Eating at the library?

Of course. Everyone does it. Walk through the library on any given day and you will see patrons snacking on packaged things like a candy bar or peanut butter crackers. Often, library staff will have an event in their breakroom or a celebration, like our volunteer luncheon, in the auditorium. Food is part of the library. Heck, we even had a coffee bar in here for many years that served cookies, muffins, and sandwiches!

So why not take two of the typical functions of a library - book clubs and food and combine them? This article from the Columbus Dispatch talks about an Ohio library that has done just that. They have a cookbook club that taste-tests recipes from the library's cookbook collection!

What do you think?

Talk20 Rocked!

This was our 5th Talk20 at the Hutchinson Public Library. Through the hard work of Kari Mallioux and Patsy Terrell, we have been lucky enough to provide a forum for 50 Hutchinson / Reno County residents to tell their interesting, funny, sometimes poignant and almost always surprising stories. Talk20 is a forum for introducing people to their fellow Hutchinsonians (Hutchinsonites?) to each other through sharing. It's amazing the conversations 6 minutes and forty seconds will spark!

Talk20 time!

It's coming soon - January 22nd here at the Hutchinson Public Library. We'll close the library to regular business at 6pm and then re-open at 6:30pm.

Read all about Talk20 on their website. We love having this event here at HPL even though sometimes we run out of seats and people have to stand!

Thank you Patsy and Kari for all the hard work! And thank you to the presenters who are putting their stories out there and sharing with their community. 6 minutes and 40 seconds goes by so quickly, but the preparation time doesn't, I'm sure!

Science Fiction Discussion: Ender's Game

The SF Discussion Group met at Hutchinson Public Library in September to discuss Orson Scott Card's novel, Ender's Game. The discussion was a rare one for our group - we all liked it and agreed that it was a good one! It is another novel that is quite a bit different (like our July pick, Enemy Mine) than its big screen version. If you've seen the movie but not read the book, I would highly recommend picking up a copy.

The novel is about war, military tactics, and expansionism, centering on the character Ender Wiggin and his rise through the ranks of the International Fleet.

Interestingly (at least to me), the novel has been included in the Professional Reading List of the US Marine Corps for its depiction of how and why military forces do what they do.

It is a Hugo (1986) and Nebula (1985) Award winning novel.

Talk20 Hutchinson

A parrot? In the library? With 275 people...after the regular library hours?

Indeed that was part of the program this July 24th when Talk20 Hutch once again took over the Library and enthralled the audience with a variety (10 to be exact) of stories. All from people (and parrots) who live right here in our Reno County communities.

This is one of the programs here at HPL that I absolutely love. We do nothing but provide the space and you, our community have provided us with now 40 snapshots of awesomeness.

If you would like to see the presentations, they are archived at the official Talk20 Hutch website. Just click on the Talk20 Hutch videos link and watch away!

If you would like to come and see what all the fun is about, your next opportunity will be January 22, 2016.

If you would like to tell your story at the next or some future Talk20, click here and fill out the form. Talk20 is always looking for unique stories!

Zone One

The SF Book Discussion group met November 6th and discussed the Colson Whitehead book Zone One. If we had only known, we could have included this book in our 2012 series of apocalyptic science fiction reads! Personally, I was extremely impressed with the writing and think this must be the most literary zombie apocalypse book out there. Whitehead has a great way with words and uses his command of the language to great effect.

Unlike most apocalypse-themed books where mankind is struggling to rebuild, I never had the feeling that the stubborn tenacity of mankind might prevail. Rather, I had this feeling of impending doom. A sense that rather than being salvageable, human civilization itself had become infected and would be better off if someone shot it in the head like any other skel.

As an added bonus, Whitehead introduces the concept of PASD - Post Apocalyptic Stress Disorder. This is why I would have loved to have finished our series of apocalyptic books back in 2012 with this one - then we would have understood, I think, why we all sort of felt the way we did after reading so many depressing, world-destroying books! We were suffering the stresses of surviving the apocalypse.

Silliness aside, I highly recommend this book EVEN IF zombies are not your thing. I think the other members of our discussion group would say something similar. Whitehead's writing makes it worth the effort.

Author Visit - Laura Moriarty

We had a fantastic turn-out last night (10/9/14) for visiting author Laura Moriarty! About 70 people packed the auditorium to hear Ms. Moriarty talk about her writing process and her book, "The Chaperone". It was a great program - thanks Laura!

Talk20 Returns!

It's the return of the six minute and forty second challenge! Come listen, mingle, and learn about something new. Listen to local stories you might never have imagined. Here's a description of what I'm talking about. It was an amazing success the first time out and this second event promises the same. July 18th at 7pm here at the Hutchinson Public Library.

The list of presenters will be up soon - check back for the line-up!

