Category Archives: Library column

The Library: a fragile history

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February 7, 2023

When I go on vacation, I like to visit libraries. It’s interesting to see how different communities provide this service to their constituents. Knowing this, a friend loaned me a book called “The Library: a fragile history” by Andrew Pettegree and Arthur der Weduwen. I learned a lot in this book, and I wanted to share some of it with you. 

Fernando Colon (son of Christopher Columbus) had an extensive library. He was one of the first to put books on shelves with the spines facing out. Prior to that (and because the idea didn’t catch on, for quite a while afterwards) books were often stored flat in trunks or cupboards.

When writing about the large book collections that private citizens like Thomas Jefferson accumulated, the authors said, “One man’s passion project would be nothing but a burden to those to whom the responsibility of curation was passed on.”

Many precious books and libraries have been destroyed in wars, starting even before Caesar burned Alexandria, Egypt. Although Belgium was neutral during WWI, the Germans burned the university library at Louvain. The Treaty of Versailles required Germany to replace the books they had destroyed in Louvain, and the Germans did so within three years. Less than 20 years later they destroyed the Louvain library again. WWII was hard on libraries, not only were the Nazis burning books in the streets, both the Allies and the Axis bombed libraries throughout Europe. Many libraries and private book collections on both sides were destroyed.

I also learned why “Middlemarch” by George Eliot is so doggone long. England in the 1800s didn’t have any state-supported public libraries, but lots of literate citizens who couldn’t afford books. Entrepreneur Charles Mudie formed a private circulating library in the 1850s. He stocked a large number of books then charged an annual subscription of one guinea per year. A single book at that time cost around a guinea. Mudie would then charge a penny per checkout. 

Through this business model, he created a near monopoly in the fiction market. He would purchase 1,500 copies of a new book by a popular author to lend to his customers in London. By the end of the 1800s Mudi’s collection contained over seven million books. Because he purchased so many books, publishers catered to him, and sought authors who could meet his writing requirements.

Popular fiction authors of that time included Dickens, Eliot, Thackery and Disraeli. Mudie looked for books that were 200,000 words in length, which adds up to around 700 pages. (Think “Moby Dick.”) Most popular novels today are around 300 pages. These titles were published in a three-volume format, so to read the entire book, you had to check out three separate volumes, at a penny a checkout. According to Pettegree and der Weduwen, authors struggled to fill the second volume and often resorted to inserting “a convoluted (though chaste) love story between two marginal characters in the novel’s middle passage.” 

This is just a tidbit of the information I found in the 400 pages of “The Library: a fragile history.” The Gering Library does not have this particular book- but you can find “The Library Book” by Susan Orleans on the shelves, and it covers some of the same material. If you would like to read “The Library: a fragile history” we can order it through interlibrary loan.

We think of libraries as free, but through the ages, libraries have rarely been free to the public. Early libraries were restricted to the owners, either religious orders or wealthy private citizens. Books were expensive to make but useless to those who could not read and those who had different political or religious ideas. Without community champions, libraries can fall prey to political pressures, apathy, and societal conflict.

“It is the randomness of books, of taste and curiosity that ensures that libraries remain a place where a broad cross-section of society can drop in, wander, browse, and leave when they like. It is the randomness that marks out the library from other public shared space; and the search for something uplifting, whatever it may be.”

Paperback books

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February 1, 2023

I discovered one of my favorite authors in the Omaha airport. No, I didn’t see Alex Kava waiting for a plane in the terminal. A clerk at Hudson News and Gifts recommended “A Perfect Evil.” “The author is from Nebraska, and her character, Maggie O’Dell, is so tough- I want to be just like her!” I bought the paperback and read it on the plane-and every spare moment on my vacation.

Paperbacks were invented due to the Great Depression of the 1930s. Hardback books were expensive to produce and difficult to market. While looking for something to read on the train, Allen Lane came up with the idea for paperback books. He could print quality books with a lower production cost in a portable size. In 1935 Lane launched Penguin books in England. Penguin books featured distinctive colored covers which coordinated with the contents. Orange books were fiction, blue was for nonfiction and green for mysteries. 

