The March 3, edition of Woman’s Day magazine has an article that will bring tears to the eyes of even the sternest, most stoic librarian. The title of the article is “The Library Made Me Healthier.” It is the story of four disparate library users in various parts of the country.

The first is the story of Elaine who lives in San Francisco. She was waiting in the hospital oncology ward for her husband to be scheduled for surgery. It was near Valentine’s Day. The hearts and cupids decorating the hospital hallway only served to further depress her. When a nurse told her to take a break to get away from the hospital for a bit, Elaine wandered into a nearby library. Upon entering she was met by a display of library books with a romantic theme. She skipped over Romeo and Juliet and Doctor Zhivago. She chose a small book of poetry by Mary Oliver.

In that little volume she read the poem “University Hospital, Boston”, about another woman in a similar situation. She hurried back to the hospital to read and re-read that poem aloud to her husband throughout the night. Her husband finally had the surgery and they shared a hospital Valentine’s Day dinner of vending machine snacks and ice chips.

Isn’t that the sweetest story? Sometimes things happen at just the right time. I wanted to read the whole poem so I typed in University Hospital, Boston/Mary Oliver into an internet search engine and easily found it. It is beautifully written, a comfort to those facing health issues of a beloved spouse.

There are three more similarly inspiring library stories in that Woman’s Day issue. One from a younger woman who finally gave birth to her first child after several disappointing years of hoping. She was confused and concerned at her post-partum state of mind. She turned to her local library to research her issues and found that she wasn’t alone in her desperation. Medical treatment was successful and she is now a happier mother of two.

The third story concerns a recent retiree to rural Colorado. When she was diagnosed with an illness she also turned to her local library for information. At the end of her story she thanked her doctor, family and friends and her little mountain library.

The last story is written by Linda Slayton from Des Moines. Diabetes robbed her of most of her vision. After a period of depression she contacted the Iowa Department for the Blind. They put her in touch with the Library of Congress. They send audio books directly to her home. Although hers isn’t the story of a cozy little community library, a library none-the-less made a big difference in her quality of life.

We’ve all been a little grumpy around here. We’ve lost our zip, our zest, our enthusiasm. I think it is seasonal. Will this interminable winter never end? This article was just what we needed to help us remember why we are librarians.

Most days we just match up the newest James Patterson novel with an eager reader. We check out a stack of dvds to a family who is once again facing a long weekend with a bunch of rowdy, housebound children. We tell 15 phone callers that our tax preparation appointments are all full, call earlier next year. We quiet noisy children. We try to offer a smile to someone who looks like he/she needs one.

But, every once in awhile, we have the opportunity to change lives.

I’m sure it will come as no surprise that our country is facing unprecedented hard economic conditions. What is even scarier is that our own personal finances have been hit hard, too. If we would all just go shopping more frequently, the overall economy might improve. Remember when we could afford to go shopping?

Difficult financial climates often result in increased library usage. After all, most of what a library has to offer is free. Tired of spending $29.95 for a hard cover book? Free at the library! What does it cost to rent a dvd these days? Yep, they are free here, too. Want to read the Algona newspaper? U.S.A. Today? The Messenger? The Register? The Independent? They are all free for your use at the library.

Tired of all the magazines piling up around the house? Let your subscription lapse and come check out ours. The current issue is always on the shelf for in-library use. Older issues, this year’s and last year’s, are here for you to check out. We have everything from Better Homes & Gardens and Backyard Living to Workbench and Writer’s Digest.

We checked out 13,216 movies last year to library users around town. If it costs $3 to rent a movie, that $39,648 that was saved by checking the library first. Folks in Humboldt checked out around 65,000 books last year. If each reader purchased his/her own copy at $29.95, it would cost almost $2,000,000. I couldn’t believe it, either. I figured it up twice on the calculator.


We have eleven computers for people to use. We even have wireless internet service if you would like to bring in your own laptop. We don’t charge for computer time, either. Most people are surprised to find out that we don’t charge for much except copies and printouts. A black and white copy is only a dime. Color copies are a quarter.

Our only other fee is our “extended use fee.” Movies are free for the first three days. If you choose to keep it longer, the extended use fee is $1 per day. Extended use fee for everything else in the library is only ten cents per day.

So, if times are tough at your house, try the library. Except if you need a baby sitter…..call your mother!

