! Local history was an area that was repeatedly mentioned by community members during our strategic planning process, and this year’s BBB is the first step in bringing your visions to life. Thanks to our fundraising, soon we’ll be able to purchase new digitizing equipment, make our collections more easily searchable, and more.

Many thanks to our generous food donors: Sultan’s, Pizza House, Nothing Bundt Cakes, and Edible Arrangements. Thanks also to our talented musicians; the evening’s entertainment featured violinist Rodney Lamar Page and his son Bryson, as well as performances by the sisters of Sigma Alpha Iota. 

All in all, this was a great way to wrap up National Library Week, and it was so much fun to celebrate with all of you. We look forward to seeing you all there again next year!

-Kevin King, Library Director

ELPL in the News:

• ELi: ELPL Board Approves Budget Recommendation
• ELi: ELPL Sets Sights on Earning Environmental Certification
• 6 in the City: Maker Studio
• WILX: Support the East Lansing Public Library at Books, Bites, and Bids
• 6 in the City: National Library Week
• WILX: Ask the Author - Curtis Chin 
• WLNS: Michigan libraries worry for funding cuts after executive order 

Up and Coming Dates:

• The library will be closed May 25 and 26 for Memorial Day Weekend. This will begin our summer Sunday closures. 
• The summer reading program begins June 6! Come to our kickoff party on June 9!

Catch ELPL Next Month:

Be on the lookout for more excitement in June! ELPL will be sharing featured reading lists, book displays, and programs throughout the month. Some of the library programs will include:

• Land-based Songwriting Workshop
• Summer Reading Kick-off Party
• ML Liebler and the Magic Poetry Band
• And more!

For more information, visit the library’s website or follow ELPL on social media!