Last week was a mess. I had been out of the library for most of the previous week at a conference and meetings. The first week back in the office is always catch-up time. Make-up work kept me running in place, feeling as if I made no progress at all. That week was also “get ready for Humboldt Area Arts Council’s Art Encore” week. Lots of decorating takes place in the week before the event. I spent a whole rainy afternoon washing muddy pumpkins before they could be decorated for centerpieces.
Demi just stuck her head in my office door and declared “we can still see you”. I truly wasn’t trying to hide behind the piles of books on my desk; they just accumulate on every flat surface around here. By the time you read this, all should be back to normal at the library.
Those books on my desk were the new ones I hadn’t had a chance to look at while I was gone. I like to hold and touch every one before it goes on the shelf. I know that all the wisdom and information those books contain can’t be absorbed by osmosis, but, what do I have to lose?
The Way of Boys: Raising Healthy Boys in a Challenging and Complex World by Anthony Rao, Ph.D. Dr. Rao is a psychologist and expert on boyhood development. He has written a definitive handbook on what to look for and expect in normal growth. This book is a guide to what behavior is normal and what behavior might require a diagnosis and medication. He says “it’s time we stopped trying to ‘fix’ young boys” by understand the wide spectrum for normal boy development. Seems like a good plan to me.
Shake the Devil Off: A True Story of the Murder That Rocked New Orleans by Ethan Brown. Wow! Can’t believe I haven’t heard more about this book. Zackery and Addie were a hard-partying, high-spirited couple. The Iraq veteran and his artist girlfriend lived large in pre-Katrina New Orleans, but in October 2006, he leapt from the rooftop bar of a French Quarter hotel. A note in his pocket directed police to Addie’s body.
The Anatomy Murders: Being the True and Spectacular History of Edinburgh’s Notorious Burk and Hare and the Man of Science Who Abetted Them in the Commission of Their Most Heinous Crimes by Lisa Rosner. In the 1820’s William Burke and William Hare were suspects in the most atrocious murder spree of the century. I confess; I bought this one because my father’s name was William Hare. He was a very kind, engaging man, unlike any serial murderer I’ve ever read about, but could this Scottish William be a relative?
House of Cards: Love, Faith and Other Social Expressions by David Ellis Dickerson. This author landed his dream job as a greeting card writer for Hallmark Cards. He, however, found that as a fundamentalist-raised, twenty-six year old social eccentric, he was wholly unprepared to write the sentiments he was assigned. This story chronicles his bumpy journey to maturity.
In My Father’s Shadow: A Daughter Remembers Orson Welles by Chris Welles Feder. What would it be like to grow up the daughter of such a strange, intense man? Find out here!
Nothing Was The Same: A Memoir by Kay Refield Jamison. Ms Jamison is a psychologist who has battled manic-depressive illness. He husband, Richard, fought his own war against dyslexia to become one of the foremost experts on schizophrenia. This book is the story of their relationship, his death and her struggle with grief.
We Are Our Mother’s Daughters by Cokie Roberts. This book was donated by BPW in memory of Opal Christensen. The author is an Emmy-winning journalist and the daughter of Hale Boggs, a Democratic congressman from Louisiana and his wife, Lindy who replaced Hale in the House when he was killed in an airplane accident. This book reflects upon a number of female achievers who have attracted attention in the last decades including Laura Bush and Nancy Pelosi.
Beyond the Block by Crafty O’l Broads Linda K. Johnson and Jane K. Wells. This amazing book was given to the library by the Honeybee Quilt Guild in memory of member Linda Price. The quilts in this book are a joy to behold. Each is a small treasure, a work of art and a testament to the creativity of today’s quilters.
Whatever might catch your fancy, we’ll help you find it @your library.

October has begun and with it a new era for the Humboldt Public Library. We have survived a week since Jean Holste retired. So far, I haven’t had to call her even once to ask “do you remember where we put xyz?” or “who do I call when we need abc?’ She trained us well.

Every morning I peek through the window into the children’s office to make sure that Sarah, our new children’s librarian showed up for work. I’m always afraid she is going to realize just how much Jean actually accomplished every day. I’m afraid Sarah will throw her hands into the air and run screaming out of the building when it becomes clear that to do the job that Jean did would require at least two average human beings. But, Sarah isn’t average. She has survived early-out-Wednesdays, several school class visits and several trips to various daycare facilities. She is still coming into work each morning with a brave smile on her face. I think we have a keeper!

As we approach Halloween, the library begins its autumnal transition. Sherri Crowley has decorated our display case for the season. Demi has hung her “scary ancestor” in the teen area. It’s one of those innocent, antique-looking portraits until you glance at it a second time. The lovely person has become something altogether less charming. Kids and adults alike enjoy its appearance every year.
Pumpkins and fall leaves begin to decorate the shelves and we start to wonder where we stored those scarecrow mannequins. This year I found them right away. We have a dozen scarecrows, but for some reason, we now only have 11 heads. I’m a glass half-full type, so I choose to think that we have 12 scarecrows, one of whom is headless.

Once again this year we are going to check them out to anyone who would like to dress one up. When we get them all dressed in Halloween finery, we will display them in a downtown window. Anyone who wants can take a look and vote for a favorite. Last year’s contest may have been rigged by a middle school boy. There were an unusual number of votes for the scarecrow made by a particular middle school girl that appeared to have been written with the same ink pen in identical handwriting. She would have won anyway; I think he just wanted to make sure that the object of his desire had it in the bag.
Because we didn’t have room to have a dozen standing scarecrows in the library (to say nothing of how they might have frightened our custodian when she comes in early in the morning) ours are made to sit down. A skirt or a pair of trousers nicely camouflages his (or her) lower half. So give it some thought. Think up a good idea and decorate a scarecrow to share with the rest of Humboldt.
Check it out @your library.

