NPL Now

Remembering Joan White

2011-12-29T13:26:00.003-05:00

In this dark season, NPL has lost one of its warming lights--volunteer Joan White.

Joan was a faithful occupant of a Thursday afternoon slot at the Circulation Desk, one which she filled with a cheerfulness and a willingness to help. She was with us through two library directors and several versions of software and their various updates, the latter probably much more challenging than the former.

Joan took a break from us to receive treatment for cancer, then returned as soon as she was able. There wasn't a patron to whom she did not extend a warm welcome. When she announced her need for a second break, we hoped against hope that we would be seeing her again soon.

Joan didn't say much about her achievements; we had to read her obituary to learn about her many academic accomplishments and her highly regarded nursing career. It simply didn't occur to her to blow her own horn. She no doubt knew that the joy was in the moment, and it was in the moment that she remained, good-natured, deeply committed to her family, and generous with her time --to our good fortune-- to Norwich Public Library.

Joan, we thank you for your many kindnesses, and we treasure your memory.

So Worldly. So Welcome. Your Card.

2011-06-08T16:35:00.009-04:00

June 20 is hurtling toward us like a meteorite.

No, the world isn't ending, but on that date our little world will go through some changes.

Since the summer of 2009 we have been using an open-source software system, Koha, and moving toward the full implementation of the consortium which includes other member libraries.

As so often is the case with big steps forward in technology and time, it'll be some time before we can pursue all the opportunities that come with such a move. We know that it is very likely that if you come to the desk and tell us that your name is Barbara Smith, every Barbara Smith in Vermont may pop up on the computer with your name... or at least every Barbara Smith who patronizes a consortium library. The presentation of your card will lead us more directly to your record.

One of the great pleasures of the small town library is the opportunity to get to know the names and reading interests of our patrons. We love the more personal nature that is a part of our size. Typing in the names of patrons who are without their cards has given all of us a chance to come to know you. The knowing of our patrons makes us all the more determined to make the consortium work for both you and the library.

In this we need your help. Please come to the library armed with your card, and should it have slipped away over the years, help yourself to one of our two new designs, I read, therefore I am, created by patron Ken Davis, and the warm and glowing look of the library as interpreted by Libby Tolman.

Both designs come as both cards and keytags. If your purse has a habit of swallowing your card, try the tag on your keychain.

It takes all of about 10 seconds to give you a new card, so let us know if you are in need of one.

Koha has already given us opportunities to extend to you. If you have signed up to receive an email when your books and DVDs are due, you are benefiting from Koha.

And your card has so much more to offer: participation in the online language lessons from Mango; use of Listen Up, Vermont! for downloading audio books and e books, where these services ask you for your library card number.

When I try to imagine where that venerable institution known as the library will be in the next 5 to 10 years, I am flummoxed. What I do know is that, given the cast of creative and committed people with whom I work, NPL will be leading the way to meaningful innovations.

Now, go look for that card! If you need a new one, we promise to treat you like royalty.

Teams of Rivals

2011-03-25T20:11:00.001-04:00

I'm in trouble.

It turns out that there is only one s in impresario. And I don't know what sort of beat one finds in in isarithm, if any at all.

And the Marion Cross Spelling Bee is only a week away.

I could whine about only getting my study words this week, but complaining would be hypocritical. I don't study, anyway. What I do instead is haphazardly look up words that are unfamiliar to me.

Not all of them, mind you. Just the ones that tweak my curiosity.

Quite a few words regularly catch my eye.

This year I have learned that hoick isn't nearly as disgusting as I had expected it to be. It means to 'yank suddenly'. Ditto firnification. Jipijapa? The eponym for the Panama hat, which isn't made in Panama, but in Ecuador.

You can make a note of that. I did. Jack Candon, honorable emcee, please don't leave out jipijapa. I have my heart set on spelling it.

In the coming days I'll turn to my study list, flip through the pages filled with long columns of dirty tricks played by the English Language, become immediately overwhelmed, and desultorily look up some of the words that catch my eye.

This is my way of informing the fierce competitors that make up a significant portion of the Norwich population that I'm no threat to whatever rivalries you may be developing.

I know you, Norwich. You didn't rise to your current socioeconomic level without a healthy dose of competitive spirit. With all our medical professionals out there, I expect lots of the scientific terms on the list to be long mastered by some of the contestants.

I expect something mighty from you, come April Fools Day. I'll be the Fool; you'll paw the ground before rearing up before the spelling bee trophy, that pretty little filly of the contest.

Back to what interests me. Jow is the tolling of a bell, or the act of tolling the bell. I can see why John Donne passed it by in his Seventeenth Meditation. "Ask not for whom the bell jows..." Never mind.

Getting clobbered by people who actually study is okay with me. Dilettantes make lousy competitors.

As for me, I'm thrilled with one of my shiny new words. A word for our times. It's kakistocracy.

Is that wonderful, or what?

The fun starts at 6:30 at the Marion Cross gym. Win or lose, it's interesting and hilarious.

p.s. to rival teams: Don't forget to capitalize Quaalude.

Rule, Brittania!

2011-03-11T11:23:00.003-05:00

Call the library on any Monday, Wednesday, or Friday, and you're likely to get an Anglophile's dream--a British accent.

Anglophiles, I know you're out there. Recently a patron requested a list of all the mystery novels written by British authors, "because they just do a better job."

Please excuse me while I put an ice pack on my wounded American pride.

Recently I've noticed an interesting little phenomenon: on Monday, volunteer Jean Lawe (left) answers the phone, only to correct the caller, who assumes that she's Sophia Crawford, a Friday stalwart (center).

They exchanged some good-natured banter at our recent volunteer party on patrons' assumptions that one-Brit-accent-fits-all.

That is, except for Kenneth Cracknell, (right), Wednesday volunteer and treasurer of the Friends of the Library. Nobody mistakes Kenneth for Sophia.

What these three share, besides their accents, are a conviction that libraries matter, community spiritedness and ready wit, along with a super-sized dose of intelligence.

Patrons, here's your cheat sheet: Jean on Monday, Kenneth on Wednesday, Sophia on Friday.

We're thankful for them all.

Celebrating a Natural Connection

2010-10-29T12:16:00.000-04:00

Some of my fondest memories of my youth are associated with reading and eating. (I say youth because in those days I could combine these two joys with impunity).

It's therefore no surprise that I greeted the fall fundraiser, BookFeast, Read It and Eat, with more than a glimmer of recognition. A story walk that's combined with breakfast crepes! A master baker who writes cookbooks! Foodies who blog! The possibilities are endless.

I even found a blog entry that focused on the best and worst foods to eat while reading.

Along with the events that comprise this fundraiser, we have some amazing books on display. One that I find most compelling is What I Eat, a series of photographs of people and their basic diets. Also available are such diverse treatments of food themes as Eat My Words: Reading Women's Lives through the Cookbooks They Wrote, What Einstein Told His Cook: Food Science Explained, The Fortune Cookie Chronicles, My Year of Meats, and Confessions of a Closet Master Baker. Add to these titles those from our considerable collection of cookbooks and our subscriptions to Cook's and Bon Appetit, and you have just about everything you need to personalize this connection.

Clearly there are lots of ways to bake this cake.The events take lots of forms, too: Tuesday, Nov. 2 Jeffrey Hamelman talks about his life as a baker with King Arthur, with a lunch catered by King Arthur and Lisa Cadow. Thursday, Nov.4, Lucinda will lead kids and parents on a story walk with breakfast crepes to be prepared by Lisa Cadow. (Definitely an event for the Dawn Patrol, since it begins at 7:15 a.m. on the library lawn.) Friday night, Nov. 5 will be foodie-movie night in the Community Room, featuring Mostly Martha.

And on we go, eventually heading for the Gala cocktail party Nov. 18, from 6-8, the piéce de resistance, featuring both cocktails and hors d'oeuvres to die for.

In the meantime, don't be distressed if someone at the circulation desk tells you that the item you're checking out is restricted. It only means that you've won a chocolate doubloon from Champlain Chocolates.

That kind of restriction I could definitely live with.

The Day of the Pelican: Dive Right In

2010-09-17T16:12:00.003-04:00

As a transplanted coastal person, my affection for pelicans goes 'way back. I worried about their survival in the 1960s, when they were on the Endangered Species list. I rejoiced at the regeneration of their numbers when I visited the Oregon Coast last year and saw them flocked in the hundreds everywhere we went.

I've spent many happy hours watching pelicans dive; their dive is the oddest combination of clumsiness and grace. You can't feel bad when you are watching pelicans dive.

I know that Katherine Paterson's Day of the Pelican is more about refugees than birds, but I can't help but take pleasure in the title. It's my read for this weekend, and perhaps it's yours, too. In the last week 75 copies have flown out of here, all for free, all simply taken rather than checked out, with the understanding that they might well find their way into many homes rather than simply one, as the community reads this novel as a shared experience.

It's pretty common knowledge hereabouts that Katherine Paterson is a Vermont author, a Barre resident. She also is a wonderful storyteller.

Long ago and in another country I watched groups of otherwise well mannered elementary teachers come almost to blows as they sparred to add her Bridge to Terabithia to a district's core reading list. Would it be assigned to grade 4, grade 5, or grade 6? I listened to teacher after teacher argue for its placement in her grade, her classroom, so passionate was each to have the pleasure of sharing Paterson's little masterpiece with her students.

And so it's off I go to my weekend encounter with another Paterson gift. If you should have one of the Pelicans, I urge you to enjoy, then to pass on to a friend, neighbor, or family member. If you haven't gotten a copy and a neighbor has, ask to be next on the list.

Let's send these books throughout the delightful community that is Norwich, and then, when the frost is on the pumpkin, let's get together and share our impressions. Beth Reynolds will be gathering with our kids, and Stephanie Smith will be conducting a discussion with adults, sometime around or just after Halloween.

No tricks; just treats.

Happy to Share

2010-09-08T17:07:00.001-04:00

For some time I have been noticing people parked in their cars and bent over their laptops and PDAs early in the morning before we open. It's a sight that makes me smile, because our wireless signal transcends our ordinary schedule.

Our latest public survey tells us that many people would like it if the library were open (check each that applies) earlier, later, and on Sundays. We'd like that too, in the better world that lies out there in the vapors. (Vapors are notoriously short on cold, hard cash).

So it surprised us to learn of a library in Alaska that actually encourages the police to arrest those who access its wi-fi when it's closed. Where's the harm?

Concerned that I was missing some subtle library point, I asked Lucinda. After all, I'm not a Real Librarian, and I wondered if I was being loose with resources, rather like a kid who works in an ice cream parlor and wants to give free cones to all her pals.

The boss was puzzled. "Why would they do that?" she asked. "I like knowing that there's something we can offer the public 24-7."

She went on to tell me that some libraries do turn off their wi-fi when they close, because they don't want the public "using" their signals, as if they could somehow wear them out.

They can't.

So come ahead, Norwich. The boss says it's all right. If we could be open more hours, we'd be delighted. In the meantime, if a cup of joe in a travel mug and an email check-in in our parking lot is helpful, we are more than happy to share.

Chief Robinson, it's cool.

Dive Right In!

2010-06-23T16:34:00.000-04:00

Those Friends of ours.

They're Friends with a capital F, to be sure, as in the Friends of the Norwich Public Library, and on Friday and Saturday of this week they'll be selling quality used books at bargain basement prizes in the Community Room here at the library.

Hours for the sale are 3-8 p.m. on Friday, June 25, and 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday, June 26. Everything is half price after 1 p.m. on Saturday.

As is so often the case, we've been inundated by quality donations, so you can count on a great selection.

On Friday I'm sure I'll see a line of buyers trailing from the top of the stairs to the door of the Community Room. We see a lot of book sellers come through who are eager to re-stock their inventory.

You come, too. We like to see the best bargains go to our wonderful patrons.

Surf's up!

No Secret Handshake Required

2010-06-16T11:19:00.001-04:00

It's really simple, our new adult summer reading club. You just sign up, toss down a bit of chocolate to seal the deal (not required, but yummy), and go about your business.

There'll be weekly drawings for prizes--a gift certificate from a local business, a pretty plant, a product from a local crafts person. Something grand at the end of the season (September 3, just before Labor Day weekend, to be exact.

There'll even be a couple of small, tasteful get-togethers to chat with one another about what we're reading and what we might read in the future, and a discussion group around the novel Look at Me, by Jennifer Egan, featured in our newest book bag.

Yes, yes--very nice. But how does this prize business work?

Just drop a slip into the jar at the desk each week with your name and the name of the book you've read, and we'll have a Friday drawing. We'll keep the undrawn slips from each week and apply them toward the grand prize drawing on September 3.

The more you read, of course, the greater the number of little slips to be drawn for the various prizes.

Do join us! It's going to be fun. And we'll keep our word about the no deadlines, no pop quizzes, and no secret handshakes.

Just pleasant and stress-free summer reading.

Ahhh!

Feel the Power!

2010-06-16T11:02:00.002-04:00

As I pore over the comments from the surveys so many of you took the time to fill out, I can't help but notice that we have work to do when it comes to communicating the existence of services we already offer.

I learned, for example, that many patrons wish that we'd provide services like online notification of impending due dates and electronic notifications that books on hold have come in. Patrons also want to be able to place items on hold and renew them online.

Guess what! We already do offer these options. They are some of our well-kept secrets, not that we mean them to be.

Follow these guidelines, and you'll feel as empowered as this hunk of burning love (although perhaps not as fortified by symbolic back-up. We're the library, and we can do only so much.)

Your first item of business has to be to come into the library, (or if you're feeling cavalier about revealing your log-in and password, to give us a call. We can help you over the phone.) We need to modify your record to establish our online relationship.

(Oh, dear. That sounds like e-dating, doesn't it? Fraught with potential disappointment!)

This option is much more promising than e-compatibles. Once you've set up your account, then you can Exercise Your Options. Do you want to be forewarned and forearmed about due dates for your books and DVDs? Just check the box asking for an email that will do so.

Taking to the Skies

2010-05-03T18:14:00.005-04:00

Kites and children have so much in common.

For one thing, there's their beauty. Both are inherently gorgeous. For another, both are capable of soaring, one physically, the other spiritually.

We're having a delightful spring as we get together with our Norwich children for a series of kite-making workshops.