The first paperback books published included The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie, Madame Claire by Susan Ertz, A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway, Poets Pub by Eric Linklater, Carnival by Compton Mackenzie, Ariel by Andre Maurois, Twenty-Five by Beverly Nichols, The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club by Dorothy Sayers, Gone to Earth by Mary Webb, and William by E.H. Young. 

You probably recognize some of these titles and authors. These books were reprints of popular hardback books of the time. The success of paperbacks stems from the fact that they are published after the hardback books have come out. Lane marketed his paperbacks not in bookstores, but train stations, newsstands and department stores across the UK. 

In 1939, U.S. publisher Robert de Graff launched Pocket Books. His first title was “The Good Earth” by Pearl S. Buck. Pocket Books used colorful illustrations on their covers to attract readers. In the U.S. Penguin marketed their books in bookstores. de Graff distributed his books to newsstands, subway stations and drugstores to reach populations Penguin was missing.

During WWII soldiers appreciated the portability of paperbacks. According to the Saturday Evening Post, one soldier had picked up “Death Comes for the Archbishop” by Willa Cather, thinking it was a murder mystery (it is not). Upon having finished it in his foxhole, “he discovered, to his amazement, that he liked it anyway.”

Paperback books come in a couple of different sizes. The smaller books are called mass-market paperbacks. They measure 6.75″or 7″X 4″. These are often reprints of popular titles.  The font is smaller and the paper is lower quality than trade paperbacks. Some varieties of books, like romance, are often published only as paperbacks. You are likely to find mass-market paperbacks for sale in a supermarket, newsstand or airport. They are distributed by magazine wholesalers.

Trade paperbacks measure 8.25″X 5.25″ They have the same size of print as hardback books and are more often sold in bookstores. Trade paperbacks are distributed by book wholesalers. The idea was never for paperbacks to replace hardback books, but to make books more affordable. Libraries are more likely to purchase trade paperbacks to add to their collections because they are constructed of better materials and are likely to last longer.

In the 1930s, paperbacks were about the price of a pack of cigarettes. Since then, paperback book prices have gone up faster than cigarettes, but they are still affordable, and readily available to travelers. One nice thing about traveling with paperbacks is you don’t have to worry about misplacing them. On my last vacation, I bought “The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race” by Walter Isaacson at the airport. I had a lot of airplane time, and this 530 page book was just the ticket.

Newbery and Caldecott Awards

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February 21, 2023

I made a goal for myself in 2010 to read all of the Newbery Award books. The American Library Association (ALA) awards the Newbery Medal “to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children.” You might recognize some classics like, “A Wrinkle in Time” by Madeleine L’Engle, and “Holes” by Louis Sachar. My idea was not to read them all in one year. The Newbery award was first presented in 1922 and has been awarded to 101 books as of 2023. Three years ago I buckled down and finished reading the last of them, so now I only have to read one a year to stay on top of things. 

This year’s Newbery went to “Freewater” by Amina Luqman-Dawson. Our Youth Services Librarian, Miss Kira assured me she ordered it and it’s on its way, so I haven’t read it yet, but according to Kirkus, 

“Twelve-year-old Homer and his little sister, Ada, become separated from their mother as they attempt to flee enslavement on the Southerland plantation. They are rescued by Suleman, who takes them deep into the Great Dismal Swamp, where they join Freewater, a community of people who successfully fled from slavery and children who were born there…. Set in a fictional community but based on real stories of those who fled slavery and lived secretly in Southern swamps, this is detailed and well-researched historical fiction.”

The ALA awards the Caldecott to “the most distinguished American picture book for children.” The award goes to the illustrator, not the author. Knowing our dog is skittish and nervous, Miss Kira gave me “Hot Dog” written and illustrated by Doug Salati to read. It was an interesting look at mental health and personal care (how to relax) from the viewpoint of a dog. A woman is running errands in a big city with her dog. The dog becomes overwhelmed with the noise, the heat and the busy-ness of the day. When he sits down and refuses to go any further, the woman hails a cab and takes the dog to the beach where he runs around and unwinds. The art is charming and I think kids could place themselves in the dog’s position and sympathize with what he is going through. Miss Kira said, “I love the art in this book, I was so happy it won.” 

