Kudos once again to Carol Huscroft for maintaining a high level of quality and innovation in the Art in the Library program. Patrons and staff are being treated to the masks of Michael Price, and the photographs of Alex King and Laurie Beohmer in the library for the next six weeks. The skill involved and the quality of all the work of these artists and indeed, all the artists Carol has organised for the library would suggest that of a gallery in Vancouver or Calgary, and we are so fortunate to have both Carol and the artists in Creston.
If our lost and found is any indication, GM cars seem to predominate among those people using the library. There are six sets of car keys and one house key, along with five pairs of glasses in our lost and found. The baby bottle that had been sitting there for a month was noticed by its owner just yesterday and a pair of glasses was picked up just this morning.
We are not usually that fortunate with retrievals. It was just last Tuesday a parent came in and picked up a backpack left by a child two weeks ago. We may never know what was in the pack; it might have been a tuna sandwich or it might have been a hamburger from the DQ. Whatever it was, two weeks on the self in the library circulation area was exactly a week and six days too long for whatever it was. It far surpassed science experiment; it went right into full composting without benefit of those odour reducing enzymes, worms or whatever else is required to make the rotting process a positive, constructive one. The parent was applauded leaving the library with the backpack in hand. We did notice the pack was opened and searched thoroughly before it was placed in the car. We did not find out what the cause of the noxious odour was and I don’t think there is too much curiosity in finding out.
If you have lost car keys and have been in the library lately, please come and check out our collection; we may have them. Some of you may know that sets of keys are exceedingly difficult to throw away — some of them may have been in the library for a year.
It’s time once again to think about the Summer Reading Club and we currently have two summer job openings, one for the reading club and the other to help maintain our Readers are Leaders program and assist with the reading club. The jobs are posted on the board outside the library entrance and on the library website. We are looking for full-time students, preferably with education and experience in education-related concepts, literacy and literacy based activities for children. Previous experience in a library would be an asset. Both positions are grant funded and run from June to the end of August. The students don’t have to be from Creston, but they do have to be returning to school in September and between the ages of 17 and 30.
To end of this week, we are in need of a couple of volunteers for our outreach service to those patrons who can’t get to the library. The job involves an hour or two every couple of weeks and some time spent in the library finding material, dropping those items off and returning to the library what the patron has finished with.
Something patrons might not realize: If there is a reason a patron can’t get to the library for an extended length of time but it is only a temporary situation, we can arrange books or other library items to be delivered and picked up from home. Hip and knee replacements come to mind as patrons are out of commission for several months but will be able to jog to the library after recovering. Call the library at 250-428-4141 and ask for Darla if you would like to volunteer your time or would like to receive this library service.
Ann Day is the chief librarian at the Creston and District Public Library.