We worked with about 20 children on Saturday at the Rubber Duckie Race, and what a thrill it was to see them color and build their kites, then take them for test flights across Huntley Meadow! We couldn't help but cheer.

On Wednesday, the 5th of May, we will meet with children after school for another round of kite building workshops. We'll be making sled kites, bird kites, and delta kites.

We'll invite the kids to join us at Huntley Meadow on Wednesday, May 12, to send them aloft. This get-together isn't to be confused with the kite days formerly held by Marion Cross School. We haven't the resources to walk everyone to Huntley Meadow, as the entire school used to do. The sixth graders won't be passing out popsicles to the entire student body. (It gives me no pleasure to note this last fact.) This will be a smaller group, and we ask that children under 8 be accompanied by a parent or otherwise responsible adult.

We'll be there from 12:30 to 2 p.m., (it's an early release day) and then, alas, we library types must return to our library duties. Older students may want to stay on, weather permitting. Children will otherwise need transportation home or to their next adventure of the day.

Speaking of weather, we haven't scheduled a rain date, should Mother Nature withhold the necessary support for good flight. If we must cancel, we'll be in touch with Marion Cross staff by 11 a.m.

Let's hope that we're greeted with blue skies and sweet breezes. Those kites fly pretty nicely with just a little encouragement.

The Lord Loves a Duck, and So Should You

2010-04-22T15:09:00.005-04:00

What a thrill it must be to back a champion.

Since Hannah Kearney already has sponsors, those of you looking for a little vicarious local sporting glory might consider sponsoring a promising young quacker in the upcoming Rubber Ducky Race, brought to you by the Friends of the Norwich Public Library.

Their first-ever Great Rubber Ducky Race, to be held Saturday, May 1, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. offers you a shot at the spotlight, however reflected.Meet us on the Blood Brook side of Huntley Meadow to join in the fun.

Claim bragging rights (and a hundred bucks) when the ducky you've sponsored crosses the finish line first! Or enjoy the comfy Red Sox Rocker that currently graces our lobby. (That's second prize, but I have a patron who would happily take it over first prize, so obsessed is he with the Red Sox.) You can whip up a batch of goodies from one of the several cookbooks provided by King Arthur's Baking Store, or you can win a $25 gift certificate for the Friends' upcoming Mother's Day plant sale.

Of course, champions are made, not born. I suggest that you sponsor a duck for $5 (or six for $25) and then do what all good coaches do these days: focus on the fundamentals, and supply affirmations and winning visualizations to psyche your ducky up.

You can sign up to sponsor a duck at the circulation desk of the library, and then the mental work will be up to you.

Race day ought to be hilarious. Do take an hour or two off from the Nearly New Sale and head down to Huntley Meadow to cheer on your favorite.

And may the best duck win!

More than Just Pretty Faces

2010-04-02T12:10:00.004-04:00

What a pleasure it was to work with volunteer Anne Goodrich at the Circulation Desk last Saturday. She's an amazing person, and I always learn something from her. (She's also lots of fun, but that's another story.)

As we checked people in and out, I noticed how frequently Anne encouraged patrons to get the new library cards. I have been pretty laid back on their promotion, but I noticed that by promoting them, she was raising patrons' awareness on what we actually offer now. Talk about a marketing natural! Anne, you could sell me my own car, and I'd see it as new!

You don't actually have to trade in your old library card to get some of our new offerings, but the new card is emblematic of what has some with it: new software that empowers the patron. So why not make it a package deal?

Once you come in to perform the old card switcheroo, you can sign up for some of our new services. By giving yourself a log-in name and password, you will be able to search the catalog for the item you want and place a hold on it. Once you've checked the item out, you will be able to renew it online. If you give your account additional settings, the software will even send you an email of its due date in advance.

As my Uncle Al used to say, about the only thing this software doesn't do is fluff up your hair and tell you how pretty you are.

As you can see here, we offer two new designs, the I Read, Therefore I Am motif by Ken Davis, and the glowing facade of the library by Libby Tolman. They come with an additional key tag for people who are weary of rummaging through their bags for their cards, but who always have their keys at the ready.

Are you sentimental about your old purple card? Some people are, and you can still access the opportunities described above. Just ask to set up your account so that you can conduct library business from your home computer.

Next time you're in, avail yourself of the account, if not the new card. Better yet, make it both.

Under a Spell of Sorts

2010-03-29T17:19:00.003-04:00

How do you spell dumbbell?

That was the first challenge for the teams among which the Buns of Steel competed this year. In that Mulligan round the Buns alone provided the correct number of Bs, but Mulligan rounds being what they are, we went on to bomb out in the Regular round on moiety. (Moral of the story: never forsake an honest diphthong.)

The Buns this year were made up of Captain Lisa Milchman, Friends Treasurer Kenneth Cracknell, and buck-private Stephanie Smith. Kenneth's ducky-chapeau created the fashion statement of the evening, and he delighted in pressing a button near his temple that resulted in a resounding series of quacks. He was publicizing the upcoming Friends' Rubber Duckie Race May 1. (Be there or be square!)

"K.C.," observed Buck Private Smith, "You seem to have found your voice." He did not disagree.

As usual, victory eluded us, and above you can see Nancy Dean, Priscilla Vincent, and Sandra Dell savoring their win. The Spell Chicks of the Norwich Women's Club were delighted, as were we. That organization does so much for the community.

Here we are, performing the 2010 version of our signature "Shh!" cheer, which was accompanied by a sort of seated choreography.

The Spelling Bee has become one of my favorite events. It has just the right balance of silliness and stimulation to capture my heart.

Maybe we'll study next year. Who knows?

TTBOOK Explores the Fascinating Nooks and Crannies of Living and Thinking

2010-03-17T11:54:00.014-04:00

This post isn't about the library.

I'm breaking form to sing the praises of a most stimulating new show on Vermont Public Radio, To the Best of Our Knowledge. It's the creation of a team of very bright people in Wisconsin, one of which is the daughter of our patrons Edmond and Susan Strainchamps, interesting people in and of themselves, as so many NPL patrons are. That's the lovely, lively, and very bright Anne Strainchamps in the photo.

You can catch To the Best of Our Knowledge, (shortened to TTBOOK for acronymic convenience)at 2 p.m. on Saturday afternoons. If you find yourself away from the radio on Saturday afternoon, you can catch the podcast at your convenience through ITunes.

TTBOOK, which features Jim Fleming as the anchor and Anne Strainchamps and husband Steve Paulson as principal interviewers, organizes episodes around themes. Yesterday I did my quilting to a show organized around physics, and another on the hive mind. This morning I listened to a podcast on writers and writing.

The physics show focused on physics in all directions--the necessity of physics knowledge for the President of the US, a profile of the family of High Everett, who hatched the theory of parallel universes, a discussion of eccentric physicists, and physics-based literature, including a novel on Newton and physics poetry.

The Hive Mind featured everything from an expert on honeybees to swarm intelligence to a critique of the hive mind in a culture impacted by communications technology. An episode on the writing life featured an interview with John Cheever's biographer, an interview with novelists Elizabeth Strout and Marilynne Robinson, and one with writing workshop diva Natalie Goldberg. Great stuff!

I've subscribed to TTBOOK's podcasts. They're wonderfully enriching and energizing. Anne, Steve, and Jim are able interviewers, and I both admire their skill and envy them the opportunities they create for themselves in pursuing such fascinating topics.

Susan and Edmond, you must be terribly proud. As for me--I'm addicted.

Embracing Hannah-Mania

2010-03-05T15:17:00.006-05:00

Don't ever mistake us bookish types as being indifferent to Olympic glory, especially when it's rooted in our community.

Like Hannah Kearney fans everywhere in the Upper Valley, we were excited about her triumphant parade through the towns that claim her. Lisa very graciously agreed to tend the fort while Lucinda, Wendy, and I went in shifts to celebrate with the rest of the town.

I took the early shift, and in came Hannah, in a blaze of VW Bug glory, waving while the children (I count myself among these) yelled and waved. Hannah did us one better--taking pictures of the crowd on her own camera. She hopped out of the car and walked down the street, high-fiving the children who reached out to her, accepted a hat in the shape of a Seuss-like birthday cake, and headed for the bandstand while she graciously listened to everybody older than she say nice things about her. I hopped around with the library's digital camera, firing away, reveling in the beauty of the community and the talent, spunk, and tenacity of the young woman we were celebrating.

At that point my shift was up, and sighing, I returned to my library duties. I handed off the camera to the arriving Lucinda and came back, delighted by the very warm and delightful Olympic champion who knew just how to connect with kids, who quickly donned the signed tee shirt that Dan Frasier gave her, and who seemed the very ideal of the hometown girl who knows where she came from. I went home and raved about what a wonderful person she seemed to be, how like the good-hearted community she came from.

A few days rolled by, and as I was working the desk, a young woman came in with a poster rolled up under her arm. She waited patiently while I checked out a book. I thought she was one of the many people who come in seeking bulletin board space for posters. "May I help you?" I asked.

"I just wanted to leave this poster for the library," she said, handing it to me, along with an envelope that said, "For NPL from Hannah Kearney."

That magic name! I asked, "Oh, Hannah Kearney! How is she? Where is she?" hoping for a little news.

"Uh, right here. I'm Hannah," she said.

Great visual memory, Lulu. I'd only watched her perfect moguls run a dozen times on the Internet. Maybe if she'd come in in helmet and goggles... Hannah grinned at my gaffe and shook my hand and asked my name. Very personable, as lovely up close as she was from the bandstand the week before.

The poster I'd assumed was for the bulletin board turned out to be a signed and suitable for framing picture of Hannah; the envelope contained the proceeds of the Hannah bumper sticker sale at Dan & Whit's.

WOW!

We will be framing the poster. We are most grateful for the donation. Most of all, we are warmed by the down-to-earth spirit of our town's young champion.

If you needed to create a perfect Olympic champion, full of heart and mind, of agile and disciplined body, you couldn't do better than the young woman we already have.

Thanks, Hannah. All your stars are out, and it couldn't happen to a nicer person.

The Food-Fine-Forgive Connection

2010-02-08T15:00:00.006-05:00

This is the week of the Norwich Lions' food drive on behalf of the Haven, and NPL is playing a modest role as drop-off point for contributions of comestibles.

We're kicking up our commitment to the drive with this offer: in return for an item of food from the Lions' recommended list, we'll waive a fine on an individual item.

What items are recommended? Juices top the list as most-needed. Also on the list:
cereal
jelly
pasta
Mac&Cheese
rice side dishes
canned fruit
canned vegetables
baked beans
canned beef stew
canned chili
peanut butter
instant mashed potatoes
tuna
canned tomatoes
baking mixes
baby formula

So drop by with your items. The donation box is set up by the circulation desk. Give us a heads-up, and we'll remove a fine on an item for you. Bring in two recommended items, and we'll remove two fines, three and we'll remove three fines, and so on.

Thanks in advance. In these times your generosity is especially appreciated.

The New Year's Must-Have Accessory

2010-01-15T14:59:00.002-05:00

It's great to have a secret pal, especially one with special powers.

Ours has the power to send sweet-faced people bearing tidy little sums of money into the library.

The Norwitch, as s/he signs on the local list serve, has launched a campaign of unity and good will that includes the library. Request one of the keen bumper stickers, and the Norwitch will slip over to the main post office at White River Junction, someone told me, the better to keep his/her identity secret. The request? Walk into the library and give 'em five bucks for each sticker.

We have nothing to do with the production and distribution of the sticker, but we seem to be beneficiaries. How nice is that?

And so this week we have have the pleasure of a variety of patrons walking up to the Circulation Desk, bearing the cash that corresponds to the number of bumper stickers sent their way.

The Norwitch is a sort of post-holiday Secret Angel. Someone out in the vast tracts of Norwich's lovely and lively acres has figured out a way to bring a smile to our little librarians' lips.

Who is our benefactor? It's as much fun to guess as it is not to know. After all, not knowing makes everyone a potential library supporter. I do have my suspicions, but they are all I have.

The generosity of the Norwitch and the willingness of holders of the bumper sticker to carry the kindness forward certainly send us into 2010 with a spring in our step.

Just another reason that this non-resident holds this community close to her heart.

A One-of-a-Kind Gift

2009-12-18T13:25:00.002-05:00

At the risk of sounding a little "too, too--" I have to say that for those of us of modest means, it's a challenge to find a one-of-a-kind gift for a special someone.

Here's a great opportunity for the bookish person in your life: the raffling off of an altered book in the form of a handbag.

Nothing says Christmas like Dickens, and here he is in a stylish purse, ready to make any number of fashion statements. Dickens, of course, made many statements, fashionable and otherwise, in the course of his rich, creative life.

This little number will be raffled off tonight at Norwich Night, that frisky celebration of the frolics and foibles of one of the Upper Valley's most interesting towns.

Chances are a dollar apiece, or 6 for five dollars.

Who will win this wonderful bag?

Book Bags at Last!

2009-11-05T14:19:00.009-05:00

They've been a long time coming--book bags to serve the needs of local reading clubs.

It's as I told the Mascoma Foundation when I wrote the original grant application: members of a book club adopt a title for reading and discussion, then they fan out to their library, hoping to be among the first to check it out. A hold queue forms, with six-seven members, all waiting for their turn at the book. Patrons who are waiting then wonder whether they will attend their next meeting with the book unread.

We haven't been the first to identify and tackle this community need: the Howe Library in Hanover deserves that credit. Their Books To Go program is the inspiration for ours. Our more modest effort is launching with several initial offerings, with more to come, thanks to the Mascoma Foundation and NPL's own Friends of the Library.

Our book bags come with discussion and resource guides. Our bag for Loving Frank includes a set of discussion questions and a resource guide of homes designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. Our bag for the Geography of Bliss has lots of fun material from the International Center for the Study of Happiness in the Netherlands on how one determines one's level of happiness--on a national level!

Other bags include one on Mayflower by Nathaniel Philbrick (just in time to revisit the first Thanksgiving) and The Brief, Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, by Junot Diaz, last year's Pulitzer Prize winner.

At your next book club meeting, share this information with your members, and then see if 10 copies of a book, plus a discussion guide and resource materials won't increase the enjoyment and decrease the logistical headaches of your next get-together.

P.S.: We're planning to increase our book bag collection and welcome your suggestions.

Reveling in Story Time

2009-10-30T14:48:00.008-04:00

One our regulars came in today, and leaned forward. "What are all the cars doing here?" she whispered. "What's going on?"

