Do you know which subject I hated most in high school? It was history. It was so boring to me. I couldn't have cared less about it. But now, I wish I had paid more attention. And I wish my U.S. history classes could have gotten past the 1920's. 

So I checked out some books. I did not check out long, over-complicated books explaining how and why events happened. I thought about it and then realized I'd never read them. Instead I checked out some kid's non-fiction. It's brief, to the point and has pictures. That's all I need. 

The series of non-fiction books is Monumental Milestones. I checked out the book on The Cuban Missile Crisis and the book on The Watergate Scandal. Both topics feel rather timely right now and I don't remember learning anything about them in high school other than they happened. These books had just the right amount of information so that I feel informed now but I didn't fall asleep reading them. 

I would absolutely recommend them for kids, and I'd recommend them for adults too. I'm not sure why adults seem to avoid kids' books, but I think they're perfect when you just need a refresher on a topic or some easy to digest information. 

This summer we're going to be offering more programs than ever before at my library. We're pretty excited about this for many reasons: increased foot traffic, increased program attendance, increased circulation...

I'm also a little anxious. We've tried numerous programs in the past that we thought would be fantastic and we thought people would love, but no one came.  I feel like every librarian knows this feeling. You plan a program people have been asking for and then no one comes and you question yourself A LOT. Because planning programs takes time and resources. It's frustrating and disappointing when a program is a flop. But we keep going. We keep planning. We keep doing what people ask for.

That's the nature of our business. Sometimes I think the effort is more important than the result. Even if the community doesn't show up in droves, they like to see the program they asked for on the library calendar. They like to know their input was taken seriously.

And once in awhile, you plan a program someone asked for and it's standing room only. That's why we keep going. 

​So here's to a great summer full of standing room only events! 

There many things about being a supervisor that I love. I love encouraging the staff and helping them achieve their goals. I love setting new goals for the year and making a plan for reaching them. I love being a cheerleader.

There are also some things I struggle with and one is solid, consistent communication. In a field where I'm the only full time person, it can be tricky to remember who I've given what information to and my staff has been feeling this lately. We have some exciting projects happening at the library but my brain has been too scattered and I haven't given the same information to everyone on staff. Which has obviously left some staff members feeling left out, and that was never my intention! 

So going forward we're working on a new communication system. There will be more e-mails. I'll keep a little check list so I can be sure I share information with everyone. And things will improve. No one is perfect, and the important thing is to figure out your weaknesses and address them. So here we are, communication. I see you, I know I need to work on you and we've come up with a great plan to do so!