September 2010

I love useless facts. I thrive on the kind of trivial information you can tuck away into the back of your brain and then pull out in the middle of a dinner party when someone starts talking about crazy college pranks. For instance, the very first documented panty raid occurred on February 25th, 1949 at Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois. Or when friends are having an intelligent conversation about Isaac Asimov, I can tell them that he is the only author to have a book in every Dewey-decimal category.

Another set of useless facts was brought to my attention recently by my co-worker, Roger. A man named Alan McConchie conducted a survey with the intention of noting the regional variations of the use of different words to describe carbonated soft drinks. In the survey he asked people whether they use the word pop, soda or coke. Of the over 10,000 responses from Wisconsin, 2700 people use the word pop, 6900 people use the word soda and only 74 people used the word coke. What I found most interesting is that people from Rock County use the word pop most often, whereas people from Walworth County use the word soda. For detailed results of the survey, and a really cool map to look at, go to www.popvssoda.com.

So, how is all of this related to libraries? Hold on, I’m getting there. Whether we call a carbonated soft drink a pop, a soda, or a coke, it is still a carbonated soft drink. You can’t describe its very fundamental being any other way. It’s the same with a book. Call it a novel, a tome or a folio if you must. Heck, in this day and age you can even call it an e-book, but a book will always be written words bound for your reading pleasure.

August 2010

September just happens to roll around right about this same time every year. Yes, I know all of the other months happen to roll around at their appointed time of year as well. September, however, seems to show up just when we need it most. Don’t get me wrong; I love the summer months of June, July and August just as much as the next person. I love the warm weather, the extra hours of daylight, the Summer Library Club (718 kids signed up this year!), and brats on the grill.

But I’m also a Wisconsin girl at heart, so I love the crisp fall air, wearing socks and turtlenecks, and sipping chai in front of the fireplace. That’s why September is such a great time of year. It signals a change of the seasons and for me it signals a time of renewal. A time to leave the summer behind, as great as it was, and to see what life has coming up around the corner. A time to move on to the next phase.

The Beloit Public Library is thrilled to be moving on to the next phase with our new Library Director, Kristi Howe. She’ll be here in less than two weeks and we’re excited to see where she leads the library in this next season.

If you’re just as excited as we are, I’m sure you’ll take the time to stop in at the library to welcome Kristi to our community .