Tis the Season for Giving... What?

As a library, we often promote the idea of giving books as gifts any time of year, but especially in December. Books are a way to bring people together to share a story, or to help a child develop their imagination, or to share cherished traditions. We argue that reading expands minds, helps the armchair traveler explore new cultures, and provides escape and leisure in a hectic world.

If you are thinking about giving someone a book as a gift, here's a thought: is it the right gift for that person? Maybe a book isn't always the best idea. Beth Carswell of AbeBooks posted a thought-provoking article a couple of years ago that is still relevant, "The Best Book Gifts, And When Not To Give A Book." She lists ten situations where giving a book as a gift may not be the best idea, like for college students who already are overwhelmed with course reading and may not have time to enjoy "fun" stuff.

If you still really want to give someone a book as a gift, what format is the best? So many people have switched to ebooks, and you need to know what kind of device they use to read their ebooks. Do they use a tablet with an app from each major ebook retailer? Do they have a Kindle, Nook, or Kobo ereader and buy only from that company? Are they anti-Amazon, or anti-DRM? (This is really, really important to know when you want to give an ebook to someone.) How does one even give someone else an ebook as a gift? Juli Monroe over at TeleRead has a good description of how you can do this: "Giving eBooks as Gifts."

Don't forget that a great opportunity to support local authors is coming this Saturday, November 30. The Local Author Showcase at the Pottsville Library is part of the national Small Business Saturday event going on in downtown Pottsville. More than 25 authors from Schuylkill County will be at the library from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., selling print copies of their books (and some might have other media formats as well, like musical CDs). You can read the Republican Herald's story about the events for more about other businesses taking part in the event. Saturday is also the day of the Santa parade in town, the lighting of the city's Christmas tree, and the children's Christmas party at the Humane Fire Company.

Let the holiday season begin!

Fall Events at the Pottsville Library

The Pottsville Library will be offering a new computer class this month. "Perils of the Internet; or, There's No Such Thing as a Free Lunch!" will be on Tuesday, October 29 at 2:30 p.m. The class will also be offered on November 19 at 6 p.m. if you prefer evenings. The class is free, but class size is limited and you need a valid Pottsville Library card to sign up. Call the library at 570-622-8880 to register, or stop by the Circulation Desk next time you come in. Henry's discussion of spammers and hackers is sure to be entertaining and informative!

On October 31, from 4 - 6 p.m., the Children's Room will be hosting a haunted house open to all ages. This will be taking place during the downtown Pottsville merchants trick-or-treating. Come in to the library to find out what kinds of scares the Teen Advisory Board has come up with this year! City-wide trick-or-treating will be from 6 - 8 p.m. that evening.

Looking further down the road, don't forget the Local Author Showcase from 11 a.m. - 4 p.m. here at the Pottsville Library on November 30, during Small Business Saturday activities in downtown Pottsville. Almost 20 authors will be on hand with their books on a wide variety of subjects, giving you a great opportunity to pick up some holiday gifts and support Schuylkill County people at the same time. The city will be hosting the Santa Parade at 5:30 p.m. that day, followed by the lighting of the tree in Garfield Square at 6 p.m.

Questions about things happening at the library? Please call us at 570-622-8880 to find out what else is going on at your public library!

Library News/letter

Do you receive the Pottsville Library's newsletter? Did you even know one exists? If you don't get it in the mail, you can take a look at it from the library's website. Just go to our "Stacks of News" page at www.pottsvillelibrary.org/stacks_of_news.htm and click on the top link for the latest issue. Issues are in PDF format, so they look exactly like the printed pages we mail out.

Our next "1st Monday" used book sale, hosted by the Friends of the Pottsville Library, will be on Tuesday, September 3 from 12 to 2 pm. If you can't make that book sale, there will be another Book and Bake Sale on Saturday, September 21 from 9 am to 1 pm.  Book sale proceeds go to the funds used by the Friends to support library needs, such as the library's wi-fi network and printers for staff. Bake sale proceeds benefit the Teen Advisory Board, so they can do awesome things with their annual Halloween Haunted House in the library's basement.

POW, the Pottsville Open Writers group, will be meeting at the library on September 14 at 11 am. Participants should write about "the most memorable moment of your life." The session will include discussion of what people wrote on that topic (poem, prose, limerick, whatever works for you!), and then a half hour when participants write a paragraph or a poem on another topic of the leader's choosing. All aspiring writers are encouraged to attend, even if you've never been to a meeting or written anything before!

And along those lines, the Pottsville Library wants to encourage any writer in or from Schuylkill County to consider taking part in our "Local Authors Showcase" on Small Business Saturday (November 30), from 11 am to 4 pm. Anyone from our area who has written a book may sign up for a spot in the library. The downtown Pottsville area businesses will be offering specials to people who want to do their holiday shopping locally, and we wanted to give our local authors a chance to take part in this tradition. For a registration form or for more information, contact the Pottsville Library by email at potpublib at pottsvillelibrary.org, or call the library at 570-622-8880. Registration must be made by October 1 so we can guarantee you a spot!