Be An Olympic Winner At Your Library

If you're like most of us sitting here somewhere in the United States, you've been watching the Summer Olympics in Beijing. I've watched it since the big beginning on Friday, with all the fireworks and millions of people doing fantastic things in the huge center ring of the "Birdsnest" stadium.

But before the Olympics began, we put up our bulletin board here in the library on the first day of August. It's designed to show you how you can "Be An Olympic Winner At Your Library."

Stuffed among the pictures of the Olympic flame, a gold medal, a torch carrier, the five Olympic rings, and the Beijing 2008 Olympic symbol are pictures of competitors from the Summer and Winter Olympics.

Each competitor has a tag that tells you how you can become an Olympic winner at your library, meaning this library, of course. For example, for:

• Speed skating -- You can take a tour of the library and familiarize yourself with where everything is located.
• Basketball -- You can ask questions of any staff employee, who will be glad to help you find the answer.
• Gymnastics -- You can gain knowledge in a multitude of ways that will help you in your daily living.
• Weight-lifting -- You can make copies of needed materials, except for those considered illegal, i.e., passports, money, driver's license.
• Hockey -- Children can come to the library to hear stories during the Summer Reading Program and at other special times.
• Swimming -- You can visit our website for a variety of information; just go to http://colquitt.k12.ga.us/pub_lib (there's an underscore line between pub and lib).
• Wrestling -- You can see different exhibits displayed at the library.
• Ice skating -- You can attend meetings held by civic organizations, clubs, and school groups.
• Skiing -- You can use one of our twenty Dell computers.
• Track -- You can read a variety of magazines and newspapers.
• Shot put -- You can visit the genealogy library and find your ancestors.

Our calendar shows a few other things also. Each month we put up the Genealogy Book Pick. For August it is Richmond County, Georgia, Land Records by Daniel N. Crumpton, RLS. You can ask Irene, our genealogist in the Odom Genealogical Library, about it. Our Children's Book Pick is Thank You, Mr. Falkner by Patricia Polacco. Ask Cray or Norma in the Children's Library about that book and others by Patricia Polacco. And we also put up the Bookmobile schedule.

So, the next time you're in the library, take a peek at the bulletin board. It's down the long white hall toward the genealogy library. You can't miss it. It's all lit up. And plan to "Be An Olympic Winner At Your Library."