(JKPL) — Joeten-Kiyu Public Library Tinian Public Library, Antonio C. Atalig Memorial Library (Rota) celebrated month-long series of festivities highlighting National Library Week this April.
On Saturday, April 2, 2022, Joeten-Kiyu Public Library kickstarted National Library Week with our 3rd Annual Community Mobile Information Literacy Fair or CMILF. This free community event was held on Saturday, April 2, 2022 from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in the Joeten-Kiyu Public Library’s parking lot. More than 300 participants celebrated outreach of various forms and promoted the endless benefits of CMILF partnerships, namely, promoting important mobile and community services; providing safe spaces for our community partners to use on library grounds; creating equitable public access and awareness to much needed partnership services; and promoting lifelong learning through information sharing of the vital services they provide to the island community.
On Sunday, April 3, 2022 at 9 a.m., JKPL celebrated a dedication Mass with the Catholic Diocese of Chalan Kanoa in honor of National Library Week, libraries, and library workers.
From April 4 to 9, 2022, JKPL celebrated National Library Week with Spirit Week.
JKPL hosted a daily social media challenge: Day #1: Sunday Shelfie; Day#2 Mindful Monday; Day#3: Thankful Tuesday; Day#4: Book Week Wednesday; Day#5: Tik-Tech-Tok Thursday; Day#6: Bookface Friday; and Day#7: Cultural Saturday.
On this day, the Joeten-Kiyu Public Library also shared the “Most Challenged Books” for 2021. Here’s the American Library Association’s top 10 list of 2021’s most-challenged books:
1) “Gender Queer,” by Maia Kobabe
2) “Lawn Boy,” by Jonathan Evison
3) “All Boys Aren’t Blue,” by George M. Johnson
4) “Out of Darkness,” by Ashley Hope Perez
5) “The Hate U Give,” by Angie Thomas
6) “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian,” by Sherman Alexie
7) “Me and Earl and the Dying Girl,” by Jesse Andrews
8) “The Bluest Eye,” by Toni Morrison
9) “This Book is Gay,” by Juno Dawson
10) “Beyond Magenta,” by Susan Kuklin
On Tuesday, April 5, 2022, JKPL celebrated National Library Week, National Library Workers’ Day, and National Library Outreach Day proclamation signings at the Joeten-Kiyu Public Library at 10 a.m. with Gov. Ralph DLG Torres officiating. JKPL hosted a roadside waving later that day to promote literacy and awareness about our CNMI public libraries and library workers.
On April 6, 2022, JKPL celebrated National Library Outreach Day! Your friendly Bookmobile and Technology Mobile Express drove around the island in a motorcade visiting our schools, youth centers, and villages. Biba, Bookmobile! The Joeten-Kiyu Public Library’s Bookmobile was also featured in the Association of Bookmobile Outreach Services social media page on Facebook @abos
On April 7, 2022, JKPL celebrated Take Action for Libraries Day!
On April 8, 2022, JKPL hosted the 2nd Annual Edible Book Contest with nine entries. Team JKPL created fun book themed edible foods and the community voted for their favorite Edible Book onsite and via social media. Inspired culinary creations included the following: Stephen King’s “It”; “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” written by Roald Dahl; “The Lorax” written by Dr. Seuss; “Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumbs” written by Al Perkins; “The Game Console: Photographic History from Atari to Xbox” with a Super Mario Brothers theme; “One Piece” written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda; “Hafa Sinentete-Mu” written by Adora Jay San Nicolas; “Humpty Dumpty” as told by Kin Eagle; and “The Bible.” Winning entries were: Humpty Dumpty, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and Super Mario Brothers.
On April 9, 2022, JKPL hosted the grand prize raffle drawing for an Amazon Kindle sponsored by the Marianas LGBTQ+ T Project. The winner was Stacy Ngiralmau who was randomly selected via a raffle drawing for reading more than six LGBTQ+ books from November 2021 to April 2022. More than 60 LGBTQ+ books were read.
On April 12, 2022, JKPL celebrated “Wake Up and Read, CNMI” in partnership with the Public School System. Team JKPL flooded social media @joetenkiyupubliclibrary on Facebook and Instagram with readers reading books #wakeupandreadCNMI.
