Happy Holidays!

The Dorris Van Doren staff wishes you the happiest of holidays! Come take pictures with our decorations and don't forget to visit  the beautiful family room, which has a fireplace. 

This year has gone way too fast, but we are excited to start a new year with the many changes that have already been taking place within our library system. We recently upgraded our system and are still trying to adapt to all of the changes. We really appreciate how patient you have been with us as we learn and deal with the glitches. If you haven't already, check out our shiny new website and online catalog. Be sure to update your bookmarked links, as they have changed with the upgrade.

Santa visited our library this past week, but you can still catch him at other locations. He'll be at the Westside Branch on 125 Belvidere on Tuesday, December 18 at 5:30 pm. To see the complete list of locations that Santa will be at, visit this page.

All libraries, including this branch, will be taking a holiday break from our Ready to Read programs (storytimes) beginning December 17 and ending January 7. Storytimes will resume on Tuesday, January 8, 2013. The Teen Hangout program on Thursday, December 27 will also take a break due to our holiday hours.

Holiday Hours:
December 24-25: Closed
December 26-29: 9 am-5 pm
December 30-31: Closed
January 1: Closed
January 2-5: 9 am-5 pm

Our storytime break and holiday hours don't mean you have to stop bringing your children to the library! We posted Ruben Castaneda's holiday literacy tips last year, and we liked them so much, we're re-posting them here.

Literacy Tips for the Holidays:

• Set aside a special reading time.

• While cooking for the holidays, let your child read the recipe and measure the ingredients.

• Read a book while the food is baking.

• Let your child write the gift tags.

• Have your child read to others.

• Give books as gifts to the children in your life.

Our branch manager made this cute little book tree.