Lately my ears have been ringing with the words of the eternal Douglas Adams. In “The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” Englishman Arthur Dent finds himself planetless (the Earth having been inconveniently demolished to make way for a hyperspatial express route) (don’t worry; the dolphins bring it back later). His one constant helpmeet is the eponymous guidebook, The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, the principal advice of which is “Don’t panic. Bring a towel.”

This is my last column for the Enterprise. I am setting off on an adventure which I sincerely hope will not involve the destruction of the planet. Even a small, cross-continent move, though, inspires panic and the need for a nice, fluffy towel.

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There are so many books and library stories to choose among that it is very difficult to pick a topic for a last column. Fortunately the President – yes, the one in Washington – suggested a topic. Here follows a short state of the libraries address to the people of Barnstable.

How much did your village libraries offer to you last year? What did we do? Here’s a snapshot in numbers:

Hours open: 13,252
Items circulated: 604,485
Items in collection: approximately 300,000

Yearly attendance: 494,656
Children’s programs offered: 975
Children’s programs attendance: 17,961
Adult and Young Adult programs: 666
Adult and Young Adult programs attendance: 10,482
Reference questions: 43,223

Many thanks to Centerville’s Director Beth Butler for compiling these statistics.

The stories in words I’ve tried to tell through these columns. As Library Directors we must keep a sharp eye on statistics, but I think I speak for my colleagues when I say that each of those numbers brings a flood of faces and voices to mind. How many of those items circulated started with a question: “I loved this book, now what should I read next?” Every children’s program brings a memory of music and glittery crafts; every reference question a personal quest for understanding. Every transaction is attached to some person’s unique story. We are privileged to share these stories with you.

We remember the people who said a special “thank you” for a program on suicide prevention or substance abuse. We grin for the people who used our resources to find jobs, and came in waving acceptance letters. Some of those items circulated and reference questions were transmuted by patrons into brand new books, which we added to our library collections where they will be checked out and used to answer new questions that may turn into new books… How could you not love this?

Yet all around us, with library use rising in many places (Cotuit saw 32% more library visits in December, 2011 than December, 2010, for example), library funding and support are not keeping pace. The Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners reports that “More people visit their local library each year than attend entire seasons of the Celtics, Patriots, Bruins, and Red Sox games combined. Entrepreneurs, students, job seekers, the homeless, the affluent, new Americans, children, young adults, adults and seniors, literate and illiterate, all find a path to success at the library.”

So why don’t we hear more about libraries? We’re hearing plenty about the Patriots.

Perhaps we need a reality show with avid readers being voted out of the library? Or commentators doing color commentary and play-by-play: “Joe Black has entered the library making a beeline for the new fiction, but here come Mehitabel Green on his right. Joe feints toward James Patterson…but no, Mehitabel got to the new Daniel Silva first. Score one for the Friends of the Library… but here comes another Cribbage Club member, picking off Michael Connelly straight from the shelving cart! What a play!”

Maybe not. Maybe we just need your help from time to time to spread the word. This year, why not send valentines to your legislators, local and state, declaring your undying love for your local libraries? I’ll be in New Mexico by then, but I’ll keep an eye on how well you’ve raised funding levels. Thanks!

So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish

The Barnstable Village Libraries column will continue next week. I will be reading from a distance, because I can’t wait to see what Lucy Loomis of Sturgis has to say. I only wish there were space for Lucy’s extraordinary photos.

It’s been fun to “talk” with all of you through this column and the many in-person conversations it has started. May the Village Libraries continue strong and happy, and best wishes to all who take extraordinary adventures within their walls and within the covers of their books, electronic or otherwise.

Should you have a lingering question about the column headings this week, find a helpful reference librarian, or pick up a very funny series of books from Douglas Adams.

I wish all the people who don’t use the library, and who still think it is a big building full of books and nothing more, could come in today to wander and listen and find out what the others already know. It’s a lovely building full of wonderful books, but so much more.

The Barnstable Village Libraries present programs both within our buildings and outside them. We have downloadable audio and e-books that you can check out from the comfort of home (or from wherever you may be traveling, as long as you can find an Internet connection). We have online learning tools and databases also available from home. Insomnia a problem? Learn French at 2:00 am if you like, all for free and courtesy of the library.

