Do I talk too much about books?
I mean, after all, we are a library full of those bound pieces of paper. And we do have stacks and stacks of them all over this building.
Last night while listening to TV, I read a short piece in an old magazine I'd kept for two years about electronic readers.
An electronic reader is supposed to do for books what the iPod did for music. (Yes? And that was?) You can purchase downloadable books for an average of $10. Now, that doesn't sound too bad.
With the Amazon Kindle, material is transmitted wirelessly in just a few seconds. You can access about 300,000 titles of not only books, but magazines, newspapers, and blogs. And the Kindle 2 only costs you $300. Now, that sounds
bad!
A Sony Reader requires a computer with a USB cable to download books from the Sony eBook Store. The Pocket costs only $200 and the Touch is $300. Wow! For me, that's not good either.
Even Barnes and Noble has an e-reader available for your iPhone, Blackberry, PC, or Mac. Their titles cost as little as 99 cents. However, if you're using these little devices, you need to be wary of sites where you can obtain books for free, because there could be copyright issues.
And now...now we have the iPad. Just came out.
Whatever happened to just plain old reading? That means picking up a bound stack of paper, still called a book, a plain old book, and reading it?
Someday we're going to miss sitting someplace, like the coffeehouse or park or in the sunshine on our front porch, and holding a great book, feeling the weight of its bound solidness, touching the smoothness of each page, and smelling that undeniable smell of a good paper
book.
It just doesn't feel the same when we hug an iPhone or iPad. There's something special about hugging a book and enjoying just plain old reading.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Janisse Ray Filled The Room!!!
I dreamed of Janisse Ray last night. No matter which way I turned in bed, I dreamed of her all night and the fantastic event we had right here in the Moultrie-Colquitt County Library. If you weren't able to attend, you missed a great evening with a highly popular Georgia writer.
In fact, if you weren't able to attend, you didn't see that Janisse Ray filled the room. We had people wall to wall and standing in the hallway, crowded up close to the double doors leading to the auditorium, straining their ears to not miss a single word she said.
And she said lots of words...
She quoted from her books Ecology of a Cracker Childhood and Wildcard Quilt. She talked about growing up in a junkyard, finding old lipsticks in junked cars to try on with her sister, and learning about trees and flowers from her favorite school teacher.
Of course, with her husband, Raven, close by, she admitted that he gave her permission to read about the 'gator guys she knew when she was still single. And we all laughed at her description of the guys. We even felt the fear she had felt as they roped a 'gater late one night, while she sat in the middle of the aluminum boat and saw the water splash high from the thrashing 'gater.
Oh, she knows how to tell a story!
Janisse Ray has won a Southeastern Booksellers Award in 1999, an American Book Award in 2000, the Southern Environmental Law Center 2000 Award for Outstanding Writing, and a Southern Book Critics Circle Award in 2000. Ecology of a Cracker Childhood was a New York Times Notable Book and was chosen as the Book All Georgians Should Read. Anne Raver of The New York Times said of Janisse Ray, "The forests of the South find their Rachel Carson."
Her essays have appeared in dozens of anthologies. She's been a radio commentator for Vermont and Georgia public radio. She's been a visiting professor at Coastal Carolina University, scholar-in-residence at Florida Gulf Coast University, and writer-in-residence at Keene State College and Green Mountain College. She was the John and Renee Grisham writer-in-residence for 2003-04 at the University of Mississippi.
I listened with the over 125 attendees last night to a tall, slender, dark-haired, dark-eyed young woman as she passionately talked about the longleaf pines, the rivers and mountains of Georgia, and how we as individuals should be working to save our world.
Now you know why I dreamed about Janisse Ray last night.
In fact, if you weren't able to attend, you didn't see that Janisse Ray filled the room. We had people wall to wall and standing in the hallway, crowded up close to the double doors leading to the auditorium, straining their ears to not miss a single word she said.
And she said lots of words...
She quoted from her books Ecology of a Cracker Childhood and Wildcard Quilt. She talked about growing up in a junkyard, finding old lipsticks in junked cars to try on with her sister, and learning about trees and flowers from her favorite school teacher.
