Press Releases

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Media Contact: Madison Ogle, Head of Community Engagement
Phone: (785) 320-5376 | Email: pr@mhklibrary.org

MANHATTAN PUBLIC LIBRARY NAMES NEW DIRECTOR

MANHATTAN, KS – The Manhattan Public Library Board of Trustees is pleased to announce that Eric Norris has been named as its new MPL/NCKLS Library Director. He’ll succeed current Library Director, Linda Knupp, who will retire at the end of the year.

A native Kansan, Norris has extensive library experience and is currently the librarian for the State of Kansas and has worked there since April of 2018. Before that, he was the director at Hays Public Library for six years. Norris received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Kansas, a master’s degree from Fort Hays State University, and a master’s degree in library science from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

“I am thrilled at the opportunity to join the team at the Manhattan Public Library. Manhattan is a growing and dynamic community that knows the value of its public library and I look forward to meeting people, making connections, and helping to create opportunities for growth. It is an exciting time for libraries as we explore ways to advance educational, informational, and recreational services throughout the Manhattan and the NCKLS area,” Norris said.

To assist in conducting a director search, the Library Board of Trustees invited a number of library staff, board members, and library supporters to participate in the selection process.

“Through all the shutdowns, jarring changes, and social upheaval of the past year, I believe that libraries are evolving well beyond the idea as simply a place to gather, and that public libraries are in the perfect position to adapt and evolve into what ‘new realities’ lie ahead,” Norris added.

Norris will begin his duties in late December. Knupp will retire at the end of December after 20 years of service.

Manhattan Public Library is located at 629 Poyntz Avenue in Manhattan, Kansas, (785) 776-4741.

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From 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Saturday, December 1, everyone who brings a non-perishable food item to the Manhattan Public Library will receive a $1 voucher to pay library fines. Vouchers will be good throughout the month of December, with a maximum of 10 vouchers per person. All of the donated food will be given to the Flint Hills Bread Basket to help combat food insecurity in Manhattan.

Library Director, Linda Knupp, championed the idea as “a way to promote good will during the holidays and give back to the community.”

Suggested items include:

Boxed meals

Grape jelly

Peanut butter

Cereal

Pasta

Canned meats

Pancake syrup

Oatmeal

The following items will not be accepted:

No expired items

No damaged items

No open packages

Ramen noodles (and other multi-pack items) will be accepted at a value of 4 packages = $1

Staff and volunteers from the Manhattan Library Association will be in the library’s atrium to accept donations and issue vouchers.  For more information, please contact the Manhattan Public Library at 629 Poyntz Avenue, (785) 776-4741 ext. 100, or www.MHKLibrary.org.

The Flint Hills Breadbasket is located at 905 Yuma Street.  It was founded in 1983 as a Community Food Network to collect and distribute food to those in need. Their food pantry is open Monday – Thursday from 1:00 to 3:30 p.m. and Fridays from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. to distribute food. To see the complete schedule for the Breadbasket, visit www.breadbasket.manhattanks.org or call (785) 537-0730.

MANHATTAN, KANSAS – The Manhattan Public Library hosted its first Kansas Scholastic Chess Association-rated Chess Tournament on Saturday, January 13. The tournament had 95 participants competing in K-5, K-8 or K-12 sections in the 6 Round Swiss Tournament.

Parijat Mondal, a student at Manhattan High School, took first place in the K-12 section with fellow student Jacob Grace who took 8^th place. However, it was not just a day for individual wins for Manhattan High School.

The Manhattan High School Chess Team took 2^nd place. The team included Parijat Mondal, Jacob Grace, Matthew Pickering, Gergely Chikan, and Austin Bender.

The tournament was organized by Tom Claman, a current marketing analyst at GTM Sportwear, and Charles Carlson, a PhD student in the Biomedical Computing and Devices Lab at Kansas State University.

Other local participants included Solon Xia, Ethan Xia and Harvey Anspaugh.

Congratulations to all who competed! Manhattan Public Library continues to connect the community to a world of ideas and information.

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SIX LOCALS TO SPEAK AT SECOND TALK20MHK EVENT

MANHATTAN, KS – The public is invited to attend the second Talk20MHK event on Thursday, January 25, from 7:00 PM to 8:30 PM in the Manhattan Public Library auditorium. The event is free and open to the public.

Six local speakers will each give a dynamic, seven-minute presentation featuring 20 PowerPoint slides. Topics at this event will range from beekeeping with Nikki Bowman to community building with Josh Hicks. The audience will have a chance to ask questions and visit with the speakers after the presentations.

