WPL’s Celebrate Local Authors day is back for a second year! Join us on Saturday, February 1st to meet authors from around the region, explore their books, and learn about their experiences with publication.
Celebrate Local Authors
Fill Your Mug: 2024 Reading Challenge celebration
Celebrate a year well-read! On Sunday, December 29 from 2:00pm – 4:00pm, bring your 2024 Reading Challenge mug to the library and enjoy a variety of mug-friendly beverages. 2024 Challenge mugs can be claimed at this time, and Reading Challenge cards for 2025 will be available to kick-off the new year.
September Spotlight: The Civil War & Kansas
Throughout the month of September, Winfield Public Library is hosting several programs around the theme of the Civil War and Kansas. See the events calendar for details on these programs:
Monday, September 9 at 7:00pm – Friends of the Library meeting & program by Kent Melcher
Thursday, September 12 at 6:30pm – The Civil War: it began in Kansas! presentation by Kent Melcher
Saturday, September 28 at 10:30am – Last Stand at Rebel Creek: The Osage as Union Allies in Civil War Kansas by Humanities Kansas speaker Isaias McCaffrey
Monday, September 30 at 6:30pm – Bookn’ with Friends Book Club: The Good Lord Bird by James McBride
Support WPL’s Digitization Project
Have you ever tried to use the microfilm reader here at the library to look up information in our archived newspapers? If so, you know that it can be a complicated endeavor. First, the reel must be loaded correctly onto the machine. Then, a researcher must learn how to use the software to save images. Most complicated though, is the inability to search by keyword. A searcher needs to know a general date range and then search manually, page by page, for their needed information.
One of our key priorities is to have the microfilm archive digitized so that information seekers can simply go to our webpage and search through these archives by keyword such as person, places, events, etc. To this end, we are fundraising to cover the cost of digitization and web hosting.
There is currently an opportunity to maximize support to the Digitization Project. With your help, the Winfield Public Library could secure our goal of $10,000 through Legacy’s Great Give campaign. Through this program, the Legacy Regional Community Foundation will match up to $4,545 in donations made to our endowment fund, thanks to a generous gift from Patterson Family Foundation and the Warrender Trust.
Here’s how it works:
• Make a donation to Legacy for the benefit of the Winfield Public Library by Friday, August 30th at 5:00 pm
• Place: Legacy, 1216 Main, Winfield or donate online at https://bit.ly/helpwpl
The 2024 match pool is $100,000 and will be divided among the participating nonprofit organizations up to $4,545 and possibly more per organization. Your gift to the Winfield Public Library will be set aside for the Digitization Project. Cash and checks made payable to Legacy Foundation dated and received between August 1 and August 30 are eligible for match consideration. Donations are tax deductible and can be divided among multiple organizations.
We are excited about the possibility of modernizing access to our local stories, culture, and history. We hope to make our archives accessible to upcoming generations. Thank you for considering this request and for your continued dedication to our community’s enrichment through the power of reading and learning.
TED Talk Lunch Series Scheduled for June 28
Winfield Public Library’s TED Talk Lunch Series is back with a special Friday event this summer. “The secret ingredients to great hospitality” is the selected talk topic, scheduled for Friday, June 28 at noon in the WPL Community Room. Community members are encouraged to bring a sack lunch to the program, which is free and open to the public. Coffee and dessert will be provided.
The selected talk was recorded in 2022 by restaurateur Will Guidara, a three-time James Beard Award winner and former co-owner of Eleven Madison Park. That restaurant received numerous accolades under his leadership, including three Michelin stars. Guidara shares the story of how serving a $2 hotdog in his four-star restaurant inspired his pursuit of “unreasonable hospitality.” That pursuit led Guidara to co-found an annual hospitality conference called the Welcome Conference and publish the 2022 book Unreasonable Hospitality. Guidara’s work also inspired scenes in the FX series “The Bear.”
This program is part of WPL’s adult “Adventure begins at your library” summer programming. By signing in at the event, adults will be entered into a prize drawing for a chance to win a prize at the end of the summer. For details about summer programming, visit wpl.org.
WPL Receives Grant from RISE Cowley
This spring the Winfield Public Library received a $1000 grant from the RISE Cowley coalition to help fund the installation of a water bottle filling station at the library. The remaining expense of the installation was provided by an anonymous donor.