Here’s a sample of what you can enjoy through the Barnstable Village Libraries this week:

On Saturday, 1/21:
HYANNIS: A Trip to China 2:00 p.m.
CENTERVILLE: Author Talk with Martin Sandler 2:30 p.m.
WHELDEN: Family Supper Night 5:00 p.m. at the Community Building

On Monday, 1/23:
CENTERVILLE: Drop-in Story Hour 10:15 a.m. Infant-Preschool.
MARSTONS MILLS: Homeschool Club 2:00 p.m. Grades K-5 (please sign up in advance)

On Tuesday, 1/24:
MARSTONS MILLS: Story Time 10:00 a.m., followed by After Story Activities 11:00 a.m.
COTUIT: Preschool Story Hour 10:30 a.m.
CENTERVILLE: Mid-Cape Chess Club 1:00 to 7:00 p.m.
OSTERVILLE: Storytime 3:30 p.m.
MARSTONS MILLS: Tuesday Night Kids’ Clubs 4:30 to 5:30 p.m.
HYANNIS: Family F.U.N. Night 5:30 p.m. Call 508-775-6240 x512.
MARSTONS MILLS: Kneedlers Knitting Group 6:00 p.m.
STURGIS: Intellectual Seeds: The Bounty of William Sturgis, Past and Present Discussion Series 6:30 p.m. “Silas Marner.” (Registration requested. Sponsored by Mass Humanities.)

On Wednesday, 1/25:
OSTERVILLE: Storytime 10:00 a.m.
COTUIT: Preschool Story Hour 2:15 p.m.
HYANNIS: Family Literacy Class 6:30 p.m. (Sign up through Barnstable Schools)
COTUIT: Book Club 7:00 p.m. “Last Night in Twisted River.”

On Thursday, 1/26:
STURGIS: Storytime 10:30 a.m. Ages 2 to 5.
COTUIT: One-on-one Tech Help (call Library for appointment)
CENTERVILLE: Mid-Cape Chess Club 1:00 to 7:00 p.m.
CENTERVILLE: Family Story Time with Miss Donna 6:00 p.m.

On Friday, 1/27:
COTUIT: Stitch in Time Handcrafts Group 10:00 a.m. to Noon
MARSTONS MILLS: FUN Family Playgroup 10:00 a.m. (Birth through age 4. Call 508-775-6240 to sign up.)
HYANNIS: Pre-school Story Time 11:15 a.m.
CENTERVILLE: Knitting 3:30 p.m.
CENTERVILLE: Mixed Up Story Time with Miss Jessie 4:00 p.m.

And this is Winter, our “quiet” season.

Libraries: buildings with books, community centers, homes of lifelong learning, and anything else we can devise to help bring people together with vital information they need and enlightening entertainment they want. Stop by some time soon.

The Phantom Tollbooth

It is all right to read children’s books. Many children’s books, even the ones you read as a child, are even better when you are grown up (at least, if you didn’t grow up too very much). Norton Juster’s “The Phantom Tollbooth” turned 50 last year, and it is not showing its age at all.

This is the tale of Milo, a typical boy who is always thinking about where he isn’t and thinks he can never find anything fun to do.

“When he was in school he longed to be out, and when he was out he longed to be in. On the way he thought about coming home, and coming home he thought about going. Wherever he was he wished he were somewhere else, and when he got there he wondered why he’d bothered. Nothing really interested him — least of all the things that should have.”

One day he opens a mysterious present, which turns out to be a tollbooth. Setting off in his long-disused electric car, Milo finds magic and adventure as he travels past Expectations into The Lands Beyond, and struggles to restore the princesses Sweet Rhyme and Pure Reason to Dictionopolis.

Why should you read this, if you haven’t already? Because it’s much more fun that whatever you just finished reading. Because the word play is delightful. Because it will remind you of everything you’ve ever forgotten. Because Tock the WatchDog would want you to.

“But it’s not just learning things that’s important. It’s learning what to do with what you learn and learning why you learn things at all that matters.”

The Lives of a Cell

It is also ok to read science, even if it is not brand new. Sometimes science writing is really about how people think. For many years Lewis Thomas wrote a monthly short, informal essay called “Notes of a Biology Watcher” for the New England Journal of Medicine. In 1974, the first collection of these essays was published in book form.

“The Lives of a Cell: Notes of a Biology Watcher” won the National Book Award in 1975. Twice. This magnificent book won in two categories: Arts and Letters as well as Sciences. Thomas’s acceptance speech is as graceful as his essays:

“What I have in mind is the growing body of totally new information about the way life works, and particularly the possible meanings that may be contained in this information. It is looking more and more like a strange, unexpected sort of world, the closer we get to it…I’m not sure you should leave it entirely to the scientists to figure out all the meanings.”