I’ve been dreading this day, Jean Holste’s last day at the Humboldt Public Library. To me, and to all the children who have grown up in this town, Jean IS the library. Toddlers who encounter her at the grocery store are confused and surprised to learn that she even exists outside this building. They must think we close her up in here when we go home and night and she only comes alive when the first kiddies enter the building the next morning.

When my predecessor left, Jean jumped in and kept the library afloat until I was hired. She could have kept the director’s job, but her heart wasn’t in it. She knew that kids and stories and books were her calling, the right fit for her. She did, however, train me. She patiently answered each and every one of my questions without making me feel as if I were a preschooler asking why the sky is blue.

Jean’s programs for children are so successful that she routinely has had attendance of more than 5,000 per year. We both know that there are nowhere near 5,000 kids in Humboldt. She is so good at her job that each and every one of them comes many times per year. One summer she planned to hold a class on rock painting. What parent doesn’t have a rock painted smeary blue and red by a child in Bible school? I bit my tongue, but I thought it was a stupid idea. Kids and parents know that Jean’s programs are always fun; so many kids signed up to paint rocks that she had to hold a second session. With the help of some artsy community volunteers, Jean’s kids produced rocks that looked like VW Bugs, lady bugs, butterflies, daisies, turtles and a host of other creative ideas.

After that, I learned to trust her judgment. When it comes to kids, parents, songs, games, books and libraries, Jean really does know best. Co-worker Kathy Hensch summed up Jean’s library career with the following little story:



Once upon a time there was a very kind, very wise, and very clever lady. This lady loved children, and she loved books. She became a librarian so that she could share her love of books with children.

She read to them, taught them silly songs, and played games with them!
Teachers and parents loved her too, because she taught their children
to appreciate books and the importance of reading.

The librarian showed the children how to be creative, and use their imaginations. She planned day and night, so that she could make the books come alive for the children!

The librarian loved her books as much as she loved the children. She treated them with such care, keeping the books dusted and the shelves tidy. She bought new books to add to the shelves, and found homes for the
books that had been well read.

Others who worked at the library respected and loved her too, and were very sad when one day she told them it was time to begin a new chapter in her life. They were sad to see her go, but they were very happy for her too! They knew that she had many special plans for traveling, spending time with her family, tending her flower garden, and so many things she had dreamed of doing.

Her library family gave her hugs, shed some tears, and bid her a fond farewell. And so the very kind, very wise, very clever lady added many more wonderful chapters to her story, and lived happily ever after!


Jean, on behalf of every child whose life you have touched in your 23 years at the library, thank you.

Today’s topic will be music cds at the library. But, first, I want to provide an update on my very first painting. It was a birthday gift to my daughter. Before I bought the canvas, I checked the UPS website to make sure that my choice wouldn’t exceed their size requirements. The policy is very generous, so I bought a large one. It is probabl6y 30 x 36 inches. I boxed it up well with leftover cardboard scraps in several layers. I didn’t want a ski pole or pool cue that anyone else might ship to puncture it. Shoppers Supply accepts packages for UPS shipment, so I lugged the box there.
I almost hated to part with it, but it wouldn’t match my house anyway. It was carefully painted to match Anne’s Raleigh, North Carolina living room. Her birthday, from her BIRTH day, always falls on Labor Day weekend. I never let her forget it, either. She knew that I had shipped a surprise, so she ran home in the middle of the afternoon to see if it had arrived. I was in the car on my way to visit her brother and his wife in Columbia, Missouri, so we talked as she unwrapped layer after layer of cardboard. She was thrilled! She said that she had known all along that I could do it. I didn’t, but apparently she had faith in my artistic ability. She doesn’t even know Susan Witzel,
When I was back home again, we Skyped so that I could see how nice it looks above her mantel. Skype is the neatest thing! Technology lesson: my home laptop computer has a tiny little camera built in above the screen. Anne’s has one, too. When we both push all the right buttons, we can see one another on our computer s and talk via Skype. Not only was I able to see my painting, I walked outside to show her my morning glories blooming. My friendly backyard squirrel usually eats all the leaves off the plants. He sits atop a little fence, plucks those leaves, rolls them up like a green burrito and munches away until the plants all die.
Now, we are trying to figure out how to record a Skype session, so I can show Susan how nice our painting looks in its new home. There may still be openings in Susan’s class at Witz End. Call and check. You will be amazed at what you can produce with her help. Just think, Humboldt could become an artists’ colony with a gallery in every block and a bed-and-breakfast on every corner!
About music cds…..we never know what to choose. We ask people who check them out what they would like us to add. Almost never does someone make a suggestion. We usually ask Steve Bohan, our website guru, for advice. He will make suggestions from time to time. We’ve just added a Janis Joplin Woodstock album and one from the Jefferson Airplane. If you are of an age to remember Woodstock, you probably don’t remember much else about that summer, but these cds may bring some of it back. I recently saw Arlo Guthrie (of Alice’s Restaurant fame) on CNN. He has become a card carrying, Republican conservative! His father would roll over in his grave, if he had one. Woodrow Wilson Guthrie was named for a famous Democratic president. Always known as Woody, his ashes were scattered at sea in 1967.
Music cds, like everything else at the library except movies, may be checked out for three weeks. Come on in, look over our collection and tell us what you’d like to see @your library.