Where I Was: Week of January 18

It's still January, which means my regional travel schedule is not quite as hectic as it will be in, say, May. Still, there are always places to go and people to see.

Thursday I went north to the Reading Room Association of Gouverneur, where I met with the Battle of the Books committee, nine fearless youth services staff who organize and implement our library system's annual book trivia competition for middle school students. We meet a few times a year - a book selection meeting in the late summer, a midwinter meeting to check our progress*, and a post-event debrief.

I love these meetings. I love these meetings because I rarely get another chance to meet with youth services staff as even a small group; it's just so hard to schedule, and it's hard to justify asking a director who doubles as youth services staff** to find coverage to come to yet another meeting, especially in a service area as large as ours.

Yes, that big pink one up top. That's us.

On Friday evening, I traveled down to the Annie P. Ainsworth Memorial Library in Sandy Creek to chat about their completion paperwork for their recent construction grant project. (You remember me talking about construction grants, right?) In addition to other improvements to the basement level, the library's Lincoln Room, long used for storage, was given an overhaul to become a functional meeting space for small groups.

The newly renovated Lincoln Room.

Stay tuned for adventures in Belleville, coming soon!

*Progressing nicely, thank you.

**Important to note: In our system, there are few library staffers who are dedicated to youth services alone. Many of our directors pinch hit as youth services staff in addition to their myriad other duties, and my hat is off to these.