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By Frankie Shaw
The Wellington County library system is comprised of 13 branches spread around the county, with a central library/headquarters located in Elora. Puslinch is the southernmost branch, serving a community of just over 5,000 residents. Our collection is growing and we can offer, in addition to regular books, talking books (tape or CD), video (VHS or DVD) interactive multimedia, and magazines for children and adults. We have access to all the items in the Wellington County system and we have an excellent delivery system for those who request items not found on our shelves. We can give professional help in finding employment. We also offer internet access to independent researchers. We host a weekly Story Time for children aged 3 to 5 years. It is held on Friday mornings from 10.00 am. - 11.00am. Sessions run for 6 weeks. Phone for details and to register.  The Librarians are Janet Dagenais and Frankie Shaw
Send the library an e-mail. You can click here to go to the Wellington Library System interactive gateway to order a book. Lines from the Library (May 2004) By Frankie Shaw I'm quite sure that most of us who used the library as children will remember Tintin, the cub reporter, whose adventures took him around the world. This year he turned 75 years old and it's good to know that he's still loved by children everywhere. His 23 adventures have sold more than 200 million copies and have been translated into 55 languages. The books are requested frequently at the library and this year in particular, we've seen a marked increase in circulation. Tintin is an icon in Belgium and France, but his popularity is universal. He first appeared in a Brussels newspaper in 1929, a product of the imagination of Herge, the cartoonist, who was born as George Remi in 1907. He died in 1983, meaning that soon Tintin will be older than his creator and with nary a wrinkle in sight! It was more than disturbing to read of the recent fire-bombing, in a deliberate act of aggression, of the Hebrew school in Montreal. The school library, containing over 10,000 books, was destroyed. The thought of a children's library - a place of refuge and learning - being so victimized and going up in smoke, is heart-breaking. Soon after the news broke, though, readers across the country came forward, in a typical gesture of Canadian generosity, with offers of help. Publishers, distributors, schools, libraries and individuals have all given unselfishly, in an effort to make good the horrendous damage. This is the true spirit of Canada, all pulling together to help each other, a spirit which we must try to preserve. Talking about libraries reminds me of a public library on St Simon's Island in Georgia, which we visited recently. It was like stepping back in time, for as we came through the door, we stepped onto a hardwood floor that creaked, causing heads to turn by both staff and borrowers alike, to see who the interrupters could be. The whole atmosphere was one of silence and stuffiness interspersed by whispers, muffled coughs, and the occasional turning over of a newspaper page. I was astounded at the selection of books on the shelves, for there was hardly anything up-to-date! There were old Hardy Boys mysteries, published in 1949 (well thumbed!), old A J Cronins, Georgette Heyers, Alastair Macleans, - many authors which I recognized from my youth, and not one copy of which could be said, by any stretch of the imagination, to be inviting to read, so worn were they. All were complete with catalogue card indicating who had borrowed the books. They were crammed onto the shelves and held up by housebricks, which were made to look less like housebricks by the fact that they were covered in many different materials and stitched lovingly, no doubt, by the ladies of the library. In a separate section at the end of the library, we found some current best sellers. These were on all on loan to the library due to a woeful lack of funding in the book-purchasing budget. When I talked to the librarian in charge, she said that computerization was coming, but was unsure of the reaction it would have on the borrowers since many of them liked to see whether they had read the book before and, also, who else had read it! For all its lack of resources, compared to our own library here in the Wellington County system, it had the air of a grand old lady, who refuses to keep up with the times, and proud of it. I loved its air of faded gentility, of furniture polish and quaintness, but I would hate to work there. Recent additions to our shelves Non-Fiction Agatson, Arthur. South Beach Diet Cookbook. Buxton, Bonnie. Damaged Angels ; the terrible cost of alcohol in pregnancy. Craig, Jenny. Jenny Craig; how one woman changes millions of lives. Gallander, Benj. Contrarian Investor's 13. Greenwood, M. Good Carbs vs Bad Carbs. Mandela, Nelson. In His Own Words; from freedom to the future. Spurkland, Kristin. Knits from the Heart; quick projects for generous giving. Walsch, Neale Donald. Tomorrow's God; our greatest challenge. Fiction Bates, Judy. Midnight at the Dragon Café. Block, Lawrence. Burglar on the Prowl. Brown,Dan. Da Vinci Code. Clark, Mary Higgins. Nighttime is My Time. Coelho, Paolo Eleven Minutes. Forster, Margaret. Have the Men Had Enough ? Johansen, Iris. Firestorm Kellerman, Jonathan. Therapy. Kinsella, Sophie. Shopaholic Takes Manhatten Landvik, Lorna. Angry Housewives Eating Bob Bons. Morris, Mary McGarry. Hole in the Universe. Noble, Elizabeth. The Reading Group. Peters, Elizabeth. Guardian of the Horizon. Rutherfurd, Edward. Princes of Ireland. Tenney, Tommy. Hadassah, One Night With The King. Don't forget that you can now browse the library catalogue at home. You can reserve any item and pick it up at this library, even if it is not available in Wellington County. To use this service, you need to have a current library card together with your unique PIN number. Once you have these two items, to access all the resources of the library, simply click on to www.county.wellington.on.ca. From there click on 'Museum and Library' and select library. At this point, on the left, click on library catalogue and then on the icon iBistro. Now, by entering your two numbers, you have access to the catalogue and your account at the library. If the item you want is not to be found, you may enter your request in 'interlibrary loans'. We can help you if you have problems. Tel 763-8026. We are still very happy to see you should you decide to simply pop into the library for a browse! -Frankie You can read more about the Puslinch Library by going to A Puslinch Diary. You can read previous Lines from the Library here: March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 October 2003 September 2003 June 2003 May 2003 March 2003 February 2003 January 2003 November 2002 October 2002 September 2002 August 2002 June 2002 May 2002 April 2002 February 2002 November 2001 October 2001 August 2001 July 2001 June 2001 May 2001 April 2001 |