Only one author has won both the Newbery and the Caldecott. In 1941 Robert Lawson won the Caldecott for “They Were Strong and Good,” and in 1945 he won the Newbery for “Rabbit Hill.” Some of the classics don’t stand the test of time, and I would include “They Were Strong and Good” in this group. Writing about your family history is a great idea, even if your family did some less than honorable things. When your ancestors owned slaves and fought for the South, calling them “Good” just doesn’t stand the test of time. 

Of the 100 + Newbery winners, only a handful of them were clunkers, so I think most award winning books do stand the test of time. I have started making my way through the Caldecott winners. The Caldecott was first awarded in 1938, so I have fewer books to read, and they are picture books, so most of them are pretty short. I enjoy reading children’s books, and I have already read 25 so I only have 60 left to read. 

Kids in the Library

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March 7, 2023

My son excitedly told me about a friend of his (I will call him Alex) who built a game website. He uses the site to host a couple of games he designed and some other games he found online. I know Alex; he used to come into the library to play Roblox with his brother. The two would spend hours giggling and chatting with each other and playing games on the computer. They don’t come in very often any more, and I miss them.

Kids go through stages at the library. They often start off by attending storytime on Wednesday mornings with a caregiver. They learn about the different topics that are covered in storytime but also how to interact with people who aren’t their family and how to share toys. This is besides the many other benefits of storytime including, but not limited to, an awareness of words and rhythm and colors and music. Miss Kira rotates a variety of toys in the play area which parents are welcome to use for play dates or just a different (and free) place to take the kids on a cold Saturday morning.

Each spring every second grade class in Gering comes to the library on a field trip. We call it the See Me In the Library Event or SMILE. We give the kids a tour of the library and their first library card. Then comes the chaotic part, where we help them each find two books to check out. Some of them are overwhelmed with finding exactly the right book while others are familiar with the library and they head right to their favorite section. Second graders are all over the place with their reading. Some look for a short book with lots of pictures while others are reaching for fat books like Harry Potter. If you want to see the future of our community, this is a great time to come to the library, unless you want to read, because it isn’t very quiet.

The next stage is Lego Club. This crowd is usually aged 8-12 (give or take a year or two). They rush in after early-out Wednesdays and mill around the desk asking “is it 3:00 yet?” -when Myra lets them into the community room where they scramble to build everything from swords to space ships. This is another opportunity to learn about sharing and how to behave in public, because this is often the first time kids are in the library without a parent or teacher supervising them. 

Then comes the Roblox stage. These kids range from grade school into middle school. Roblox is an online computer game hosting site. The site uses a simple programming language so it is easy for a beginner to code their own game and upload it so other Roblox users can play it. You can find role playing games, fun games like “Work at a Pizza Place,” tycoon games where the goal is to keep increasing your wealth. Roblox hosts thousands of kinds of games and just as wide of a variety of quality, since some are designed by beginners and others are made by professionals.

Once kids hit middle school they often come to the library to socialize after school. Our new teen area (sponsored by our local McDonald’s) has comfy seating and places to charge phones. After years of not having anywhere to hang out in the library, teens are finding their way to the new space.

High school students sometimes come in to research papers, apply for jobs on the computers and often just to check for new manga comics in their favorite series.

Each stage of library users include readers and gamers and kids who just want somewhere safe and warm to hang out while waiting for their parents to get them after work. 

Back to the Roblox gamers, Alex’s website gets 34,000 hits a day. Yes, that comma is in the right place. This kid has a future in game design, if he can make the technology part of it work. Apparently Alex’s family doesn’t own a computer, but his parents have unlimited cell data and he uses a hotspot to run the gaming site on his school-issued Chromebook. Not having access to technology can severely limit people’s opportunities, but libraries can level the playing field. I suspect I will be seeing more of Alex this summer after school gets out and he has to turn his Chromebook back in. 

Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi

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March 21, 2023

“Before the Coffee Gets Cold” by Toshikazu Kawaguchi caught my eye because several other libraries had requested it from us. This book has been translated from Japanese and is a total of 272 small pages. It got good reviews and the author has gone on to write two sequels. As I finished the book, I could see several little plotlines that could be explored further.

There is a tiny cafe in Japan where you can go back in time- for just as long as it takes for your coffee to get cold. You can’t change anything that happens, but it offers the coffee drinker a chance to make peace with their regrets. This process involves several rules and hurdles that make it impractical for many people to actually complete the process. 

I overheard a patron saying they had a hard time with the unfamiliar names, so when I started reading I made notes for each character. There are only nine characters in the book, so it isn’t much of a problem to do this, but I can see how the unfamiliar names could be confusing.

The translation is well done, I feel the culture of the book has been well preserved. Kira called this a slice-of-life book. It doesn’t have a lot of plot or character development, but you get to see a tiny window of how each of the characters tackle their regrets. For such a small book parts of it were really repetitive, but the author uses beautiful language:

“Water flows from high places to low places. That is the nature of gravity. Emotions also seem to act according to gravity. When in the presence of someone with whom you have a bond, and to whom you have entrusted your feelings, it is hard to lie and get away with it. The truth just wants to come flowing out. This is especially the case when you are trying to hide your sadness or vulnerability. It is much easier to conceal sadness from a stranger, or from someone you don’t trust.” 

“Before the Coffee Gets Cold” by Toshikazu Kawaguchi is a literary novel that makes you consider regrets you might have and how a short conversation could change things. I would recommend this book to people who are interested in Japanese culture, or a chance to explore the connections people make in their day to day lives.

Chat GPT

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March 28, 2023

Nothing puts a pit in my stomach like someone asking me to sign a card for a coworker. I hated writing in yearbooks. These days I am finding retirement cards are no better. A friend of mine has six sons, and when the oldest was in the army, a younger brother signed a birthday card to him, “Anything I put here would be awkward.” (Picture me doing Katniss Everdeen’s three finger salute here) Solidarity, my wise friend, solidarity.

Facing yet another retirement card last week, I consulted the internet for something to say. Elbert Hubbard’s “Don’t take life too seriously. You’ll never get out of it alive,” seemed inappropriate, as did Dr. Seuss’s advice, “Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.” What to write?

Chat GPT is making the news. It seems that somebody decided computers can write better than, or at least as well as, people can. They developed “Chat GPT” to prove it. Chat GPT- and soon to be many other similar programs use AI or Artificial Intelligence to mimic human behavior and choices. In this case, it is being used to write, but AI is also being used to create visual art.

I logged in and asked “What should I write in a retirement card?” The program spit out 10 generic responses. Here are three: “1. Congratulations on your retirement! Enjoy this new chapter of your life. 2. Wishing you all the best in your retirement. May it be filled with joy, relaxation, and new adventures. 3. Your dedication and hard work have inspired us all. Enjoy your retirement, and know that your legacy will live on.” 

It seems you can ask Chat GPT to write anything for you, including term papers. In fact this has already happened. A professor thought the writing seemed off in one of his student’s essays, so he investigated and discovered Chat GPT had written the paper. The student admitted to plagiarism and was subsequently expelled from the university. As the technology improves, and you can be sure it will, plagiarism will be more difficult to detect.

Accuracy is another problem Chat GPT users are encountering. The program is learning from the internet, which isn’t always accurate. If the program finds conflicting information, it can’t determine which pieces are correct, so it guesses.

While I was logged in, I asked Chat GPT to compose a vision statement for the library. It came up with this:

“The Gering Library is a vibrant hub of community engagement, where people of all backgrounds and ages come together to learn, create, and connect. We strive to provide innovative and responsive services that meet the changing needs of our patrons. Our goal is to foster a culture of lifelong learning and civic participation, and to promote equity and inclusion through the power of knowledge and information. Through our efforts, we hope to inspire a sense of curiosity and wonder in all who enter our doors, and to be a catalyst for positive social change in our community and beyond.”