Our next Humboldt Reads! book is The Rope Walk by Carrie Brown. Everyone has another week to read the book before we meet for dinner and book talk on February 26 at 5:30 at Vinny’s. I’m about halfway through the book. It is very gently written, very descriptive. One almost enters the world of Alice on her tenth birthday from the time she wakes in the morning until her birthday party ends.

If you have never participated in Humboldt Reads!,this might be the time to start. The plan is that readers share 15 copies of the book. We’ve had them for several months. One person reads it and returns it to the library so that another can check it out. No cost to the reader. Then we meet to talk about what we liked and what we didn’t like about the book. In reality, many of us have read the book. Some of us have read a portion of the book. Some just come for dinner. We do talk about the book, but we also talk about much more. We talk about whatever the books reminds us of. Sometimes it is a place we’ve visited or lived. Sometimes it is an era in history or a certain stage in life. It is always a learning experience. Come join us.

The recent short break in our winter weather has caused premature spring fever in our younger library visitors. That this weather respite corresponded with a full moon has only added to the afterschool havoc. Wednesdays are especially lively when we house your little darlings for an extra hour. Library patrons, real library users, are always welcome at the library. Library patrons are folks who use the materials and services provided by taxpayers for its citizens. If your child is just whiling away the afternoon until you stop by to pick him/her/them up, that child is a squatter, not a patron. If your child was here on February 13, ask her why she was sliding down the library banister. It was a rather unskilled slide-she fell with a thud that shook the building. Fortunately she was not injured. If this delicate little lady is not your child, ask your son why he threw rocks at library windows. You should be extra proud of him-he’s a very fast sprinter when chased by a very fleet-footed librarian. I’m almost positive nowhere in my job description are the words guard, warden or daycare provider. If these are the services your children require, look elsewhere. The library is not the right place for them.

Everyone else, please come see us. You have paid for library materials with your tax dollars. Come on in and enjoy them. The cost is just right-free!

Library materials come in all sorts of formats. We have books in print, books in LARGE print, books on cassette, books on cd, downloadable audio books and recorded books on a nifty little gadget called a Playaway. We have movies on vhs and movies on dvd. We have music on cd. Some libraries have downloadable movies. We have magazines, newspapers, microfilm. About the time I have conquered a new device, another one gets invented.

You wouldn’t think that there was much that could be done to change the format of a regular, old book. But, you would be misinformed. There are two versions of paperback books. The smallest form is the mass market paperback. That’s the one we all remember from the spinning racks at the drugstore. Not only have drugstores become a thing of the past, paperback books have been reinvented. The larger format is called a “trade” edition. It is almost the same size as a regular hardbound book. The print is a nice, readable size. Not reduced to microscopic size as it is in the mass market editions. The most noticeable difference from a hardback book is that a trade edition has a soft, paper cover.

The only reason I can see for publishers to bother with trade editions is that it must be less expensive to produce. Sometimes a first book by an unknown author will first come out in a trade version. Sometimes if a more well known author writes something a little different, it will be published in a trade edition. I could easily be wrong, but my guess is that trade editions are produced when the publisher lacks confidence in the marketability of a certain book.

Something else I’ve noticed is that library users don’t check them out very often. When I was in college decades and decades ago, all those dreary novels we had to read for literature classes came in trade editions. I can assure you that we keep all those depressing classics together on a special shelf. You aren’t likely to pick one up accidentally. What we buy now in trade editions are books that have received great reviews in Library Journal or Booklist magazine. Below is a list of new ones. Some are currently on our shelves and some will be released in February.

The Red Leather Diary: Reclaiming a Life Through the Pages of a Lost Journal by Lily Koppel. Koppel found the journal in a Manhattan dumpster. She reads the journal and finally returns it to its original owner, now 90 years old and living in Florida.

Playing With Grownups by Sophie Dahl. The author is the granddaughter children’s author of Roald Dahl and actress Patricia Neal. A health crisis brings young bride Kitty back to her mother’s home. She relives her childhood as she tends her mother.

Now You See Him by Eli Gottlieb. A novel that blends suspense with long buried family secrets in this study of male friendships.

Manic: A Memoir by Terri Cheney. One review of this autobiography of a young woman fighting bipolar disorder calls it “much more than a train-wreak tearjerker.”

Give a “trade” a try!