News, news, who's got news?? (Send us event info!)

I do believe that our community events newsletter, Got News??, is one of the most popular projects our library has undertaken. I have received a lot of affirming feedback from area residents, including community leaders, that this is a helpful service. It is a project I've really enjoyed working on.

I'm happy to report that we have received a grant from the Meyersdale Wind Farm Fund of the Community Foundation for the Alleghenies to fund a new printer that will take 11x17 paper (which will double Got News?? from its original letter size) and print in a more economical fashion. We're just waiting for the supply chain to catch up with our printer order so the new machine can be delivered and go into service.

However, Got News?? is also a project that requires input from community event organizers to be successful.

In the earliest days, while we were getting started, I was pretty relentless trying to track down events via social media and elsewhere to include in our newsletter. However, while running a library, I don't always have time for that -- and even when I do, sometime the information is not there to be found, or details are lacking. We don't have reporters to dig for stories and spend time contacting people.

I had hoped that once we were a little more established, people would bring things to our attention. Some have -- the Meyersdale Elks and Meyersdale Senior Center have been especially good at keeping us informed, and others occasionally reach out.

However, Memorial Day Weekend arrived leaving me frustrated. I could picture people turning to Got News?? for information about this busy Meyersdale weekend, and saying, "They ain't got the news!"

I apologize for the poor performance of Got News?? regarding this weekend's events, but I also plead innocence. I can only print the information that I have.

There was one thing that I did know for sure -- that the library would be closed on Monday -- which I forgot to include! Aside from that, I had very few solid details about community events for this busy Meyersdale weekend. As I began to see Facebook posts after our Wednesday deadline/Thursday publication, all I could think was "This should have been in this week's Got News??, and it wasn't." I didn't have the details Wednesday when I put the paper together. I knew there would be a luminary service on Sunday (and had info about how to purchase a luminary), but not exactly where or when or what would happen -- until after publication. I knew it was reunion weekend and alumni would be doing things -- reunions, a dinner at some point? I was very sure there would be a Memorial Day ceremony down at the Doughboy statue Monday. However, I'd rather leave events out than print and get the details wrong.

As our paper expands when the new printer arrives, I hope to have a lot of information to print in it! Send us event info! Our service area includes much of the southern end of Somerset County, so folks in Meyersdale and the rest of Southern Somerset County, please give us a shout to let us know what's happening so we can share it! Please, if you want us to help people know what is going on, email basic information about your event to community@meyersdalelibrary.org or drop off hard copy with the information at the library. A flyer for your event will do! We'll even post the flyer on our bulletin board. We welcome items from boroughs/townships, schools, fire departments, lodges, faith communities, and other nonprofits holding events that bring people together. We may not be able to include everything -- there will have to be some limits if we run out of space -- but we'll try our very best!

ADDED NOTE: Believe me, I know how hard it is to find time / remember to get everything publicized in a timely manner! So I'll still try to look in some of the obvious places for information about events. But if I fail to find and post an event that hasn't been provided to us, please know it's not an intentional omission.