Talk20

Six minutes and forty seconds is quite a challenge - but I think it will be fun. What am I talking about? We're supporting an idea here at the library that involves... sharing ideas! Here's a link to a better description of what the program is about. This isn't a one-time deal, but it won't be offered all the time either. It is something that will hopefully get the community talking and learning about the things in which our neighbors are involved.

I like the idea of a library as a place here not only is knowledge collected, organized and stored; but a place where knowledge is created.

Summer Reading - Hutchinson Digs It

The Summer Reading Programs are finished, there's nothing left but sweeping up and clearing the bats out of the Children's Department (drop by to see what I'm talking about!)

The great news is that HPL patrons are avid readers - voracious even! Over the past 3 years, we have concentrated on increasing the number of children who finish the reading program. We are definitely headed toward our goal of having nearly every child complete the 10-books-or-10-hours requirement. Here's what happened this year:

• 1,092 - Number of children registered for the program
• 581 - Number of children who turned in completed reading logs
• 1,460 - Number of children attending summer story times
• 440 - Number of children attending the 4 craft days (average 110 per event)
• 120 - Number of Young Adults "Questing for Read-a-lot"

What can we take from this? The main thing is that children in Hutchinson and Reno County read well over 5,810 books or hours during June and July. I think that's pretty fantastic! We've achieved an increase in completion rates of more than 6% over last year - that's also pretty fantastic.

Children need to read - we need to make sure they learn to love reading. It helps in every aspect of their educational lives and provides an avenue to relaxation that can be a life-long pursuit. The fact of the matter is that modern technology is changing the way we learn and the unknown is whether this is a good thing or a bad thing. Numerous studies and books have been conducted and written on the effects of the Internet on our attention spans (overview article here). It is important, in my opinion, to re-enforce deep, critical thinking skills and reading whole books can help this.

Graphic Novel & Comic Art Festival!

This is going to be great fun! On Saturday, September 21st, come to the library to learn about the art and craft of graphic novels, comic books, and comic art.

Check the library’s web site at http://www.hutchpl.org for updates!

Ande Parks Baldwin City, is a professional American comic book artist, known for his work as an inker and writer in the industry. His greatest notoriety has come from his stint with fellow artist Phil Hester on DC Comics' Green Arrow series from 2001 to 2004 and writing the graphic novels UNION STATION and CAPOTE IN KANSAS by Oni Press. Ande will provide a behind the scenes look at graphic novel development using his book CAPOTE IN KANSAS, which was named a Kansas Notable Book in 2006.

Joe Sutliff Sanders Manhattan, is a specialist in children's and adolescent literature, and he teaches a broad variety of courses relevant to books for young readers at K-State. He also has a particular passion for comics, graphic novels, fantasy, science fiction, and horror. Joe will lead a graphic novel discussion of SUPERMAN: SECRET IDENTITY during a brown bag lunch, as well as speak on “The Gleeful Science of Comics” later in the afternoon. To reserve a copy of SUPERMAN: SECRET IDENTITY to read for the discussion, email Annette, amsmith59@gmail.com

John Eberly Hutchinson, was an extraordinarily active artist in the mid-1980’s and gained an international reputation as an underground cartoonist, also producing scads of zines and Xerox publications under the umbrella of Mumbles Publications. John’s presentation will be a history of publishing “commix”, and will include a discussion of underground comics of the 60’s, ‘70’s, and early ‘80’s, the advent of self-publishing in the 1980’s and the “NET” as precursor to the Internet. He will include a demonstration of how to make your own “comix”. *Includes adult themes, parental guidance suggested.

Bryan Dietrich Wichita, is the author of a book-length study on comics, Wonder Woman Unbound, and six books of poems, Krypton Nights, Universal Monsters, The Assumption, Prime Directive, The Monstrance, and Love Craft. He is also co-editor of Drawn to Marvel, an anthology of superhero poetry. Bryan will present “Drawn to Marvel: Pop-Classicism and Poetry of Comics”.






There will be comic art in the library as well, including work by “Hutchinson as Smallville”
advocate Christopher Wietrick. The display cases will be full of action figures, memorabelia, and more!

This Festival is funded in part by the Kansas Humanities Council, a non-profit cultural organization promoting understanding of the history, traditions, and ideas that shape our lives and build community.

2013 Summer Celebration Awesomeness!

I am still recovering from being one of the moles in the Whack-a-Mole game, but I can't believe how many people turned out for the big kick-off to our Summer Reading Program this past Friday (June 7)!

Congratulations to our fantastic Hutchinson Public Library staff for their dedication and effort in pulling this off! If you were there, you saw staff from all departments pitching in to help for the morning. And, of course, we had massive support from a small army of volunteers and could never have run all the games and programs without them. Thank you!

