Care of Books and Other Items

If any of you have been to the library lately, you've no doubt noticed that our back door, normally used by the staff, has become our main door.  That's because a frozen water pipe burst upstairs in the atrium several weeks ago, sending water cascading down the stairs into the lobby area and into our library entryway.  As a result, the floor in the lobby was badly damaged and is in the middle of being repaired, a rather lengthy process.  Luckily for the library, our carpet just needed drying and no books were damaged since they were not in the area where there was water.

In light of this recent incident, though, I thought it would be a good time to discuss how important it is to take care of library books and other items so that patrons can continue to enjoy using these things for a long time to come.

Water is not a friend of books or audiovisual materials.  When water is spilled on a book, the pages get stiff once they dry and it's difficult to turn the pages.  Water can also cause mold in books, therefore causing a health threat.  DVDs and Playaways fare no better, failing to play or function.

Besides water, food is also no friend to library materials.  I love munching on a succulent snack while reading a book just as much as the next person, but be careful not to share that snack with your literary companion.  I can't tell you how disgusting it is to get items back with food smeared on the pages or the audiovisual cases.  Nobody likes to touch someone else's sticky leftovers, so please do be careful with your library materials when you have food or drinks around.

There are other threats out there to library items (i.e., the dog, the cat, the baby, termites, etc.), but I'm not going to bore you by reciting them all.  The take home message I'd like to impart is to treat your library materials with care.  They are precious and sometimes irreplaceable.

My usual 2 cents from the perch.

Valentine's Day Help

Hey ho from the perch to all you romantics out there!  Short on cash but still want to do something special for your Valentine?  Never fear!  Perch Librarian is here to help you do something sweet for your sweetie!

The library has plenty of FREE things to help you celebrate a great Valentine's Day.  We have some great romantic movies to watch while you cuddle and snuggle up with your pooh bear.  Try a classic like Casablanca, An Affair to Remember, or The African Queen.  Not up for the Classics?  Then go for Ghost, The Notebook, or Titanic.  We have all our romance DVDs marked with a pink "Romance" dot to help you pick them out.

Want to create "the mood" over dinner?  The library has a lot of great music CDs to listen to while you tantalize your lovey's taste buds.  We got Frank Sinatra, we got Barbra Streisand, we got Rod Stewart, we got Natalie Cole, we got Michael Buble...I'm already starting to swoon and I haven't yet mentioned all the easy listening we have!

Maybe you really want to surprise him or her?  How about checking out a poetry book and reciting some love verses to let that special someone know how you really feel?  Take a look at our Shakespeare and John Donne offerings as well as our other collections of love poems.

Still haven't found something that suits you?  Then come on over to the library and see me at the perch.  I'll help you find the right thing to make your Valentine's Day one to remember!

With good wishes from your cupid on the perch.