It didn't seem like such a deal to me, but I'm used to Fridays. "It's Lunch at the Library," I said. "Story time and a craft."

Children's librarian Beth Reynolds really packs them in.

You can count on a cluster of topic-related children's books and a craft to follow, once your bag lunch is consumed. Participants have made everything from paper flowers to bats to donuts. Lunch at the Library is best suited to children between 3 and 6 years old.

For the younger set (infants to age 3), there's Word Play. That's on Wednesday mornings at 10:30. As I sit and type the songs rise from the Community Room and bless this space. Beth offers stories and songs and other forms of word play for developing little talkers. Recently they've also had a chance to offer sneak previews of their Halloween costumes.

Working in a library has no shortage of pleasurable moments--delightful patrons, fascinating volunteers, amiable colleagues, numerous books. But for jaw-dropping awww, nothing beats the children coming in and out for story time.

In the Mood to Circulate? We need you at the desk.

2009-09-25T11:50:00.005-04:00

The seasons change. Volunteers come, some of them go.

Repetition is the rhythm of the universe.

At NPL we find ourselves at a crossroads of sorts. We've lost a couple of Saturday volunteers and are in the market for new people to staff the circulation desk.

What's involved? For most people one Saturday (or fraction thereof) per month. Our Saturday hours are 10-3. Some volunteers split Saturdays, one working 10-12:30, the other taking the 12:30-3 shift.

For October we're covered, but come November, we're going to need some new (fill in the blank--talent? blood? energy?)--all of the above.

Give us a call at 649-1184 if you can help out. To work at the desk you should not get a case of the vapors from being around computers. (We can otherwise train you). You should like people and present a friendly face to the world.

It's actually a lot of fun, according to our volunteers. You see the people you know (in Norwich, a generally delightful experience), get sneak previews of our latest books, CDs, and DVDs, are in on the scuttlebutt of our current programs, activities, and general mischief. We work hard, but we do laugh a lot here. In addition, we ply you with your choice of freshly brewed coffee or tea. You, in turn, develop a sense of indispensability, for volunteers are the life blood of this library.

Interested? Call Stephanie Smith at 649-1184. She will thank you kindly.

Calling All Artists, Young and Old(er)

2009-07-22T16:34:00.004-04:00

NPL is in search of a few good library cards.

Okay-- that statement doesn't exactly conjure up images of Tom Cruise throwing out his chest, resplendent in uniform, but the sentiment remains true.

As we celebrate the 10th anniversary of NPL's expansion, we find ourselves in our usual state of growth. That's what working with the L-Team of Lucinda and Lisa brings: lots of learning--these women have definite pioneer tendencies. NPL is the first library in the state to go over to the state-of-the-art web-based Koha software, the benefits of which I will extol in a future blog. For now, suffice it to say that this milestone calls for another creative effort from our amazing community.

So it is that NPL launches its library card design contest. Shiny new software fairly begs for a great new card, or two.

The contest calls for two new cards: a Youth card (to age 15), and an Adult card (ages 16 and over).

Deadline for submissions is September 1. Entries will be displayed at our Tenth Anniversary Party September 12, and the public will have a chance to vote on the entries till October 1.

We're hoping for lots of entries. Guidelines are available at the circulation desk.

Please take your best shot at a modest form of immortality and think about how the phrase "My Library" resonates for you.

What's It Worth?

2009-07-01T13:04:00.002-04:00

A few weeks back I read that the nation's oldest library was in danger of closing.

I was sad, of course, but more than sad I was incensed. My closest friend, a librarian, once confided in me, as we reviewed the array of services provided by libraries, than if the public ever really figured it out, we'd be inundated.

What a better world that would be, especially in light of the current economic downturn. If ever the public could use some free --or close to free-- services, the time is now.

Use this calculator to see what your local library offers you in the way of savings. I just did, and the results made me feel quite rich indeed. Clearly, I am a high maintenance patron.

Thanks, Kids. Thanks, Doyles.

2009-06-29T19:12:00.005-04:00

Like about any modest public institution, NPL has faced its share of economic shortfalls this year. Donations to the annual fund are down. The state library has discontinued some of its services --that sort of thing.

Enter the Doyles. Jeff and Maureen and kids Clio, Finley, and Zola were discussing what might be done to help out NPL, and the By Kids For Kids Yard Sale was born.

The idea was simple and elegant at the same time: kids could gather together the books, toys, and gear that they no longer needed and offer it up for sale on the library lawn. They pre-priced it and brought it down, to sell and split the profits with NPL.

As these pictures attest, (thanks, Peter Money!) the event was as photogenic as it was profitable. Behold--the next generation of entrepreneurs!

Best of all, we on the staff were energized and downright moved by the thoughtful actions of the community, starting with the Doyles. They made us feel so appreciated.

The entire event reminded me of a Ramblin' Jack Elliott concert I attended long ago. The audience was yelling out requests of their favorite songs. "Don't Think Twice!" hollered a fan. Ramblin' Jack obliged.

"Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out!" somebody called, when that song was done.

Ramblin' Jack fixed him with A Look.

"Oh yes they do," he said.

A Local Delicacy

2009-06-18T12:58:00.006-04:00

I've expressed my enthusiasm for The American Scholar, the magazine of Phi Beta Kappa, in these posts before. If you haven't taken a look at this lively magazine, here's a local pretext for doing so now.

Norwich's own Rob Gurwitt has published a delightful and well written piece on his Sunday pizza gatherings at the town oven. It's fun to read about the history of that oven, to read mentions of Suzanne Lupien and his own desire to use pizza making as a means for gathering community together.

You'll find Rob's article is in the latest issue of American Scholar. Also in the issue are new poems by Gary Snyder, a reassessment of the Reagan presidency, a fable by Thornton Wilder, and a piece on why your waitress might be smarter than you are. Stimulating reading!

I hadn't known about Rob's pizza gatherings before reading his article. I find myself wanting to learn more about his pizza aesthetic, having sampled his wonderful writing.

There Is Life after 500,000

2009-05-01T14:42:00.005-04:00

I don't think that the Hooper-Goetincks walked in expecting to make a little NPL history, but when they approached the circulation desk, they must have realized that something was up.

There was Board President Barry Rotman, watching intently. Lisa Milchman was checking out a stack of materials excitedly. What was the deal? Mom Carolyn's raised eyebrows seemed to ask as staff members gathered round.

Lisa flipped a computer window and stood back. There, in the statistical window of the circulation program stood the number, round and firm: 500,000!

She shared the news with Carolyn (right), Dylan (center), and Blake (left). Then came the prizes: a gift certificate to the Norwich Book Store, a bar of Champlain chocolate, a wooden nickel for dismissing a fine, served up in a bright blue NPL bag with a balloon bouquet attached. We all applauded.

Library confidentiality policies prohibit me from revealing the title of the point-tipping check-out. The Goetincks are prolific patrons, anyway. It almost doesn't matter what the title was, or which of their many actually pushed us over the finish line. They're mad readers, all of them.

After the glow of the moment passed and the Hooper-Goetincks continued on their errands, we savored the spike of energy, then felt it drop a little. Now what? some part of me asked. It wasn't even lunchtime yet. Talk about an anticlimax!

The feeling moved on. My desk was covered with a teetering tower of new books and a few DVDs. They needed entering into the state system and labels applied. I flipped through Don Metz's New Compact House Designs and resolved to check out "Frost/Nixon" when it comes out of cataloging. Ditto with reading The Artist's Way, and this weekend I'll find a new block pattern in Quick Quilts from the Heart. YES!

500,000 is a number, and like other steps in a sequence, it's quickly bested by succeeding ones. Still, it tells us that we're being used, that we have a role to play in this community, and it's a role we rejoice in playing.

What Does Half a Million Look Like?

2009-04-17T11:25:00.014-04:00

Some time in the next week, NPL will have its 500,000th checkout. There's a statistic that fairly begs for visualization. Whee!

We measured the spine of a "typical" book, stacked it and its fellows by a cool 500 thou, and spun it into the mathematical, the theoretical. Where would you be if you were to climb such a stack of books?

We suddenly found ourselves eleven miles up, teetering into the stratosphere. I immediately requested dramamine for the dizziness that enveloped me.

However, I regained my composure before it arrived. In libraries, ultimately the theoretical must yield to the concrete: to children emerging from story time with a stack of books on today's theme; to the commuter who needs a good story to stay alert on the road. There are the live wires who come in after the latest title they've heard about on "Fresh Air," or the reading club member asking to be placed on the list for the book of the moment. Add to these the mom or dad who need a Harry Potter DVD to get the kids through a rainy Saturday, the Consumer Reports reader on the verge of a major purchase, the gardener in need of a landscape plan, the cook in search of a recipe, and from there, the sky's the limit. Such are the instances that have brought us to this point, each of them lovely in their way.

We're wondering who will check out our 500,000th item. This milestone will probably occur in the next week. Attainment of the magic number will be lucky for the patron who hits it: a gift certificate at the Norwich Book Store and delicious candy from Champlain Chocolates. What's not to like?

The suspense is sweet! (Pun intentional.)

Celebrating a Creative Community

2009-04-02T16:41:00.009-04:00

In your Sunday perambulations, be sure to drop by NPL to see a display of books by some very special young authors and their families.

Thanks to a grant written by Children's Librarian Beth Reynolds and provided by the Winnie Belle Learned Fund, 35 area families worked with illustrator Matt Phelan to create books based on memories, journeys, and imaginings, and they'll be on exhibit Sunday afternoon, April 5, from 3 to 5 p.m.

"The point of this activity was to get kids to visualize as they read," says Beth.

Deadlines being what they are, 15 of the books have made it back to the library for the showing. Beth hopes that a few more trickle in before showtime.

Matt Phelan was wonderful to work with, says Beth. "He talked to the children rather than down to them."

Not only did Phelan share his sketchbooks with his students and their families: he also gave a presentation to 40-some middle school students on illustration as a career.

Also on display Sunday are shawls knitted by another library group, Shawl We Knit (you may groan here).

As public buildings work to reduce the consumption of heating oil, NPL staff have decided to offer cozy shawls to be worn by library patrons as they peruse their favorite tomes. They'll be available for check-out in future chilly months. A group of community-spirited NPL patrons and staff have gotten together for knitting and conversation to meet this need.

So drop by for a sip of apple juice from a "champagne fountain" (the irrepressible Lisa Cadow's catering touch) and other goodies and celebrate the efforts of these creative and community minded folk.

Audio Update: Listen Up, Vermont!

2009-02-25T12:42:00.007-05:00

I'm always running behind the times,
Just like this train...
Shaking into town with the brakes complaining...
--Joni Mitchell

There's hardly any technology that's out there and in full bloom that I'm not the last to acquire. When vinyl was replaced by cassettes, and cassettes by CDs, I was literally the last on my block. Now I've latched onto an MP3 player, aware that the rest of the world revels in iPods.

You can bury me with a Blackberry. It'll be the only contact I have with one, and by then they'll be obsolete.

But I digress. However outmoded the MP3 player may be, I'm having a great time using it to download books through Listen Up, Vermont!, the consortium of Vermont libraries that has led the way in providing downloadable audiobooks state-wide.

What fun it is to go to the web site, queue up for books, then download them to my computer and then transfer them to my little 8-gigabyte MP3 player. The entire experience has me feeling almost contemporary. You can also burn the books to CDs or listen from your computer.

I love the selection. I've listened to a ridiculous range of materials: Milton's Paradise Lost, Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch mysteries, the new biography of Andrew Jackson, the autobiography of Helen Keller, and Whitman's Leaves of Grass. They play as smoothly (as Linda Richman would have it) like buttah... no cracks or skips or digital woozies. And the collection continues to grow.

I have DSL at home, so downloading is quick and easy. If you who live in the glorious countryside have a slower dial-up capability, come into the library, as some of our patrons are doing, and download books here. Bring your iPod or MP3 player, and we'll help you get started.

Use this link to check out the growing selection, then dust off your library card and join me in taking advantage of one of NPL's hottest new deals.

If You Don't Have Time to Build a Tower...

2009-02-07T13:32:00.010-05:00

Too many books? Too little time?

If your schedule doesn't permit the construction of an imposing tower or cozy cabin out of all your excess books, you may want to give them to NPL's Friends of the Library instead.

Their next book sale will be held on March 27-28, and they're looking for donations.

If you have books to donate, bring them into NPL during our normal business hours.

If their bulk and number threaten to overtake you, give us a call. There are members of the Friends who will come over to pick them up.

Please don't include textbooks, Reader's Digest condensed books, or books with mold or mildew in your donations. They just don't sell.

The Friends are hard at work, helping to raise funds to keep NPL alive and thriving during some very challenging times.

They're the best of Friends!

Back to Basics, 2009

2009-01-07T12:43:00.019-05:00

Lisa. Lucinda. Librarians. Lovely, lively, literate librarians. Lots of library patrons have them confused. Occasionally it can be a tad embarrassing.

I can relate. When I was in high school a perfectly sweet girl called me Chris, even though my name is Lulu Dewey. At some point it became clear to me that there would never be a good time to correct her assumption. I accepted it as an opportunity to be someone else occasionally. Just what was Chris-like about me, anyway?

However, we are blessed with a Lucinda and Lisa, one apiece, who bear their names beautifully and fill them with possibilities that needn't be swapped or shopped around. After yet another instance of mistaken identity, Lucinda tossed me a challenge. "Write a blog on how to tell us apart."

Sometimes this job is a little too much fun, I thought. My first impulse was to employ mugshots. A distinction-maker with all the charm of a Wanted poster. My mind does seem to run in tacky directions, but as the results above indicate, I am sometimes indulged.

Tina Avery, our cataloger, and I tried to put our impressions into words. "Uh... Lisa lives north of here; Lucinda lives south. Lisa has long hair, Lucinda short. Lisa is a blonde. Lucinda's a brunette."

Blah, blah, blah. Dud City. Language has its limits when you're trying to describe these excellent women.

Both are funny, caring, compassionate, kind. They work together beautifully in an atmosphere of mutual enjoyment and respect. Both are Twenty-First Century techies, comfortable with the fast-paced changes that confront librarians in these times.

Should you be in search of an interlibrary loan, Lisa is the goddess of that opportunity. Lisa buys the fiction.

