Read On! What I did during recovery

I recently had an unexpected health issue (aren’t they all?) and needed to stay home for about a week to recover. During that week, I did what most people do when they’re stuck at home: I consumed various types of media and took a lot of naps.

I read our new Neil Gaiman graphic novel, “The Neil Gaiman Library” which collects four full graphic novels into a single volume. Gaiman has long been one of my favorite authors and this addition to his works does not disappoint. The stories within are a mix of mystery and suspense with a dash of horror. They’re clever and creepy and well worth hefting around this large book.

I also started watching season 1 of “Lovecraft Country” on HBOMax, which is based on the book by Matt Ruff. We only have the book via Overdrive, which I just checked out today, so I can’t opine on more than the first page. However, if the book is half as good as the show, I’m in for a terrifyingly amazing ride. The show, set in the 1950s, is told through the point of view of Atticus Turner, a Black army veteran. It contains both the horrors of being Black during the Jim Crow era as well as supernatural monsters that are almost as terrifying as their human counterparts. If you like horror books and movies, I highly recommend this show.

Lastly, I watched the Academy Award winning documentary “My Octopus Teacher” on Netflix. It’s a beautifully shot film recording the relationship between a human diver and a wild octopus in a South African kelp forest. The bond between human and octopus in this film reminded me very much of Sy Montgomery’s book “The Soul of an Octopus.” The main difference being the setting – open ocean versus aquarium – but the humans describe some of the same feelings and connections in the two works. Both book and film are worth checking out.

Read On! Learning Express Revisited

Your Pryor library has been working for several years to make sure we offer services and opportunities to connect with our community in face-to-face and digital environments. Our library system can email or text you with notifications about materials on hold, about to be due, or that are overdue. You can even text us back! We also offer several online resources that are available to you anywhere you have an internet connection.

Our ebook and downloadable audiobook database, Overdrive, is by far the most widely used resource available in our 24/7 library, but my favorite is the Learning Express Library. The Learning Express Library is a one-stop shop for anyone needing to build school-related skills (from the 4th grade level through college), wanting to study and practice for almost any standardized test like the GED, ACT, or ASVAB, or is interested in exploring different career options or prepare for a career-specific test. Learning Express even has resources to help you write your resume and cover letter and can conduct job searches though Indeed.

To use Learning Express to its fullest potential, you need to sign up for an account. This account is the way Learning Express will track your progress and remember which tutorials or job searches you have completed. Learning Express is run by the company EBSCO, so your library staff only knows how many times Learning Express is used, not who is using it or what they’re doing on it.

To get to Learning Express, grab your library card number and head to our website (pryorlibrary.org) from anywhere you have an internet connection. Then find our “Use the Library” tab and head down to “Research & Resources.” You’ll know you’re in the right place when you find the resource with the lightbulb in the icon.

Read On! Summer Reading Prep

It’s Summer Reading prep time here at the library. Autumn and Lilly are putting together this year’s Summer Reading program, which will have something for everyone.

The larger purpose of Summer Reading programs is to prevent the “Summer Slide,” a phenomenon where students spend the summer forgetting much of what they learned during the school year. It turns out, if students read all summer, they remember more and are better prepared for their next year in school. So, public libraries across the country host Summer Reading programs to help kids be more successful in school.

Our Summer program consists of two parts: the reading part and the event part. The reading part takes a couple of forms. Kids ages 5-11 will keep track of how much time they spend reading and will earn prizes at particular time markers. Younger kids (birth to age 4) will receive a BINGO sheet with reading and activity suggestions. Teens will receive a similar, but obviously different, BINGO sheet. Adults who want to participate will receive a game board with reading suggestions and activities.

The event part is exactly like it sounds: events to attend either at the library or virtually. They don’t count for the reading part, but they’re super fun. With the pandemic and expansion construction to account for, we’ll have a mix of in-person, online, and grab-and-go events for all ages.

If you’re looking for fun before summer, don’t miss our Virtual Trivia Night this Thursday (4/29/2021) at 6:30 PM via Google Meet. Keep an eye on our Facebook page the day of for the link that’ll connect you to our game.

This is our second trivia night and we’re looking forward to it! It should take about an hour from start to finish and the questions are general trivia, so they’ll cover a wide range of topics. Good luck!

Read On! Weeding Materials

Our library building in its current configuration can house just over 30,000 physical items. There’s some wiggle room there, but that’s our comfortable capacity. Now that we’re finally receiving new books, our physical item number is creeping upward. This means a more thorough weeding is in our future!

Weeding in libraries is a lot like weeding in a garden. We look at each item in our collection and decide what is worth keeping and weed out what isn’t. Of course, weeding in a library is a little more nuanced than weeding in a garden, but like garden weeding, library weeding is necessary to ensure the library remains healthy.

We look at a lot of different criteria when deciding whether to weed an item. We examine whether the item checks out, if it’s in good condition, for nonfiction we also look at the subject’s relevance, if the information is still accurate, copyright date, and whether newer items on the subject would be more appropriate.

Weeding library materials can be a hot-button issue in some communities. Some people feel the library is violating a sacred oath when it gets rid of “perfectly good” materials. I certainly understand where that reaction comes from, but we simply do not have the space to house items our community is no longer interested in. We would not be upholding our mission if we allowed our shelves to get so overcrowded that it becomes impossible to find anything.

We believe in giving weeded material one last chance at a forever home though. As long as the weeded item is usable, we place it on the sale shelves or on our free cart. This means, if we’ve weeded an item you may have the opportunity to buy it (for up to a quarter) and take it home with you.

Weeding is a continual process, so it’s worth checking our sale shelves and free cart often.