I liked it a lot. So did everyone else on staff. It doesn’t feel bland like the retirement suggestions, and it covers what I think is our vision for the Gering Library.

I will play with Chat GPT more, but I don’t see an algorithm replacing interesting writing. Could it write a library column for me? I promise, if I experiment, I will let you know.  I write because I enjoy putting my thoughts together. An algorithm will never replace a personal touch, either in writing or in visual artworks.

In the end I avoided both the bland and the inappropriate notes. I reminded my friend to come visit us, now that he has free time. My response made me sad, because he wrote the most thoughtful and funny note in the card he sent for my wedding. I let him down. I should have done better, but I drew a blank. I can write on paper, but faced with a greeting card I am useless.

The Library’s BFFs

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April 4, 2023

Our library has three boards that support the library in very different ways.

The library board is appointed by the mayor, and each member can serve two three-year terms. They provide oversight of the library and the director, while providing guidance in the library’s management. Some of their activities include reviewing the administrative functions of the library. This includes the monthly bills and library policies, among other things. They also support and promote the library and its services.  

Friends of the Gering Library are enthusiastic supporters, whose mission is to help provide library services of the highest quality to our community. The Friends are volunteers. They raise money and then donate it back to the library where it is used for programming and other items like our popular storytime backpacks. Last year they purchased a hot air balloon ride for the adult summer reading program. Their biggest fundraiser is the annual book sale, scheduled for April 19-29 this year. The book sale will be open during library hours. Friends do not expect more than you can give, but they might ask you to help at the book sale or at the annual holiday Mingle & Jingle. With a $5.00 annual Friends membership you receive a quarterly newsletter and an opportunity to support something you believe in.

The Gering Public Library Foundation, Inc. is organized as a not for profit organization to develop enduring sources of capital for strategic projects and support through conceptual ideas and partnerships that enhance and advance literacy, lifelong learning and community activity. Their vision is “Building a Destination for Generations.” The library foundation is also run by volunteers. Foundations handle big money for big projects. The Scottsbluff Public Library Foundation was instrumental in raising money to fund the library expansion and renovation in the early 2010s.

The Foundation, like the Friends, is completely separate from the city and both are 501c3 entities. The boards are filled with volunteers who feel passionately about the success of our library. Neither is connected with the city, whereas the Library Board is appointed by the mayor.

I did some research, and there are 173 public libraries in our state, all of which have a board. Of the 173 libraries, 118 have Friends groups, and 126 have foundations. All have at least one of the two groups. Even Gering’s City Parks Department has a board and a foundation that function much like the library board and foundation. They promote our city parks and provide for improvements when they are needed.

The library has regular openings on the library board, since members are term-limited. If you are interested in being part of our board, please contact Library Director Christie Clarke. She can pass your name along to the mayor when there is an opening. The library board doesn’t involve a large commitment of time, only two hours a month (at the most). 

Public involvement is one of the most important components for a democracy to function. None of these boards require a large time commitment, just the desire to be part of what makes our library function well.

National Poetry Month

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April 11, 2023

Happy National Poetry Month! I believe that’s the traditional greeting.

I am highlighting some of the books from our poetry section this week. Ted Kooser is Nebraska’s most famous poet. He served as the Poet Laureate of the United States, (“PLUS” as the Secret Service might say), from 2004-2006. His poetry is conversational and often focuses on day-to-day life. We have a number of his books on the shelf at the library. 

Loren Eiseley is another Nebraskan with poetic roots. He published a number of essays on paleontology and history of the natural world. He also published some poetry on similar subjects.

You can also find Frost, Longfellow, and Dickinson, Maya Angelou and Mary Oliver on the poetry shelf as well. Baxter Black might be considered a classic poet in our area, and we have one of his books. 