“We are excited to provide this upgrade just in time for our busy summer reading season,” says Tabitha Hogan, Library Director. “Patrons of all ages frequently walk to the library, particularly at this time of year. This convenient and sustainable way to refill water bottles allows us to support healthy drinking and reduce our reliance on single-use plastic water bottles.”
RISE Cowley is a coalition of like-minded organizations dedicated to making Cowley County a healthier place to live, work, and play. Over the past four years, RISE Cowley has awarded mini-grants that prioritize health and safety in our communities and help advance healthy initiatives in Cowley County.
Library Crawl
A Tour for the Library Lover
The Winfield Public Library is one of the stops on the 1st Annual South Central Kansas Library Crawl.
Between June 1 – July 31 visit each of the libraries on this list for a bookish experience, free swag, and a chance to win gift cards.
Branch Out – April Newsletter
WHS Carpentry Program Building Literacy
The Winfield Public Library’s Little Free Libraries have been rebuilt and refreshed thanks to the Winfield High School Carpentry Program. The project was completed by the lead student Sander Flower as part of an Independent Study under the direction of instructor Justin Hogan and assistant George Lowe. This project aims to promote literacy, community engagement, and access to books for residents of Winfield.
In 2019, the original libraries were a project of the Friends of the Winfield Public Library and were also built by the Winfield High School carpentry program. “We are glad to continue our involvement in this project as it is important for students to see their work benefit the community” said Justin Hogan, WHS Carpentry Instructor. The WHS Carpentry program is a key partner in other community outreach efforts including work on the Habitat for Humanity houses and the House of Hope.
Tabitha Hogan, director of the Winfield Public Library notes the importance of the partnership, “we are incredibly grateful for the continued partnership with Winfield High School, their volunteerism allows us to reach more people in Winfield, spreading literacy and the joy of sharing stories.”
Little Free Libraries are small, publicly accessible book exchange boxes where individuals can take a book to read or leave a book for someone else to enjoy. They serve as an entry point to the library that promotes literacy and a love for reading while fostering a sense of community connection.
The libraries are at Winfield Housing Authority, 1417 Pine Terrace; Winfield City Hall, 200 E. Ninth Ave.; Cowley County Historical Museum, 1015 Mansfield St.; the 12th Avenue and Alexander Street area, near the Canterbury Village apartments; and the Broadway Recreation Complex.
For more information about the Little Free Library project please contact Tabitha Hogan at (620) 221-4470 or director@wpl.org.
Winfield Literacy Collective – Now Open
Winfield Public Library was selected nationally among 100 libraries for the Libraries Transforming Communities: Focus on Small and Rural Libraries, an American Library Association (ALA) initiative that helps library workers better serve their communities.
The competitive award comes with a $20,000 grant that will help the library implement the Winfield Literacy Collective, a teen and adult literacy program.
“We are grateful to be chosen for this opportunity,” said Library Director Tabitha Hogan. ”This grant will allow our library to address needs identified through community conversations and by the Legacy Foundation’s A Closer Look at Cowley Kids Data Walk project. We believe this project will help us to meet the needs of Winfield residents and help us build a happier and healthier community for our families.”
There are many reasons that adults and teens struggle with reading and writing. One, often undiagnosed, reason is dyslexia. Recent research by International Dyslexia Association estimates that 1 in 5 individuals are dyslexic. Many have never been diagnosed as there are myths around dyslexia including that it is limited to those who see backwards letters. Dyslexia can take many forms and impacts people in different ways. While impacting reading, it can also limit the ability to learn another language, do math problems, and memorize. According to the Winfield Literacy Collective Reading Facilitator, Kim Hutto “it is never too late to improve reading and text skills, we can help.”
The program is for all teens and adults who struggle with reading and writing including those who are learning English as a second language. The Winfield Literacy Collective aims to help learners improve their reading skills and maximize tech tools to manage real-world tasks. The program is confidential and designed to be offered in person and online in one-on-one sessions at times convenient for participants.
The Winfield Literacy Collective is currently accepting learners. The program will begin in March 2024 for participants. If you are interested in getting involved as a volunteer or would like to participate as a learner, please contact Ruth Bumgarner at (620) 221-4470 or visit wpl.org for more information.
“Libraries Transforming Communities: Focus on Small and Rural Libraries is an initiative of the American Library Association (ALA) in collaboration with the Association for Rural and Small Libraries (ARSL).”