Thank You from Oglala Lakota College Library

October 3, 2008

Holy cow! Good morning and happy day to you. Never too busy to thank the folks that help us with donations whether it be for little ones or big ones. The effort you have made through your generosity, interest and donations has been a foundation for many students by using the new dictionaries. These dictionaries have been cataloged into the collections at each library center (13 of them) and the additional copies are given to students in need during the library skills classes. The students are so appreciative and students send their best to all and a big thank you!

The donations for the “Build Your Own Library” program have been such a blessing, we continue to believe and actively initiate contact with every child on the reservation so they can have books in their homes! I often wonder how we can ever thank you enough and we cannot…you are all blessings to us. We are trying to make sure everyone that provides us with an address or email in relation to the donations receives a personal thank you; I know we miss many so please know that we cannot do what we do without you. Our hugs and best wishes always!

Michelle May
Oglala Lakota College Library

March 7, 2008

Hi Chris,

I know many of the donated children’s books we get for our Build Your Own Library project are coming from Friends of Pine Ridge Reservation donors and we continue to try and send thank you notes to everyone but we may miss some. Please let those in the organization that continue to help us in any way they can know that they are soooooo appreciated.

I wanted everyone to know what we are doing with the Build Your Own Library project and why we have chosen this method rather than only doing summer programs or a month. Thanks, Chris, for all your help.

I know your donors well understand that libraries are always understaffed. We have such a struggle trying to organize a structured summer program in all the districts on our reservation; so many children aren’t able to attend so we thought we would try to help them build their own little libraries so they can ALL have books in their homes.

It was with the intent to get these little people and their brothers and sisters the books to take home that we started this project. Needless to say it has been so rewarding personally and professionally for all of us to receive books that are given with love and no strings and we thank you so much for your interest, time and the generosity that we have all benefited from.

With the Build Your Own Library project, one of our targets is preschool children and the picture books you are sending are so loved and treasured. We also accept chapter books and junior high materials and paperback novels for teenagers and adults are also very well received.

When we first started we had too tight of a schedule and had not anticipated the response we would get from donors and were just buried in books, but we now have a marvelous system worked out where we can sort the books, box them up and can track the approximate number of books we’ll have and children we are able to help. This summer we will put it to the test and once again we will go to each of the 11 districts once every two weeks, have story reading for several hours and make sure everyone has 3 to 4 or more books to take home!

During the winter we provide donated books to the Early Head Start, Head Start and day care programs across the reservation. Books are sent home with the children and we replenish them on a monthly basis. We also have Tuesday and Thursday story time when little groups of Early Head Start, Head Start and kindergarten children come into the main library and we read to them. We have boxes prepared to send to their centers and then we put a book in every pair of little hands–it is fabulous to see their little faces; ahhhhh life is good!

Thank you everyone!

Michelle May
Oglala Lakota College Library