Talk20MHK is a collaborative project of UFM Community Learning Center and Manhattan Public Library. The goal of Talk20MHK is to build strong community connections by giving individuals a platform to share their knowledge, stories, and skills with others in the community. Two events will take place each year, one in June and one in January.

Talk20MHK January 2018 presenters include:

Nikki Bowman– Beekeeping

Jessica Canfield – Hidden Beauty of Landscapes

Jeffrey Hicks—Math, Science and Where They Meet

Josh Hicks – Community Building

Palma Holden – Finding Beauty in Everyday Objects

Carmen Schober – Storytelling and Goal-Setting Through Film

For more information about the presenters and the event, visit www.talk20mhk.org. Manhattan Public Library is located at 629 Poyntz Avenue in Manhattan, Kansas, (785) 776-4741.

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From 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Saturday, December 2, everyone who brings a non-perishable food item to the Manhattan Public Library will receive a $1 voucher to pay library fines. Vouchers will be good throughout the month of December, with a maximum of 10 vouchers per person. All of the donated food will be given to the Flint Hills Bread Basket to help combat food insecurity in Manhattan.

Library Director, Linda Knupp, championed the idea as “a way to promote good will during the holidays and give back to the community.”

Suggested items include:
Boxed meals
Grape jelly
Peanut butter
Cereal
Pasta
Canned meats
Pancake syrup
Oatmeal

The following items will not be accepted:
No expired items
No damaged items
No open packages
Ramen noodles (and other multi-pack items) will be accepted at a value of 4 packages = $1

Volunteers from the Manhattan Library Association will be in the library’s atrium to accept donations and issue vouchers. For more information, please contact the Manhattan Public Library at 629 Poyntz Avenue, (785) 776-4741 ext. 100, or www.MHKLibrary.org.
The Flint Hills Breadbasket is located at 905 Yuma Street. It was founded in 1983 as a Community Food Network to collect and distribute food to those in need. Their food pantry is open Monday – Thursday from 1:00 to 3:30 p.m. and Fridays from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. to distribute food. To see the complete schedule for the Breadbasket, visit www.breadbasket.manhattanks.org or call (785) 537-0730.

We are celebrating the state library’s 13th annual Kansas Reads to Preschoolers week, November 12-18.

Storytimes this week will feature the one-book/one-state selection for young children, The Napping House by Audrey Wood with illustrations by Don Wood. This beloved book first published in 1984 has delighted children for many years. It is a silly cumulative tale of a snoring granny, who is joined by a dreaming child, a dozing dog, and so on until the pile reaches far above the bed. The tiniest critter on top starts the ruckus that wakes everyone in reverse, and naptime is over. Children who attend one of the library’s nine storytimes during this week will receive a free copy of The Napping House.

Kansas Reads to Preschoolers highlights the state’s commitment to increasing reading readiness and on-grade reading while promoting reading, literacy and libraries. Help us celebrate by reading to a child this week!

For more information, visit https://kslib.info/prek

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away… Manhattan Public Library hosted Star Wars Reads Day! Visit the library on Saturday, October 7 from 10:00 AM to noon for games, trivia, and activities for all ages. Then at noon, gather in the auditorium for a movie screening.

Crafts and activities will include trivia, Jedi training with bubbles, and a cosplay panel discussion. Costumes are encouraged and participants are invited to join the cosplay/costume parade which will take place at 11:15 AM. Door prizes will be awarded to several lucky attendees! You must be present at the time of the drawing to win.

At 12:00 PM, enjoy a movie screening on the auditorium’s recently updated audio visual system courtesy of Capital Federal Savings Bank and Reddi Systems.

Star Wars Reads Day was started in 2012 by Lucasfilm and its publishing partners as a way to highlight the vast number of books written about Star Wars, its characters, and its universe. Last year, there were over 2,000 schools, bookstores, and (of course) libraries that marked the day with read-a-thons, movie showings, and creative activities that feature the beloved sci-fi series and its characters.

Manhattan Public Library now offers a Creation Station where people can retouch photographs, edit movies, design logos, and use all of the software programs available from the Adobe Creative Cloud.

The goal, says IT Department Manager Kerry Ingersoll, is “to provide an opportunity for people to learn new skills, work on projects, and explore their creativity using specialized software and equipment.  Some examples are editing a photo or video, creating a logo, or designing a business card.”