Of course, with her husband, Raven, close by, she admitted that he gave her permission to read about the 'gator guys she knew when she was still single. And we all laughed at her description of the guys. We even felt the fear she had felt as they roped a 'gater late one night, while she sat in the middle of the aluminum boat and saw the water splash high from the thrashing 'gater.
Oh, she knows how to tell a story!
Janisse Ray has won a Southeastern Booksellers Award in 1999, an American Book Award in 2000, the Southern Environmental Law Center 2000 Award for Outstanding Writing, and a Southern Book Critics Circle Award in 2000. Ecology of a Cracker Childhood was a New York Times Notable Book and was chosen as the Book All Georgians Should Read. Anne Raver of The New York Times said of Janisse Ray, "The forests of the South find their Rachel Carson."
Her essays have appeared in dozens of anthologies. She's been a radio commentator for Vermont and Georgia public radio. She's been a visiting professor at Coastal Carolina University, scholar-in-residence at Florida Gulf Coast University, and writer-in-residence at Keene State College and Green Mountain College. She was the John and Renee Grisham writer-in-residence for 2003-04 at the University of Mississippi.
I listened with the over 125 attendees last night to a tall, slender, dark-haired, dark-eyed young woman as she passionately talked about the longleaf pines, the rivers and mountains of Georgia, and how we as individuals should be working to save our world.
Now you know why I dreamed about Janisse Ray last night.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Tax Forms Are Here!
Finally! The new tax forms are here!
You have no idea how we've been waiting for them to arrive. Well...I guess some of you have been waiting just as much as we have. This is undoubtedly the busiest place in town for the public to pick up their much-needed tax forms every year.
In fact, this morning at 9:30 we had a gentleman come in and ask where the AARP Tax Aide volunteers are. He was ready to have his taxes done! And it's not even time for the volunteers to be here.
Made me wonder how many other people out there already have their paperwork all together to have their taxes done. I'm almost there, but not quite.
Anyhow, we now have reproducible copies of Federal Tax Forms and Instructions.
We have the 1040, 1040A, 1040EZ, and Tax Instruction booklets, as well as most other forms, including the Georgia forms.
You have to remember now, these forms are for the public only. People who prepare taxes for others must obtain their own forms, but not through the library.
If you have any questions, you can call the library at 229-985-6540. Other forms needed can be pulled up on the magical Web. We'll be glad to help you in any way we can.
You have no idea how we've been waiting for them to arrive. Well...I guess some of you have been waiting just as much as we have. This is undoubtedly the busiest place in town for the public to pick up their much-needed tax forms every year.
In fact, this morning at 9:30 we had a gentleman come in and ask where the AARP Tax Aide volunteers are. He was ready to have his taxes done! And it's not even time for the volunteers to be here.
Made me wonder how many other people out there already have their paperwork all together to have their taxes done. I'm almost there, but not quite.
Anyhow, we now have reproducible copies of Federal Tax Forms and Instructions.
We have the 1040, 1040A, 1040EZ, and Tax Instruction booklets, as well as most other forms, including the Georgia forms.
You have to remember now, these forms are for the public only. People who prepare taxes for others must obtain their own forms, but not through the library.
If you have any questions, you can call the library at 229-985-6540. Other forms needed can be pulled up on the magical Web. We'll be glad to help you in any way we can.
Friday, January 22, 2010
Here's Some Other Dates For Your Calendar
We sat around here the other day with the Director and planned our calendar for the year. If we don't do that, we can be "dead-in-the-water" at some of the most important times. (Sailboat owners know about being "dead-in-the-water"; of course, some other people may have a different explanation for the saying.)
Our calendars that are provided for us have all the national holidays included. They're the kind of calendars given out by banks, funeral homes, and realtors. The nice thing about them is the huge square for each day, big enough for us to write all our daily events.
Even though most of the things we write on our calendars are what we need to do at the library at a certain time, there are a few times when we post fliers to let you know the dates our doors will be closed.
It's those dates you need to add to your calendar. So, here they are:
January - Of course, that's gone, but we did reopen after the holidays on January 4th. And we were closed for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day on the 18th.
February - Mark Monday, February 15th, down as Presidents' Day when we're closed.
May - We're closed on Monday, May 31st, for the observance of Memorial Day.
July - Another Monday we're closed...July 5th to observe Independence Day.
August - Every year we close for Inventory Week. This year it will be Monday the 2nd through Friday the 6th. We'll reopen on Saturday the 7th.
