Okay, Georgia...this is for you!

     Last week a coworker gave me a great bunch of facts about our public libraries in Georgia.  They are actually from the Georgia Public Library Service, but, I'll tell you, some of them just blow my mind!
     Did you know that during FY2011, every dollar that was invested in Georgia's public libraries provided a return on investment of $6.48?  Does that seem like a lot to you?  Or just a little?                   
     Did you know that in FY2011, Georgians checked out more than 45.7 million items from their public libraries?
     Did you know that public libraries are the number one point of online access for people without Internet connections at home, school or work?  That 100% of Georgia's public libraries provide free high-speed Internet access to the public?
     Did you know that Americans visit libraries more than twice as often as movie theaters?
     I know that's a lot of information to soak up, but look at this...and I'll make it as plain as possible.

     The number of annual visitors to Georgia's public libraries in FY2011 far exceeds the number of visitors to many of the state's other attractions - combined; such as

• Georgia's public libraries: 34.6 million
• Overnight visitors to the city of Savannah: 6.5 million
• Stone Mountain Park: 4 million
• Centennial Olympic Park: 3 million
• Events at the Georgia World Congress Center and the Georgia Dome: 2.4 milion
• Georgia Aquarium: 2.3 million
• UGA and Georgia Tech home football games: 835,000
• Zoo Atlanta: 770,000
• Atlanta Hawks home games: 641,000.

     And Georgians value the benefits that their public library cards provide.

• Georgia's population: 10.2 million
• Georgia's total households: 4 million
• Number of Georgians with library cards: 4.5 million
• Number of Georgians with PINES cards (that's what we have): 2.6 million.

     Did you know that Georgians believe their public libraries are a vital part of their communities?  NO? Well, look at this:

• 3,055 Georgians work in public libraries (that includes me)
• 2,500+ Georgians volunteer with public libraries as members of local "Friends of the Library" organizations (we have a place for you in our MCCLS Friends, too)
• 1,960 Georgians serve as trustees for local public libraries (have you checked out our Board members page on the home page of our website?).

     And last but not least, public libraries are accessible to virtually every community in Georgia.
In Georgia, there are:

• 405 public library branches and service outlets
• 214 communities with a public golf course
• 211 Starbucks stores
• 179 Publix grocery stores
• 140 Walmart stores
• 65 state parks.

     Are you wondering where all this information came from through the Georgia Public Library Service?  The sources are the Georgia Public Library Statistics FY2011, the Georgia Department of Economic Development, and various retailers' websites and annual reports.
     If you want to learn more about Georgia libraries, go to their website (www.georgialibraries.org) and see what else you can learn.
    Because you see, we are all about learning!  We are just full of knowledge!  And we're here to share with you!

How's the stress in your life?

     This is National Heart Month, so I bring this information to you as a public service!

     I have a friend who saves articles and clippings from newspapers, magazines, and many other places I don't even know about.  Last week she passed to me an article (yellowing and crumpled) from a newspaper (do not know which) that told about a woman named Rhett Crowe who leads a yoga class while sitting in chairs.  It's a class to minimize workplace stress, but it probably would help in most places you frequent.  The side bar listed some of the stress busters that she offers as tips.  And I'm going to share them with you today, because - after all - it is National Heart Month and we need to save your heart!

     When you feel stress rising:
     * Do a few simple stretches
     * Take 10 deep, slow breaths through your nose
     * Try to shut out your racing thoughts by concentrating on your
        breathing
     * Envision yourself in a nurturing environment
     * Remember that you are more effective when not under stress (yeah,
        right!); you can take two minutes to regroup
     Ways to help prevent future stress:
     * Exercise regularly; even walking 15 minutes a day makes a difference
     * Eat a healthy and balanced diet
     * Get enough sleep
     * Meditate regularly so you can quiet your mind more easily when it
        begins to race
     * Write down what you really want out of your life - are your actions
        helping or hurting that goal?
     * Put setbacks in perspective; they probably won't ruin your life.

     So, now you have some tips to help lower your blood pressure, reduce stress, and hopefully create some peace in your life.

