Whooty Whoot, Whoot, Whoot...

I've got some exceptional adult programming coming your way in the next month! I do, I do! :-)

First and foremost, those lovely ladies of yarn are back for another round of classes in September. You know you love them, I know I love them...it's Diane and Suzy! *rounds of applause in background* They will be teaching knitting classes on Wednesdays in September starting on the 8th. The classes will be from 6-8pm in the Glenn Schminke Community Room. Participants (that's you) need to bring a skein of light, plain-colored yarn and a size 9 or 10 knitting needles.

On Friday, September 17th at 7pm, Hiawatha Library After Hours (sounds spooky, doesn't it?) will be presenting what will hopefully be the first in a long line of successful programs. In The Shadow of the Raven begins as Edgar Allan Poe rises from the scene of his mysterious death and continues as he pieces together the events of his life. Broadway and film veteran, Duffy Hudson uses a combination of biographical information and the dramatic interpretation of Poe’s literature, Annabel Lee, The Raven and The Tell Tale Heart, to provide a unique, in-depth theatrical experience of the life and works of one of America’s best-known and enigmatic personalities. Trust this whiner, you don't want to miss this performance! The dude is the awesome-ist! (Yes, I just made up that word, get over it...)

Finally, on Thursday, September 29th from 6:30-7:30 pm, I am hosting my first Big Read Book Club. Our first selection (in honor of the upcoming Banned Books Week and the 50th anniversary of its publication) will be To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. This little club is limited to 8 participants and all will receive a free copy of the book, as well as a Big Read reader's guide with insightful little tidbits about the book and its history. And if you're really lucky, I just may bring treats! You can't beat that one kids, free book and free food!

Hope to see you at all of these wonderful programs. All of them!!

Holy (insert choice expletive here)!

Whew! That's all I can say about our Summer Reading Programs here at the library for 2010!

First some numbers:

33,832 is how many items we checked out in the month of June.

32,331 is how many items we checked out in the month of July.

66,163 is the grand total of items we checked out throughout the 2010 Summer Reading Program.

6,616 is roughly how many items each staff member checked out during the months of June and July.

806 is the new record to beat for the amount of people through our doors in a single day.
426 is the number of people we had sign up for the Adult Summer Reading Program.

3 is the number of times I jammed the paper shredder while trying to shred all of the drawing slips from the Adult Summer Reading Program.

2 is the number of times my boss gave me a hard time about jamming the paper shredder.

1,443 is the number of reading logs that Alicia handed out for the Children's Adult Summer Reading Program.

57 is roughly the number of times we screamed when we opened the book drop and saw what was inside.

So what does all this equate to? One ridiculously busy and mad summer for us! But, we are truly fortunate to have so many people who love us enough to come visit for free stuff! You know who you are!