Grant’s View library grand opening recognition card, Feb 2016
Send your message, with graphics and photos to Stephen Hanpeter, at schs.webmanager@gmail.com 314-918-1617. Your message, photos and graphics will be formatted to the final presentation on the card of congratulations. The file size for photos and graphics can be any size and any format, but jpg or tif would be preferable.
In composing a message of congratulations or recognition of the opening of the new Grant’s View Branch library, some of the following observations may strike you as being especially relevant to what you would like to highlight in your message. Some of the observations apply to all libraries and a few apply to this specific library in this specific area with this specific name, Grant’s View library. The area includes two sites directly related to US Grant, Hard Scrabble and the Julia Dent Grant family home. Then there are the features in the area that are named after Grant; Grant’s Farm, Grant Road and now the Grant’s View Branch library. It could almost be said to make up a Grant neighborhood, and we might imagine a large figure of US Grant surveying the area as he stands at the top of the hill on Gravois at Baptist Church Road looking out over the valley below with his one hand shielding his eyes. He sees a legacy left by himself and his family as well as a community and a city that remembers his major contributions to our country.
Why is SCHS working with the county libraries to recognize the opening of the Grant’s View Branch? SCHS and the Tesson Ferry library, now Grant’s View Branch, have had a working relationship for several years. SCHS has partnered with Tesson Ferry library for the last three plus years in a twice yearly history speaker series. It has also mounted a number of exhibits in the library’s display case. Grant’s View Branch Library manager, Anne Arthur, is a member of SCHS and attends its meetings.
SCHS and libraries in general have several things in common, an interest in preserving the past and educating for the future, an interest in community and people coming together in a place that is a not school or a place of worship or a commercial venue. The library is a non-partisan, non-sectarian space for all people in the area to come to use at no cost, whatever their social or economic status; no matter their race, creed or color.
SCHS has a further special interest in the Grant’s View Branch library in that the name of the library honors one of the most famous native sons of our Sappington-Concord and South County area, General and two term president, US Grant. As general of the Union forces, he played a pivotal role in the Civil War to preserve the union of the Untied States and as US President, he advocated for the peaceful, fair reconciliation of the North and South, while promoting racial equality and civil rights.
Several years ago, the citizens of St Louis County committed to funding improvements to the St Louis County library system. The “Your Library Renewed” program that started to refurbish a number of branch libraries rebuild a few from scratch. Tesson Ferry library, originally built in the 1950’s, was sold for redevelopment and a new building constructed nearby as Grant’s View Branch library. It is a beautiful new facility with many new features and a head start on libraries continuing to be relevant in the 21st century. As it helps all of us move into the future, its name and location also reminds us of our past. With its increased capacity to serve the community, it also adds more “cultural weight” to the community.
You appreciate the new library and its reinvigorated role it plays in our community just as much as does SCHS. In writing a message of congratulations to Grant’s View Branch library, you may want to note in a few short sentences, very short, a few of the features of libraries in general that you appreciate and this library in particular. There are a number of short quotes about libraries below that may inspire you, and there are a number of articles on the internet, also linked below, that may prompt you in your thinking about what to highlight in your simple message. Hopefully your message will say more than a generic “congratulations,” but still be within about 25 to 35 words. Might that be close to the length of a common greeting card or a tweet on Twitter?
Famous and not so famous quotes about libraries
http://ebookfriendly.com/best-quotes-about-libraries-librarians/
Without libraries what have we? We have no past and no future.–Ray Bradbury
Libraries will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no libraries.–Anne Herbert
Bad libraries build collections, good libraries build services, great libraries build communities. – R. David Lankes, Professor and Dean’s Scholar for New Librarianship at Syracuse University’s iSchool http://quartz.syr.edu/blog/?page_id=27
The truth is libraries are raucous clubhouses for free speech, controversy and community.–Paula Poundstone
In the nonstop tsunami of global information, librarians provide us with “floaties” and teach us to swim.–Linton Weeks
A library is the delivery room for the birth of ideas, a place where history comes to life.–Norman Cousins
Perhaps no place in any community is so totally democratic as the town library. The only entrance requirement is interest.–Lady Bird Johnson
http://www.quotegarden.com/libraries.html
A great library contains the diary of the human race. ~George Mercer Dawson
Librarians are generals in the war on ignorance. ~Author Unknown
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/library.html
The library is the temple of learning, and learning has liberated more people than all the wars in history. –Carl T. Rowan
http://archive.ifla.org/I/humour/subj.htm
Outside of a dog, a book is a man’s best friend. Inside of a dog, it’s too dark to read. — Groucho Marx
A good library is a place, a palace where the lofty spirits of all nations and generations meet. — Samuel Niger (1883-1956)
The medicine chest of the soul. — Inscription over the door of the Library at Thebes.
Nutrimentum spiritus. (Food for the soul.) — Inscription on the Berlin Royal Library.