Two books of more classical style poetry caught my eye. “Aim for a Star” by Helen Lowrie Marshall is inspirational and heartwarming. “Bless the Children: Poems in the spirit of childhood” by Bette Milleson James.

Are you a member of the Red Hat Society? The idea for this group came from a book of poems and essays called “When I Am an Old Woman I Shall Wear Purple.” The title comes from the poem, Warning by Jenny Joseph about growing old. This book was published in 1987, but it rings true today, and it’s on the poetry shelf at the library.

Poetry is evolving, and we have a number of books by newer poets.

“Haiku for the Single Girl” written by Beth Griffenhagen and illustrated by Cynthia Vehlslage Myers is a relatable little book with charming illustrations.

Singers and songwriters often write poetry. We have a book of poetry written by Halsey. Her poetry addresses the same themes as her music, and is very personal in nature. Singer/songwriter Lana Del Rey also published a book of poetry. “Violet Bent Backwards Over the Grass” includes poetry illustrated with photographs taken by the author. Jewel also wrote a book of poetry called “A Night Without Armor.”

Two of our most popular poets are Rupi Kaur and Amanda Gorman. Kaur (a Canadian) writes about being an immigrant and a feminist. She illustrates her poetry with evocative art. Amanda Gorman read her poem, The Hill We Climb at the 2020 presidential inauguration when she was 22 years old. It is included in her book “Call Us What We Carry.”

The children’s shelves host a healthy poetry collection as well.

A couple of the Newbery Award winners are poetry. Most recently, Kwame Alexander won for “The Crossover,” a novel of poems about basketball. I read this out loud to my son and we both enjoyed it.

Aside from the classic Shel Silverstein, we have “The Random House Book of Poetry for Children: a treasury of 572 poems for today’s child.” This book includes classics from poets like Kate Greenaway and Langston Hughes as well as a large number of modern poets like Jack Prelutsky. We even have a book written by child poet Mattie J.T. Stepanek.

We have two new playful books of poetry in the children’s section. “Marshmallow Clouds: two poets at play among figures of speech” was written by Ted Kooser and Connie Wanek “Yuck, You Suck: poems about animals that sip, slurp, suck” was written by Jane Yolen and Heidi E.Y. Stemple.

Gering Public Library is hosting a poetry reading on April 17 at 7:00 p.m. Participants can read poetry they wrote or a favorite poem from someone else. Contact the library at 308-436-7433 if you would like to sign up, or you can contact us on Facebook or in person as well.

These are the last lines of  If Librarians Were Honest by Joseph Mills: 

“If librarians were honest,

they would say, No one

spends time here without being

changed. Maybe you should

go home. While you still can.“

Book Sale

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April 18, 2023

We are lucky to live in a community with multiple libraries. Not only do Scottsbluff and Gering have public libraries, Lyman, Morrill, Mitchell, and Minatare do as well. 

Within Scottsbluff, I know of two privately run libraries. If you are interested in history or genealogy, you can get a card at the West Nebraska Family Research and History Center. Our local Christian radio station, KCMI calls their library the Cross Reference Library (which may be the cleverest name ever used for a library). 

A common fact about libraries is that if you add books to the collection you have to make room for them, which involves getting rid of books. When the Gering Library removes books from the collection they go to the Friends of the Gering Library which in turn use the library community room to set up a sale. Gering holds their book sale in the spring during National Library Week. The Friends of the Scottsbluff Library holds their book sale in the fall each year, so we are only six months between community book sales.

The Friends of the Gering Library annual book sale will be held during library hours from April 19-April 29. The City of Gering recognizes Arbor Day, so the library (and the book sale) will be closed April 28. 

Many of the books for sale have been removed from the library shelves due to age and the need to make space, but a lot of them are also donated. Right now the Friends are not accepting donations for the sale. We don’t have a good place to store books in the library, and what little space we do have is packed full right now. I just checked and we have well over 200 boxes of books. This means we will have a lot of books on the sale, but our donation space is full right now. If you want to give books to the Friends for the sale, bring them to the library after May 1.