     And if you'd like to have your blood pressure checked for free, come to the library on Tuesday, February 14, from 9:45 to 11:45, or (and) on Tuesday, February 28, from 1:30 to 3:30.  A nurse from Colquitt Regional Medical Center will be available to check that blood pressure and let you know the results.

     While you're here, be sure to check out a good book to read or an audio tape to listen to.  You'd be surprised how much reading, getting into a good book with your imagination, will help reduce the stress in your life.  That's why there are so many book clubs!  Ever think about that?

We're highlighting two events this month

     This month we're recognizing not only Valentine's Day and Presidents' Day, but we're celebrating Black History Month, as well as making you aware of National Heart Month.
Black History Month

• In the Odom Genealogical Library, we've placed a poster provided by the National Endowment of the Humanities from their "Picturing America" series.  On an easel near the entrance is the picture of the painting "Ladder for Booker T. Washington, 1996" by Martin Puryear.  The display includes questions and answers that help us understand the various aspects of this painting.
• In the hallway between the Odom Library and the public library, a poster titled "Explore Black History" shows pictures of several famous African Americans.  To one side of the poster is a list of African American authors.  To the other side of the poster is a list of known African American inventors from 1845 to 1980, with the name of the invention, patent number and date issued.
• The lighted cases in the main foyer hold items provided by Keva Williams and Monique Green.  Photographs are of Keva's grandfather, grandmothers, the Esquire Club Ball and Moultrie High for Negro Youth students (circa 1947-1952), plus various personal artifacts.  The foyer table highlights an African dress and head scarf made by Keva's mother, Avanell Williams.  Books written by African American authors surround the dress.  Also, handouts of Black History puzzles, which were provided by Cray Brooks, are on the table.

National Heart Month

• In the lighted case off the connecting hallway between the libraries, there is a National Heart Month display with information concerning congestive heart failure and what you can do to prevent a heart attack.
• In several areas of the library are displays regarding The Yale Heart Study.  Sharing your heart attack experience can help others.  Information is needed concerning how you obtained medical care during that experience.  To participate in the online survey, go to heartstudy.yale.edu.
• Also, free blood pressure checks will be provided this month by a Colquitt Regional Medical Center nurse in the adult reading area on Tuesday, February 14, 9:45 to 11:45 a.m., and again on Tuesday, February 28, 1:30 to 3:30 p.m.  Free informational handouts will be available to the public.

Don't forget to look at our "Friends Book Recommendations" shelf, which holds four great Valentine reads.  And in the aisle on the way to the Children's Library, we have a display table filled with Valentine reads..."From Our Heart To Yours."

So, how did the workshop go? you ask.

     Well, I have to tell you that it was just fabulous!
     Author, activist, and environmentalist Janisse Ray presented an outstanding workshop Saturday, the 21st.  It was exactly what many of our writing friends had wanted...memoirs and creative nonfiction.
     Twenty-four people from Moultrie, Tifton, Thomasville, Albany, and even Newton, Georgia, showed up for the almost six-hour workshop and, believe me, they were not disappointed.
     Janisse not only talked about her own writing experiences, her books, her MFA instructor and exercises, her sustainable farm and her son, but she gave us pointers on how to uncap our memories and write about them.
     The exercises were thought-provoking...such as, list what you obsess about, which also made us wonder about our passions.  We pondered about things we didn't want to write about, the things we knew we should write about, and the difference between memoirs and creative nonfiction.
     We worked hard for three hours, then broke for lunch, and came back to learn more.  We shared our writings, shared our frustrations and desires, and we formed a really wonderful writing community.  We left the workshop with tools in hand and ideas in mind.
     We've had many folks ask us when we're going to have another Janisse Ray writing workshop, and we've had to say, "Whenever she has the time."  Janisse's schedule is one I would not want to follow.  She's traveling, reviewing her books, giving workshops, and still trying to maintain a healthy home lifestyle (and stay sane!).
     Sometime this year we will again have Janisse here.  She has a new book about seed saving coming out in July (The Seed Underground: an Outlandish Revolution to Save Food).  Hang in there if you're interested in another event of writing or book reviewing.  We're working on it.  In the meantime, enjoy her website.
(website: www.janisseray.weebly.com)

It's nice to see you're there.

