Between the Stacks: 3/17/2021

Our Flower Pressing and craft workshops with Emily Dickerson will start March 20th. The adult workshop will be at 9:30 a.m. and the children’s craft class with flowers will be at 11:00 a.m. All materials will be provided so we ask that you call in to reserve your spot. If this session is a success, we will be planning more crafting times for adults and children on Saturday mornings, so bring your ideas!

The question of this week has been, “What are you doing about Dr. Seuss?” The short answer is we have moved the books to the circulation desk so they will not be stolen, and patrons may still check them out. Several of the now out of publication books are selling online for ridiculous amounts of money and libraries are finding their books disappearing. In the American Library Association’s Freedom to Read proposition #3, it states that “it is contrary to the public interest for publishers or librarians to bar access to writings on the basis of the personal history or political affiliations of the author.” (http://www.ala.org/advocacy/intfreedom/freedomreadstatement). The books will be treated according to the same policies as every other book and will be discarded as they wear out or are no longer checked out by the public.

With all the emphasis on computers and virtual meetings, learning, and communication, the Library will be offering a class on word processing programs on March 23rd at 2:00 p.m. The class will focus on practical uses and the functions on the toolbar. This class will be limited as patrons may use our laptops or bring their own. To sign up, please call us at 287-3763.

The Library has joined a wonderful state-wide referral service entitled Connect. This will enable us to help patrons who need a variety of social services in different areas. Robin and I just went through the training so please give us a few days to explore the different areas within the system. It will be exciting to discover services available to Whitehall residents from around the state.

In April, the Library will be hosting a series of presentations entitled “Government 101”. These sessions will be every Wednesday evening in April and the first week of May at 6:30 p.m. Each program will focus on an aspect of city and county government by the people who hold those positions. Speakers will be giving listeners a tour of what each department does, how it functions, and who to contact for help when someone has a problem. Seating is limited so please let us know if you plan to attend.