Between the Stacks: 7/24/2024

I just want to take a moment to thank all of the wonderful people who make our summer reading program function like a well-oiled machine! First, to my wonderful staff and volunteers, who never panic when 120 children come for a magic show and lunch.

They are a professional group of women and men who love their library and patrons. Next, thanks to the Whitehall Community Library Friends, who have picked up lunches in Butte for eight weeks and never let me down. Lunches were always on time and hot for serving. I cannot forget to thank all the many people, performers, and guest speakers who entertained us all this summer.

Thank you to Liz Pullman and the Whitehall Ledger for giving me the space to share everything we have going on in the paper every week. A special thank you to Action, INC and the staff of East Middle School for providing all of our lunches free of charge to any child who wanted one; you guys are the best! Last but not least, thank you to the many people who made funding the summer reading program possible: the voters of Jefferson County (who passed our mill levy), the private foundations and businesses (Town Pump, the Wisner Foundation, and our patrons, who never seem to stop dropping donations in the book sale box). Thank you for making this an amazing summer for almost 200 children, youth, and adults.

The Summer Reading Finale party is Wednesday, July 31st, at 10:30 AM-everyone who signed up needs to bring their reading sheets to collect their prizes. If a family is on vacation that week, we will still give prizes until August 10. There will be ice cream sundaes, prizes, and more!

History Book Club will meet on Monday, July 29th, at 5 PM. This month, the club discusses different non-fiction books by Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard. They wrote the "Killing" series, and Martin Dugard is the author of "Taking London," "Taking Paris," and "Taking Berlin." It will be a great discussion!

August is our month to send the staff on vacation, shelf-read the entire library, process orders for the fall, wash the shelves, and do our program planning for things beginning in September. I always get asked if the staff has quit in August when they are not at the desk. The answer is no; I just throw all of them out of the building for a week so they will return rested and ready to take on all of our new fall programming! The calendar may look bare, but it will be filled to the brim come September, I promise!