     For as long as we've been the MCCLS Bookworm, we've known you're out there, even if we don't receive comments from you.  That's all right, you see, because we know if you really have something to say, you will.
     But occasionally I like to check the Stats that Blogger offers to those of us who use this program.  In fact, occasionally we give the information to our Library Board members.  It gives us a better insight into where you are and what you're interested in by reading about our library.
     Now, we're not a very big library, but "big enough," as they say.
     Moultrie, Georgia's latest population count was 15,500.  We're about 59 miles from Tallahassee, Florida to the south and 113 miles from Columbus, Georgia to the northwest.  And to the north, as my friends say, we're about 3-1/2 to 4 hours from Atlanta.  (Sometimes it's easier to tell you how far away we are from some place by using hours instead of miles.) 
     The higher powers that be have estimated that in the first five years of the past decade the population of Moultrie has grown by about 4%.  And that since 2005 Moultrie's population has grown by about 6%.
     That being said, it's amazing to me that our Blogger audience statistics show that you, who are reading this blog, are not only from the United States, but India, Russia, Germany, China, France, Ukraine, and Greece, as well as the Netherlands, United Kingdom, Israel, Brazil, Canada and Iran.
     And you're using as your browsers the Internet (49%), Firefox, Mobile Safari, Opera, Chrome, Safari, and NS8.
     The operating systems you're using are not only Windows (67%), Linux (17%), Android (11%), and Macintosh (3%), but you're using iPads, iPhones, Blackberrys, Nokias, and iPods.  Isn't that interesting?
     Our Board members were delighted to know that people from all those countries are reading our blog.  And I have to say, I was really delighted to know that so many people are using their iPads, iPods, and iPhones to read it.  I sure hope that's not out of boredom, while their riding in their carpools, golf carts, or subway trains.  But then, I really don't care where you are reading it, just as long as you're reading it.  Bathrooms, included.
     Comments are appreciated, of course.  However, one friend told me that she doesn't feel she has to respond.  She said she just likes to read about what we're doing here.  If we have certain displays that interest her, or some good book on our shelf I've talked about, or an event she'd like to attend, then she said she's on her way to the library, coming to visit us in person.
     So...it's nice to see you're there.  Even if you can't come visit us in person. We welcome you each time you come for a visit and hope you take away with you some bit of information that will make your day a little brighter.
     Friends around the world.  I like that idea.  It's nice to see you're there.

Has a library changed your life?