Sherlock Holmes

All along the mystery shelves they line up: authors who want to borrow an odd, old Victorian character and dust him off for another adventure: Caleb Carr with “The Italian Secretary,” Laurie King with her Mary Russell novels, Michael Chabon’s “The Final Solution,” and more. All these novels have circulated well. People are flocking to a movie that claims to be about this character, and viewers tune in to see an updated BBC version.

So when was the last time you read the real thing? The genuine article, the world’s first (and greatest) consulting detective, the true Sherlock Holmes, as chronicled by his creator, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle? Back in 2003, when you heard the buzz about Mark Haddon’s “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time,” did you immediately think “Silver Blaze!”?

“How often have I said to you that when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth?”

If you’d like to join the Cotuit Vintage Mystery Book Club, we meet at the Cotuit Library Sunday, January 15 at 1:00 pm to discuss “The Nine Tailors” by Dorothy Sayers. Next month, catch us on February 19 at 1:00 pm for Ngaio March’s “A Clutch of Constables.”

This is the first time both Cotuit’s copies of “The Greater Journey” by David McCullough have stood side-by-side. I finally got my own chance at Erik Larson’s  “In the Garden of Beasts,” which has been flying from hold to hold for a long while now.

Looking through these shelves, 6 months or so worth of books, gives an interesting snapshot. What have we been thinking about, reading about, talking about? And what sent us off in those directions?

Beyond the Bestsellers

For a fascinating investigation of how compelling photographs shape our views and reflections, try Errol Morris’s “Believing is Seeing: Observations on the Mysteries of Photography.” When is photography art? When does it become evidence? When does it lend itself to propaganda?

If Morris’s investigation proves too disturbing, you might prefer an exploration of one photographer’s artistic process.  Annie Leibovitz’s new book “Pilgrimage” was a special project. The subjects depicted weren’t assigned to her by editors. They are places and things associated with people who interest her, places and people that she reflects upon through the images she makes. The compilation of photographs and the subjects they encompass in turn reflect Leibovitz herself, giving a fascinating picture of what matters to her. Massachusetts is represented by Emily Dickinson’s home in Amherst and by Walden Pond, among others.

Featured Service

CLAMS offers another cool way to look inside what others are reading and thinking about. At the main page, www.clamsnet.org, try selecting “New and Popular Titles.”
The New and Popular page will show you bestsellers; recent additions in many categories; lists of the most requested items in fiction, non-fiction, dvd, audiobook and more. You can even see lists of hot future releases.

Yes, this is the secret of how your neighbor always gets holds way ahead of everyone else. Scan the advance list for favorite authors and interesting titles, and place your holds before the item is published

Online Tip

If you prefer to look back before looking ahead, everyone remotely related to the publishing world has put out lists of their favorite books of 2011. Here’s a list of some of my favorite lists (all this reflection seems to be getting recursive…):

I love to look at the Guardian’s list (http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/best-books-of-2011) to see what’s hot in the United Kingdom. Several writers I enjoy are published there first. A few of my personal favorites, writers like Lindsay Clarke and the late Russell Hoban, write novels that may not make it to US publication at all.

Readers themselves choose the Goodreads list at http://www.goodreads.com/award/choice/2011 . There are no pretensions here, just a selection of what real people really enjoyed.

Publishers Weekly has a list which is always worth considering at http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/best-books/2011#book/book-1, while NPR’s eclectic list of lists is at http://www.npr.org/2011/11/30/142942283/the-best-books-of-2011-the-complete-list . Either of these will give you plenty to consider when picking your next read.

Featured Event

On Thursday, January 12 at 6:30 pm Gosnold Treatment Centers in collaboration with Hyannis Youth and Community Center, Barnstable High School, and the Barnstable Libraries, presents Fall River native and former Boston Celtic Chris Herren. He will share the story of his spiral into drug and alcohol abuse and his eventual recovery and rehabilitation. Herren was recently the subject of a compelling ESPN documentary, “Unguarded.” His reflection on his own life will help anyone who has been affected by addiction.

Losing Weight

Your local library will have plenty of books to help you manage a healthy diet. There are out-and-out diet books, of course, but also the latest advice from trusted medical centers. You’ll find healthy heart diets from the American Heart Association and Cleveland Clinic and, diabetes diets from the Mayo Clinic, for example. My favorite healthy eating book of the past year comes from a doctor who is also a gourmet chef: “Just Tell Me What to Eat” by Timothy S. Harlan.

Exercising More

Yes, we have books for that as well, including books on related topics such as stretching. But did you know some libraries have exercise or yoga groups as well? It’s always easier to keep going if you have good company. Ask at your local library. If they don’t have a group already, maybe you could start one

Quitting Smoking

Here you’ll find help both in books and on video. You’ll also find a supportive, non-smoking environment full of interesting programs to distract you from the lure of nicotine.

