Posts by Cari
Read On! Beginnings
Photo by Ian Schneider on Unsplash
The new year is upon us! If you’re like most people, the new year is a time of new beginnings. A time when we wipe the slate clean. A time when we decide/resolve to try new things, hone your skills, and improve your life.
Lucky for you, your library can make achieving these goals easier and a lot less expensive. We are your source for resolution resources!
Want to learn a new skill? Try our DIY online resources. They cover everything from home maintenance and repair to crafting how-tos. The written instructions include detailed pictures and the video instructions are as good as YouTube but without commercials.
Want to learn a new language? Check out Mango through your computer or their app. With more than 70 languages to choose from, you’re sure to find something fun to learn. Our nonfiction collection (specifically the 400s) also includes several languages.
Want to get organized and declutter your home? Our nonfiction collection (specifically the 648 area) has you covered! We have popular titles like “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up” and more generalized titles that will help get you started.
Want to eat healthier? Or perfect a new style of cooking? We have cookbooks for days! They range from specialized diet cooking to cookbooks by famous chefs.
We even have resources for money management, exercise, etc. And of course, we have plenty of material for even the most strenuous reading challenges!
If your goals for 2019 include making friends or being more social, don’t miss out on our adult workshops and events. Join us the second Thurs. of each month (Feb. through Apr.) at 7 PM for a mixture of speakers and crafts. Don’t forget about our Books and Brews Club the 1st Sat. of each month at Fat Toad Brewing! We’ll discuss “Soulless” by Gail Carriger this Sat.
Library Holiday Hours
The Library will be closed December 23-25, 2018, and January 1, 2019. But we’re always open online; check out the online library for ebooks, downloadable audiobooks, and streaming movies, even while our physical building is closed!
Read On! Reader’s Advisory
Photo by Toa Heftiba on Unsplash
If you’re on social media and follow any bookish pages or bookish friends, you have likely heard of the Icelandic tradition “Jolabokaflod,” or “Christmas Book Flood,” where everyone gives books on Christmas Eve and then spends the rest of the night reading. This is a tradition I can get behind and may try this year.
Selecting just the right book for a family member or friend can be stressful. To help ease that stress and to avoid even more spending during this gift-buying season, our family’s twist on the Christmas Book Flood tradition will be to check out library books instead of buying new books. Plus, my TBR (To Be Read) pile of books I own is as tall as I am!
If you’d like to have a Christmas Book Flood or a book flood at any other time of the year and need help picking just the right books, you should talk to us. One of the things your library staff does well is help readers find good books. (The fancy library term for this is called “Readers Advisory” and the way we conduct Readers Advisory is through what fancy libraries call a “Reference Interview.”)
To do a proper Reference Interview we will ask you questions like “What books (or movies or video games) have you liked in the past? Why did you like those things? What are you in the mood for today?” and so on. It is helpful to us if you also tell us anything you definitely do not want to read.
After we’ve asked our initial questions, we will likely start making suggestions. “Have you read…?” or “How do you feel about this genre?” and the like. Because tastes vary and we all have our strengths, we may ask other staff to help you. Generally, I’m good at recommending fantasy books, Jacinda does horror, and so on. (Marie knows all the books, by the way.) So, if you need something to read or buy for a friend, come see us!
Read On! Organizing a Personal Library
Photo by Iñaki del Olmo on Unsplash
I get asked a lot about the best ways to organize a personal library. To be honest, there is no right or wrong way as long as the way you’ve chosen to organize your library works for you. Even if what works for you is to organize by size and color.
The whole point of organizing any library – personal or public – is so you can find the materials you want easily. In my personal movie library, I classify everything into two main categories with two subcategories. The main categories are: “Kids” and “Not Kids.” Within my “Not Kids” category, I have the subcategories “TV Series” and “Movie Series.” Then, according to their category or subcategory, I dump the movies into a cloth-covered bin and put the bins in a cube storage organizer.
I classify our books and comic books a bit differently and with more complicated categories and subcategories. But like our movies, I have not put our books and comic books in alphabetical or Dewey Decimal order. They aren’t dumped in bins, but they’re not shelved with meticulous care either.
That works for us. We know where things are and we don’t have a personal library large enough that we need to be more specific in our categorization or shelving.
For anyone wanting to keep track of a personal library with more than a spreadsheet, I always recommend Library Thing. It’s a free (up to 200 items) online tool to help catalog and inventory your personal library. Some organizations like churches and small law libraries use Library Thing for their public collections. It lacks some of the features of a more robust library software package (like the ability to print spine labels), but it’s pretty neat and very functional for a mostly free service.
If you need more books for your personal library, check out our perpetual book sale in the Graham Ave. vestibule.