Read On! Libby-aided discovery

One of my new favorite things about reading audiobooks on Libby is discovering new (to me) authors. 

The search features in Libby takes some getting used to. Use “preferences” if you want specific search features (like format and availability) to be selected for all your searches. I don’t like to wait for materials, so my searches only show things that are “available now.” Use “refine” to narrow your search by audience, subject/genre, etc. 

By refining to “mystery,” “fantasy,” and “humor” I found “Inspector Hobbes and the Blood” by Wilkie Martin. It’s a wonderfully narrated mystery. Andy, an inept reporter, gets assigned to follow Inspector Hobbes for potential newspaper stories. Hobbes is not your average officer which means Andy finds himself in situations that terrify him and sometimes make him vomit. Yet he is also strangely at home with the people he meets. Even the ones he suspects are not human. (This is the first book of the “Unhuman” series.) 

Refining to “mystery,” “thriller,” and “suspense” I found “The Shadows” by Alex North. In this book, we meet Paul Adams twenty-five years after Charlie Crabtree, Paul’s sometimes friend, brutally murdered another friend and classmate. Paul has returned home to be with his dying mother, but cannot escape the memories that made him leave a quarter of a century ago. Everything becomes more intense for Paul when he realizes Detective Amanda Beck is in town investigating a murder that seems to have been inspired by Charlie. 

I’m very pleased with both reads and would never have stumbled onto them without Libby. I’m planning to explore both authors’ other works this summer.

If you need help with Libby’s search features, let us know. Or, if you prefer a more human-based recommendation for your next read, we’d love to help with that too! 

Read On! Librarian In the Wild

The need for a librarian outside the library is very rarely an emergency. I don’t know that anyone has ever, in a fit of panic, called out, “is there a librarian in the audience?” Usually, I find my self talking to strangers about library resources when a bit of small talk turns into a library question or when I overhear a conversation and find myself interjecting with just the right resource to help solve the problem. 

My most recent librarian-in-the-wild interaction was at a bookstore in Tulsa. A gentleman was looking for a study guide that the store didn’t have – it didn’t even seem like it could be ordered. He was frustrated and the bookseller was apologetic. Of course, I, nearby nosey librarian, swooped in! 

I started the conversation with “I’m a librarian” then explained about our online resource “Learning Express” and how it might be just the thing the man was looking for. We talked about his local library and how it likely has the same resource. All left the aisle a little less frustrated and apologetic than before. Hooray!

If you’ve been reading this part of The Paper for any length of time, you know that Learning Express is my favorite resource to promote. It is incredibly robust and useful! It has study guides and practice tests for every standardized test I know of any, as I discovered in the above interaction, many I don’t know about. 

For job-seekers, it has resume-building tools, guides to help prepare for certification exams in many fields like plumbing, electrical, police, fire, medical, and real estate, and a partnership with Indeed so you can do your job search within Learning Express itself. There’s even an app! (search “EBSCO LearningExpress” to find it more easily)

As always, if you need help with this or any other resource we have, please let us know.

Read On! Building and Other Updates

Have you seen the Library building?! Holy moly, it’s beautiful! 

The new roofline changes the entire feel of the Library building. Before, it was a mid-century ho-hum sort of building that was easily overlooked. Now, it can’t help but be noticed! Once the museum room is complete and Bill Rabbit’s painted pony is installed, we will have one heck of a Library building in our town!

Our construction schedule is looking pretty good for us to be back home at 505 E. Graham in September or October. Of course, weather and supply line difficulties could alter that, but our builders are working very hard to keep everything on track. 

Speaking of being on track, the museum room that is being added to the front/south side of the building has a foundation and is fast catching up to the rest of the building. This part of our project was added after everything else was approved, so it will lag a little in its construction for a while.  

While the builders are busy building, we’re busy planning. We’re putting together plans for furnishing throughout the building, equipment and material lists for our makerspace (for those unfamiliar with that term, it’s like an industrial craft room), and making sure everything is ready to go when we reopen this fall.

We’re also doing some near-future planning for our Summer Reading program. It will be held in our current location within the Graham building. June and July will be full of Wednesday morning storytimes and all-ages events each Thursday morning and afternoon. We’ll also have our traditional BINGO sheets to inspire reading throughout the summer. 

In the immediate future, April 27th marks the 80th anniversary of Pryor’s devastating tornado. Don’t miss the dedication of the tornado monument at the corner of Coo-Y-Yah and Graham on Wednesday at 4:30 pm.

Read On! Scary Stories

One of the things I always forget about moving to a new place is the time it takes to get used to the noises of the new building. The Graham Building, built in 1938 and remodeled in 1960 (so say the plaques in the hallways), has a LOT of noises to get used to. I’m not saying the noises lead me to believe the building is haunted, but I will tell you I’ve been inspired to read some scary stories. 

I enjoyed “Maplecroft” by Cherie Priest (available to download). This book’s main character is Lizzie Borden. (Yes, *that* Lizzie Borden.) Something is terribly wrong in her town and it’s possessing her neighbors. She has an elaborately secure lab she uses to figure out the entity’s origins and develop weapons to fight the monsters that show up in her town. She must destroy them. Even if they wear familiar faces. 

My daughter and I are currently enjoying “Ghost Squad” by Claribel Ortega. We knew this book was for us when we read the back: “Be prepared. Respect the dead. Always have a cat.” So far, it’s a nice mix of tender, loving family ghosts and thrilling, not-so-loving ones. Spanish phrases are sprinkled throughout, but they’re pretty easy for this non-Spanish-speaker to translate so far. 

“Bad Girls Don’t Die” by Katie Alender made me nostalgic for R. L. Stine’s “Fear Street” series from my pre-teen years. Alexis is beginning to suspect that her house is haunted, which is just one more piece of misery to add to her teenage existence. Alexis’s sister, Kasey, has a new obsession with dolls that is beyond creepy, making Alexis wonder if Kasey is being possessed. Now Alexis has to find out who the spirit is and how to defeat it. 

Our staff is busy prepping for Summer Reading. Registration begins after Memorial Day with events and reading challenges throughout June and July.