Managing Debt

We have a multitude of books to help, and you can sample them all without incurring more debt. Find the special focus that will help you: dealing with collectors, understanding credit cards, refinancing mortgages, and more. Your reference librarian can’t offer direct advice, but can put you in touch with a variety of social service agencies that do offer direct help. This is a hard maze to work through. Let us help you find reliable, trustworthy help.

Saving Money

What better way to save money than by using the library? Borrow books, movies, and games for free. Download free audiobooks and ebooks from home so you save on gas as well. Use our many research databases from home or from the library. Attend free author talks, informational programs, book clubs, and more. Learn to knit or crochet. Let your kids enjoy free activities all summer, keeping up their reading skills so they return to school ready to learn. Get free help researching a world of subjects.

Of course you could also check out books with great advice on saving money in other areas of your life.

Getting a Better Job

You’re in luck. We have resources to help you write the perfect resume and cover letter, practice for the all-important interview, or start up your own business from home. You don’t even need to leave home to handle this resolution. Simply use your library card to sign into the Job and Career Accelerator resource from any Barnstable Library website. Job and Career Accelerator, made available through a grant from the Kirkman Trust, offers a full range of tools to help you find a job, including customized searches for job postings and computer skills tutorials you can take at your own pace.

Getting a Better Education

Public libraries support lifelong learning. We can help you find the resources you need, whether in print or online. Take a good look at the research databases and online learning resources we offer. One favorite is Mango Languages, a collection of more than 50 online language courses available from home, also made available through a grant from the Kirkman Trust. Many library patrons also enjoy the Great Courses series from the Teaching Company, available in both audio cd and dvd formats. Study literature, science, visual arts, music, history and more with some of the best professors in the world, all for free, at home.

Reducing Stress

Relax in a comfy chair by a library fireplace with a good book. Learn about meditation, yoga, and other relaxation techniques with our wide selection of videos and books.

Taking a Trip

We’ve got that covered as well, with travel books and dvds, online language learning, phrase books to carry with you, and lots of great programs. Listen to speakers as they talk about trips to Africa, Taiwan, Paris, and other locations, and decide where you want to go next.

Volunteering

Libraries love volunteers. Without them, we’d have a hard time making all your other resolutions possible. Please consider joining us, at least if you like friendly company in a pleasant atmosphere, along with the knowledge you are helping your friends and neighbors.

There you are. Replace all your resolutions with one: spend more time at the local library.

Please RSVP to Stan Goldstein via email at sigcoma@comcast.net or via phone at 508-428-0143 by 23 January.

Massachusetts Tax Forms

Federal Tax Forms

This year the Barnstable Village Libraries have received many gifts.

We received $100,000 from the Town of Barnstable’s Kirkman Trust. That gift to us became a gift of e-books, online learning resources, and career and job help for everyone in the Town.

We’ve received gifts to help us on building projects. Those gifts have brought improvements to Sturgis and Cotuit that make it easier for you to get to us and use our libraries. Osterville will be giving the village a beautiful new library with expanded services next Spring.

The gifts that come to the libraries become gifts we give back to our villages. They support people who may then return the gift to us, so we can transform it once again into service for you.

Working in a library is a gift in and of itself. Thank you for the chance to serve the community.

Beyond the Bestsellers

If this is the season of gifts, it is also the season of reruns, and of oldies-but-goodies. It’s when we pull out our favorite recipes and favorite stories and favorite movies.

Recently I was saddened to learn that one of my staff members had never seen the classic film “Desk Set.” When you are perusing the dvd collections in the CLAMS system, please consider this lesser-known star in the Katherine Hepburn/Spencer Tracy constellation.

It takes place at Christmas, and Katherine Hepburn is a wise and witty librarian running the reference department at a studio. Enter Spencer Tracy, a disheveled computer expert whose electronic train may (or may not) threaten the jobs of Hepburn and her intrepid team of human researchers.

“Desk Set” is required viewing for librarians, and fun for all sorts of grown-ups. It’s a clever and slightly screwball comedy with a touch of office romance and a sprinkling of holiday sparkle.

Featured Service

In the CLAMS system we have all embraced the benefits of those “electronic brains” we now call computers.  CLAMS describes itself this way: “Cape Libraries Automated Materials Sharing (CLAMS) is a non-profit, cooperative association of libraries on Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard, and Nantucket, that share resources through a computer network with terminals located in each member library.”

