Sit. Read. Think.

Have you had your DNA tested?  At one time that question would have made no sense. Until the early 1950’s nobody knew that DNA–deoxyribonucleic acid—even existed, let alone what it was and how essential it is to all of life. As the blueprint for every aspect of an organism, DNA makes us who we are. It determines whether we have brown eyes or blue, are tall or short, are prone to certain diseases, even whether we tend to be outgoing or shy. DNA also makes us unique, so unless you have an identical twin, your DNA is different than everyone else on the planet.Read More

Architect Michael Dixon spent three years in Ukraine serving as a United States Peace Corps volunteer, then accepted a six month Peace Corps “Response” assignment in Armenia followed by another in Kosovo. Along the way he took numerous photos and collected artifacts from the countries he lived in and served.Read More

While working on the 3rd floor Reference Desk, I was recently asked to find an article from the Smithsonian magazine. The only information the patron provided was that the article was titled Flying on a Wing and a Prayer and dated Sept 1988. First I tried using the magazine database EBSCO and Google Scholar with no luck. Then I went back into the databases and looked under Science & Technology. Within that section lives the most wonderful database!! It is the Smithsonian Collections Online . It’s a database provided for us by the University of Wyoming.Read More

Here at your local library we try to offer the best experience you can get in whatever you come here to experience. Programming, collections, café coffee or computer center, we strive to make every patron experience positive.

That said, we try to keep our computers reasonably up to date while still getting as much use out of them as we can so we buy a handful of new computers each year and take the oldest out of service.  Historically we’ve stored the old equipment until we had enough to make it worth our while to hold a “Garage sale”.  Sometimes it’s taken a few years to get enough equipment stashed up.Read More

How do we humans put single significant events into context in our lives?   We do a great job, for the most part, when the event is personal.  Most of us remember the birthday of those we love or celebrate anniversaries to mark a memorable event.  How do we incorporate those larger events into the history of personal lives?  We love a shared experience.Read More

The sport of fly fishing has become more mainstream (and, dare I say, hipster-y) in recent years. More and more men and women are gearing up with rods, reels, and waders to try their luck at angling. But it isn’t a new trend. “Modern” fly fishing took shape in England throughout the 15^th, 16^th and 17^th centuries, with books such as The Treatyse on Fysshynge with an Angle (1496) by Dame Juliana Berners; The Secrets of Angling (1613) by John Dennys; or The Compleat Angler (1653) by Izaak Walton being published and widely distributed. However, there are references to catching fish with a fly dating as far back as ancient Roman and Japanese times. Fly fishing started to become popular in America in the 1950s.Read More

Several months ago, our Adult Programming Coordinator, Robin, heard mention of another library that did a Harry Potter escape room. Knowing the 20^th anniversary of Harry Potter was happening this year, we wanted to do it, too! Our original plans came from Sarah Colombo from Livingston Parish Library .Having never participated in an escape room herself, Robin asked me for my opinion (I have done a few escape rooms). I read through the plans Livingston Parish Library sent our way; we were going to have to adapt them to accommodate our library. We created our own “puzzles,” and planned out step-by-step how our participants would escape from “Professor Vector’s” office! We spent months working out all the details and collecting items from our staff and various departments. All of these items lived in our office for the weeks leading up to the big day.Read More

The Great American Eclipse on August 21st, 2017 is over. The Eclipse Block Party on August 21 was a big hit! Around 1,700 people attended, hung out at the library, ate lunch and ice cream, and enjoyed being part of a community gazing at the 98% partial solar eclipse.

Thanks to the sales of 3,000 pairs of eclipse glasses, we’re able to purchase a telescope to complement our upcoming interactive exhibit Discover Space (December 20, 2017 – March 30, 2018) and for use in library programs well into the future.

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I hate paying for textbooks. During my first semester of university I, stupidly, purchased all of my books from the school bookstore for over $500. By my last year in Graduate School, my bill was down to roughly $10 a semester. The major you choose does impact your textbook bill (Sorry Engineering Majors. It’ll pay off in the long run!). However, the following tips should, at the very least, help shave a few dollars off your textbook bill.Read More