From the Library

As always, your public library welcomes you for events, services, helpful information and good reads. This month, there are several events coming up that we would like to highlight in particular.

First, although I mentioned it last month, our Meet the Author event with Nathan Hale is coming on Friday, Feb. 21 at 4 p.m. Come to the Healdsburg library meeting room for an engaging talk from a New York Times bestselling author and illustrator of graphic novels. This event is designed to be of interest to school-age children and their caregivers. 

The library continues to provide a space for an occasional open mic night, open to local performers. If you or a friend would like to try performing music, telling stories, or reading poetry in front of others, this is a good opportunity. The audience is usually comprised of others who are participating, so we also want to highlight this for those who would like to listen. Refreshments and snacks will be served.

When we offer free cooking classes, they are always very popular. The next such event will be on Saturday, March 14 at 2 p.m., a family wellness cooking class presented by Project Ceres. For this event, you can bring the whole family to prepare and eat real, whole foods together. Children and their parents/caregivers will learn how to make a delicious soup with kale and white beans, a dish with brown rice and quinoa and a special green salad with a honey lemon dressing. This class requires advance registration, which will begin on Feb. 22. You can sign up online, call or drop in at the library.

The Friends of Healdsburg Library will present their March Book Sale from March 18 to 21. The sale will include all of the typical elements, including the $6 Bag Sale on Saturday. The Friends have recently begun accepting credit card payments for books, which is sure to please those who rely on them over cash for everyday purchases. The Friends would like to extend a word about donations: while your donations are much appreciated, please remember to think about the potential buyer of the books you are donating. Sometimes donations include items that have developed mold, are old and musty or are otherwise not in a condition that would encourage one to buy them. Although the books have surely played an important role in our lives and those of our loved ones, please take the initiative to recycle the books. A good rule of thumb is asking yourself if you would purchase that book again if you hadn’t read it already. 

Another thing to consider when generously donating your books or other materials is that while the Friends currently take donations at any time, please keep in mind that the volume and workload around book sale time is actually very high. Rather than donating right at sale time, consider perhaps donating at another time in order to lessen their load. We are very grateful for all of the hard work done by our Friends of the Library and their generous donations. The next time you have snacks at an event, sit in the nice furniture in the Forum Room, or notice the lovely fountain in the front of the building, take a moment to appreciate the little things that the Friends do to make the Library a better place for everyone.

-Jon Haupt is the branch manager of the Healdsburg Regional Library.