On April 16, 2022 from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m., JKPL hosted a financial literacy seminar with the Bank of Hawaii Financial Literacy Seminar at the Joeten-Kiyu Public Library’s Children of Our Homeland Center.
On April 16, 2022, the Bookmobile and the Technology Mobile Express hosted Cultural Art @My Library at the Fernando M. Benavente Memorial Library located in San Antonio. Over 70 children enjoyed a day filled with passport activities which included: outdoor games, read aloud in Chamorro, and Cultural Art and History featuring local artist/instructor Linda Torres and Maggie Concepcion. Children were awarded with literacy Packages to go and shave ice, hot dog, and shave ice.
On April 22, 2022, the Joeten-Kiyu Public Library celebrated Earth Day with a Tree Planting @My Library. Elementary to high school students from both private and public schools visited the library and conducted hands-on activities by planting trees at the Joeten-Kiyu Public Library. Front Circulation Supervisor Gerard Borja and Children’s Librarian Celina C. Foreman taught students the basics of gardening, plant care, maintenance, and shared information about JKPL’s community garden.
From April 19 to 23, 2022, the Joeten-Kiyu Public Library, Tinian Public Library, and the Antonio C. Atalig Memorial Library (Rota) conducted professional development sessions that included a library workshop and week-long Training series on the basics of book mending, cataloging, front circulation, processing, technology use, virtual learning resources, summer reading program, library tours; health and wellness, and Cultural Art@My Library.
On April 23, 2022, the Joeten-Kiyu Public Library in partnership with Run Saipan hosted the 1st Annual Joeten-Kiyu Public Library 5K Fun Run/Walk on Saipan. Participants ran/walked from the starting line in the Joeten-Kiyu Public Library parking lot to the Quartermaster Road and then returned back to the library to finish. There were two stopping points for refreshment. Joeten-Kiyu Public Library’s Technology Mobile Express greeted the runners/walkers at the quarter point at the bus stop near the Shack Saipan, while the Bookmobile greeted the runners/walkers at the Quartermaster Road. Moreover, we held a story walk in the parking lot featuring the local cultural books “Hafa Sinentete-Mu” by Adora Jay San Nicolas and “The Stick Dance: A Carolinian Tradition” by Jude Litulumar. Participants read page by page printed on colorful display panels around the parking lot before the race/walk began.
On April 23, 2022, the Joeten-Kiyu Public Library in partnership with the Public School System hosted a book launch of Latte in the Marianas, by the community, and for the community project by Dr. Kelly Marsh and Jolie Liston. The book launch and presentation was held at the Children of Our Homeland Center, aka Children’s Library in the Joeten-Kiyu Public Library. Project Team who presented on Saipan for the Latte in the Marianas were Dr. Kelly Marsh Taitano from the Ayuda Foundation and Joe Quinata from Guam Preservation Trust, and Guampedia’s Eulalia Villagomez. According to the Ayuda Foundation, “The book is both a vivid and beautiful oversized coffee table book as well as a compilation of over 130 pages of single and double-page entries written by over 80 highly regarded cultural practitioners, historians, archaeologists, and historic preservationists who have been part of the Marianas’ cultural renaissance and have years or decades of expertise and experiences to share.” Books were distributed to both public and private schools and libraries. For more information on how to order Latte in the Marianas, go to https://guampediashop.com/
On April 28, 2022, the Joeten-Kiyu Public Library kickstarted Birthday Literacy@ My Library Program celebrating Alexandra Demapan Birnbrich’s seventh birthday. The theme was inspired by Nintendo’s Super Mario. Birthday Literacy@My Library provides families with a free, fun, and convenient way to host your child’s birthday celebration at the library. Families are given an hour and a half to celebrate their child’s birthday in the Children’s Library by reservation. Families select from pre-existing library themes, while library staff conduct a storywalk and mini library tour, read aloud, and arts and craft activity. The birthday celebrant will receive a special honorary certificate making them a Junior Librarian for the Day.
