News

One of my loyal readers mentioned that I had not been blogging much, and I decided to take a few minutes this morning to post something. (I am awake earlier than usual, don't know why.)

Well, I am not blogging as much for a couple of related reasons. 1) I have a full time job, which does not leave me with lots of time on my hands to blog. And 2) I have a full time job which keeps me distracted from other things that I might reflect upon ad nauseum.

Speaking of my full time job (I did mention that I have a full time job, right?), last week was the groundbreaking for the library expansion project. This was basically a photo op for the people involved and responsible. My boss, Cathy Borck, is the seventh from the left and our friend Debbie Kinder is eighth from the right. Debbie is on the city council and the library board and was a supporter of my efforts to get a full time job at the library. (I mentioned that already, didn't I?)

The present library is housed in the building you see behind that crowd, built 14 years ago. In the years since, our circulation has doubled and many new things have been added -- a language lab, more computers, Wi-Fi access, greatly expanded DVD offerings and audiobooks, to mention a few. The staff has doubled in size, too, and we are tripping over one another trying to get work done in a space designed for three full timers and one part timer. Today there are 6 fulltimers, 2 part-timers and 30 or so volunteers. So we are getting more room. This will include a more private area for even more computers and more room for people to set up to use the Wi-Fi, doubling the size of the children's section, creating a new young adult section, adding a reading area and -- most important -- adding a garage for the bookmobile that will include a work space (right now I do not even have a desk -- my personal "office" is one drawer in a filing cabinet) and storage for books, DVDs and book carts. So by winter of 2011, Kathie Holly and I will not have to trundle cartloads of books out through the winter storms to load onto the bookmobile in the sub-zero weather -- and the Tommy lift that gets them up to the level of the bookmobile will not poke along because it is all frozen up.

So that's that.

The other story to share has to do with what people apparently have begun to expect from the greatly expanded library services we already provide:

Last Saturday we had a family fun day built around the fact that July was National Ice Cream Month. They had games (tossing bean bags through boards painted to look like ice cream cones), crafts, songs and such things. The big finale was that everyone got to make their own REAL sundae to devour at a little ice cream social. Okay, family oriented -- mostly smaller children and their parents. A few minutes after the program began, one of the adult (middle-aged) patrons came in and asked if the ice cream was out yet. Laura explained that first they were doing the games and crafts and other activities, and then they would have the ice cream sundaes. The patron, who has two school-age daughters was alone, but Laura invited her to join in the fun.

"No, thanks," the woman replied. "I have to be somewhere. Can I just get some ice cream to go?"

Clueless!