It's already February in our office

     Sometimes working in our office is kinda scarey.  We have so much going on right now to wrap up January and get ready for February.
     On January 15th we had our Memoirs Writing Workshop, which was funded by a grant from the Georgia Humanities Council and the National Endowment for the Arts.  There's still work to be done to finalize all the paperwork and return such to the GHC.
     Our MCCLS Friends started their new year on January 24th with new officers and lots of ideas of what they want to do.  We are available to help them in any way, i.e., activities to help in the library, book reviews recommended by the Friends, fundraising projects, etc.
     A meeting was held today to plan for our "Home Front" event in June, which will allow the community to connect with the people who helped here at home during the many wars where we have been involved.
     The first day or two of February all the displays will be changed from blue and silver for January to red for February.  We'll put away all our blue books and pull out the red books.
     Because February is American Heart Month, we'll have a wall display about high blood pressure being a silent killer, and the nurses from Colquitt Regional Medical Center will do free blood pressure checks on February 8th from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. and then again on February 22nd from 1 to 3 p.m.
     February is also Library Lovers Month.  We'll have a display to let people know how they can contribute to the library and promote their library.  There will also be a list of "Best Reads for Romance," just in case anyone is interested in such a thing.
     Friday, February 4th, is National Wear Red Day and we will encourage everyone to wear their red what-evers.  It might be a shirt or pants or even earrings or a hat.  Just watch for the "wearing of the red."
     Of course, February is the month when the library boards meet.  The Odom Genealogical Library Board meets on Monday the 7th and the MCC Library Board meets on Thursday the 10th.
     There are also two FREE to the public and staff Webinars (these are seminars on the Web) during February.  The one on Wednesday the 2nd at 2 p.m. in the auditorium will be "Newspapers: Critical Resources to Complete Your Family Tree."  Then on Wednesday the 16th, also at 2 p.m. in the auditorium, the presentation will be "Chasing Women."  This is nothing risque.  It's about finding female relatives in your family through various sources...it's related to genealogy.
     We're also promoting an event to be held on Saturday the 26th.  Dr. Anne Holt will return to present "Are You Ready to Find a Publisher?"  The event will be from noon to 3 p.m. in the library classroom and will cost $30 per person.  Well worth your investment if you've written a novel and want to find a publisher.
     In the midst of all these various events and such, we are working on things like updating the Website, planning our May authors' event and our November Veterans' event, and researching all the other projects we have on our desks.
    Now, just so you don't think this is all work and no play, I have to tell you that we sometimes do find time for a little play.  Today our staff had a Soup Luncheon.  January is National Soup Month and we couldn't pass up this opportunity to share good eats.  We had "Red Curry Lentil Soup," "Potato Soup," and "Friendship Soup."  We also had cornbread, two kinds of crackers, two kinds of cheeses cheeses, pimento cheese sandwiches, and cookies for dessert.  And in February we're going to have a post-Valentine's Day Salad Get-together.
     I'm sure I've missed something we're doing.  It would be easy for another item to be overlooked.  But what do you want to bet it shows up before it's forgotten.
     Like I said earlier, my calendar says it's January 27th, but it's really February in our office of Library Information Services.