Girl’s Sewing Club – News Release – July 28, 2020

Despite COVID 19, FRU FRU FRILLS & FABRIC, Sparta Public Library’s girls sewing club, is continuing. To maintain their sewing skills, their instructor, Lynette Jalivay, prepared project kits for them. The girls were assured that, if they needed help completing their project, she would make it happen. The girls were given their first project and were asked to send pictures of them working on it and wearing the headband that was submitted in the first kit. 10 year old Mary Alice Campbell was the first to complete her headband and is now ready for her second project kit. Her mom Kathryn said she enjoyed the project so well that she made three of them. Lynette mentioned that the girls have come too far and learned too much to allow COVID to stop them. The girls will continue to get projects as long as they want to continue to sew and stay in the club. The Library is open for patrons 18 and over. Call 618-443-5014 for more information.

Veterans History Project

The Veterans History Project is a project created by the Library of Congress to document interviews of American veterans. The VHP seeks to record interviews of veterans telling their personal firsthand accounts and experiences in the United States military. The VHP will collect, preserve and make accessible these personal accounts of American wartime veterans so that future generations may hear directly from veterans and better understand the realities of war and military service.  To qualify for the project you must be a former military veteran who had served in any capacity in the United States military, or a civilian who served in support of a United States war effort in a professional capacity. The Illinois Veterans History Project was created by the Illinois State Library to do the same thing, but on a state level.

The Sparta Public Library will schedule a recorded interview with you that will last at least 30 minutes. Interviews will be conducted at the Sparta Public Library, in our meeting or genealogy rooms. The interviews will be recorded live, and an interviewer will ask you questions to help guide the conversation during the interview. The questions will cover a wide range of topics, including service memories, before and after service stories, basic training, and much more. The questions for the interview can be tailored for you, and if there is something you are uncomfortable with sharing or being asked we can exclude that from the interview.

Prior to the interview there will be a few forms you will have to fill out, these include interview release forms, and biographical information about yourself. The biographical data form includes information about your service, be sure to fill this form out entirely! We ask that as much as possible these forms be completed before arriving for the interview, but if you need help filling them out or have any questions about them feel free to ask, we would be happy to assist you. After the interview has been recorded, we will stick it on a flash drive or CD and send it to the Library of Congress and the Illinois State Library. Additionally, we will keep a copy of your interview for here at the library. This will be kept as part of our special collection.

For more information call, email or visit us at the Sparta Public Library:

211 W Broadway, Sparta IL  62286.
(618) 443-5014
spartaillinoislibrary@gmail.com

You might also like to check out the following sites:

https://www.loc.gov/vets/

https://www.cyberdriveillinois.com/departments/library/public/veteransproject.html

Sparta Public Library Awarded PNG Grant

The Sparta library was one of 17 in the state that was awarded a Project Next Generation Grant. The Sparta library will use the $12,500 in grant funds for equipment and supplies to participate in the Illinois Veteran’s History Project. Local students with supervision by their Project Next Generation mentors, will interview and video record the stories of Illinois war veterans and civilians , such as flight instructors and medical personnel, who served the state and country during the war. The library plans to begin recording sessions in February and we encourage all veterans to call the library at 443-5014 for more information. The PNG grant is provided by the Illinois State Library, a division of the office of Secretary of State, using federal LSTA funding, to empower students to succeed academically and eventually as independent, contributing members of society. In service of this mission, the PNG program offers grant funding to libraries for establishing after-school training programs that not only provide access to computers, software and various technology devices, but also hire mentors who are crucial to helping students develop self-confidence and pride in their newly acquired skills.

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