Knitting Class

There was a great response to our adult knitting class with over a dozen eager participants.  Some of us have never knitted at all and some have a small amount of experience but have either forgotten what we know or want extra help.  Sally Florio (pictured in the center, facing the camera) is a wonderful teacher and we're off to a good start on learning to knit! As always, click on the picture to see a larger size.

Welcoming "Chip" to the Library

We have a new door closer and panic bar at the library's main entrance thanks to Bill Elliott who used to work in the hardware business.  In case you don't know, a panic bar is a metal bar on a door that you push on to get out of a building -- if there's a fire and it's smoky, you won't have to grope for a door knob, you just push anywhere on the bar and you are out.  Our Fire Chief said we needed to get one for the front door.  The estimates we got to have one installed along with a pneumatic door closer were around $1,000.  Thanks to the generosity of Bill Elliott and the great people at Falcon - the company which made the panic bar - we didn't have to pay a dime!

The panic bar traveled with an employee of the Falcon company as it made its way to us.  The woman's children named it "Chip" and Chip was photographed in several places and his travels were posted on the Falcon blog.  So of course, when Chip finally made it to the Freedom Public Library, we had to have some pics.  Here is one of them we took with Judy, me, Trustee treasurer Anne Cunningham, Bill Elliott and Trustee president Peg Scully.  Many thanks to Bill Elliott for making this happen!

This is the Surgeon I'd Like to Have

I got to hear another fabulous speaker and author, Atul Gawande, talk about his newest book "The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right".  In this book, Gawande promotes the humble checklist as a tool for improving performance.  The aviation industry has been using this tool for years to prevent and handle air emergencies. Gawande and his team brought the idea of checklists to surgeons and intensive care units in hospitals across the world, both large and small, and after three months the results showed 36% fewer deaths after the implementation of the use of checklists.  Gawande talked about resistance that professionals often have to the use of checklists, feeling that because they are experts in their fields, they should not have to use a checklist. He pointed out that if they could prescribe at drug that would improve outcomes by 36% there would be no question - they would all be clamoring for such a drug. 

Gawande is also the author of "Better: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance" which the library owns.  We now own a signed copy of "The Checklist Manifesto" too! 

Al Gore was Riveting

I got a chance to hear Al Gore speak yesterday here at the American Library Assoc Midwinter Meeting about his new book "Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis." What a terrific speaker!  He explained the contents of each chapter with articulateness and succinctness that within an hour I understood some viable solutions to the climate crisis.  I now have a working knowledge of the pros and cons of solar energy, wind power, geothermal energy, and several other sources of energy.  He said that enough solar energy falls on the earth in one hour to meet the energy needs of the entire planet for one year.  He pointed out that our dependence on fossil fuels is one of the primary causes of three of our greatest woes as a nation and world: the economy, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the climate/pollution crisis.  What is required is that we make a national commitment to developing alternative forms of energy.  I am so glad I got to hear Gore speak.

Hello from ALA

My alarm went off this morning at the ridiculous hour of 3:30 a.m. and I was on the road at 5:00 heading to the Boston Convention and Exposition Center for the Mid-Winter Meeting of the American Library Association.  The reason I wanted to get here so early was to hear author Elizabeth Gilbert speak.  If that's all I do all weekend, it was worth it.  What a wonderful talk!  And the questions the librarians asked afterward were very good - sometimes audience questions leave a lot to be desired.

Gilbert talked about how daunting it was to write another book after the wild success of "Eat, Pray, Love".  Her newest book "Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage" came out just last week and is in the collection of the Freedom Public Library.  Her 500 page first draft was ready to send out to her publisher at deadline when she suddenly realized it was "all wrong."  Having been raised to follow through on commitments, she agonized over what to do. After days of anxiety, she had a nightmare in which she was on her knees at her publisher's begging for her life back, which made her realize she had to tell her editor that the book wasn't ready and she didn't have any idea when or even IF she would be able to send anything.  Devastated by defeat, she took six months and immersed herself in her garden and did not try to write.  Then, at last, the first line of the book came to her and in five weeks she had written an entirely new book, which shares nothing in common with her first draft other than the characters.  She said that if she had forced herself to write again immediately after she realized her first draft was bad, it would have made a defeat on top of a defeat and probably would have ended her writing career right there. 

She spoke of how common it is for people to assume that since she wrote "Eat, Pray, Love" she must not only have her life together but she must also be able to help other people put their lives together, something she says is just SO not true.  An example of this was a brief encounter with a woman who said, "I know you only have a minute to talk to me, so I will keep this short: Should I leave my husband?"

I learned at this talk that Elizabeth Gilbert's sister is also a well-known author, Catherine Gilbert Murdock, who writes young adult novels including the wonderful "Dairy Queen" which we read in our teen book group two summers ago. 

I am looking forward to hearing Al Gore speak this afternoon!  That's all for now - off to the exhibits.

Getting Kids to Read to Their Pet

Our patron, Freedom resident Dawn Alexander-Tapper, read the online article about Louie and his favorite books and she had this memory to share:

I loved the feature on our little Louie!  I wanted to share with you what I used to do with the book 3 Stories to Read to Your Cat and its counterpart for dogs.  When I taught third grade, I would loan out those books each day to my students and the next morning, the child would tell the class which stories they read to their cat or dog and how the reading went.  The kids were so cute.  They'd say things like, "Harry's favorite story was the one where they made dog biscuits because he licked his lips when  I read it to him."  It was such a fun experience!  Some of the kids would certainly exaggerate their pets reactions and it was hilarious- but I know for sure that they were reading on those nights that they got the book.

Louie's 15 Minutes of Fame

Louie is featured in the Feb 2010 issue of Cat Fancy magazine in an article about library cats.  Isn't that cool?  Check it out:
Click here to read "Library Cats and Their Favorite Books."

The print magazine has an additional article about 45 library and bookstore cats which I have not yet seen. Hope to get my hands on a copy soon!