     Once in a while, I get the chance to read other websites and blogs.  Today I clicked on ilovelibraries.org, a place that I find interesting since it's library-related.
     I read the article "How a library changed my life" by a young woman from India.  And it got me to thinking.
     Has a library changed my life?  And has changed your life?
     When I was growing up, I don't remember my mother or father taking me to a library.  I remember reading lots of books, but I don't really remember where I got my reading material.  Except, of course, for what we called "funny books," comics later, graphic novels now.
     So, I must have taken home books from my school library.
     As I look back over my life, it must have been when I had my own children that the library became important.
     I know I read to them, especially at nap time.  And later with the younger ones, anytime we could sit down together on the couch and share even the comics of the Sunday paper.
     So, when did the library really change my life?  When did books, and reading materials, and the quietness of a place to sit and read, really enter my life?
     I seem to remember every time I moved to another city, which was after I married, I sought out the local library.  Some were very small, pieced together by the faithful few who cared about books and  people reading.  Some were large city libraries; the kinds with long, marble steps up to the double-wide doors and big open foyers.
     A small one was in the city of Ralston, Nebraska.  It was all on one floor for the public; storage in the basement.  It was actually one big room, divided by what I then called bookshelves, now call stacks.  (But I understand we're going back to the user-friendly word bookshelves.)
    A really big library was in Dallas, Texas; a place where it was easy to get lost and where it was difficult to find the restrooms.  That was then, however.  I'm sure their signage has improved that problem.
     As I moved, I frequented the libraries even more.  They became an obsession to find, to visit, to sit in and enjoy just being there.  I not only went to read, but to write and to get away into a quiet space for an hour or two.
     College libraries, oh yes.  There were even those.  In fact, I remember working at a college bookstore and envying those with the time to pick out various books they were required to read and actually having the time to read them!
     I guess a library really changed my life when I went to work at one in a small Illinois town.  It was a Dale Carnegie library...had the round dome and everything.  It was a two story building.  The main library was on the upper floor (up those marble steps, you see).  The children's library and a large meeting room was in the basement.  I was hired to straighten and clean the books and shelves, and to help patrons return their books and check out new ones.  And one week, when the cleaning lady was sick, I was paid to clean the entire library, top to bottom (that included the bathrooms).  Yes, maybe that was when a library changed my life.
     I not only checked out books from that library to read, but I checked out their videos and magazines; I went to meetings in the large meeting room in the basement; I sat at the tables in the main library and wrote stories; I snooped through all the old donated books; and I used one of their three computers when I got curious about something I couldn't find in a book.  I also became an advocate for the library.
     Then I moved from Illinois to where I am now and knew that I wanted to work at the Moultrie-Colquitt County Library.  Of course, I didn't have a degree in Library Science, but I had other talents and skills I could offer.  So, I applied.  And one day I was hired.  And today, here I sit.
     It was the best move of my life.  I feel I'm where I belong, where I've always loved, where I've always wanted to be.  In a library.  And this is a good one, a really good one.
     Did a library change my life?  I believe so, in more ways than I could put down right here.
     So, I take every opportunity I have to tell others in our community to visit our library...their library.  It may change their lives also.
     Now, how about you?  Do you have a story to share?  Has a library changed your life?  Why not share it with us here?  I'll be watching for you.

Filling in the blanks

     Every year our director gives us a new calendar.  For the past two years, they've been green.  Before that they were wine-colored.  And every year in January I know I have lots of blanks to fill in.
     You see, I'm one of those people who takes last year's calendar, puts it beside this year's, and starts transferring reoccurring events, noteworthy notes, and other stuff that I just must remember.  Do you do that?  Well, if I didn't, I wouldn't be able to function here at work.  Things would just slip past me (like they did the other day when I didn't have on my calendar to make the signs to post for our Monday, January 16th, closing for the observance of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday).
     Anyway, today has been my day of "filling in the blanks" on my new calendar.
     And you know what?  I didn't realize how much stuff we did last year!
     My son-in-law used to tell me that my house calendar read like a diary.  Well, you should see my work calendar!  It's definitely one I don't want everyone to see.  It is one of the most marked up tools I've ever had and one of the most used tools I've ever used.
     And the Day Planner in my purse looks just about the same way.
     It's beginning to sound like I'm a compulsive planner, huh?  My daughter says I'm just organized.
     I don't think I'm a compulsive planner.  But I sure hate to miss a meeting I was supposed to go to, or forget to put up a sign that the public needs to read, or forget to plan for Black History Month or National Library Week or the Summer Reading Program.
     See what I mean?
     Well, it's already 3:15 p.m. and I'm only into August.  During that month we close for a week for inventory, when we do all the yearly cleaning and weeding of books, etc.  When maintenance comes to do their annual inspection, cleaning and repairing (other than when we call for help right now).  When we all pitch in to dust, rearrange, and check on all kinds of equipment.
     We have lots of good things planned for this year that I put on my calendar.  And of course, there will be some things I don't have on there that we haven't even dreamed up yet that will be exciting for our patrons and the community in general.
     I think it's going to be an exciting year, but then I think that every year.  This is the one place where I've enjoyed working more than anywhere else.  I suppose my calendar shows me that.
     But, boy! I'll tell you.  If I didn't have that calendar I wouldn't remember that next week we have to mail the fliers for the Janisse Ray writers workshop (which is already filled a week ahead of the event) or get the staff newsletter to our director or send out the February Board meeting announcements or...or...or....