All posts by webmaster

Summer School Holiday Opening Hours

29 July 2021Newswebmaster

Dear Members,

The Summer School Holidays are here and CEL will be open on a limited basis.

We have volunteers for Friday afternoons from 2:30-5:30 pm on July 30, August 6, and August 13.

We are still looking for desk volunteers to work for the remainder of Fridays in the school holidays. If you are trained and can help, please, add your name to the doodle.
Without volunteers, we are not able to be open.

Don’t forget about our Summer Reading Challenge! Reading bookmarks and logs are available to pick up at the front desk!

ADVICE NEEDED

As part of our investigation into options for replacing our current library system, we would like to hear from any of our members who have experience setting up Windows Web Server and a VPN on a Windows 10 PC.
(Or if you can write front end GUIs for SQL databases and have lots of time ⁠🙂⁠)
Please e-mail info@celstuttgart.de if you can help.

We wish all our members a health and safe summer holidays,

The CEL Board

Come and join us in the park this Friday…

21 July 2021Event, Newswebmaster

Come out and enjoy the great weather with us on Friday, July 23rd – sunshine and fresh air will hopefully allow us to gather without too much worry and enjoy time together…

Rhyme Time in the Park – 10:00 – singing for little ones and their adults

Friday Fun in the Park – 15:30 – We’ll be reading The Three Little Javelinas and then we’ll have a blast playing some water games! Look for the CEL Summer Reading in the Park sign and don’t forget a change of clothes!

Both events will take place in the Stadtpark Vaihingen – just behind CEL so you can pop by and change your books at the same time.

(If you are not yet a CEL member please come and join at the library before attending the events)

It’s time for the Children’s English Library Summer Reading Challenge!

14 July 2021Event, Newswebmaster

Summer Reading Challenge 2021

Stop by the library to pick up a reading challenge bookmark or two and start reading your summer away!

All ages welcome to join in!

All participants can pick up a prize at the library from September 17 until October 16.

It doesn’t matter how many books that you read, only that you read so get started!

If you would prefer to print out your bookmarks at home here are the links:

Book Mark 1

Book Mark 2

CEL Update

30 June 2021Newswebmaster

Due to the low incidence numbers in Stuttgart, we are now able to open without restrictions which means we are no longer limited to only two families at a time in the library.

Masks, keeping distance, hand disinfection, and the sign in sheet are still in effect.

We are also allowed to have activities – at a distance, so we are now looking for volunteers to lead Friday Fun and Saturday workshops.

We are also in need of desk volunteers for Friday afternoons. Please remember that without volunteers, we are not able to open.

We have a volunteer for this Friday afternoon July 2 so we will be open from 14:30-17:30 as well as Friday morning from 10-12 and Saturday afternoon from 14:00-17:00.

There will be a Friday Rhyme Time in the park for our 3 and under crowd on Friday July 9th at 10 am.

Please email info@celstuttgart.de for more details.

Things are getting back to normal which means beginning July 1st, we will begin charging overdue fees once again (50c per item per week) and we will no longer override the system to renew books checked out for longer than 6 months.

CEL – Re-opening…

4 June 2021Newswebmaster

We are happy to announce that the CEL is now allowed to open! We will initially be open on Friday mornings from 10:00 – 12:00 and Saturday afternoons from 14:00 – 17:00.

As always, all openings are dependent on volunteers. If you have had volunteer training, please check the doodles for Fridays and Saturdays and sign up if you are able to help.

We will still need to follow a hygiene concept. Masks are required, try to maintain distance from the volunteer and other members, wash/disinfect your hands, and sign in on the contact sheet.

Only two families at a time will be allowed to enter the library. If there are families waiting then visits will be limited to 30 minutes. Please check with the volunteer upon arriving if you can enter.

Contactless Lending will still be available but we ask that people only request it if it is absolutely necessary.

We are excited and happy to be able to welcome you all back and to welcome you to our new location!

Spotlight on Eric Carle

28 May 2021Author of the Monthwebmaster

He’s been featured on the *CEL Monthly Spotlight* before, but it seems fitting that this month we take another look at designer, illustrator and writer Eric Carle, who passed away aged 91 on Sunday.

Eric was born in the US but moved to Germany with his parents in 1935 when he was six. He graduated from art school in Stuttgart and moved back to the States in 1952, starting work at The New York Times as a graphic designer.

Perhaps best known for his read-aloud favourite The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Eric Carle wrote over 70 books which are beloved by children and parents the world over.