Should you want to discuss the direction of the library or discuss in depth the need for more hours or a smaller budget, Lucinda is your woman. Lucinda buys the non-fiction and the audiobooks.

But what most distinguishes these two is... um... themselves.

Got that? Now we move on to...Pop quiz! Match the librarian with the name below:

On the left:

On the right:

If you placed Lisa on the left, and Lucinda on the right, you're correct!

A's for everyone!

And a happy new year to YOU.

A Friend Indeed

2008-12-12T14:56:00.004-05:00

As I write this our catalog system is down. We can't check books out, receive fines, renew materials, tell our patrons what books we do and don't have in, catalog new materials, among many other functions that are a part of running our library.

That is, we can't check them out by computer. We're checking out materials by hand, but we'll need to enter the data into the system, once Randy Witlicki is finished with it.

Also as I write this, I see Randy, one of NPL's best friends, hard at work on restoring this vital part of NPL.

Part of my job is coordinating the services of volunteers. Many of the volunteers predate me, Randy included.

Randy's pretty fascinating. Where did he come from? He reminds me of the Lone Ranger without the mask: appearing out of nowhere to do good for others. He has the habit of popping up when you need him the most, as he has done --yet again-- today.

Randy has a business, I know. He bails out lots of people in a refreshingly nongovernmental way. (Don't run up a billion dollar deficit, though...) He does very well, I am sure, because he's the Real Deal. His skill is enormous, his heart warm, and his humor rich. He's as reliable as June 21 daylight is long.You couldn't do better than to hire this guy to keep your systems healthy and happy.

But for some reason, Randy is the ultimate techie volunteer. We could never afford the many ministrations he gives to us.

I am constantly amazed by the loyalties our volunteers offer to our library. It's about the place the library has --and should have-- in the community. You help the library, you help lots of people by association. That's the thinking. It's certainly what we hope to be all about as a library--to be a great resource to the community.

It didn't take a phone call to bring Randy to us; he just knew to come. He's uncanny that way.

What a guy. What a gift.

Knock-Your-Socks-Off Altered Books

2008-11-07T14:00:00.011-05:00

OMG, as the kids would say, but they're beautiful.

I'm talking about the Altered Books contributed by Upper Valley artists that continue to make their way to the library.

It's always interesting to see what an individualistic yet visionary cohort like artists will do when presented with a common challenge, in this case the re-creation of a book that might otherwise end up in a recycling bin.

This creation to the left comes from Mary Danko. A Book Has Heart is a moving tribute, and no small mirror of the warm and expansive heart of the artist. The lucky successful bidder will explore the heart of many of the things we love, and will have an object to treasure and share.

Consider, also, the beautifully crafted Carmina Ma, created by Kathy Cadow Parsonnet. This whimsical figure comes with her genesis, an accordian book wrapped in a little Funk & Wagnall's Encyclopedia, as gently witty as Carmina herself.

Among the many miracles are this, The Perfect Lady, by Jane Trigere. Remember those manners, morals, and basic skills books of perfect ladyhood? I still have a sister volume, Perfect Womanhood, from my grandmother's library. She, however, is pretty beat up and could use a serious makeover. Jane has done the work on her Perfect Lady, and elegantly formed sausage curls cascade from beneath her elegant chapeau. Better yet, the Lady comes upon her own pedestal the better to be admired by the fortunate lady or gentlemen who offers her a home.

How about the book as furniture? Consider this
nicely crafted effort by Tracy Smith, eloquently titled SIT. It's as attractive as it is witty. (It's currently on display at Helium Shoes, one of our sponsors, in Hanover).

These are just a few of the more than 30 offerings for auction on November 20. Do stop by the display cases at NPL's entrance for a preview, as well as at participating sponsors Canoe Club, Helium, and the Norwich Book Store. Then if finances and circumstances permit, join us at what should be a delightful gala for a one-of-a-kind purchase, either just in time for the holidays, or for your personal collection of creative celebrations.

Celebrating Beth Reynolds

2008-10-01T15:29:00.009-04:00

That Beth.

I arrived one recent Saturday morning to find the remnants of her Friday night Read-a-thon-Sleepover... children in their jammies who'd stayed up all night to read a designated number of pages in exchange for some pledges, the better to help purchase more books for the Children's Room.

Beth Reynolds, NPL's amazing children's librarian, had been up all night with them, literate little maniacs that they are, steaming through a hot release, Brinsingr, by Christopher Paolini (no, that title isn't misspelled, but it sure looks funny). It's one of those huge hardcovers that looks as if it's for the big kids, but there they were, some of them close to polishing it off in a night. Her sidekick and assistant Peggy Ramel was right there with her, cheering the children on, helping to serve the treats, vacuuming the room once everybody had gone home.

This morning as I tapped away at my paperwork, I could hear Beth with much younger children (infants to 3 years) singing away at Wordplay, her weekly story time for them. I couldn't stop thinking about how very fortunate they were, and how lucky the rest of us are, for her ability to bring children together of all ages to create communities of young readers who can share the excitement of good books with one another.

A nanny who was new to the area came in to inquire about our story times today. "Are they structured?" she asked. Apparently she'd been to another library where all the kids did was to color.

I thought of Beth's storytimes, which are rich in oral language--songs, poems, finger plays. Good picture books read aloud with interpretation and enthusiasm. Friday's Lunch at the Library, for slightly older children (ages 3-6), a time of stories and crafts, each activity as lovingly prepared as a lesson plan, only without the pop quiz.

I nearly forgot the Friday afternoon group, Knit Happens (used to be Chicks with Sticks), a merry band of girls and women from the community turning out comfort dolls for children in Darfur, warm hats for kids in Afghanistan, and now tiny clothes for premature babies for the March of Dimes. Beth doesn't miss a trick.

NPL is blessed indeed to have this talented young woman, all hard work and inspiration, showing our community's children just how exciting a good book and good effort can be.

The Hang-Glide of Inter-library Loan

2008-09-20T09:47:00.012-04:00

It's a system patrons used more than 500 times at NPL in the last year, and demand is on the rise.

That is, NPL patrons borrowed books from other libraries through Interlibrary Loan. Correspondingly, more than 500 patrons from other libraries borrowed books from NPL. The system, librarians from here and elsewhere, makes the relevance of the small, local library possible.

At NPL the process starts with a patron request. We scour our own catalog first, just to make sure that the book is indeed not a part of our collection, and then ask whether the patron would like for us to find it through ILL.

"Us" is actually Lisa Milchman, our ILL goddess (my term, not hers), and she performs this job masterfully. Lisa double-checks our collection, gathers more request information from a couple of data bases, which include entries from all registered public, school, and college libraries, and begins the process of tracking the book down. She then takes to the telephone or email to make her request and gets information on the book's availability.

"About 90 per cent of our requests can be filled from somewhere in the state of Vermont," says Lisa. The other 10 per cent will either come from out of state (recently from as far as Kansas and California) or ultimately be unavailable. It's the rare book that's unavailable.

Timing does play a key role, however. Books that have been in a library's collection for only three to six months can be in such demand at the home library as to be unavailable for interlibrary loan. In that case, some waiting is advised.

Once books are located and permission for the loan is granted by the sending library, the U.S. Postal Service steps into the picture. A book of average size costs about $2.25 to mail at the library/media rate. Books circulate for two weeks, with renewal possible, though not always. Renewal depends on the demand, or lack of it, at the home library. If a patron has requested it there, home it must go. It's best to call or email Lisa a couple of days in advance of the due date to request renewal so that she has time to contact the sending library. Fines for overdue ILL books are comparatively high, 50 cent a day, to underscore the importance that NPL places on holding up its end of the borrowing bargain.

There have been some recent bumps on the road to interlibrary loan efficiency. One is an increasing number of overdue books. "Interlibrary loans operate on a basis of good faith," Lisa explains. "We're trying to get back a book right now that was lent to us months ago, an older, somewhat rare book. We can't even contact the patron anymore. It's probably going to cost us about $50 to replace, and there's the feeling that we've let the sending library down."

Another of Lisa's druthers is that patrons who have found alternate means of getting a book they've requested would let her know by phone or email that they no longer need the interlibrary loan. "We don't mind the actual cost of a book that someone's going to use, but we'd rather not lay out the cost for something that nobody will pick up."

Altered Books: What to Make of a Diminished Thing

2008-08-06T13:16:00.015-04:00

As we pursue sustainability in its many forms, there's something comforting about the development of the altered book art form.

Books, after all, deserve long lives. A friend of mine who has authored several major non fiction titles, told me about the fate of many remaindered books whose publishers haven't the space to store them: the dreaded shredder.

I am reassured, therefore, by the emergence of the altered book.

Taking books that might otherwise be consigned to the landfill, artists are creating new art objects from old titles, sometimes commenting artistically upon their subjects or themes. Take this artist's re-make of Whitman's Leaves of Grass; its blades are the lush lines of the poem, sprouting anew from the volume.

This emerging art form is the stuff of NPL's fall fund raiser, Uncovered. An impressive array of Vermont artists and writers have undertaken book alterations of their own. In November, amid glittery celebrations, they will be auctioned off.

Approaches to the alterations of books are as varied as the artists and the books themselves.

This is a form that is in the process of taking off. Go here to see the work of artists who work in this medium.

It's going to be fun to see what our local artists come up with.

The Beauty of a Waterfall

2008-06-13T11:23:00.009-04:00

What nicer surname could there be than Waterfall? What nicer Waterfall than Cornelia?

It's fitting that Cornelia's area of dedication at NPL is watering our many plants, and thank the heavens that she is here. Before she came, we did our best to remember the green friends that lend beauty and oxygen to our dailiness, but we weren't always as attentive as we could have been. The arrival of Cornelia meant a level of attention that we just hadn't mustered before.

It's also fitting that this angel of aquarian attention should be the creator of a garden that's just a pebble's toss away from NPL. Cornelia lives right behind us in Norwich Senior Housing, and she's created an island of beauty in front of her apartment there. I stopped by recently to drop off some plants and to view her progress thus far.

There I saw a stone bench nestled at the foot of a tree, surrounded by primrose, hostas, and Solomon's seal. There were sculptures among the forget-me-nots that reminded me of three members of a singing group, their voices raised in a doo-wop classic--or was it the Hallelujah Chorus? A soaring spiral rose in spotlighted shade.

Cornelia, who hails from upper New York state, fashioned gardens on her ten acres, linking the "rooms" of her garden with winding paths. After she arrived in Norwich, it was only a matter of time till she would create her special brand of beauty here.

Cornelia has the artist's eye. She can combine the beauty of flowers with the whimsy of discovered objects. She reminds me of people who collect "found" poems.

I freely confess that these pictures of Cornelia's garden are already dated. Hers is a work in progress, and after all, it's spring. She's added lots of plants since I pedaled by on my bike a couple of weeks ago.

Having Cornelia walk into NPL is like getting a shot of vitamin B. Her ongoing enthusiasm and the wit of her observations enrich our days.

Volunteer Spotlight: God's (Latest) Gift to NPL

2008-05-23T10:34:00.007-04:00

There's a spark of the divine in NPL volunteers--they're giving the most precious gift anyone can give: their time.

For Kenneth Cracknell and Susan White, pursuit of the divine has been a full-time job: they're theologians.

They have authored boxfuls of books individually and together: he on interfaith dialogue, she on women and worship, they on the history of Methodism, among their many topics and titles. Kenneth was the head of interfaith dialogue for the British Council of Churches. Their theological pursuits seem to be more about the search for unifying truths than rationales for narrow doctrine.

Nearly two years ago the two decamped from their last full-time gig at a Texas divinity school to head to Norwich, where they immediately rolled up their sleeves to give their time to a variety of community causes. Both came right in and volunteered at the library. In addition, Susan sings in the choir and is a deacon at the Norwich Congregational Church. She role-plays patients with a variety of disorders and dysfunctions to students at Dartmouth Medical School. Kenneth runs a fascinating and well-attended theology study group from their home, for which Susan bakes a variety of decadent desserts and chimes in as the spirit moves her. He's taught classes on religion for the ILEAD program at Dartmouth. He's treasurer of the Friends of the Library.

And those are just the commitments that I know about. God only knows (pun intended) what else these two are up to.

For two people relatively new to the community, their familiarity with NPL patrons is extraordinary. They make me think of my own mama's conviction: there's hardly any such thing as a stranger. They are as warm as they are wise.

If I didn't know Whom to thank for such bright lights before, I have a pretty good idea now.

It's the Lost and Found Fashion Show!

2008-05-13T12:59:00.010-04:00

Ours is a community of plenty in a land of the same name. So it's inevitable that some of the largesse of our town will wash up on the banks of NPL.

Our lost and found basket overfloweth.

I am old enough to have had a mother who grew up in the Great Depression. Whenever I misplaced a jacket she hounded me until I tracked it down. To her consternation, there was one car coat that eluded recapture. (I am old enough to have had a car coat, too.)

Recently we decided to hold a Lost and Found Fashion Show of Wayward Apparel for this blog in order to post images of the treasures that overpopulate the basket behind the circulation desk. We recruited Micheline Lyons, because every fashion show, however humble, should feature a glamorous French woman. At the top she, Sue Bridge, and Lisa Milchman are modeling some of the exquisite chapeaux we offer for reunion with their owners.

Hats are especially abundant in this year's L&F collection. Here Lisa Milchman, fearless leader Lucinda Walker, Micheline and Sue model additional options. I tried to stack bicycle helmets on top of one another To Make a Point (subtlety has never been a virtue of mine), but they tumbled off, so here are Lucinda and Lisa, with Sue Bridge lurking in the background, playing the parts of Lands End-type tourists to highlight the bicycle helmets, hats and gloves available to today's trendy outdoor enthusiasts. (The pink camera is part of the collection, too. Is it yours?)

Not only are hats, gloves, jackets, and a single pair of children's snow pants awaiting you, but books and toys grace the basket as well. It's no accident that several images from our photo shoot feature Lisa thoroughly absorbed in a book left behind by what must have been a particularly philosophical child.

Lisa has never been one to shrink from life's Big Questions, so it was no surprise that she should immerse herself in Who Lives in the Pond? a book as padded in presentation as profound in inquiry. Who, indeed, lives in the pond? And under what auspices, hmmm?

I don't suppose that this is the season for noticing that winter hats are missing, but we do reach out and hope that some parents who are reincarnations of my own waste-not, want-not mama will drop by and relieve us of a few of our treasures.