We easily surpassed last years' numbers as far as I could tell, there was a non-stop line at our booth. We will have pictures of the event posted on the library's Facebook page and I'll post some here soon.

In the meantime, "Dig in to Reading", pick up a "Groundbreaking Read", or join the "Quest for Readalot" at the Hutchinson Public Library this summer. These are the reading programs for children, adults, and young adults respectively. There's fun and rewards to go along with each and each one gives you the excitement of discovering new worlds through reading!

Book Review: Frederik Pohl's Gateway

The SF Book discussion group met again to discuss Pohl's 1976 novel Gateway. This is the first in a trilogy that includes Beyond the Blue Event Horizon and Heechee Rendezvous. In Gateway, we meet Robinet (Bob) Broadhead, a man made wealthy by prospecting the ancient space lanes blazed by a long-dead and forgotten species called the "Heechee".

Through a stroke of luck, bob wins enough money in a lottery to purchase a ticket to Gateway, an intergalactic hub of sorts where prospectors can "ship out" on pre-programmed (by the Heechee) routes and return to Gateway automatically. The catch is that no one knows where the ships go until someone tries them out. Some end up in ... let's just say that some trips are no longer "round trips". Basically, the prospectors take a gamble and may strike it rich finding a treasure trove of ancient alien artifacts at their destinations or they may find nothing or they may perish in the process.

The appeal of this book is the unfolding of Bob's tale. We learn early that he is clearly wealthy and gained his wealth through prospecting from Gateway. We also learn that he is wracked by neuroses of various sorts as he frequently visits his digital shrink that he has dubbed "Sigfrid".

Various mysteries unfold as the book progresses and we follow, in a back-and-forth manner, the developments that form the Bob Broadhead we meet at the beginning of the book.

The general consensus of our group was that the book was a good one, despite dating itself in a few minor ways. I have mentioned before that the HPL SF group is a pretty tough crowd and this book was not treated as roughly as some of our previous selections. Personally, I highly recommend the book. Despite having read it many years ago and knowing where Bob's tale would lead, I enjoyed Pohl's story-telling again this time through.

Comics in Smallville

An article in the Hutchinson News today about a "free comic" offer from our local Hasting's store has me thinking even more about the possibilities for the Library's planned Smallville conference. We are working on a combination of discussion / seminar presentations and hands-on workshops for September 21st, 2013.

What I've been thinking however, is that I wonder if there isn't enough interest in the genre, the collecting, etc. to warrant an actual comic convention in our little corner of the wheat fields. What do you think? Would Hutchinson/Smallville be a place where people might come to buy and sell, trade knowledge, attend programs and generally have fun doing it?

Summer Reading 2013

Spring has sprung here in Hutchinson and though it seems far away at the moment, the end of school is just around the corner. One of the most important things parents can do for their children during the long summer break is to get them involved in reading. When it's too hot to play out side or some downtime is needed, reading will keep their vocabulary skills honed and their minds sharp heading into the next school year.

Here at the Hutchinson Public Library, we will be digging into reading all summer long! With story time programs for pre-k and elementary-aged children and reading programs for children, young adults AND adults, it shouldn't be hard to keep everyone reading. The articles I've linked above point out the problems and offer many solutions. The main idea though, is that as long as your child remains engaged with books and learning during the summer, losses to grade-level skills will be minimized or eliminated.

Our programs are free to the public, our library cards are free with proof of address, and our services, including a huge array of children's and young adult programming, are too many to list here.

SF Book Discussion

This past month's book was The Forever War by Joe Haldeman. Considered by many to be the best war-themed science fiction novel ever written, our group tackled it with what seems to be our trademark skepticism. To summarize the discussion, I don't think any of us did NOT like the book, I just don't think any of us were convinced that it is THE penultimate SF war novel.

The novel, written in 1974, is a criticism of war in general and is specifically a parable of the Vietnam War. It works as such and the reader gets a very definite impression of the futility of war. I really did like the book. It has a disconnected, dispassionate feel to it that really gave me the feeling that it didn't matter what happened to Private Mandella or any of the other characters. The higher-ups had decided to test out the Earth's war machine and the individual was simple a grunt or pawn to carry out the experiment and see if we were tougher than "them". If you want a lesson in the effects of war on individuals as well as a lesson on relativity, I would recommend you read this book! If you click the jacket art, it will take you to the library's catalog and you can check out The Forever War.

We will read the classic Alfred Bester novel, The Stars My Destination for next month's discussion. The discussion will take place Thursday, April 4th at 7pm in the library's conference room #2 on the second floor.

SF Book Discussion

Our Science Fiction Book Discussion group met this Thursday for our first meeting of the year. Our new schedule is a monthly book discussion on the first Thursday evening of every month at 7pm. Meetings are held in the Conference Room #2 upstairs at the library.

