My extended family is gathering this weekend in Maine, and I am off to join them in a few days. Thinking of making the now short, but previously long annual trip to Maine brings memories of traveling in the big family station wagon to visit our grandparents. That trip was something we prepared for for weeks. My mom would seal all open packages of food in the cupboards and clean the house. My dad was in charge of making sure the car was ready for a long trip - washing it inside and out, checking the 'fluids' and so on. My brothers and I would carefully consider and reconsider what we would be sure to take, since we each had only one small suitcase that we could take. The best part of the preparation was going to the bookstore and selecting one book each for the trip - we were gone the whole summer so library books were not an option. We tended towards collections of comics: BC, Peanuts, Pogo. My mother would get a few magazines. My dad didn't get any since he drove the whole way, of course. We weren't allowed to look at the books or magazines until we were actually in the car and on the road. I can remember sitting in the dark car (in the middle of the back seat on the hump of course) waiting until it got light enough to see the pages. We set out as soon after 4 AM as possible, so it was quite a wait. Of course the book was read in the first couple of hours, leaving the next 6 - 8 to travel games like trying to find all the license plates for all the states (no trucks allowed) or racing to do the alphabet from signs along the road (you can do the whole alphabet driving through Worcester either way).

When I started traveling with my own children, then driving the even longer trip from Pittsburgh, PA to Maine to visit the next generation of grandparents, I followed the family tradition - but thought about the voracious appetites my kids had. We went to the bookstore (didn't want to risk forgetting the library books in Maine) and got stacks of books - 5-6 each kid at minimum. The books had to last the whole trip there plus the few days before we could hit the local library. We would leave the books in Maine and get another batch to travel home with. It resulted in a nice library of books there in the cottage in Maine, waiting for our annual visit, inviting us to revisit books we had enjoyed a year or two before, these new books joining old favorites from my childhood - (I read An Old-fashioned Girl the very first night every year). Books are a big part of travel reading still for me, but I acquired my mother's habit of always taking magazines.

There is nothing more comforting than traditions. We embrace them, build on them, and hand them down to the next generation. I am sure my kids will just assume that they need to stock up on books for a trip with their future families - my son stopped on his trip north and had a bunch. This time of year, I see many families coming onto the library to stock up for their trips. More movies than books nowadays, but maybe that is part of that family's traditions. As long as they continue to think of including the library as part of their tradition, I won't quibble.

Book: The book of new family traditions, by Meg Cox
Book: Travel with children: 101 games and ideas to make family travel fun for everyone, by Mary Rodgers Bundren
Movie: Fiddler on the roof

Puzzled

Have you noticed the jigsaw puzzle on one of the tables on the main floor of the library? We are putting out puzzles this summer, letting anyone interested the chance to sit down and try to put in a few pieces. Being a jigsaw puzzle fan from way back, I thought it would be something to do to while away a few moments, be something to do when waiting for a friend or family member to finish browsing, and test the interest in offering puzzles to circulate.

So far it has been a huge success. I put out our first puzzle on Monday - I don't think many of the staff thought there would be much interest and I thought it would take some time to catch on. A young man discovered it early in the morning and worked on it the rest of the day. He put together the 1000 piecer in about 5 hours. So I put out another on Tuesday, and by Wednesday that was done too. I put out the 3rd (again, 1000 pieces, and a bit tougher than the others) on Thursday, and it was slow going. But late this afternoon we noticed a pair of teens working on it. Friends? A date? Who knows. Just a nice thing to do on a hot and lazy afternoon.

We've had some interesting reactions. A number of people came to report that someone forgot their puzzle on a table - so we put out a sign inviting people to work the puzzle. Others have offered to donate their puzzles - a very welcome gesture. Even my enormous store of puzzles won't keep up with the interest being shown!

This all has gotten me thinking about what else to do. Maybe a speed contest. 5 copies of the same puzzle, 5 teams competing to see who finishes first. Maybe we should put out a chess set. It is all part of keeping the mind active, alive and sparking - one of the important roles of libraries.

Margaret Drabble has written a memoir of her life through the lens of the jigsaw puzzles she has done throughout her life. The book, 'The Pattern in the Carpet: A Personal History with Jigsaws', is do out in September and talks about puzzling with her aunt and how doing jigsaws have helped her over rough patches in her life. Sounds like my kind of book.

The Pattern in the Carpet, by Margaret Drabble
Frannie in Pieces, by Delia Ephron
Jigsaw, USA (software)

A welcome change

I don't know if you have noticed, but we have made a change with our DVD collection. Previously the collection was too small for the demand, and we have worked hard over the years to increase the size - without neglecting the other parts of our collection, of course. Recently, we decided the time had come, the collection was at a sufficient size, and there was no need to put it off any longer.

You can now reserve our DVDs - old or new. Maybe it doesn't seem like that big a change, but it is already making a big difference to many of our users. Instead of having to haunt the check-in desk trying to grab something good, you can just put a reserve on it and before long it is ready and waiting for you. In addition, we can watch the reserve lists and know just what titles to buy additional copies of to meet the demand. We do this already with our new, popular books and it has worked well for years. We see this as a wonderful enhancement of our service to you.

And as a nice side effect, we are now able to supply DVDs to users of other libraries in our consortium. Our patrons were already calling in DVDs through the online catalog and we thought it wasn't right that we weren't able to share our collection back. Now we can, and the huge benefits to us of being part of GMILCS is reciprocated from us to the other member libraries. It isn't often that a simple change can have so many positive ramifications.

So, reserve away!


1001 movies you must see before you die, edited by Stephen Jay Schneider.