September - Monday the 6th, we're closed for observance of Labor Day.
November - Thanksgiving holidays when we're closed will be Wednesday the 24th through the 27th. We'll reopen on Monday the 29th. (Of course, we're closed on the 28th, because we're always closed on Sundays.)
December - January - For the Christmas holidays, we'll be closed Monday, December 20th, through January 2, 2011. We'll reopen on Monday the 3rd.
Also, if you're interested, we have a few more very important dates you can add to your calendar.
Our Friends of the Library meet the last Monday of every month, except when we're closed for holidays.
Beginning Tuesday, February 2nd, through Tuesday, April 13th, the AARP Tax Aide Volunteers will be in the auditorium to help taxpayers file their taxes. Also on the Tuesdays of February 9th and 23rd, the CRMC Corporate Health Nurses will be here to do blood pressure checks. That's a great thing to have done before or after you file your taxes!
On May 22nd, the library and the R. J. Taylor Foundation will sponsor a "Genealogy Writing and Publishing Workshop." On the 27th, the library's third annual "Books & Bites" authors' event will take place.
And on Friday, November 12th, the annual Veterans' Coffee will be held in the auditorium.
We hope this list will help you know when the library is closed, and also help you mark those important events you'll want to be part of. It's great fun planning for our patrons. We try to make your library-life an interesting one.
Let us know if there are other dates you think we should include on the library calendar.
Our calendars that are provided for us have all the national holidays included. They're the kind of calendars given out by banks, funeral homes, and realtors. The nice thing about them is the huge square for each day, big enough for us to write all our daily events.
Even though most of the things we write on our calendars are what we need to do at the library at a certain time, there are a few times when we post fliers to let you know the dates our doors will be closed.
It's those dates you need to add to your calendar. So, here they are:
January - Of course, that's gone, but we did reopen after the holidays on January 4th. And we were closed for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day on the 18th.
February - Mark Monday, February 15th, down as Presidents' Day when we're closed.
May - We're closed on Monday, May 31st, for the observance of Memorial Day.
July - Another Monday we're closed...July 5th to observe Independence Day.
August - Every year we close for Inventory Week. This year it will be Monday the 2nd through Friday the 6th. We'll reopen on Saturday the 7th.
September - Monday the 6th, we're closed for observance of Labor Day.
November - Thanksgiving holidays when we're closed will be Wednesday the 24th through the 27th. We'll reopen on Monday the 29th. (Of course, we're closed on the 28th, because we're always closed on Sundays.)
December - January - For the Christmas holidays, we'll be closed Monday, December 20th, through January 2, 2011. We'll reopen on Monday the 3rd.
Also, if you're interested, we have a few more very important dates you can add to your calendar.
Our Friends of the Library meet the last Monday of every month, except when we're closed for holidays.
Beginning Tuesday, February 2nd, through Tuesday, April 13th, the AARP Tax Aide Volunteers will be in the auditorium to help taxpayers file their taxes. Also on the Tuesdays of February 9th and 23rd, the CRMC Corporate Health Nurses will be here to do blood pressure checks. That's a great thing to have done before or after you file your taxes!
On May 22nd, the library and the R. J. Taylor Foundation will sponsor a "Genealogy Writing and Publishing Workshop." On the 27th, the library's third annual "Books & Bites" authors' event will take place.
And on Friday, November 12th, the annual Veterans' Coffee will be held in the auditorium.
We hope this list will help you know when the library is closed, and also help you mark those important events you'll want to be part of. It's great fun planning for our patrons. We try to make your library-life an interesting one.
Let us know if there are other dates you think we should include on the library calendar.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Mark January 26th On Your Calendar
There was a nice write-up in The Moultrie Observer today about Janisse Ray. It was on the front page, "Nature friend, author plans Moultrie lecture." And the Albany Herald contacted our webmaster for more information about the event.
So, we're getting excited about Ms. Ray being in Moultrie on Tuesday, January 26th.
The Georgia Center for the Book, with the support of the Georgia Humanities Council, the Moultrie-Colquitt County Library System, and the Moultrie Chapter of the Georgia Conservancy, is providing for Janisse Ray to present a free public lecture and book-signing on the 26th at 7 p.m. in the library auditorium. The address is 204 5th Street, S.E., in Moultrie. The phone number, in the event you need more information, is 229-985-6540.