This month we discussed J.R.R. Tolkien's classic, The Hobbit. The bulk of the discussion revolved (not surprisingly, I suppose) around the book's recent translation to film. We spent a good deal of the discussion talking about the relative merit that should be given to some of the criticism of Tolkien's most famous "children's book".

Next month (March 7th) we will discuss Joe Haldeman's war novel, The Forever War. Written by a well-known and celebrated science fiction author as well as Vietnam veteran, the book is probably his best known. It is an interstellar war story in the vein of Heinlein's "Starship Troopers", but there the similarities end. I am looking forward to reading this book.

On April 4th we will discuss Alfred Bester's The Stars My Destination. Written several years after Bester's Hugo Award-winning The Demolished Man, it is a sort of proto cyber punk novel mashed up with a tale of a man who is shipwrecked and abandoned.

HPL apps and tools

New tool round-up:

• 3M Cloud Library
• OneClick eAudio Service
• Transparent Language Online
• And my new favorite - OWL iLibrary.

This last tool is a handsome and powerful app that allows you to use the library's catalog and your library account like you would using a traditional computer and browser.  It's available for Apple and Android-based devices and it's free.

If you read (or listen to) your books "e", then HPL has three different services for you.

• We have OverDrive, which has both ebooks and eaudio downloads.
• We have the 3M Cloud Library, a new service which is ebooks only.
• We have OneClick Digital, another new service that is eaudio only.

If you are interested in learning a new language or brushing up on a disused one, we also have a new learning program called Transparent Language Online.

If you click the library logo, you will be taken to the Hutchinson Public Library website.  From there, click on the "E-Everything" menu on the far right of the gray bar.

The only prerequisite for using any of these tools is an active Hutchinson Public Library card - and that's free too!

Why do we have public libraries?

Some (most, probably) will think I'm a little slow-witted asking this question.  The "educated" technophile might say public libraries are an anachronism and that everything needed research-wise or recreational reading-wise can be obtained online or through Amazon.  The hard-line libertarians would most assuredly say that the money spent on them would be better utilized by the individual to choose to spend on their own education if she/he so desired.  The cynic might say that we (society) have to provide SOME place for the homeless and disturbed to hang out.  Yet other people never even think about the library as a useful tool at their disposal, having had at some point in their lives a bad experience with fines or fees or even SHHHHHH! ... librarians.

There are some days where I can at least see the reasoning for some of these stances.  I have to remember that I have a vested interest in this whole concept.  And yet...

Many of the same social conditions that existed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and that were the impetus for creating free public libraries, exist today.  In fact, poor educational level, poverty, sub-par work skills and the accompanying lack of upward mobility have intensified since I became a librarian in the mid-1990s.

Back to the title of this article: Why do we need public libraries?  Early childhood literacy.  If I could say nothing else about them, if I could answer in only one way, this is a role public libraries fill and succeed in like no other "free" public institution.  Study after study has shown that the single most important factor to success in school is mastery of basic math and reading skills by Kindergarten.  Public libraries have been working diligently at this for decades.  Bring your child to story time, check out some books to read with her at home and BAM!  You've received a huge ROI on your tax dollar because your child is positioned to succeed in school and ultimately in life.

Honestly, we need as many avenues to literacy, competency, life skills and work skills as we can possibly manage in our current world.  The gap between the rich and poor has grown once again to an enormous chasm.  While libraries need to remain relevant by adapting to new media, they must continue to focus on their strengths.  First, the librarians and specialists that can instill the love of reading and learning at a young age and provide support and training throughout the lives of our patrons. Second, the power of being free to all who want our services.  Third, the willingness to explore those new tools as they come around and to bend them to our will - helping our patrons grow and learn.

The Edge Initiative

The Hutchinson Public Library will have a great 2013, I think.  As we look toward the future, planning for a new first-floor Technology Center and bring our tech skills to the fore-front, a new tool such as the Edge Initiative seems perfectly timed to help us.

Set to be released in its final form early in 2013, HPL will use this to help us focus on what skills, connections, and programs we should be focusing on to best serve our patrons.

We can start right now though, and you can help us.  What do you want from the Hutchinson Public Library?  What can we do to help you succeed in the endeavors you have planned for 2013 or those you have already underway?  Ideas I have heard when asking this question elsewhere:

• A makerspace
• Teaching / learning sessions for my particular tablet/smartphone/computer
• More emphasis on ebooks
• More options to get a book (send it to an address / print on demand / sell it to me)

The broad question is:  What new areas should HPL be exploring that would help you in your life?  Please share your thoughts in comments or by calling/emailing the library, commenting on our Facebook page.