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December 31, 2019
Book some time at the Bandera Library
By Michael Garr, Library Director
Special to the Prophet
Happy New Year! As with each New Year, we ring out the old and ring in the new. The Bandera Public Library is following that tradition. Current Director Mike Garr has announced his retirement, effective Jan. 10 and the Library Board has selected after an extensive process, a current staff member, Mauri Guillen Fagan as the new Director. You are invited to stop by the Library on Jan. 8 from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. to welcome the new director and say goodbye to the outgoing director. Did you notice how I avoided the word, old?
Following a 30-year career in the Fire Service in Michigan, I started my career at the library as a volunteer back in 2008, became a part-time staff librarian the following year and finally became the director on Jan. 1 of 2017, replacing 14-year veteran John Hegemier. There have been significant changes the last few years at the library, and patron comments suggest that the improvements are much appreciated.
My short-term plans are to travel as I volunteer for the National Park Service. The first three months will see me at Big Bend National Park, the summer at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Park in Michigan and a return to Texas for a fall assignment for several months at Guadalupe Mountains NP. I will maintain my Bandera residence for the near future, so I maintain my library card. There are a few books that I have been meaning to read and will now have some time to accomplish that goal.
The library with so many December holidays has extended the Artist of the Month, Sandra Velasquez Pokorny, into January. Her beautiful work deserves a viewing, if you haven’t visited the library recently. English as A Second Language classes continue with registration and orientation scheduled for Jan. 9 and 10 from 9 a.m. to noon in the lower level classroom. Attendance both days is a requirement. The actual classes will begin the following Thursday.
The Friends of the Library will be hosting a mini book sale on Saturday, Jan. 4 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Several of the Friends are traveling during the holidays, so this sale is smaller but with many recent donations, it features many new books. A final reminder that the Thursday Book Club will meet tomorrow, Jan. 2 at 10 a.m. to start the year with Lewis Buzbee’s “The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop-a Memoir, a History.” All of the books for the discussion group in the coming year are now available and displayed at the front circulation desk.
Well, we better talk some books in this column. Two newly donated series have appeared recently. Andy McDermott is a British thriller writer and is best known for his Nina Wilde and Eddie Chase novels. The library has acquired eight books in this series. The other addition is by Charles Todd, a pen name for the mother-and-son writing team of Caroline and Charles Todd. This series is set in post-World War I England, and deals with the cases of Inspector Ian Rutledge. A veteran of that war, he is a Scotland Yard inspector suffering from shell shock. He is haunted by a cynical, taunting voice of Hamish MacLeod, a young Scots soldier he was forced to execute on the battlefield. For those of you who like to read an author from beginning to end, the Library now has most of the 22 titles in the series. And there will be more coming in this New Year.
I’ll save my auld lang syne for the final column next week. The New Director, Mauri Guillen Fagan, will continue the tradition of keeping you current on the happenings and new books available at the Bandera Library. Read well and be safe in the New Year.
Following a 30-year career in the Fire Service in Michigan, I started my career at the library as a volunteer back in 2008, became a part-time staff librarian the following year and finally became the director on Jan. 1 of 2017, replacing 14-year veteran John Hegemier. There have been significant changes the last few years at the library, and patron comments suggest that the improvements are much appreciated.
My short-term plans are to travel as I volunteer for the National Park Service. The first three months will see me at Big Bend National Park, the summer at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Park in Michigan and a return to Texas for a fall assignment for several months at Guadalupe Mountains NP. I will maintain my Bandera residence for the near future, so I maintain my library card. There are a few books that I have been meaning to read and will now have some time to accomplish that goal.
The library with so many December holidays has extended the Artist of the Month, Sandra Velasquez Pokorny, into January. Her beautiful work deserves a viewing, if you haven’t visited the library recently. English as A Second Language classes continue with registration and orientation scheduled for Jan. 9 and 10 from 9 a.m. to noon in the lower level classroom. Attendance both days is a requirement. The actual classes will begin the following Thursday.
The Friends of the Library will be hosting a mini book sale on Saturday, Jan. 4 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Several of the Friends are traveling during the holidays, so this sale is smaller but with many recent donations, it features many new books. A final reminder that the Thursday Book Club will meet tomorrow, Jan. 2 at 10 a.m. to start the year with Lewis Buzbee’s “The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop-a Memoir, a History.” All of the books for the discussion group in the coming year are now available and displayed at the front circulation desk.
Well, we better talk some books in this column. Two newly donated series have appeared recently. Andy McDermott is a British thriller writer and is best known for his Nina Wilde and Eddie Chase novels. The library has acquired eight books in this series. The other addition is by Charles Todd, a pen name for the mother-and-son writing team of Caroline and Charles Todd. This series is set in post-World War I England, and deals with the cases of Inspector Ian Rutledge. A veteran of that war, he is a Scotland Yard inspector suffering from shell shock. He is haunted by a cynical, taunting voice of Hamish MacLeod, a young Scots soldier he was forced to execute on the battlefield. For those of you who like to read an author from beginning to end, the Library now has most of the 22 titles in the series. And there will be more coming in this New Year.
I’ll save my auld lang syne for the final column next week. The New Director, Mauri Guillen Fagan, will continue the tradition of keeping you current on the happenings and new books available at the Bandera Library. Read well and be safe in the New Year.