Here are a few guidelines for donated items. People like to donate books to the library book sale. It seems like the right thing to do. Just this week someone donated an old dictionary with no covers, two National Geographic Magazines from the 1990s and a 2008 calendar. We can’t sell any of this. The Friends don’t accept donations of magazines or VHS tapes. I recommend recycling the magazines and tossing the VHS tapes.

The Friends can’t sell books that are water damaged, have torn or chewed covers, or are falling apart. And we do get donations that are in this condition. The best place for a book like this is the recycle bin. If you tear the covers off a book, it can be recycled. You can put books in your blue city bin, or you can take them to the large roll-off dumpsters placed around town.

We cannot sell textbooks. The information in the $75 book you purchased in the 1990s is not going to be useful to anyone today. Please recycle it. We cannot accept encyclopedias for the same reasons. A student using an old encyclopedia to write a paper on space travel isn’t going to know that Challenger blew up in 2003 if the encyclopedia they are using was published in 2000. They won’t have any way to determine what might be dated information and what is still current. Please recycle your encyclopedias. 

Books aren’t often rare or precious. Classics are reprinted with more engaging covers and print that is easier to read. The old book you have that looks like a first edition might be the first edition of the title but released by a secondary publisher. 

When the West Nebraska Family Research and History Center finds themselves with excess books, I believe they sell them online. I suspect the Cross Reference Library also occasionally discards worn books or sells excess books from time to time as well. With over one million different books being published each year, no library can hold on to all of them, not even the Library of Congress. 

There’s more to the children’s section

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May 2, 2023

In the late 1890s libraries began adding children’s rooms, mostly with the intention of getting noisy children out of the adult library areas. Patrons in our library may have felt the same way before we moved the children’s section downstairs. 

The children’s room is now located in the old community room. This allows us space to set out most of our educational toys. If you haven’t been in lately, bring a child and come play with our toys! (Or come without a child, I won’t tell.)

In the back corner we have puppets and a theater. There is also a play kitchen stocked with delicious plastic food and an assortment of dolls to feed it to.

For the kid who likes to build, we always have lots of different kinds of blocks out in all kinds of shapes and sizes. We have other types of construction materials too, like connecting fish and foam tangrams you can use to make designs.

The computers in the children’s section have an internet filter. We even have a special computer called the AWE which has a touch screen and games that were developed specifically for preschool aged kids.

The BEAM is a light-display which projects games onto the floor. Kids can stomp on monsters, sweep leaves away, or play letter identification and simple math games. Not to brag, but I hold the high score on the whack-a-mole game.

Youth Services Librarian Ms. Kira has a huge stash of educational toys and activities. She sets out different things for kids to investigate each month. Recently she had some magnetic blocks that stick to each other. Now I see she has some plastic shapes that attach to each other in unique ways. These different toys help kids learn through trial and error as well as helping develop those motor skills.

Speaking of motor skills, Ms. Kira got some tinker kits. These kits have motors and batteries and instructions to build different machines. Remember erector sets? They are kind of like that. She plans to use them for an after school activity later this year.

You can still find books for all stages of readers in the children’s library. We also have a variety of educational backpacks which have all kinds of fun activities and books in them.

If things get loud or too busy, you can use one of our sensory kits. These kits are to be used in the library. Each contains activities people use to calm themselves like noise canceling ear muffs, weighted items, and fidget toys. We have one on both levels, so if it gets loud upstairs, you are welcome to ask for one at the front desk.

We changed the space where the children’s library used to be into a tween and teen section. McDonald’s of Gering graciously sponsored this space and provided money for some furniture, including some chairs, a rug, and a table with a charging station. This is a great place for teens to hang out and read the latest issue of their favorite manga or to catch up on the latest hot tea.

I have a personal theory on quiet children in the library. Children are our future taxpayers. We want them to have an opportunity to have fun while learning in the library. Unfortunately, learning is not a quiet activity. It’s okay to ask questions and be excited about what you learned. Most of all, we want people to have fond memories of the library. Today’s libraries are more than a place for kids to read quietly. There’s more to the story.