Here are the gifts CLAMS gives each year. Use of a single CLAMS library card allows patrons to borrow books and other materials from all member libraries. The shared system gives library card holders access to over 1.5 million items including books, magazines, and non-print resources. In 2010/2011 the number of checkouts for books, dvd’s, and other materials by CLAMS library users was over 3.5 million. CLAMS also helps member libraries save money through resource sharing. Those savings become, again, more gifts we can give back to our villages.

Online Tip

I was distracted from my writing by a news alert advising that “Comet Lovejoy is receding from the sun, remarkably still intact after its Dec. 16th plunge through the solar atmosphere. Multiple observers in the southern hemisphere are now reporting that they can see and photograph the comet’s tail shining through the twilight of sunrise.  Pictures of this rare apparition are highlighted on today’s edition of http://spaceweather.com. “

Spaceweather is a splendid site for skywatchers. It’s packed with information and breathtaking photography, and you can submit your own photos to add to the general splendor. You can sign up for space weather reports by email, and even get text messages alerting you when auroras may appear in your area. Never miss another eclipse, comet, or solar flare.

Featured Event

If you have grandkids visiting from off-Cape for the holidays, contact your local library to learn about story times and holiday week programs. The kids can have a great time and make new friends, while you get a much needed break! Check any library website for a calendar of events, or stop in for a printed calendar for all Barnstable Libraries’ events.

Contact your local library for regularly scheduled story hours, book clubs, and more.

For feedback or suggestions for future columns, email Caroline Dechert, Cotuit Library Director, at cdechert@clamsnet.org

Recent requests include: a children’s biography of Vincent Van Gogh; a study of Monet’s use of color; a book on Cape Cod ghosts; a free tutorial on Excel worksheets; how best do I train my dog; how does a horse think; how to crochet a granny square (and is there time before I have to wrap it up for the holiday); help printing an emailed photo of a new grandchild; help filling out an online job application; the difference between a Nook Color and a Kindle Fire; the pronunciation of one word and the definition of another; and the perennial favorite, “what should I read next?” There is no end to the things about which humans are curious. Isn’t it nice to have a place where people will help you find the answers, and the answers behind the answers?

Beyond the Bestsellers

Many answers, and many more starting points for contemplation and question, can be found in a magnificent new volume from Phaidon Presss, “The Art Museum.” The book is huge, 992 pages, each page almost 18 inches by 13 inches large. The reproductions of artworks within are gloriously detailed and true to color, and there are more than 2500 of them spanning thousands of years and a full world of cultures, including areas such as aboriginal art which are often ignored. There are paintings, of course, but also ceramics, goldwork, and other visual art forms. There are very few copies of “The Art Museum” in the CLAMS system (it is a rather expensive book), so get on the waiting list now.

Featured Service

Ah, the waiting list, the holds queue, the list of requested items. How often have you placed a longed-for book on your list, only to have it arrive while you’re on vacation and be sent on to the next person before you return? Did you know that now you can “freeze” your list for a period of time? Log into your CLAMS account online as usual, and look at your list of requests. On the right side you will see a new checkbox marked “freeze.” If you check that box and update your list, your hold request will be “frozen” until you choose to thaw it out. This is a great feature over busy holidays when your focus is elsewhere, or any time you are traveling and can’t get to the library to pick up a book.

Online Tip

You may never pick up a book at the Library of Congress, but the digital era allows you to research their collection from home. Visit http://www.loc.gov/rr/ to explore the huge variety of information sources available. In addition to the wealth of special digital collections (historic newspapers, veteran’s history, prints and photos, among many more), there are virtual reference services as part of the Library’s Ask a Librarian program, and finding aids that will help you navigate collections on your own. This is a true national treasure available to everyone who has computer access. Of course, even if you have no computer access from home, you can always come to your local library, where access is free for everyone.

Featured Event

Perhaps you are (or you know) someone who is uncomfortable with the very thought of searching online or using the CLAMS hold features mentioned above. If the word “computer” is still scary and the tech-y terms people use are strange to you, you might like to visit Marstons Mills Public Library for an Intro to Computers, offered Tuesday, December 20, and Wednesday, December 21 at 10:00 am. Please contact the library to sign up in advance (508-428-8175).

If you’re a little more advanced, but still need help with a specific function, try out Cotuit Library’s Tech Help Thursdays. You can sign up for a twenty minute one-on-one session on a specific topic. Please schedule your session in advance (508-428-8141).

Contact your local library for regularly scheduled story hours, book clubs, and more.

For feedback or suggestions for future columns, email Caroline Dechert, Cotuit Library Director, at cdechert@clamsnet.org