His distinctive illustrations and innovative use of colour are instantly recognisable.

You can find more information about him and how he came up with his book ideas at eric-carle.com and carlemuseum.org. There are also great resources to download for creating your own collage illustrations using the same method that he did.

And of course, the Children’s English Library has a wonderful selection of Eric Carle’s books for you to check out and enjoy. E-mail contactless@celstuttgart.de to request one.

Public Holiday on Saturday – no contactless service

27 April 2021Newswebmaster

There will be no contactless collection service this Saturday, 1st May, as it is a public holiday. Usual service will resume on Saturday 8th May.

Annual General Meeting:
We would like to announce our AGM for this year on Wednesday May 5 at 7:00 pm.
This meeting is a great opportunity for all of our members to hear what is going on in the administration part of the CEL and to offer opinions and ideas.
The zoom code for the meeting will be circulated on Monday 3rd May. Keep an eye on your inbox.

What’s happening at the Children’s English Library?

21 March 2021Event, Newswebmaster

Annual General Meeting:
We would like to announce our AGM for this year on Wednesday May 5 at 7:30 pm.
It is yet to be determined if the meeting will be in person, via Zoom, or a combination.
This meeting is a great opportunity for all of our members to hear what is going on in the administration part of the CEL and to offer opinions and ideas.
We have 1-2 openings on the CEL Board of Directors.
If anyone has interest in joining the board please let us know.
We are particularly in need of someone with PR/marketing skills or strong social media skills.
If you are interested in joining the meeting and/or the board, please send an email to Liz.weiser@celstuttgart.de.

Easter School Holiday closing:
We will be closed from April 1st- 11th during the Easter school holidays.
We will be open and available for Contactless Lending requests beginning the week of April 12th and the first pick up date for new books will be Saturday April 17th.
We wish you all a safe and healthy holiday break.
Keep in mind that this week is the last chance to exchange books and/or return books before the break.
Please, write an email to contactless@celstuttgart.de by midnight Thursday 25th March to request new books or to make an appointment to return books.
We hope you are all staying safe and healthy.
Our fingers are crossed that we will be able to open up for in-person library visits in some capacity in the near future.

The first contactless requests are ready … it’s time to find the library!

5 February 2021Newswebmaster

If you placed your order this week or booked a slot to return your books then you will need to find CEL’s new location … scan your mouse over the photos to find out how to reach us…

If you haven’t yet booked a returns slot or ordered a batch of books – your mail needs to arrive at contactless@celstuttgart.de by Thursday evening to be ready for collection the following Saturday from…

Hauptstr. 19 – Stuttgart-Vaihingen

… then go down the side of the building…

… and your books are bagged up and wiating for you.

Contactless Library Lending Resumes

30 January 2021Newswebmaster

Dear Members,
We have moved in to our new location, the internet is connected and our computer is up and running!

We are happy to offer Contactless Lending once again.

There are a few changes to the procedure this time around so please read the information for details.

How it will work…

– e-mail contactless@celstuttgart.de with your name and library card number and some details about what you would like to borrow e.g. 5 books for a 3 year old girl (theme pigs/transport), 5 books for a 7 year old boy(Oxford Reading Tree Stage 4) 2 JF books and 2 CDs plus a game.

This will be a lucky dip style reading experience – you may find that you can persuade your Peppa Pig fan to listen to something else. We are working on getting our online catalogue back up and running and will let you know as soon as it is available.

*Requests must be received by Thursday at midnight for pick-up on Saturday afternoon. The pick-up / drop off time on Saturday will be between 2:00pm -4:00 pm.

If this pickup time is IMPOSSIBLE then please contact us and we will try to find a solution. We no longer have a board member living above the library so a flexible pickup time is no longer possible.

Any requests received after Thursday at midnight will be available the following week.

When your book request has been processed, you will be sent a confirmation email, which will also detail how to get into our new premises.
The front door of the library will be open. You can pick up a bag of books checked out to your account and leave your returns in the return box.
Please keep in mind that this is contactless lending and we cannot offer a tour of our new premises at this time.
We hope to open up again as soon as possible and show you all around.

If you have friends who are members of CEL and don’t have access to a car, you can arrange with them to collect/return books on their behalf.
They should order the books themselves and state who will collect them so that the two bags can be put out together.

We hope that all our members are keeping well, but if your family is in quarantine or has been ill please stay at home and keep your books until you are all better and there is no chance of infection being passed on.

For those who can’t make it into CEL, you can check out our Virtual-Story-Time.

Best wishes,

The CEL Board