If you've never read one of Ms. Ray's books, then you've missed a real treat about the State of Georgia. She's a woman who writes about family ties, mental illness, poverty, fundamentalist religion, and preserving the ecosystems of the Southeast.
Ms. Ray was born in Baxley, GA, and is an environmentalist activist, poet, memorist, and the award-winning author of Ecology of a Cracker Childhood. The memoir is about her life as she grew up in a junkyard, as well as the longleaf pine ecosystem, the Gopher Tortoise, and the streams and rivers near the Georgia
coastline.
She's also written Wildcard Quilt: Taking a Chance on Home and Pinhook: Finding a Wholeness in a Fragmented Land. She co-edited Between Two Rivers: Stories from the Red Hills to the
Gulf.
As an organizer and activist, she works to create sustainable communities, local food systems, a stable global climate, intact ecosystems,clean rivers, life-enhancing economies, and participatory democracy. She's definitely a leader in her chosen field of writing and the environment.
There are way too many awards to tell you about here and way too many places to list where she's taught as a writer. It's easier to tell you that Ms. Ray tries her best to live a simple, sustainable life on a family farm in southern Georgia with her husband, Raven Waters. She's an organic gardner, tender of farm animals, slow-food cook, and seed-saver. She's a lecturer on topics that appeal to everyone, but especially on saving our world.
Plan now to attend this enlightening lecture by one of Georgia's most popular authors, one whose name is on the list of 25 Georgia authors you should be reading.
Mark your calendar now for Tuesday, January 26th, at 7 p.m. at the Moultrie-Colquitt County Library auditorium.
So, we're getting excited about Ms. Ray being in Moultrie on Tuesday, January 26th.
The Georgia Center for the Book, with the support of the Georgia Humanities Council, the Moultrie-Colquitt County Library System, and the Moultrie Chapter of the Georgia Conservancy, is providing for Janisse Ray to present a free public lecture and book-signing on the 26th at 7 p.m. in the library auditorium. The address is 204 5th Street, S.E., in Moultrie. The phone number, in the event you need more information, is 229-985-6540.
If you've never read one of Ms. Ray's books, then you've missed a real treat about the State of Georgia. She's a woman who writes about family ties, mental illness, poverty, fundamentalist religion, and preserving the ecosystems of the Southeast.
Ms. Ray was born in Baxley, GA, and is an environmentalist activist, poet, memorist, and the award-winning author of Ecology of a Cracker Childhood. The memoir is about her life as she grew up in a junkyard, as well as the longleaf pine ecosystem, the Gopher Tortoise, and the streams and rivers near the Georgia
coastline.
She's also written Wildcard Quilt: Taking a Chance on Home and Pinhook: Finding a Wholeness in a Fragmented Land. She co-edited Between Two Rivers: Stories from the Red Hills to the
Gulf.
As an organizer and activist, she works to create sustainable communities, local food systems, a stable global climate, intact ecosystems,clean rivers, life-enhancing economies, and participatory democracy. She's definitely a leader in her chosen field of writing and the environment.
There are way too many awards to tell you about here and way too many places to list where she's taught as a writer. It's easier to tell you that Ms. Ray tries her best to live a simple, sustainable life on a family farm in southern Georgia with her husband, Raven Waters. She's an organic gardner, tender of farm animals, slow-food cook, and seed-saver. She's a lecturer on topics that appeal to everyone, but especially on saving our world.
Plan now to attend this enlightening lecture by one of Georgia's most popular authors, one whose name is on the list of 25 Georgia authors you should be reading.
Mark your calendar now for Tuesday, January 26th, at 7 p.m. at the Moultrie-Colquitt County Library auditorium.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Six Days And Counting Down...
That's right! We are counting down until our visit from Janisse Ray, popular Georgia author and one of the 25 Georgia authors you should read as recommended by The Georgia Center for the
Book.
Since I had a virus eat my computer today and time is now short, I'll tell you more about her tomorrow. Bummer, huh?
Stay tuned right here. Tomorrow you'll find out all about Janisse Ray and the opportunity you'll have to see her at the Moultrie-Colquitt County Library.
Book.
