WHAT'S NEW NOW 

Storytelling in the schools

The Villanueva Library continues to provide weekly storytelling sessions at Valley Elementary School. We are reading some great books this year, including lots of picture books with the kindergarteners, Cam Jansen and Magic Treehouse books with second and third graders, and Island of the Blue Dolphins and Wonder with the fourth and fifth. The first graders have been busy creating their own books and practicing storytelling.  Thank you to all the wonderful students for making our Friday storytelling sessions so much fun.

Recent additions to the Children's Library

We have added a number of great books to our Children's Collection this winter. These include many books recommended for the "1000 Books Before Kindergarten "program, as well as picture and story books showcasing southwest and Hispanic culture. Some of the standouts are Rudolfo Anaya's How Chile came to New Mexico, the beautifully illustrated Waiting for the Biblioburro, about the unique ways books reach families in rural communities, and several dual-language (English and Spanish) picture books focused on tradition and families. For middle schoolers, we have expanded our collection of Gary Soto's popular stories and added more engaging books for young readers that like capture the migrant or immigrant experiences of children and adolescents.  Browse some of these new items on our "New Additions" shelf in the front lounge at the Center. 

Expanding the Southwest Collection

We are very excited by the volumes we have been able to add to the Southwest Collection. The extensive donation from Theresa Marquez, a former librarian at the Southwest Collection at UNM Zimmerman Library created a strong foundation in this area, including many fiction works by contemporary New Mexican women writers.  More recently, we have worked to create more complete holdings of work by key New Mexico authors, John Nichols and Rudolfo Anaya among them.  Gateway to Glorieta and Old Las give insights into local history through stories and recollections of area residents. Other notable additions are works on Native and Land Grant history, studies of southwest village arts, and a recent publication on Acequias done by NMSU Agriculture Extension.