The Sweetness of Spring

2008-05-02T14:24:00.007-04:00

That we are all ready for warm weather, sunny skies, and brilliant blooms goes (almost) without saying.

But there are other pleasures of spring, some of which come through the chores of the season.

Last week the kindergarteners from Marion Cross School descended upon us, rakes in hand, to assist with spring clean-up. Out went all the leftover leaves, fallen branches, and other detritus of winter. In came the sweet spirits that seem to run on limitless energy and delight in small things.

The children work mostly in the back yard of the library, a place that we adults don't see often enough. Just peeking in on them reminds us of why school kids enjoy the area so much on sunnier days.

Spring clean-up is an annual tradition that bridges the library with the school community. We appreciate and enjoy it immensely!

Illimitable Isabella

2008-04-11T13:20:00.008-04:00

I've been bracing myself for it all year--Isabella Lubin's high school graduation.

Isabella's been volunteering here since the summer before her freshman year. She was helping her mother, who was involved with the activities of the Friends of the Library, and ended up volunteering a Saturday a month as well. She's been a regular since then, seldom missing her shift, with the exception of a Saturday spent taking her SATs, and we've been impressed by her maturity and reliability and delighted by her wit, intelligence, and charm.

Isabella's our youngest volunteer at the circulation desk. She's made our software do things that it didn't even know it could do in order to serve patrons with special needs or questions. One ghastly Saturday we had a burst pipe and a flood downstairs, and Isabella calmly ran the desk while the rest of us dashed around moving books and vacuuming up water. It was so comforting to have a real pro on the desk while we dealt with all the emergencies that go with water in the wrong place.

Now Isabella is just a couple of months from graduation, and she will follow older sister Emma to MIT. She loves biology and thinks that her major will probably be in that subject, but she knows that there will be programs there that she may well have never heard of to compete for her attention. She's had after school and summer jobs in biology labs here in the Upper Valley and will doubtless bring a great deal of knowledge and experience to her next level of education. She's low key and unassuming, yet she's a candidate in the Presidential Scholars program, one of the highest honors available to high school students.

I'm going to miss Isabella. She's more fun than I can put into words. She sure deserves the honor of the MIT acceptance, and we all wish her well and will send her off with our thanks. Her time has been a true gift, and we're grateful. MIT's a fabulous but also fortunate school.

Now if she'll just offer herself up to the cloning program... everyone should have an Isabella in her life!

Too Much Fun

2008-04-07T17:02:00.010-04:00

Here is NPL's entry into this year's Marion Cross PTA Spelling Bee, Buns of Steel.

We didn't win, as usual, but participation is our real agenda. Just going to the Bee is a ball.

This year's squad consisted of NPL Volunteer Susan White, Cataloger Tina Avery, and our stalwart Captain Lisa Milchman. Here they are, pepping up the crowd with the trademark NPL cheer, Shhhhh!

I know that George Allen said Winning is the only thing, which was probably the best way to run the Green Bay Packers, but it's not the philosophy of our noble Captain Milchman, who views rabid competition with bemusement. To Lisa --and the rest of us-- it's all about community.

When our team was eliminated, Lucinda said, Now we can have the real fun. We rejoiced at the successes of the Senioras from the senior housing just behind the library. The K-Mamas were impressive with their skill and staying power, and team member Lis Flannery is a regular here.

The Historical (Society) Hussies are like family to us at NPL. We'd be up a creek if Nancy Osgood didn't blast in on a regular basis to wrap our new books in protective coating. Susan Mc Grew is in and out all the time. Mike Wood, our former NPL Board treasurer spelled for the Lions, and volunteer Connie Cadow's family spelled for Vermont Crèpe and No Wafflers. Our Library Board of Trustees fielded a team. It was impossible to do anything but root for everybody.

So we didn't care so much about winning as about seeing all the great costumes and hearing all the hilarious team introductions and scribbling furtively in the audience, seeing whether or not we could spell froufrou correctly (I couldn't) and having our curiosity satisfied. Since NPL often feels like extended family, there's no real way to go home feeling like a loser. When the people we love win,(and they are many--our patrons and volunteers are amazing) everybody does.

When the Sesquipedalian Episcopalians emerged as victors, we were grateful for the opportunity to learn how to pronounce, never mind spell, their classy moniker.

The Spelling Bee is a delight... a real venue for community.

What To Do About Pluto?

2008-03-24T15:13:00.004-04:00

Jewelry designer Julie Choi will lead children in making necklaces based on the Solar System Wednesday, March 26, from 2:30-4 p.m.

The popular artist has conducted several workshops at the Marion Cross School and has her own area and online business, Jule's Collections.

Now--what will she do about Pluto? Does it stay or go?

Call 649-1184 to reserve a space for your child, and find out first-hand.

Vermont Listens Up

2008-02-29T15:57:00.013-05:00

Click on the headline above, and you can take a trip to the web site of Listen Up!Vermont, your new opportunity to download audio books online.

At last! More than a few patrons have asked us about this possibility, and now, thanks to the development of a consortium of libraries using the power of collective buying, audio books will be available for download for a borrowing period of one week.

What you're actually checking out is a license to listen to the audio book. You can renew the license at the end of the checkout period if the book hasn't been reserved by someone else. Some of the books have little red flames (left) on their descriptors, meaning that you can burn them to a CD for long term use. You can also keep them on an MP3 player for extended use, although, alas, not on IPODs, with which they are not compatible. Download it to your hard drive, and it expires after a week. NPL is going to make three listening devices available for checkout as well.

Listen Up!Vermont has a starting collection of 250 audio books, most of which have a license to be checked out by one borrower at a time. There are 50 books available to multiple borrowers (this link will take you to that list) and therefore available at any time. By the end of the year, the site will offer a collection of 500 audio books.

To use the site, follow one of the links above. You'll need to select Norwich among the libraries, then key in the bar code number on your library card. Note: I just attempted to do this and found that as of this writing that someone is fine tuning the site. Target date for it to go live is March 1. If you go to the site and the login URL lands you at Middlebury College, you can conclude that someone is still at work. Try again periodically.

I'm impressed with the list of books currently on line. The 50 always-available books have lots of classics--Jane Austen, Tolstoy, Dickens, Conrad, Carroll, and Alcott among them. Children can experience the adventures of the Three Musketeers and Alice in Wonderland, the joys and sorrows of Little Women.

We're really excited about this opportunity. Lucinda, who has been one of the driving forces on the consortium board, has been hopping around like a merry maniac this week, eager to see her project through.

I'm already making a list of books I want to check out. Number one for me is an offbeat travel book. How's this for a title?! Geography of Bliss: One Grump's Search for the Happiest Places in the World.

This I gotta hear!

Getting Graphic

2008-02-25T17:58:00.011-05:00

I've always loved cartoons and comic strips. When I was a preschooler I discovered the comics page in the Los Angeles Times and rose early each morning to pull the paper off the lawn and turn to page 6, part B, where Nancy and Sluggo awaited me. (They were cartoon characters of very few words, and therefore available to me.) Later I went on to develop daily relationships with Mary Worth, Terry and the Pirates, Dick Tracy, Lil Abner, and eventually Peanuts, still later Doonesbury, and on I still go, this more than half-century later, when I scan all the cartoons in the New Yorker before settling down to the articles. Comics have always been a key point in my long journey to and through literacy.

When a friend brought home Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis after reading it in a Dartmouth diversity study group, I was delighted. By both writing and drawing her story, Satrapi gives us a behind-the-scenes look at the Iranian revolution and its impact on a progressive family caught in the middle of tumultuous events. She made use of Persian miniatures in her backgrounds, and I realized that for her to restrict her story to words only would have been to deprive the reader of her vision. Persepolis is now out in movie form, nominated for an Oscar in the animated division. She's since written and drawn several other books, each one giving me an inside look into the workings of Iranian culture, a look beyond the veil, as it were.

Joe Sacco is another writer who uses graphics to complete his story. He is a reporter who draws, and I found his Palestine to be filled with the anecdotal images of his travels there, his visits with the Palestinian people. I came away with new insights into the struggles in that war-torn land.

I have been really impressed with Lucinda's additions to the Graphica collection, as it is now called. James Sturm, one of the founders of the Center for Cartoon Studies in White River Junction, lends his talents to a wide range of topics. His James Sturm's America: God, Gold, and Golems projects a range of historical experiences, from 19th Century backwoods evangelism, to betrayal in coal country, to early 20th Century Jewish baseball. His work has a definite edge; his characters seem haunted by the history in which they find themselves.

I just read a book by Adrian Tomine which explored coming of age issues for Asian youth and which left me feeling, well... old. That's fine, because today's graphic artists/cartoonists seem to consider any topic potential fair game for their talents. The 9/11 Report: a Graphic Adaptation isn't merely a cartoonist's "impression" of the events of that fateful day; it's a graphic distillation of the report itself, which was read carefully by co-authors Sid Jacobson and Ernie Colón. It's a thinking person's version made visible.

We're lucky to have librarians so open to all current forms of expression. Check out our graphica collection and see if there aren't works that appeal to the kid and adult that co-exist in you.

In Praise of Margaret Truman

2008-02-08T11:48:00.001-05:00

Everyone seems to remember Margaret Truman as the daughter of Harry Truman, often more specifically the soloist whose negative review caused her papa to threaten the reviewer with a broken nose and a black eye.

I remember her as a wonderful storyteller and my source for a hundred specific images of the Washington, DC she knew so well.

NPL's collection contains many of the DC based mysteries Margaret Truman wrote. I have read them all, first because I wanted to immerse myself in the atmosphere of that city, and then simply because they were good, good fun.

Her passing last week came as a surprise to me, since her latest novel, Murder on K Street, has just moved out of cataloging and onto the shelf. I was so pleased to see it; "eighty-three and still writing!" I remember glowing inwardly as I entered its ISBN into the system. I resolved to write her a note of admiration and praise.

As is too often the case, I am too late. I won't be able to pass on my compliments to the lady, but I can pass on my high regard to you. Should you like an insider tour of our nation's Capitol and some pretty good mysteries, do pick up a Margaret Truman mystery.

Her papa would have been proud.

Blessing Our Mess

2008-01-05T13:24:00.000-05:00

From the beginning it wasn't a typical Saturday at the library. When I arrived to open up, the entry hall was filled with steam. The library sauna--our latest fundraiser?

If you've ever had a burst pipe there's an odor that you'd recognize anywhere. There was dampness on the stairs. I dashed down to the children's room and opened up. Sure enough, water was pouring out of the ceiling in the bathroom off the Children's Room. The ceiling tiles were soaked and breaking up. I walked across the room. Squish, squish. I felt the familiar puddles in the making and headed upstairs to find help.

There's a list of people to call over Lucinda's desk. I called the plumber and got an answering machine. To be safe, I called the one I'd had when my own pipes burst a couple of years ago. Then I called another one when I learned that there were several others ahead of me. I called Lucinda, who came right in. In the meantime I tried (in vain) to figure out how to turn off the water, which gushed indifferently away, giving us our own in-house waterfall.

I was wondering who else I should call when the officers of the Friends of the Library came through the door for their meeting. Suzanne Laaspere found the location of the leak. Anne Goodrich thought of other people to call and took to the phone. She must know everyone! Harley Cudney came in for books and ended up turning off the water. (Whew!) Michael Goodrich came by and gave us valuable advice. Brion McMullen came by to offer his counsel, as did NPL Board member Dave Emerson. All this on a Saturday! Isabella Lubin professionally ran the circulation desk upstairs so that we could continue to serve the public while we sorted out what needed to be done.

Then the Friends showed what true friends they are. Anne, Soong Elliott, Cindy Faughnan, and Ben Childs and his girlfriend Sarah began to help us move books from the shelves that needed to come down. People were cheery and upbeat and so kindly available. It's said that many hands make for light work, and it was certainly true.

I had come to work dressed for Casual Saturday; I was wearing my blue jeans and Google tee shirt. On the back of the shirt is "I feel lucky." Isabella teased me. "You feel lucky?"

In fact, I did and I do. My luck began when she, Anne and the other Friends arrived. It stayed with us all day.

Thanks to all of Saturday's angels. You made us feel fortunate, right in the middle of a mess!

Matilda in Limbo

2007-12-28T11:19:00.001-05:00

It's been at the Circulation Desk since last summer: a copy of Roald Dahl's Matilda-- one that isn't ours.

It isn't unusual for patrons to return a book to us that belongs at the Howe; many patrons have cards at both libraries. We also share patrons with the Marion Cross School library, and we have a place on the shelf for their strays as well. If we have someone headed in those directions, we drop them off ourselves. We otherwise call over and have the librarians check in with the appropriate patrons. Pretty simple.

But this one isn't simple, though I find myself moved to act. This copy of Matilda comes from a very special library, Grandma's Library. In an elegant hand, a message on the flyleaf says, "This book belongs in Grandma's Library. Please bring it back! Thank you!"

It's easy to see how one of Grandma's copies could end up at NPL. Clearly, Grandma is a pro: the dust cover is protected by a the clear protective stuff that other libraries use. There's even a card in the back with due dates carefully stamped, and a little pocket with author and title. Best of all, she's chosen a child-friendly book filled with humor and delight.

Grandma forgot just one crucial thing: her name!

Her address and phone would be dandy, too. If there's one thing a librarian appreciates, it's another librarian, particularly one who shares her private collection as Grandma has been willing to do. We want this crucial volume returned to our respected colleague.

So I appeal to you, my readers (all 3 of you!): should you encounter this post and know the Grandma-Librarian of whom I write, please contact her or me. We are eager for Matilda and Grandma to experience the joyous reunion that we hope awaits them.

Rediscovering Dickens

2007-12-21T11:50:00.001-05:00

With the holidays upon us, there's something inevitable about Charles Dickens, particularly if you have television. A Christmas Carol will grace the channels at least a dozen times, I suspect, and the trials of the Cratchetts and the second chance tossed to Ebeneezer Scrooge will remind us not to postpone joy, that our capacity to love and give are our true legacies. The blessed Dickens Dictum, in other words, is a part of our culture's holiday experience.

Dickens is such a giant presence in our entertainment industry that it's easy to forget what a master writer he was. Every child actor from Freddie Bartholomew on has taken a crack at cuting up Dickens' title characters. Musicals abound, all "based on Dickens' timeless tale" as the display ads always put it. It's easy to lose the core creations in all the spin-offs.