Since I had a virus eat my computer today and time is now short, I'll tell you more about her tomorrow. Bummer, huh?
Stay tuned right here. Tomorrow you'll find out all about Janisse Ray and the opportunity you'll have to see her at the Moultrie-Colquitt County Library.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Poor With Money, Rich With Books
Are you like me at this time of the year...trying to keep a tight hand on spending? There are no pennies for that yummy flavored coffee from the fast food place. Or for the latest magazine I love from the supermarket!
But there's one thing I will spend my pennies on. That's why I want to tell you about the elephants I bought for a dollar.
I'm a passionate reader and although I may be poor with money, I'm rich with books. Occasionally I'll spend a few pennies to buy a book I've been wanting to read, especially if I see it on a sale shelf and want it in my home bookcase. And that's what I did this morning.
The book I purchased for $1.00 this morning is Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen. (See, I told you I'd bought elephants!) I'd heard about it for so long, and so many of our book club members had read it, that when I found it, I knew I had to have it.
Where did I get this book for only $1.00? At a place where books are cheaper than they are at Goodwill! Our public library!
Look at these great books on our sale racks:
*Big Stone Gap by Adriana Trigiani
*Virgin and Martyr, Angels of September, both by Andrew M. Greeley
*Double Shot by Diane Mott Davidson
*Nighttime Is My Time, Kitchen Privileges, both by Mary Higgins Clark
*The Villa, Three Fates, both by Nora Roberts
*L. A. Dead by Stuart Woods
*Blessings by Anna Quindlen
*A Bend in the Road, Message in a Bottle, both by Nicholas Sparks
*The Woods by Harlen Coben
*Slow Waltz in Cedar Bend by Robert James Waller
*Kill Two Birds and Get Stoned by Kinky Friedman, and
*The Bluebird and the Sparrow by Janette Oke.
There are also books by Anne Perry, Tony Hillerman, Jude Deveraux, Jan Karon, Judith Frantz, and Maeve Binchy.
No book is over $1.00. Some hardbacks are for only 25 cents, with paperbacks for only 10 cents.
So, if you're poor with money, but still want to read great books and keep them for your bookcase at home, the Moultrie-Colquitt County Library is the place to shop.
It's where you'll be able to spend those pennies wisely and be rich with books.
(Now don't forget...you can still use your library card for an even greater selection of favorites and new titles to read, plus check out books on CD and large print books.)
But there's one thing I will spend my pennies on. That's why I want to tell you about the elephants I bought for a dollar.
I'm a passionate reader and although I may be poor with money, I'm rich with books. Occasionally I'll spend a few pennies to buy a book I've been wanting to read, especially if I see it on a sale shelf and want it in my home bookcase. And that's what I did this morning.
The book I purchased for $1.00 this morning is Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen. (See, I told you I'd bought elephants!) I'd heard about it for so long, and so many of our book club members had read it, that when I found it, I knew I had to have it.
Where did I get this book for only $1.00? At a place where books are cheaper than they are at Goodwill! Our public library!
Look at these great books on our sale racks:
*Big Stone Gap by Adriana Trigiani
*Virgin and Martyr, Angels of September, both by Andrew M. Greeley
*Double Shot by Diane Mott Davidson
*Nighttime Is My Time, Kitchen Privileges, both by Mary Higgins Clark
*The Villa, Three Fates, both by Nora Roberts
*L. A. Dead by Stuart Woods
*Blessings by Anna Quindlen
*A Bend in the Road, Message in a Bottle, both by Nicholas Sparks
*The Woods by Harlen Coben
*Slow Waltz in Cedar Bend by Robert James Waller
*Kill Two Birds and Get Stoned by Kinky Friedman, and
*The Bluebird and the Sparrow by Janette Oke.
There are also books by Anne Perry, Tony Hillerman, Jude Deveraux, Jan Karon, Judith Frantz, and Maeve Binchy.
No book is over $1.00. Some hardbacks are for only 25 cents, with paperbacks for only 10 cents.
So, if you're poor with money, but still want to read great books and keep them for your bookcase at home, the Moultrie-Colquitt County Library is the place to shop.
It's where you'll be able to spend those pennies wisely and be rich with books.
(Now don't forget...you can still use your library card for an even greater selection of favorites and new titles to read, plus check out books on CD and large print books.)
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