Some weeks at the library are just normal, so-so happenings. Other weeks are just over the top and this past week was an over the top week! We had many interesting people stop by who had not been in our new location. Without fail, these visitors are pleasantly surprised by what they find.
One of our visitors was a representative from the DAR -- Daughter's of the American Revolution. She was checking to see if a copy of book they were donating to the library had arrived. It had not and she very graciously came by later with that book. One of the Lucky Ones is the true World War II story of a Jewish Girl, Nicole Holland, in the French Resistance. The book was written by Brenda Hancock who is the daughter of Ms. Holland. It will be available for checkout this week. Thank you so much to the DAR for the donation of this book.
Wednesday Story Hour numbers are growing slowly. Hopefully the flu season will soon be over and the children and able to join us at 10:30 a.m. for the Story Hour.
Last Wednesday afternoon as Lee and I were heading to a used book sale at the Rogers Wellness Center, we received a cash donation of $60 with instructions to "buy books with it." We purchased 23 large print books and seven other books. The total for all the books came to exactly $60! A trip to The Friendly Book Store yielded a couple of bags of books for $11. Needless to say we were quite pleased with our purchases and the savings. Large print books are expensive -- $25 and up on average per book. I was told that people who need large print books are buying Nooks, etc. and reading "E" Books so they can adjust the font. My patrons do not want Nooks and "E" books -- they want to hold a "real" book!
The Benton County Literacy Council tutor continues to use the Quiet Room on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. We also have a college student tutoring a primary school student a couple of afternoons each week. Parents sometimes bring their young children in to read to them or just let them explore the children's area. This is what we envisioned for this library.
Saturday morning a group of Scouts led by Mr. Ewald and accompanied by some parents made their way up Curtis Avenue from the Intermediate School to the library picking up trash along the way. They also cleaned up the trash on the library parking lot and in our flower beds. Thank you, Scouts, for helping keep our city clean. We are also delighted that you all stopped in the library and took a look around. A total of 40 people made use of the library Saturday.
How many of you have seen or used coffee grinders? Our January display features coffee and tea items and books with these themes. Come see how people made coffee/tea before Mr. Coffee or Keruig's were invented.
See you at the library!
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Editor's note: Peggy Maddox is the librarian of the Pea Ridge Community Library. She can be reached at the library at 451-8442 or by mail at P.O. Box 9, Pea Ridge, AR 72751. Library hours are 1 p.m. until 8 p.m. Monday and Tuesday; 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday. The library web site is www.pearigecommunitylibrary.org and e-mail is [email protected]. The Pea Ridge Community Library has a Facebook site.
Editorial on 01/21/2015