Happily, the books on tape and CD in NPL's collection can serve as a reminder of his fundamental genius, along with the print versions of his many masterpieces. I have been working my way through our Dickens audiobooks, starting with A Tale of Two Cities and proceeding on to David Copperfield. At the moment I am listening to Great Expectations, which I hadn't experienced since the ninth grade. My God! I find myself thinking, These works were wasted on my callow, youthful self! It's wonderful to sit before a roaring fire and listen to the words--the characters, the dialogues, the descriptions-- that so many have enjoyed before me. I find that I can't quite get enough.

I tend to become a little fanatical in my enthusiasms. Since I have fallen in love with red kuri squash, I find myself buying it wherever I can find it, knowing that its availability will be gone too soon. Similarly, I've been scanning NPL's catalog just to see how long I can stay on this Dickens-go-round. Happily, I see that we also have recorded versions of Bleak House, the Pickwick Papers, and Oliver Twist, as well as A Christmas Carol.On the print side of things we have two volumes of Dickens' Christmas Stories, as well as all the titles mentioned above, as well as Nicolas Nickleby.

It's that vision of justice thwarted, the boundless sympathy for innocents, the push for reconciliation, the mastery of language, those unforgettable characters and their well-tailored names that have me as filled with wonder. With our positively Dickensian weather forecasts, perhaps you'll find stories for drawing near the fire as well.

A Surprising Delight

2007-12-03T17:39:00.000-05:00

I'm not anti-intellectual, but I never was much interested in a magazine in NPL's collection called The American Scholar.

It turns out that it's only because I never took a good look. When Nancy Osgood was in recently and mentioned the magazine, I felt my mind opening. Anything Nancy values is worth at least a try. The American Scholar, a publication of Phi Beta Kappa, turns out to be something akin to the New Yorker, only without as many cartoons.

In its pages lie superb fiction and non-fiction, by the likes of Alice Munro, John Barth, Anne Beatty, Louis Begley, and Ethan Fishman. I read wonderful poems by Louise, Gluck, Robert Pinsky, David Sofield, and John Hollander. There are lively and fascinating articles on cell biology and religion, whether or not Alger Hiss was the spy the government said he was, the life and legacy of Ralph Ellison, and one I particularly enjoyed, "Church and State: How to Tell the Difference," which examines our forefathers' take on the First Amendment and includes a wonderful section on Roger Williams.

I suppose the title put me off initially. As it turns out, American Scholar simply appeals to the part of me that believes in lifelong learning. I'll be reading this magazine regularly from now on. The

If the authors above click with you, pick up a copy next time you're at NPL.

It's a gem.

Sometimes Opportunity Is Delicious

2007-11-21T16:23:00.001-05:00

Tuttifoodie wants YOU!

This lively and informative organic food blog is looking for new subscribers, so intensely, it seems, that it's going to pay Norwich Public Library $2 for every subscriber it refers.

This blog is not only generous with public libraries; it's creative, witty, and filled with news of the off-the-beaten path food producers who are transforming the way we eat.

My most recent visit took me to profiles on organic farms, links on groups who keep track of seafood safety, a good article on cage free eggs, a recipe for basil-cucumber infused tequila, an article on Vermont's Woodstock Water Buffalo Company, and a hot source for Taiwanese tea lollipops! The writing is as witty as it is informative, and the topics are truly a cut above what we usually read about the food scene.

Visit their site. Then if you'd like to subscribe (it's free), you can specify a $2 donation to NPL. To specify the donation, enter NPL in the space for Promo Code.

Easy! What's not to like about that?

The Multiple Gifts of Story Time

2007-10-17T14:18:00.001-04:00

One of the many good things about working at NPL is the pleasure of seeing parents and children heading in to story time each Wednesday and Friday. It's Tot City, and it's beautiful!

Story time is no mere frill. As I read an surge (you should pardon the expression) of articles on the struggles of schools trying to meet the requirements of No Child Left Behind, I find myself thinking about the many institutions within the community that contribute to the education of children. As the African elders said, and Hillary Clinton echoed, it takes a village.

Story times provide toddlers with socialization, the development of an attention span, and exposure to a wide range of books, not to mention familiarity with the friendly face of the children's librarian. In addition, they give mothers and dads a chance to gather together, a break from the isolation of the home. With more parents working, the demand for story time doesn't go down; it goes up, since work schedules tend to vary, necessitating the involvement of both parents. We have some dedicated dads who bring their children to story time.

I live in a town south of Norwich which, a few years ago, allowed its citizens to be bamboozled by a misinformation campaign that ultimately meant passing on the establishment of a strong central library in favor of the preservation of the small village libraries. When the dust settled, the library for the largest of these villages had been shut down. So much for the preservation of small village libraries.

In my town are many children who find themselves hard pressed to keep up with their peers in wealthier towns. It's short-sighted to think that the job of developing literacy is that of the schools alone. Parents have a vital stake, as do community institutions, the chief of which is the public library.

The parents who make the most of our library are rich indeed, not necessarily in personal finances, but in opportunities for their children. Some of them come in and check out bags full of books at a time, knowing that their children will love some of them, reject others. They are developing interest in and enthusiasm for reading that will last their kids a lifetime.

It's ironic that struggling schools can seldom afford the services of a good public library. They're the ones who need them most.

The Sweet Music of the Spheres

2007-10-12T11:04:00.000-04:00

It's that time again--pull out a poem that you've been wanting to share with other people and reserve the evening of Friday, October 26, to join us in the Community Room of NPL for the Poetry and Dessert Potluck. The fun starts at 7:30 p.m.

Poet Peter Money will emcee the event, and area poets are likely to show.

Don't let potential luminaries limit your participation, though. Lots of attendees are people who simply love poetry and are willing to share a longtime favorite. If you simply want to listen rather than read, feel free to come.

The event is open to everyone from grandparents to grandchildren. Bring a dessert to share, and let's see you there!

Kill-a-Watt?!? You bet!

2007-09-27T14:12:00.000-04:00

A patron asked for it before it was even catalogued--NPL's new Library Energy Kit.

Assembled, it looks like one of the Discovery Packs from the Children's Room, but its intended audience is us big kids, so look for it upstairs.

Provided by the Norwich Energy Committee and the Sustainable Energy Resource Group (that's SERG to you), the materials provide information about the effects of global warming and ways to reduce energy use. Between reduced energy use and the switch to renewable resources, SERG estimates that many homeowners can cut energy bills by up to 50 per cent.

In the kit are a mix of tools and information: a watt meter (or Kill-a-Watt Monitor, according to SERG) with instructions on how to test appliance efficiency, two DVDs--An Inconvenient Truth and Kilowatt Ours. There are books: The Citizen-Powered Energy Handbook: Community Solutions to a Global Crisis by Greg Pahl, and Your Green Home by Alex Wilson. Consumer's Energy Guide helps with product selection and use for maximum energy savings. Additionally, there are a collection of "energy briefs" from the Rocky Mountain Institute, and a home energy calculator produced by SERG.

The kit will circulate for a week (it'll be 50 cents a day for overdues, so be sure to return it on time).

Lucinda is anxious to use it for an energy analysis here at NPL.

Here's to better conservation, one household --and one library!-- at a time.

Art and Libraries--Out on a Limb?

2007-09-21T17:09:00.000-04:00

I didn't make the connection at first, but fortunately, Dale Copps certainly did.

Copps, a Friend of the Windsor Public Library in word and deed, was looking for a way to involve Vermont artists in the cause of public libraries across the state. His inspiration: art on a limb.

Libraries too frequently hang precariously from the bough of public good will. Their places in the community aren't always affirmed, come budget time. I live in a nearby town which underwent a lengthy public debate on whether or not we should centralize library services in a nice, big library, only to have the proposal go down in favor of "local control," after which time my village's local library was closed!

Go figure! But I digress.

Art on a Limb involves a series of wooden maple leaves, each decorated by a Vermont artist, with the proceeds from its online auction going to the library of the bidder's choice.

As is the case with most events involving Vermont artists, the responses to the basic problem of design vary wildly. There's something for everyone.

Bidders purchase a "paddle" for the auction for $25, and that's applied to the bid on the chosen art. At this time bidders designate the library to receive their donations.

Online bidding goes until October 14. The winning bids will be announced October 15.

Go to Windsor Library's site and take a look at the wonderful array of available artwork. Treat yourself or someone special to you to a one-of-a-kind gift that supports an important part of your community.

Don't Ask To See a Printed Menu

2007-09-07T10:03:00.000-04:00

Scrambled dregs. Fresh mudburgers. Hot frogs.

Ewwww!

There's shivery glee in the gross, a vein of gold that writer Roald Dahl mined richly. His Revolting Rhymes recast fairy tales into hilarity. His Vile Verses collects his frisky couplets from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach, Rhyme Stew, Fantastic Mr Fox, and many others.

Although she is every inch a lady, Children's Librarian Beth Reynolds is hosting a celebration of the works of the frolicsome author Thursday, September 13, at 3:30 p.m., featuring fare from the Revolting Recipes book. The party is best experienced by kids in grades 3-6, who have had the opportunity to read the books and learn to stomach Mr. Dahl's truly unique literary voice and... um... subject matter.

It's best if you call ahead to reserve a place at the table. Lady Beth wants to be sure that she's made a sufficient batch of Bogtrotter's Cake for anyone who might want to attend. She's rather punish herself with a month's worth of Stink Bug Eggs than run out of food for her guests.

Azor 'Peach' Goodwin Writes 'If I Lived at Hogwarts'

2007-08-31T15:56:00.001-04:00

Here's the winning entry from the recent NPL contest, "If I Lived at Hogwarts."

My name is Azor Peach. I’m a wizard who lives at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I’m a fourth year student and I love to study Quiddich and flying. I live in the Gryffindor House and my roomates are Harry Potter, Charlie Weasley, Fred and George Weasley (the twins) and Percy “the Prefect” Weasley. My favorite class is Defense Against the Dark Arts. I love to study about counter-hexes and ways to make dark wizards stop being mean. My magical pet is a Saltwater Crocodile named Ironjaw. He’s not like other crocodiles because he can fly. Ironjaw can tell which wizards are bad and he helps me save people who are being cursed. This year I became a seeker on the Gryffindor Quiddich team. I’m a very good flyer and someday I hope to become a professional quiddich player.

There are 27 players on my team. Our captain is a seventh year student named Oliver Wood. I just got a new broom called the Jetbroom 9000. This is the fastest broom in the world! Our team color is green and Ironjaw is our mascot. He comes to all of our games. Last year Gryffindor won the house cup when Harry Potter was seeker. This year, I’m the seeker and I hope to win the cup again.

Our first match of the year is against Slytherin. Draco Malfoy is a Bludger on the Slytherin team. Draco Malfoy is a dark wizard. He cheats and uses the leglocker curse in the middle of games. Draco Malfoy is scared of Ironjaw because Ironjaw knows he’s bad news. Usually Ironjaw can’t catch Draco Malfoy in a match because we keep him on a leash. Today Fred and George, my roomates, took Ironjaw’s leash off to play a joke on Draco Malfoy. Just when I was about to catch the Golden Snitch, Draco Malfoy yelled “locomotor mortis” and sparks flew my way. Before the curse hit me, Ironjaw flew out of the stands and bit Draco Malfoy on the ankle. He crashed to the ground and the sparks went away. Draco Malfoy spent the next couple of days in the Hospital Ward and Gryffindor won the match.

Gryffindor won every game that season. I was the best seeker in Hogwarts history. Scouts from professional teams came to watch me. I was drafted to play on the Saint Louis Stifflebricks as soon as I finished my seventh year of school.

Amazing Grace

2007-08-23T14:34:00.000-04:00

My heart is heavy today. It's bad enough to have lost Molly Ivins earlier this year. Now Grace Paley has departed the planet, or rejoined it, depending on your point of view. I can only hope a child is being born today to carry on.

If you have never read a short story (or twenty) by Grace Paley, one of life's great pleasures still awaits you. If you have read them, you'll doubtless want to read them again. Her output was dwarfed by her political activism; she nonetheless is undisputedly one of our greatest short story writers.

I first stumbled upon her writing when she was to be the featured speaker at a writing workshop I attended each summer on the Left Coast. She would be unable to make her original date, since she had to spend it in jail for pouring blood on the White House lawn.

When she did arrive, she charmed us all with a reading of her stories, which were equal parts witty, earthy, funny, and sad. Her voice was and is singular. I gobbled up her short story collections, The Little Disturbances of Man, Later that Same Day, and Enormous Changes at the Last Minute. She had always said that poetry and short stories were kindred forms, and so it was that her next books would be collections of her poems, Begin Again and Leaning Forward. Her most recent publication was with her husband Robert Nichols, Two by Two.

Here's one of her poems:

Here

Here I am in the garden laughing
an old woman with heavy breasts
and a nicely mapped face

how did this happen
well that's who I wanted to be

at last a woman in the old style sitting
stout thighs apart under
a big skirt grandchild sliding
on off my lap a pleasant
summer perspiration

that's my old man across the yard
he's talking to the meter reader
he's telling him the world's sad story
how electricity is oil or uranium
and so forth I tell my grandson
run over to your grandpa ask him
to sit beside me for a minute I
am suddenly exhausted by my desire
to kiss his sweet explaining lips

When I left Santa Cruz and moved to Vermont, there was Grace. I would see her in the parking lot at the co-op, out in front of Lou's, on the Thetford green, at the puppet show in the art gallery. She was easy to spot in the community with that wonderful, soft mane of fluffy white hair. "Amazing Grace," I would say, loud enough for her to hear, then I would scurry shyly away. I have never been good at chatting up famous people.

Since the news of her passing reached us at the library today, the staff has been bustling about, pulling together words and pictures as a tribute--not merely for purposes of display, but out of deep love and respect for the writer and the person.

I comfort myself with the thought that her writing is a way for me to channel her wit, her wisdom, her inimitable voice for as long as I can read. But I'll sure miss that dear, fuzzy head.

In Praise of Listening

2007-08-03T10:39:00.000-04:00

I was pleased to see another library-friendly item in the Style section of yesterday's New York Times. This one, if you follow the link in today's title, is about the "controversy" regarding listening to, rather than reading, books. Somehow, some members of some book groups insist, to listen to a book, rather than to read it, is to cheat.