In order to provide a professional-level experience, the library has dedicated a quiet computer workstation with two monitors, headphones, and provided access to the Adobe Creative Cloud.  Included in the Adobe Creative Cloud, library patrons will be able to use:

• Photoshop
• Illustrator
• InDesign
• Lightroom
• Adobe Premiere Pro
• After Effects
• Acrobat Pro
• Dreamweaver
• Adobe Audition
• InCopy
• Character Animator

Training programs to learn the software are also available at the workstation, by logging on to lynda.com, which is another service provided for free through Manhattan Public Library.

To use the Creation Station, visitors can simply sign in at the service desk in the library’s Technology Center, located on the library’s first floor at 629 Poyntz Avenue. Check in with the desk staff to get a unique username and password.  Each session is four hours in length and this

People who wish to use the equipment should bring an external storage device such as a flash drive or portable hard drive to save their work. No library card is required to access the equipment, but anyone who would like to sign up for a card can do so at no cost by visiting the library’s check out desk or by filling out this online form.

TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE EVENTS AT THE LIBRARY IN AUGUST 2017

MANHATTAN, KS—A total solar eclipse will take place in the Midwest on Monday, August 21 from 11:30 to 2:30, with totality beginning at 1:00 p.m. and ending at 1:05.* This is the first total eclipse to be visible in the U.S. since 1978.

The Manhattan community is invited to a free “Eclipse Viewing Party” at Manhattan Public Library, located at 629 Poyntz Avenue, from noon to 4:00 p.m. Participants can view the partial eclipse outdoors using free safety glasses provided by STAR_net, or relax indoors and watch live video of the total eclipse as it passes over North America.

In addition to the viewing party, the library is offering two free programs leading up to the big event.

On Tuesday, August 8 at 2:00 p.m., kids in kindergarten through sixth grade can “Get Ready for the Solar Eclipse.” Kids will learn about the eclipse and explore information about astronomy. They will also craft an eclipse viewer to take home.

Then on Thursday, August 10 at 11:00 a.m., preschool-aged kids can hear stories about the stars and planets at the “Solar System Storytime.”

Librarians will also be available to visit about the eclipse at the Flint Hills Discovery Center’s Community Day on Saturday, August 6 from noon to 6:00 p.m.

Anyone interested in learning more about the eclipse, astronomy, or the solar system should explore the many resources available at Manhattan Public Library.

These solar eclipse programs are made possible by a grant secured by STAR_net Science-Technology Activities & Resources for Libraries and funding from Manhattan Library Association. All programs at the library are free and open to the public. For more information, contact the library at (785) 776-4741 or www.MHKLibrary.org, or visit 629 Poyntz Avenue.

*Time estimates are based on information from NASA for the Lincoln, NE area, which is the closest location where the total eclipse can be observed.

People of all ages can join the Manhattan Public Library’s summer reading program for free. After signing up online or at the library, participants simply keep track of the time they spend reading or listening to books from June 1 to July 31. Different prizes are awarded based on age group, and can be picked up at the library until August 7. Last year, a total of 2,423 kids, 474 teens, and 465 adults joined in the fun.

The summer program begins with a kickoff party celebrating the theme “Build a Better World” on Saturday, June 3 from 10:00 a.m. to noon. Participants can explore different cultures with hands-on activities, interesting artifacts, and cultural representatives from the Manhattan community. Teens are invited to decorate the library windows with images inspired by this year’s theme. This is also a great time to sign up for the program and pick up the first reward.

Other exciting activities such as storytimes, summer clubs, gardening workshops, and more, will be offered throughout the summer. All library programs and activities are free and open to the public, although some programs have limited space and require registration. For more information, check the event schedule or pick up a calendar at one of the library’s service desks.

The nationwide summer reading program has an important mission: to motivate kids, teens, and adults to read for fun and help prevent learning loss while school is out. To accomplish this mission in Manhattan, the Manhattan Public Library has enlisted the help of local partners to give rewards and prizes to readers. Prizes include free books, gift certificates to local restaurants, and passes to local attractions.

Prizes have been purchased by the Manhattan Library Association, Manhattan Library Foundation, or donated by local businesses and organizations.

The library would like to thank the following generous sponsors: Applebee’s, Chick-fil-A, Confucius Center, Cool Care Club, Flint Hills Discovery Center, Goblin Games, Kappa Kappa Gamma, Manhattan Arts Center, Manhattan Kiwanis, Manhattan Library Association, Manhattan Library Foundation, Manhattan Town Center, Noodles & Co., Olson’s Birkenstock, Papa Murphy’s Take ‘N Bake Pizza, Pediatric Associates, Sunset Zoo, Varsity Donuts, and Vista Drive In.