On April 30, 2022, the Joeten-Kiyu Public Library partnered with the Marianas Avifauna Conservation or MAC project’s education and community outreach program to Saipan. CNMI DLNR Division of Fish and Wildlife started the MAC program in 2004. This project is intended to provide the avifauna of the Mariana archipelago with the best possible chances for long-term survival, with the objectives of preserving, maintaining, and establishing self-sustaining populations of native birds secure from the threat of the brown tree snake. To rapidly address this threat, the CNMI DNLR Division of Fish and Wildlife has asked Pacific Bird Conservation to coordinate AZA or Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ institutional assistance for long-term conservation efforts aimed at protecting native avifauna on Saipan, Tinian, and Rota. MAC group representatives conducted an on-side library scavenger hunt, field work activity, and shared with our library patrons regarding the uniqueness of the avifauna on their island and to share the work that is being done in the CNMI by the MAC project.
National Library Week (April 3 – 9, 2022) was a time to celebrate our nation’s libraries, library workers’ contributions and promote library use and support.
The theme for National Library Week 2022, “Connect with Your Library,” promoted the idea that libraries are places to get connected to technology by using broadband, computers, and other resources.
Libraries also offer opportunities to connect with media, programs, ideas, and classes — in addition to books. Most importantly, libraries also connect communities to each other. Overall, the theme was an explicit call to action — an invitation for communities to join, visit, or advocate for their local libraries.
How can you help your library? “We welcome and encourage sponsors to please consider donating cash contributions the Joeten-Kiyu Public Library. Pursuant to CNMI Public Law 15-120, the Joeten-Kiyu Public Library is able to receive cash contributions under Educational Tax Credit. Please make checks payable to: CNMI Treasury or via MUNIS to Friends of the Joeten-Kiyu Public Library vendor#100404.”
Special thank you to the community partners/sponsors/donors of the 3rd Annual Community Mobile Information Literacy Fair: CNMI Priority Care, Commonwealth Of Transit Authority, DCCA-Division of Youth Services, Northern Marianas College Nursing Club, CNMI Department of Public Safety-Car Seat Program, CNMI Department of Public safety-Boating Safety, Department of Public Safety, Department of Lands and Natural Resources-Division Of Agriculture, CNMI Forestry, Department of Fire and Emergency Medical Services, Northern Marianas Technical Institute, American Red Cross-NMI Chapter, Northern Marianas Humanities Council’s Motheread/Fatheread CNMI, CNMI Department of Public Works, CHCC-Maternal, Infant, Child, and Adolescent Health, Commonwealth Utilities Corporation, Lady Diann Torres Foundation, Homeland Security Community Emergency Response Team, CNMI Division of Customs and Biosecurity, CNMI Department of Corrections, CNMI Office of the Governor, Gov. Ralph DLG Torres, and AmeriCorps Program.
Thank you to JKPL’s sponsors: Senate Floor Leader Vinnie Sablan, Sen. Edith Deleon Guerrero, Sen. Frank Cruz, Senate President Jude Hofschneider, Sen. Teresita Santos, Sen. Paul Manglona, Rep. Edwin Propst, Rep. Leila Staffler, House Minority Leader Angel Demapan, and House Floor Leader Ralph Yumul.
Special thank you to the following 1st Annual Literacy 5K Fun Run/Walk community partners for your partnership and support in coordinating these efforts: CNMI Department of Public Safety, Saipan Mayor’s Office, the Marianas Visitors Authority, CNMI Department of Corrections, Joeten Enterprises, the Joeten and Kiyu families, the Friends of the Joeten-Kiyu Public Library, and Governor Pedro P. Tenorio Multi-Purpose Center.
Special thank you to corporate gold sponsor Tan Siu Lin Foundation. Special thank you to the planning and organizing team of Joeten-Kiyu Public Library and Run Saipan. Thank you Run Saipan President Edward Delacruz Jr. and Treasurer Dr. Ron Snyder for your leadership and professional expertise. Thank you to the Office of the Governor and Gov. Ralph DLG Torres for launching health initiatives to promote health and wellness in our community. Thank you volunteers from the National Honor Society and the AmeriCorps Program.
For more information, visit www.cnmilib.org or call (670) 235-7323/7322 (READ).
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JKPL is open Tuesday to Thursday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Friday, 1:30 p.m. to 7 p.m.; and Saturday, 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. It is closed Sundays, Mondays, and holidays.
On April 12, 2022, Joeten-Kiyu Public Library celebrated “Wake Up and Read, CNMI” in partnership with the Public School System.