After I laughed aloud, I felt a shiver of subversion. By denying the author my bifocal-assisted saccadic movements, I was Doing Something Naughty. At my age, this is a bigger thrill than you might imagine.

Then I felt annoyance. We are not talking about Cliff Notes. We are not even talking about the Reader's Digest Condensed Version. We are talking about a full text version, every nuance and graceful phrase included, only taken in auditorily rather than visually.

I don't like Book Cops. I am glad not to band together with them in judgmental little groups, though I never imagined that book groups would include book cops. Reading groups, I suppose, exist to reinforce reading, and though I think they are a dandy idea, it saddens me to hear that some people use them to feel superior to others.

We aren't a nation of great listeners, and to me, that's a pity. In my impressionable years, I had the good fortune to have an English teacher who taught values along with English. She emphasized listening, that most neglected of the language arts, or so she told us. I was so inspired by her example that I threw myself into paying close attention to what people had to say, developing a skill that has led to great personal and professional growth over the years. Later, as a reading specialist, I learned from students with disabilities, that lacking a sense of voice in print often lay at the foundation of comprehension problems.

Listening is a way in which we can help each other to be heard, quite literally, and perhaps made less lonely, to boot. Listening is giving the voice a rest so that we can hear the voices of others. And with excellent writing, often the most awe-inspiring aspect isn't the story being told as much as it is the authorial voice, that enabler of the magic fusion of art and idea.

NPL's audio collection is a fine one, growing all the time. Lots of busy people find time to experience books through their ears--as they drive, as they complete mostly manual tasks, as they prepare for sleep. Many children are availing themselves of the tome-like collection of Harry Potter CDs, and to me, they are not cheating. They are discovering the voice that sings in print.

The Detainees Speak

2007-08-01T17:18:00.000-04:00

Take my blood.
Take my death shroud and
The remnants of my body.
Take photographs of my corpse at the grave, lonely.

Send them to the world.
To the judges and
To the people of conscience,
Send them to the principled men and the fair-minded.

And let them bear the guilty burden, before the world,
Of this innocent soul.
Let them bear the burden, before their children and before history,
Of this wasted, sinless soul,
Of this soul which has suffered at the hands of the "protectors of peace."

--Jumah Al Dossari

In a genre known for its slim volumes, Poems from Guantanamo (University of Iowa Press), Marc Falkoff, ed., borders on skinny. There are only 31 poems. The Pentagon has confiscated and destroyed many more, 25,000 lines from one poet alone, holding that poetry presents "a special risk" to national security because of its "content and format." The translations that appear have been done by linguists with top secret clearances; Falkoff notes that the grace of phrasing in the originals has been sometimes lost.

Detainees were denied paper and pen for the first year of their incarceration. They wrote on styrofoam cups using pebbles for pens. Most poems ended up in the trash. Once they were granted writing materials, many of their poems met the fate of the cup poems. Many more poems are being stored at the Pentagon, which fears that the poems contain codes to be interpreted on the outside by terrorists.

Cup Poem

Handcuffs befit brave young men,
Bangles are for spinsters or pretty young ladies.

--Shaikh Abdurraheem Muslim Dost

It is interesting to note than only eight per cent of the detainees are accused of being al Qaeda fighters, and only five per cent were captured by U.S. forces on Afghanistan battlefields, and fewer than half are accused of committing a hostile act against the U.S. The author of the Cup Poem above was finally released in 2005 after being judged as not a threat to the U.S. When he and his brother began to publish their memoirs of his Guantanamo experience, he was picked up by Pakistani intelligence and hasn't been heard from since.

For one of the very few possible glimpses of the detainees, do read this book.

Nancy Osgood and the Power of Perpetual Motion

2007-07-26T15:28:00.001-04:00

To be a stop on Nancy Osgood's route is a wonderful thing.

She's a familiar sight as she zips from one place to another in town, from the Norwich Historical Society, of which she is a volunteer and president, to our library, where she performs the tasks that help our books to survive the many passages from library to patrons. Nancy is a book processor, adding the protective covering and identifying stamps and labels that mark the volumes of our collection and tell shelvers where they ought to be placed.

Nancy has always fascinated me. She is such a dynamo and has so much direction. A Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania native, Nancy taught fourth grade to the lucky children of Concord, Massachusetts, for many years. She still volunteers with children at the White River School, using the Orton-Gillingham method, a multi-sensory and kinetic program for improving decoding skills in young readers.

When Nancy isn't promoting literacy, protecting books, and fostering an interest in Norwich history, her idea of a good time is an archeological dig. She's gone after Jurassic mammal bones at the DInasaur National Montument and dug at the Popham Colony in Maine, a settlement which was a contemporary of Jamestown. She enjoys a good walk and loves spending time with her grown sons, both of whom live in the Boston area.

Simply being in Nancy's presence is energizing. Intelligent, generous, and community-spirited, she's a one-woman gift to the community. To Nancy, it's all no big deal. She says simply, "Life is full. So why sit around?"

Party On, Librarians

2007-07-09T13:18:00.000-04:00

If you hear us clearing our throats this week and see us herding patrons in the direction of the Sunday New York Times Style section, it's only that our ship has come in at last. On the front page,a headline reads, "A Hipper Crowd of Shushers," and a deck below it adds,"Today's librarians? Think high-tech party people."

Well! It should take me no time at all to install black lights in the computer area, the better to highlight our da-glo make-up and fingernail polish. If our time has come, we mean to experience it fully. We'll install espresso and bistro bars in the non-fiction and fiction rooms respectively, and we'll have to remind Lucinda to hire us a house band. The new chairs in the fiction room should be perfect for all the soirees that lie ahead of us.

Oh, wait. That's the New York Times. I don't suppose we'll see bars that cater especially to the library crowd with Dewey Decimal-themed drinks any time soon. This is Vermont. Lucinda, cancel the band. Still, motivations for going into librarianship ring true:

Working as a librarian is intellectually stimulating, and the hours are reasonable, for those who have creative pursuits beyond work hours;
Handling information is a call to activism for idealistic folks who see bad things happening when access to information is restricted;
The increase of technology in libraries provides new challenges for a more diverse talent pool.
Librarians as a group are seen today as "smart, well-read, funny people who seem to enjoy their jobs."

Well, shucks. But we do enjoy the job, especially the patrons, who are a delightful part of it.

Psssst!

2007-07-03T10:24:00.000-04:00

I wouldn't want to offend the copyright gods that control Tinseltown, but you should know that Children's Librarian Beth Reynolds will be offering a screening of a classic Hollywood comedy Thursday night, July 5, at 7 p.m.

By not naming it here, we can avoid paying a fat fee and can show it to you for free.

I saw this film at Dartmouth a couple of years ago, and it was hilarious. If you have children and want to take them to a great film that will truly delight the entire family, or if it's been years since you've seen the fellow in the picture, please join us!

You certainly won't be sorry.

Garrison Keillor's Library Fix

2007-07-02T13:56:00.000-04:00

I've 'borrowed' this from Salon, the online magazine--Garrison Keillor's lovely tribute to America's libraries.

When politics gets mean and dumb, you can cheer yourself up by walking into a public library.
By Garrison Keillor

June 27, 2007 Consumer confidence was down in June, and so was mine, though for other reasons. I see politics stuck in a spiral of dumbness and the Republican candidates -- the Cavalcade of Unhappy White Men -- leading the way. The other day, Mr. Giuliani came out against "putting government in a situation where government is in charge of so many different things," and a short time later he called for the government to build a fence the length of the Mexican border, "a technological fence," which I guess means something fancier than a mud fence, possibly using kryptonite. And shortly thereafter, he and his fellow Republican candidates arm-wrestled to see who could be more in favor of torture, or "enhanced interrogation techniques," as it's called now.

When politics gets mean and dumb, you can cheer yourself up by walking into a public library, one of the nobler expressions of democracy. Candidates don't mention libraries -- they're more likely to talk about putting people behind bars and no coddling or shilly-shallying with appeals and that judicial nonsense, just throw them in the dungeon and stick their heads in the toilet and do what you gotta do -- and yet when I walk into the library near my house and see a couple hundred teenagers studying, most of them Hmong or Vietnamese, I see the old cheerful America that Washington has lost touch with, the land of opportunity.

The library is the temple of freedom. Growing up, we kids were aware of how much of our lives was a performance for adults. In school, at church, in Scouts, adults were watching, cueing you, coaching, encouraging, commenting; but in the library, you didn't have to perform for the librarian. She simply presided over an orderly world in which you had the freedom of your own imagination. The silence was not repressive but liberating: to allow your imagination to play, uninhibited by others.

Of course, a boy's imagination headed in some directions that the public library could not satisfy, or would not satisfy -- I thought that those particular books were kept behind the librarian's counter and that if she liked me, she would let me see them, so I was a very, very good boy, but then it dawned on me that she probably thought a very, very good boy wouldn't be interested in that sort of thing. (This would happen to me often with women.)

Libraries have rushed forward into the new age (whichever one we're in now), and the word "librarian" is out. They're Information Professionals now, and it's a Media Resource Center, and it's wired to the max. Just as we novelists have become experiential document specialists producing sensory-data-based narratives encoded in a symbolic format that informally we refer to as English. But a library is still a library. It's a place where serious people go to have the freedom to think without anybody poking and prodding them, in the company of other serious people who sit silently around us and yet encourage us in our own pursuits and projects.

My old hometown Carnegie library with the columns and high-domed ceiling was irreplaceable, and so of course it was torn down by vandals in suits and ties and replaced with a low warehouse-looking library that says so clearly to its patrons, "Don't get any big ideas. This is as good a library as you clowns deserve." But the spirit lives on, in the ranks of dedicated women and men who run the place.

The ceremonial strut of candidates competing to show cruelty is pornographic politics. The thrill of talking about torture -- "I would tell the people who had to do the interrogation to use every method they could think of," said Mr. Giuliani. "Water-boarding?" asked a reporter. "... Every method they could think of," said Mr. Giuliani -- it was like a bad novel come to life. (The bald man looked out the window toward the trees where the prisoners were sitting chained to each other. He lit a cigarette. "Use every method you can think of," he said quietly. "How about red-hot needles?" asked the lieutenant. "How about dragging them behind trucks and beating them with barbed wire?" The bald guy smiled. "Spare me the details," he said. "And get me the information.")

(Garrison Keillor's "A Prairie Home Companion" can be heard Saturday nights on public radio stations across the country.)
(c) 2007 by Garrison Keillor. All rights reserved.

Iraqi Libraries Struggle to Keep the Faith

2007-06-22T11:13:00.000-04:00

Dedication is always an admirable trait in an employee, but its presence in Iraqi librarians is downright heroic.

Lucinda pointed me to the British Library's site which features the diaries of Iraq's director of the national library. In them he documents the power and water failures, the death threats against library employees and security guards, the lengthy and circuitous routes to work occasioned by the destruction of bridges and roads. Members of his family urge him to leave Baghdad for the security of a city less under siege. Corrupt government officials sit on their hands. The library staff swelters as generators fail. The sun itself (which he capitalizes, significantly) becomes an oppressor to be survived.

The British Library site includes a link to the web site of the Iraqi National Library. I clicked on it, only to have the connection "refused." As I read more of the diaries, I realized that once again, there was probably no power to the library. The diarist has to go to internet cafe to retrieve his emails, so often is there no connection to the library itself. (Update: I did get into the site Wednesday, June 27--it's really interesting and includes articles on restoring the country's national heritage and rebuilding the library. Try the link above; if you aren't successful the first time, keep trying. It's worth the effort.)

As I sat exclaiming over the diaries, children's librarian Beth Reynolds slipped downstairs and returned, bearing The Librarian of Basra, written and illustrated by Jeanette Winter. (The illustration above is from this book.) It's the true story of a dedicated librarian in that city who, when learning of the likelihood of war, began to take bags of books home, to see that they will be spared in the event that the library is bombed. As war became more and more inevitable, she enlists the neighbors of the library in her campaign, and in the course of a few sleepless nights, these guardians of literacy are able to relocate 70 per cent of the collection. Beautifully written and illustrated, it's a children's book worthy of the attention of adult readers.

Here my authorial voice fails. The danger, the destruction, the staff's persistent yearning for the light is more than I can fathom. Keep these brave people in your thoughts and prayers.

80 People Turn Out for Mark Breen

2007-06-21T14:30:00.000-04:00

One lady said she'd always wondered what he looked like, with that resonant voice that turned the weather forecast into sheer poetry. Lots of people wanted to know more about the night sky.

So it turned out that 80 people provided Vermont Public Radio's Meteorologist Mark Breen with a standing room only audience in NPL's Community Room last night. The library staff had to remain outside the room in deference to preserving space for the public, although our Lisa did manage to insert one-half of one shoulder blade into general proximity of the presentation. If the room was hot, the reception was warm!

When it came time for the outdoor portion of the program to what Breen refers to as the visible night sky, the moon and Venus were the only objects bright enough for identification on the evening before the summer solstice. Mark Breen turns out to look as nice as his voice sounds, and the audience really seemed to enjoy what he had to say. There were lots of questions, always a good sign.

For those who didn't quite fit into the Community Room or find the time to attend the presentation, Mark left behind a little of himself: the interactive kiosk from the Fairbanks Museum. When I first saw it, I asked where the joy stick might be found. It looks almost like a video game! Instead, it holds a computerizedl presentation on the planets, and for all those who felt a pang of regret at the declassification of Pluto, a view of it and its sort-of-moon, Charon, is still there for the seeing, along with the rest of those "rocks" who have held onto their jobs.

Come by the library and wander the heavens with the kiosk. It'll be across from the circulation desk till July 18.

Summer Reading for Kids: Definitely Not Clueless

2007-06-15T14:29:00.000-04:00

This summer's vacation reading program comes with lots of extra possibilities.

Dubbed Get a Clue @ Your Library, this summer reading program offers more than books.

Along with the rich reading fare that is has become a staple to NPL's young patrons, there is the opportunity provided by excursions designed by the good people at Valley Quest.

I'm always interested in discovering what pockets of illiteracy remain in my considerable self. Clearly, I was clueless about Valley Quest. When I asked Children's Librarian Beth Reynolds about the connection between the Get a Clue theme and Valley Quest, she shot me a look that said, "Oh, you poor dear," (my interpretation, I'm sure) and then told me that Valley Quests were actually treasure hunts. In any of the adventures taken by the Questers lies a box, the quest destination, if you will, at which place successful Questers can leave evidence of their having been there and can, at the same time, discover the names of others who have been similarly successful. Sounds like great fun for families and groups of friends.

