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Friends,
And another year begins… 2019 is well underway, so we’re looking forward to all the programs and projects you helped us create in our current strategic plan. Our main focus areas will continue to be innovative programming, homework help, building connections in the community, and providing a comfortable space for all ages to enjoy.
To that end, you’ll be hearing a lot this year about a “Space Usability Study” that we will be undertaking with assistance from the State Library of Ohio. The study will help us determine how best to use the space in our very challenging (but loved!) building in ways that make the most sense in 2019. You might be asked to participate by survey or focus group meeting, and I encourage your participation in this process. It makes no sense to repurpose a room for a teen area, if our patrons instead would prefer a “makerspace” area.
If you remember from last month, I intend to push and cajole you this year to develop a reading habit, if you haven’t already done so. I just read that Thomas Edison’s practice was to read a pile of books one foot high each week, which is certainly a loftier goal than I can attain and still hold down a job! If you need more convincing, consider a list I just found called “Why reading makes you a better person, according to science.” OK, truth be told, I found it in Southern Living, but it cites reputable studies. Just by becoming a reader, studies have shown that you can be smarter, more open-minded and creative, happier, more empathetic, less stressed, protect your memory, lessen your chance of Alzheimer’s, and live longer! Who wouldn’t want THAT as a goal? So remember — 15 minutes a day!
The books I’ve found most interesting this month are quite the mix. Michel Faber’s The Book of Strange New Things I devoured in two full 8-hour days of reading over the holidays! It was that mesmerizing, but, yes, strange. It is not for everyone. A plot summary makes it sound like a science fiction story about what befalls a Christian missionary to native creatures on a far-distant world, but at the core it’s the story of a marriage trying to survive that separation. Knowing that Faber was losing his young wife to cancer while writing the book made complete sense.
To head in a completely different direction, I turned to a favorite author, Diane Setterfield, who just released her new historical fiction, Once Upon a River. The body of water in question is the Thames, and what happens upon it involves a little girl who appeared dead washing up on the dark shore at an ancient inn known for storytelling. Soon, a wealthy family whose daughter was lost and two other claimants “recognize” her as their child. Just-developing scientific methods vie for a place amid superstition and classism. Extremely satisfying. (If you haven’t read Setterfield’s older Gothic The Thirteenth Tale, let us get it for you through Search Ohio.)
Keep warm, and enjoy a good book in your cozy chair.
Sherie Brown, Director
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