Blog Category: Director's Notebook

Posted by KChin on Mon, Sep 13
Library Director’s Notebook September, 2010 Lots of people make resolutions in January, the beginning of the calendar year.  But all my years of going to school each September, followed by my son’s school years have made me feel that September is the true “beginning” of the year and a good time to make resolutions and form new habits. With a focus on self improvement each Fall, I often read self help books in September.  One of the very best I’ve come across recently...
Posted by KChin on Thu, Jul 29
Director’s Notebook August, 2010 With yoga classes, studios, and instruction  popping up by the thousands in playgrounds, private clubs, gyms, libraries, and even church basements, it’s hard to realize that there was a time in America, just a  mere generation or two back, when yoga and anything associated with Indian ritual or culture was regarded with deep suspicion and often with outright hostility. The Great Oom by Robert Love is a fascinating and well...
Posted by KChin on Fri, Jun 25
Library Director’s Notebook   July, 2010   Over the past few months I’ve made a wonderful discovery. I’ve “discovered” recorded books! For years as a librarian I’ve been keenly aware of recorded books because so many library users have told me how much they love them. But somehow I never quite got around to listening to any of them, which is rather silly when I think about it. I have quite a long commute back and forth to work from Scituate to Barrington , and now that...
Posted by KChin on Mon, Jun 21
A taste of honey Beekeeper Roger Robitaille works for hours removing hives and bees from under the eaves at the Barrington Public Library. The hives had generated several large swarms earlier in june which also were removed by beekeepers.  The bees will be transported to a new home where they can safely establish new hives.
Posted by KChin on Thu, Jun 10
Director’s Notebook June, 2010 As a librarian, it’s always been interesting to me to come across readers who are either adamant about reading only fiction and others equally adamant about reading only non-fiction.  I read both with equal enjoyment because I know there are many excellent non-fiction books out there written with the ease and grace of the best fiction; and there are fiction books so loaded with fascinating facts that you emerge from the reading experience feeling quite giddy with...
Posted by KChin on Mon, May 10
Director’s Notebook   May 2010   I have spent the last couple of weeks re-reading the collected novels of Barbara Pym. Nine of Pym’s novels were published during or shortly after her lifetime, as well as a couple of other novels and a memoir some years afterwards.  None of the novels is long, and each can be read in a couple of days. But why would anyone want to re-read them, as I do, almost every year? For me there is really only one answer.  Barbara Pym makes...
Posted by KChin on Wed, Mar 31
Library Director’s Notebook April, 2010 Before there was texting, email, cell phones, telephones, telegrams, the post office ,inexpensive writing materials, or any degree of universal literacy, keeping in close communication with a distant friend was a difficult task. How much more difficult if the time and the place and the existing culture all conspire to keep you separated from the healing power of lifelong friendship. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, a...
Posted by KChin on Wed, Mar 03
Library Director’s Notebook March, 2010 Often friends tell me that they hesitate to buy me books for birthdays or holidays because they assume I’ve “read everything already”.  Not true! Although I am a voracious reader, there’s no way I can read even the smallest percentage of all the worthwhile books out there.  So I’m always happy when a friend gives me a book as a gift or loans me a copy to read. Recently my friend and neighbor D'anna lent me a copy of The Help by...
Posted by KChin on Tue, Feb 02
Library Director’s Notebook February, 2010 Graham Greene was a very talented and prolific twentieth century writer, perhaps best known for his novels The End of the Affair and the Third Man, both of which were made into successful films. Many of his books explore the struggle of modern man or woman to make moral choices in a complex and often corrupt world. He also liked to write thrillers, which he called “entertainments” to distinguish them from what he considered his more...
Posted by KChin on Mon, Dec 28
Director’s Notebook January, 2010 I love to read historical fiction. When I read really well written historical fiction, I feel I get a double pleasure, both from reading an exciting story and learning something about history at the same time.  However, I hate to discover anachronisms in historical novels, and I especially cannot tolerate psychological anachronisms. By that I mean having the novel’s characters act or think in ways that would not be typical or even imaginable from their...

Pages

chat loading...