January 2026 News and Information
 
"Chill Out and Read," the 2026 Teen and Adult Winter Reading Challenge, 
begins Friday, January 2, and runs through Saturday, February 28.
 
During December, the Great River Regional Library celebrates Short Story Writing Month (ShoStoWriMo). We asked writers to compose their stories in only 33 words, making it a real short-story challenge. Thank you to all who participated and enjoyed the challenge. Click learn more to read and enjoy the story submissions.
 
 
Looking for a fun family night? Looking for a cozy, stay-at-home date night?  
Maybe you are on a movie marathon kick? Library staff know movie
marathons are all the rage--so we are here to help! 
 
 
"AtoZdatabases is the Premier Job Search, Reference & Mailing List Database, including 30 million business & executive profiles & 240 million residents.
Ideal for sales leads, mailing lists, market research, employment
opportunities, finding friends and relatives, and much more!"
 
 
Update! We are at $36,761 towards our $100,000 Year-End Campaign goal!
Could you help us reach our goal by January 31? An easy way to
give back is online! Thank you for your library support.
 

Get to Know Your Library Staff
Katie Whitney: Technical Services Clerk
Celebrating 10 Years with Great River Regional Library! 
 
How did you start your career with GRRL?
If I want to be technical, I would say it started when I was a volunteer in college from 2013 to 2015. But the first ever library I went to was the Waite Park library when I was 6. And after my dad left the military when I was 12, the first library I went to, post-military brat life, was Melrose. And then a few years later, my dad got a job in the St. Cloud area, and I started to go to the old St. Cloud building for the anime club Chris Mallo was running. Eventually, I had to do an assignment for a high school class, so I interviewed Chris to learn how she became the head of the anime club, and I decided to work in the library field after that. I got a student work job at SCSU, starting my second year of college in their version of Tech Services as an aide. And from there, I started volunteering here in 2013 until I was hired as a Tech Services aide in September 2015. And in 2022, I became a Tech Services Clerk. So, technically, in 2013, as a volunteer, but in a way, it did when I was 6. But I would have never considered the library as a career if it weren't for Chris.
What book or movie are you currently recommending?
Miwok means People. I am Miwok on my mother's side. For those who don't know, Miwok is a Native Ancestry in the Upper California/Nevada area. My tribe specifically is from Sacramento. I didn't know I was Miwok until I was 20. And last year, I began to reconnect with that side. I was recommended this book to learn about some of my ancestry by one of my elders. 
What's a fun fact about you?
I got to go to Europe for the first time this year!! My in-laws very kindly took their kids and us spouses on a river cruise from October 2 -10. I got to see and explore Austria, Hungary, and Slovakia. My photo is from that trip. It is my husband and I in front of Parliament in Budapest. 
 
Staff Pick
Miwok Means People: The life and fate of the native inhabitants of the California Gold Rush country by Eugene L. Conrotto
Miwok Means People: The life and fate of the native inhabitants of the California Gold Rush country
by Eugene L. Conrotto

Imagine you live in a self-contained village where your parents and their parents and all your forebears from the beginning of time have lived. Imagine that within a day's walking distance from your village are the villages of other people, to the east, west, north, and south. They are PEOPLE because they speak words you mainly understand. There are 9,000 such people in these foothills. Then imagine that in the space of a few months 90,000 ûyeayû-white men-come uninvited to all the PEOPLE'S villages to tear away the ground under the PEOPLE'S feet looking for rocks. For each one of you, there are 10 of them. Imagine!
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