by Beth Cronk, Litchfield head librarian
Fall is here, and library activities for all ages are
underway. If you’re getting back onto a
schedule with the onset of school and cooler weather, consider our library’s
activities for social and educational opportunities.
Have you tried researching your family tree but could use a
little help? This Saturday, September
21, we will be hosting two genealogy workshops.
From 10-11:30 a.m., instructor Molly Schweinfurter will teach a
beginner’s session on genealogy and family history research. She will show attendees how to get started
researching their family trees and demonstrate how to find many different types
of records, using examples from her own research.
The second workshop, Genealogy Online, runs from 12:30 –
3:30 p.m. Molly will guide participants
to helpful websites related to family history searching, with a special
emphasis on sites related to Minnesota history.
Both workshops will be held in the library meeting room,
using laptops. We will be borrowing the
Pioneerland laptop lab of ten computers, so that limits our class size. If some of the participants bring their own
laptops, we can increase the size of the class.
The advantage of bringing your own laptop or tablet is that you can
bookmark the useful websites you learn about.
These workshops are free to attend because they’re funded by
Minnesota’s Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund. Reserve a spot by calling us at
693-2483 or stopping in. Specify whether
you’re attending the morning or afternoon workshop or both, and whether you’ll
be bringing your own computer.
Have you been thinking about joining a book club? Our adult book club meets at noon on the
second Tuesday of the month. It’s a
great group of people, usually ten to sixteen of us, who have lively discussions
about a wide variety of books. In
August, we discussed Sarah’s Key; that made for a great discussion about
history and prejudice.
This month, we talked about The Sunday Philosophy Club by
Alexander McCall Smith. As we criticized
the book (sometimes that’s how it goes!), somehow we managed to have a really
great discussion on the ethics of forgiveness and responsibility anyway.
Now for October, we’re reading The Hunger Games. I’m really looking forward to discussing the
profound themes it covers with a group of adults. It’s not just a book for teenagers! Many adult library patrons of all ages have
told us that they loved it and could not put it down. I think some adults are put off by the
description of the book, but it is not nearly as gritty and disturbing as it
sounds, much less so than most of the modern adult novels I’ve read. I encourage skeptical adults to put aside their
preconceived ideas and give it a try, especially if they’ve enjoyed other
survival, futuristic, or coming-of-age stories.
Even if you aren’t
usually part of our book club, you are welcome to join us for any book
discussion that interests you. This one
will be held on Tuesday, October 8, at noon in the library meeting room.
For more information on when specific book and other clubs
meet at the library, look at the information on the right-hand column of this blog.