A democratic society depends upon an informed and educated citizenry. — Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)
Information is the currency of democracy. — Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)
http://homepages.gac.edu/~mtwait/favquotes.htm
Great libraries have always looked to both the future and the past. (Laura Shapiro. From: Newsweek, 10-21-96, p. 86)
If information is the currency of democracy, then libraries are its banks. (Wendell H. Ford, U.S. Senator, Kentucky, 1974-1998. From: 1998 American Library Association Conference, Washington, DC)
A library … is the delivery room for the birth of ideas – a place where history comes to life. (Norman Cousins. From: quoted in ALA Bulletin, October 1954, p. 475)
The Library is the Heart of the University. (Charles W. Eliot)
The reflections and histories of men and women throughout the world are contained in books. America’s greatness is not only recorded in books, but it is also dependent upon each and every citizen being able to utilize public libraries.
(Terence Cooke)
To use it should be as natural … as to use the trolley when one needs transportation.
(John Cotton Dana. From: Libraries: Addresses and Essays)
http://www.ala.org/alsc/issuesadv/kidscampaign/kidsquotes
“The world is full of magical places, and the library has always been one of them for me. A library can be that special place for our children.” –Julie Andrews, actress and Honorary Chair of National Library Week 2008
“A library takes the gift of reading one step further by offering personalized learning opportunities second to none, a powerful antidote to the isolation of the Web.” –Julie Andrews
“Books may well be the only true magic.” –Author Alice Hoffman
http://libraryquotes.org/quotes/rss.xml
“The door to the library is the portal to other worlds.” – Dianne Lynn Gardner
“Libraries are the foundation for learning.” – Cathy A. Kurtz
“Libraries are sacred time machines where knowledge flows and magic is eternal.” – Mari Barnes
Articles on the web about libraries and their value
The value of libraries
http://blogs.ifla.org/public-libraries/2014/01/10/so-much-more-the-economic-impact-of-the-toronto-public-library-system/
http://libraries.pewinternet.org/2013/12/11/libraries-in-communities/
Libraries and community
Good list of subheadings – http://publiclibrariesonline.org/2013/04/community-centered-23-reasons-why-your-library-is-the-most-important-place-in-town/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/courtneyyoung/library-community-anchors_b_7057388.html
Libraries and culture
http://lj.libraryjournal.com/2012/09/opinion/backtalk/what-popular-culture-is-telling-us-about-libraries-and-why-we-should-listen-backtalk/ – The library as a place, as an entity, is important to our society. It represents information and tranquility. It also represents neutrality and safety, and finding common ground. The library does not have an ownership because it belongs to the community. In that community we have a variety of people with seemingly nothing in common who can gather and share and potentially find a common bond that will connect them and it is the library as a location that provides that opportunity.
Libraries and creativity
Partner with Libraries, Win at Marketing – http://thelibraryeffect.com/2014/01/22/partner-with-libraries-win-at-marketing/
Libraries and quality of life
How Americans value public libraries in their communities – http://libraries.pewinternet.org/2013/12/11/libraries-in-communities/
Libraries and learning
Libraries and learning commons – http://www.bobpearlman.org/Learning21/innovation_labs4.htm
Libraries and education
The role of Public Libraries in lifelong learning – http://www.ifla.org/node/1025
The Role of Libraries in Education – http://www.infosciencetoday.org/library-science/the-role-of-libraries-in-education.html
The Role of Librarians in Education Today by Jeanne N. Klesch
https://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/VALib/v49_n3/klesch.html
Summary – Information has become a dynamic force in our world—constantly changing, always increasing and regenerating into new variant formats. The ability to use technology as a means to access information has assumed greater importance in the education process. Educators and librarians are the keys to unlocking the doors in a bewildering world of information. Many teachers are still struggling to learn technology and therefore are not always aware of the importance of information literacy for the successful use and integration of technology into learning. Through collaboration, the librarian and teacher can each contribute to creating the information literate student. The chief lesson to be learned is that knowledge is the result of a life-long quest for information.
The Roles of Libraries in Education. http://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED354919
Boucher, Julie J.; Lance, Keith Curry
Three sets of roles that libraries play in education are identified. Each of the roles is explained, accompanied by relevant statistics and examples. In the first place, libraries provide access to education by teaching information skills, by providing leadership and expertise in the use of information and information technologies, and by participating in networks that enhance access to resources outside the school or community. Secondly, libraries help ensure equity in education by: (1) helping children start school ready to learn; (2) addressing the needs of student most at risk; (3) providing access to information and ideas unimpeded by social, cultural, and economic constraints; (4) ensuring free and equal access to information and ideas without geographic constraints; and (5) helping students stay free of drugs and violence, in an environment conducive to learning. A third role is that of impacting academic achievement for individuals and assisting them in lifelong learning, preparing individuals for productive employment, promoting the enjoyment of reading, promoting functional literacy among adults, preparing individuals for responsible citizenship, and equipping the United States to be first in the world in science and mathematics achievement. (SLD)
House warming card
http://www.greeting-card-messages.com/what-to-write-in-a-house-warming-card.php
Mix and match
We want to congratulate you on
We want to send our congratulations on
We want to send our congratulations to you on
We are pleased to send you our congratulations on
It’s a pleasure to congratulate you on
What a wonderful new facility you have provided for our community. Congratulations on your grand opening. Your upgraded services will benefit our area for many years to come.
Your new facility is beautiful. You are to be congratulated on continuing your strong legacy of service to the South County area. Our citizens, young and old, will benefit from your rich resource for many years to come.
Our citizens, of all ages
