Between the Stacks: 10/9/2024

The Friends of the Whitehall Community Library will meet Thursday, October 10th at 5:30 PM in the library. They have many things to discuss and welcome anyone who would like to join them. The Friends will be working on Christmas activities, grants in processes, and other projects.

The library will be closed for the Columbus Day holiday on Monday, October 14. The library will be open the rest of the week at regular times.

The staff are training new volunteers this month so if you see someone new, please understand that they are just learning. Regular staff are always in the building and happy to help with anything you might need.

Homeschool Roundup will have a special guest this week on Thursday, October 10, at 2 PM. Our friend Lauren from the Lewis & Clark Caverns State Park will be here to share more adventures in the wild.

The book sale is filling up again as we are in the process of weeding the collection. Books are discarded if they are not checked out in five years, are physically falling apart, have inaccurate or dated information in them, or have been vandalized. There will be a lot of great books for sale so check it out. I would love to keep every good book we have but we need the room for new ones coming in.

Patrons often ask me how the library chooses the books found on its shelves. There are many ways great books get into the collection. I have multiple review sources which feature new books coming up and share any problems there might be with them such as bad bindings, poor illustrations, etc. I also spend as much time as I can get away with at bookstores so I can read them in person before spending money on a book to go in the collection. Patrons are a huge source of book information. This is a town of readers, and many people donate great books they have read and want to share. They also share specific review sources on genres such as mysteries, romance novels, Christian fiction, non-fiction books, and more. Montana2Go provides "The New York Times Book Review" online for librarians to see a broader range of books coming out. There are so many great books in print and on order that we are constantly making space to enhance the collection.

Everyone always asks what I am reading. This month it is a biography of John Quincy Adams by Randall Woods. At 782 pages, it is not a book for the faint at heart! He was a fascinating man and an interesting president.

There will be no column next week as I will be out of internet range, but I will be writing again the next week to share more of what's up at the library!