Beth tells me that she's hoping that her young readers and their families will avail themselves of the Valley Quest option, in addition to the time for relaxed, recreational reading. To offer support to that end, she's offering a rubber stamp workshop for families on Monday, June 25, at 7 p.m. Participants will be given both the know-how and materials for making rubber stamps for the families--a great way to sign off on having found the magic boxes that are part of the Quests. It's a good idea for families to come to this workshop together, since some of the tools used for making rubber stamps are a bit sharp and best handled by the More Mature generation (or so we like to think of ourselves).

Because space will be limited and Beth hopes to have materials for everyone, interested families should call 649-1184 to save a space.

June 10 Open House: Everybody's Coming!

2007-05-30T22:00:00.000-04:00

It's an Open House to show off our new colors, new layout, better signage--all that sort of library stuff.

But there'll be old friends there, too: people you may not have seen in a while.

Poets. Novelists. Humorists. Biographers. Women and men of letters.

We'll sweeten the deal with refreshments, laughter, community.

Sunday, June 10.

We shan't be gone long: 2-4 p.m. You come, too.

Volunteer Spotlight: Merveilleuse Micheline

2007-05-25T12:52:00.000-04:00

The National Weather Service has issued a gush alert, effective during the time this blog is being written. High winds of excessive admiration may cause considerable damage to the prose style of this post. Readers are advised to take shelter until the blogger's emotions come under control.

If you're in the mood for a little international experience but your passport has expired, drop by the circulation desk on Thursday afternoons. There you'll swear you've somehow stumbled into the lilt and color of the Champs Elysées, but really, you've just entered the aura of Micheline Lyons.

We at the library are smitten with Micheline. She's smart, chic, and insightful. She's incredibly well read. She leads the Women's International Club in the Community Room, a gathering of bright ladies discussing issues in fine French. When Micheline comes on Thursdays we gather around her like a flock of admiring daughters. We revel in her wit, her warmth, her casual elegance, her joyous energy.

Micheline is passionately involved in the turning fortunes of the world, and the quest for greater international understanding comes naturally to her. A Jewish Parisian whose family fled Hitler's forces during the second World War, Micheline came to the U.S. on the last non-military ship to cross the Atlantic and settled in New York City. She graduated from Mount Holyoke College in a year and a half, then returned to France after the end of the war.

Back in Europe, Micheline worked in Geneva for the World Health Organization of the United Nations as a public information officer, covering meetings, writing press releases and feature stories. One night she attended a cabaret and noticed a handsome young actor ("He was in drag, and I noticed that he had the most beautiful legs!") named Gene Lyons. He wrote and performed witty satires on the local scene. Micheline and Gene married and had their three children in Geneva, continuing to work for the UN, until Gene was posted to the New York headquarters.

Eventually Gene decided to finish his doctorate, and the family headed to Hanover. Gene found a career at Dartmouth as professor, chair and dean, and Micheline co-founded the French program at Marion Cross School, and eventually taught at all levels, including French language, literature, and culture at Dartmouth. She was the executive director of the Rassias Foundation for Language and Culture. Through her work and Gene's, Micheline made friends of many of Dartmouth's famous visitors, and in her continuing search for greater understanding, she continues to read widely in world literature.

Micheline is yet another reason to treasure the connection to this community of readers. She's our one-woman City of Light.

How the (Little) Pros Do It

2007-05-10T12:36:00.000-04:00

We're hoping you won't recognize this scenario, but we know that some of you will: on a Friday or Saturday, the mail comes, and in it is an overdue notice from us. What gives? You returned those books and DVDs last week, and on time!

We are undergoing an awkward period in NPL history: too many books are being shelved without being checked in. Our collective faces are burning red!

We meet as a staff about the problem. We conference on the run. Lucinda orders triple-checks, one above the usual double check. How do they slip through our systems? The last thing anyone needs is an overdue notice on returned books!

There is one thing we ask of patrons: when you're in the library, please use the book return slot. We have found that books left on the counter have occasionally ended up on shelves. This doesn't account for all our mistakes, but we'll know where the returned books are. Putting them through the slot doesn't injure the books. And don't worry about our back as we stoop to pull them out. We'll survive! Sometimes we find books on the counter, and we don't know why they are there.

So take a lesson from our young patrons, Caleb and Madeleine Zuckerman, and use the slot!

And thanks!

NPL Volunteer Spotlight: Connie Cadow

2007-05-09T16:24:00.000-04:00

If you're new to town and want to meet interesting people, meet (or become!) a library volunteer. I am continually amazed by the talents and experiences of NPL volunteers.

It's a warm day, but cool air greets us as I follow Connie Cadow down into her basement. After months of talking about gardening and plants, I've asked to see Connie's greenhouse set-up, since I can't quite imagine it. A greenhouse in the basement?

There, among boxes marked Family Pictures and other treasures of time, are Connie's secret for getting the jump on spring: rows of grow-lights, trays of young marigolds, snapdragons, ageratum, and petunias are glowing; tiny basil seedlings are just pushing through. On a table next to the lights is a notebook, with meticulous records on planting dates and germination rates. One day the seedlings were under several suspended lights; the next day, when I returned to take pictures, she'd moved them over to where her husband had set up a hydroponic operation. She's since converted it to more growing space. "Hydroponics have never excited me as much," she explains.

We wandered back upstairs to Connie's quilting set-up: a handsome sewing machine and long counters for spreading out her projects. She's been part of a group meeting at Bugbee Senior Center in White River Junction for the last four years, her projects growing with her expertise. "I gave my grandson a big box of cloth squares last year," she said as she held up the handsome quilt that they were in the process of becoming.

Connie also enjoys a standing date with son Ken, also a Norwich resident, for Western square dancing. They head up to Bradford every week. "It's becoming a lost art," she lamented. "We have just enough people for three full squares."

Most of all, Connie's greatest interest is her family. Pictures of children and grandchildren are everywhere, and she often scoots home from the library in time to welcome them into her home. Last year she and granddaughter Charlotte Cadow teamed up to staff the circulation desk.

Gardener, craftswoman, library volunteer, family woman: Connie Cadow is a special part of Norwich.

More Grim News on the Pet Food Front

2007-05-02T12:30:00.000-04:00

My closest friend is a California librarian whose motto is "Information is my life." It's always been good for a chuckle between us, though it's certainly true. In libraries, information is the product.

Now it seems that, more than ever, information is crucial to the preservation of lots of lives, especially for those who are in no position to act on it.

The FDA now tells us that the pet food scandal is getting worse instead of better. Here are the latest FDA figures:

* Total reports of illness or death: 17,000

* Total cats reported dead: 1950

* Total dogs reported dead: 2,200

These figures depart wildly from those reported during our last posting. The number of brands has jumped, including some "premium" brands found at our local feed outlets, and certainly the "store" brands at such places as Wal Mart and Price Chopper.

Itchmo has additional, vital information.

Please follow the link in the headline above to the specific information that will help you to keep your pets safe. And share information with your friends and family, here and far away. There's an update of withdrawn brands at the circulation desk, too. Check it out.

Hearts and Hands

2007-04-27T14:10:00.000-04:00

If you want to fall in love with a whole group of people at one time, get to know some volunteers.

It's often said that busy people get more done, and that has to be the case with our bunch.

They're from everywhere: England, France, Holland, Scotland, and beautiful downtown Vermont. (Someone once said that the whole state's a small town.)

They do and have done everything: parenting, painting, poetry-writing, proof-reading, engineering, musicologizing, theologizing. And I'm not even started!

This afternoon a group of third-graders is outside, taking leaves and picking up fallen branches.

Last night Mike was here paying bills, and Anne and Stefanie were running the circulation desk. They were chatting with Sandi about the Mother's Day plant sale, which they will run under the auspices of the Friends organization. (More about that group soon.)

They're all amazing people with the energy of community. We're incredibly lucky.

Thanks, volunteers.

NPL Volunteer Writes from along the Trail

2007-04-13T13:41:00.000-04:00

Some of the most interesting people I've ever met are NPL volunteers. I"ve met grandmothers, techies, lawyers, doctors, theologians, and veterans, just to name a few. They are truly an outstanding group.

We just received a card from Linda Pierce, book wrapper extraordinaire. Linda was writing from Indian Creek Falls (pictured here) in the Great Smoky Mountains. Linda, a nurse at DHMC, has zoomed in regularly to wrap our books in the protective wrappings that help them to survive being loved by many different readers.

I say has zoomed in because we are Linda-less for the next six months, while Linda hikes the 2173-mile Appalachian Trail, all on her own. Linda is a hardy lass, aglow with fitness and good health, and I have no doubt that she will be successful in her quest. I have fretted about the isolation and safety aspects of the journey, but after the video I just borrowed from NPL's collection, I feel a little better.

The DVD is Walking in Freedom, and it's a film made by a hiker who made the journey. I was glad to see that hikers may set out alone, but in the process of taking on this challenge, they quickly bond with others who may be just the helping hand they will need in a tough spot.

There are people in towns along the trail who welcome hikers to rest a bit, to take the half-gallon challenge (eat a half-gallon of ice cream in a sitting), or to consume platter-sized pancakes, since calories are no object. Hiker-friendly boarding houses and camp shelters bring people together, too.

No one can fail to recognize the daunting challenge that hikers face, but it's good to know that there will be some supportive souls along the way. Check out the DVD and take a peek at Linda's journey.

Poets Circle to Meet Again April 15

2007-04-06T14:57:00.000-04:00

The Poets' Circle, an ongoing group for writers of poetry, will meet again on April 15, from 6:30-8 p.m. in the Community Room.

Anne Shivas, coordinator of the group, spearheaded its creation in order to create a community of poets in the Upper Valley.

Activities of the group vary from meeting to meeting. They all brought love poems to share during the February meeting.

During the April meeting members will bring a favorite poem by a published poet for discussion.

A Worthy Tradition: Poetry Night is April 20

2007-04-02T16:45:00.000-04:00

Here we go again! Join us Friday, April 20, for the merriment that brings together two of life's finest offerings: poetry and dessert, for the Poetry Potluck. We'll start reading and munching at 7:30 p.m. in the Community Room.

This event is open to everyone: grandparents, grandkids, and everyone in between. Bring a dessert to share, and a favorite poem--yours, if you write them; someone else's if you are a reader-enthusiast.

This is our second annual event, one that we hope to turn into a cherished tradition. Last year over 30 poetry lovers of all ages joined us to celebrate the music of the spoken word.

NPL, hoping to provide local poets with a gathering place, also hosts the Poetry Round Table one Sunday a month. In that group, poets bring their work to share in a supportive group environment. More about that group in an upcoming blog.

Life Preserving Information

2007-03-23T14:26:00.000-04:00

You have no doubt read about the big recall of pet food manufactured by Menu Foods. It's huge. And the culprit has turned out to be rat poison.

Rat poison!

You won't find a can of Menu Foods Kitty Giblets in your pantry, but you may see Menu-supplied Iams, Eukanuba, Science Diet, Ol' Roy, and others. Menu is quite a supplier to many familiar brands.

By now the recalled foods have been pulled from store shelves. But it's important for us all to check our pantries. Did we buy any of the trainted foods before word got out?

Alert library friend and volunteer Stefanie Bernstein provided us with specific information on the recall. We printed it out and have placed it at the Circulation Desk for your convenience. She also provided us with a link to web sites for manufacturers impacted by the recall.

Click on the linked headline above to go to the web site. You'll find specific information and additional links to Iams, Eukanuba, and Science Diet.

Here's to the health and safety of our pets!

Targeted for Censorship: This Year's 'Champs'

2007-03-15T16:07:00.000-04:00

A storybook based on an incident in the Central Park Zoo has attracted the most challenges for 2006, according to the American Library Association's Office on Intellectual Freedom.

And Tango Makes Three has drawn fire in children's libraries and elementary schools for what critics call its "favorable portrayal of homosexuality." It's about a pair of male penguins who parent an egg from a mixed sex pair of penguins who have one egg too many.

The Top Ten challenged books include, along with their recorded complaints:

And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell, for homosexuality, anti-family, and unsuited to age group;
Gossip Girls series by Cecily Von Ziegesar for homosexuality, sexual content, drugs, unsuited to age group, and offensive language;
Alice series by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor for sexual content and offensive language;
The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things by Carolyn Mackler for sexual content, anti-family, offensive language, and unsuited to age group;
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison for sexual content, offensive language, and unsuited to age group;
Scary Stories series by Alvin Schwartz for occult/Satanism, unsuited to age group, violence, and insensitivity;
Athletic Shorts by Chris Crutcher for homosexuality and offensive language.
The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky for homosexuality, sexually explicit, offensive language, and unsuited to age group
Beloved by Toni Morrison for offensive language, sexual content, and unsuited to age group;
The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier for sexual content, offensive language, and violence.

The ALA logged 546 challenges last year. The organization defines a challenges as a formal writen complaint, filed with a library or school, requesting that materials be removed because of content or appropriateness. Public libraries, schools, and school libraries report the majority of challenges. Not all challenges are reported, however.

Children's librarian Beth Reynolds reports that NPL owns a copy of Tango. "It goes out all the time, because it's a nice story," she says.

Unplugged Fun

2007-03-14T11:20:00.000-04:00

As you might imagine, Norwich Public Library is happily involved in Norwich Unplugged, a celebration that's grown from a week to the entire month of March. Join us at the library for these fun family events:

Monday, March 12--Book Character Party. Conspire with your children to create book character costumes, then join us from 3:30-4:30 p.m. to enjoy the results. For elementary aged children.
Monday, March 26--Library Night! Come play board games from 6 to 8 p.m. Parents and kids welcome!
Thursday, March 29--Scrap Booking at NPL. Bring some photos and put them into the fun format of a scrap book. It's from 7 to 8 p.m. For parents and children.

Consider the library as a resource for other Unplugged activities as well. We have lots of jigsaw puzzles (March 20), and our Friends Book Sale is the perfect follow-up to Floribunda on March 17. You can even pick up cards at Floribunda that will entitle you to a 10% discount at the book sale. The No Homework, No Meetings Night of March 21 can be enhanced with some of our magazines. We have them for all ages.

It's your library. Let us work for you!