Stop Book Abuse!

What I love about library books is that they're everybody's books.  You can check them out, I can check them out, he can check them out, she can check them out, etc.  Damaging a library book is like damaging your own personal property, so why do people do it?

Recently, a test prep book was returned to the library with all the answers marked in it.  In addition to seeing the answers the patron selected, I also saw which answers the patron got wrong because there were lines through the numbers with mistakes.  Allow me to say that your neighborhood perch librarian was none too thrilled erasing page after page of pencil marks in that book.

You'd be surprised by the condition in which a number of books and other library items get returned to us.  They've had marks made by various writing utensils, Post-its stuck to pages, water damage, coffee stains, and brown sticky stuff I don't even want to know about.  The library has become ick and germ central, but there's something we can all do to help.

When you check any item out of the library, treat it with respect.  Don't write anywhere in or on it.  Don't rest your drink on it.  Don't take it with you into the bathtub, the pool, the lake, the ocean, or anywhere else that's wet.  For the time it's checked out to you, that library item is yours--take good care of it.

Sending you good karma from the perch.

Not So Sleepy Hollow

Washington Irving's "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" may be just a story to many people, but to those from New York's Hudson Valley, such as myself, it's more than just a ghost tale.  It's based on local facts and is part of the area's folklore.  It's also a part of the area's growing tourist industry.

Full disclosure: I was born in Sleepy Hollow, although at that time it was called North Tarrytown.  After the largest employer, the General Motors plant, closed down in the mid-1990s, the village reverted to its original name of Sleepy Hollow to capitalize on it's folklore and history.

Revisiting Sleepy Hollow recently, it was interesting to see how the village has turned into a bustling tourist destination revolving around Irving's famous tale.  There was always the Old Dutch Church, which figures into the story, and the adjacent cemetery containing the remains of the "Headless Horseman," a Hessian soldier decapitated during the American Revolution.  Nowadays, among other things, there's a master storyteller recounting Irving's "Legend," nighttime tours of the cemetery by lantern light, and the Horseman's Hollow, where actors portray "the undead, the evil, and the insane."

The village of Sleepy Hollow does a great job in keeping Irving's story alive and well.  Older and younger generations can learn and be entertained by the American literary classic, walking the paths and seeing the sights that Irving wrote about.  If you ever have the chance to visit New York City, it's worth taking the Metro North train from Grand Central Station to visit Sleepy Hollow.  Just don't lose your head while there.

Wishing you haunted readings from the perch.