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It has been my sincere pleasure to work with many board members, volunteers, staff, and patrons during my years at Sedona Public Library—from January 1979 to August 1985 at the Jordan Road Library, and from the time I returned to Sedona in June 2009 and became director at the White Bear Road Library—where I’m happily taking part in the Library’s 60th anniversary year celebration.
We buried a time capsule last week, to be opened in the year 2058. As we reflect on where we will be 40 years from now, when the Library celebrates its 100th anniversary, I can’t help but reflect on where we were 40 years ago. In 1978 the Library was only 5,000 square feet and had no meeting rooms. Today’s building is five times that size and has two meeting spaces—the Si Birch Community Room and the Quiet Study. In 40 years I hope that our beautiful library is still a gathering place for the community, for the many programs that bring us together. Forty years ago Sedona Public Library had a collection of books, magazines, and newspapers printed on paper. That was it! No audio books. No movies. No computers. Over the years, full-length audio books were introduced—first on cassette and then on compact disc. Now we listen to books on our computers and other digital devices, including our smart phones. I can’t imagine life without audio books. They entertain and inform, and soothe my way into slumber. How will we be listening in 2058? If you wanted to watch a movie in 1978 you went to the theatre. VHS technology was in its infancy and it was still a new concept to think about watching a full-length movie in your own home. Mainframe computers were still standard, with personal computers just starting to be available. Sedona Library’s first computer was introduced in 1979: a TRS-80 microcomputer (courtesy of the local Radio Shack), with a cassette recorder as a peripheral device. Patrons learned to write simple programs on the computer. Fast forward to 2018 and we’re listening to books and podcasts on our computers and digital devices; we’re reading books, magazines, and newspapers online; we’re watching movies and television shows in totally new ways. It’s hard to even imagine how people will access books in the year 2058, when Sedona Public Library turns 100! Computers with internet access have allowed us to find answers to questions faster than ever before. No matter where we find our answers, libraries are still in the information business. Helping customers find what they’re looking for is one of the highlights of being a librarian, and you can often find me behind the Reference Desk looking up an answer on the computer or walking the aisles in search of the right book. We offer service on an individual basis for all who walk through the doors of the Library. We’re also in the education business. We help people learn how to find answers for themselves online and to operate the devices to get them online. I predict that in 2058 Sedona Public Library will still offer service to all who walk through the doors and that all individuals will continue to find a friendly face and helping hand for whatever questions they might have. No matter what format, no matter what new technology comes our way, librarians will be right there to help introduce it and navigate through the learning process. Technology will change, but what won’t change is the need for a place to explore and exchange ideas, a place to meet up with your neighbors, and a place for lifelong learning. That will be Sedona Public Library, now and in 2058. Sedona Public Library is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Please support your library at www.sedonalibrary.org. Sedona Public Library is hosting two Halloween events, one for youngsters and another for adults. The Library’s adult Halloween event, “Spooktacular,” is on Wednesday, October 31, at 3 p.m. in the community room.
We’ll kick off this celebration with spooky readings by the Mackler Trio. For those who enjoy dressing up, we’ll have our costume show and “Who Am I?” guessing game. Annette and Erroll Foldes, local musicians and entertainers, will provide live music and a dance party. Also on the party agenda are refreshments and games. Bring your decorated or carved pumpkins for a pumpkin contest. Don’t miss out on a wonderful chance to enjoy our community, meet new people, and mingle with fellow library and Halloween lovers. And you’ll still have time to attend the Uptown activities! Thanks to the goodwill of local merchants, Uptown trick-or-treating for children begins at 5 p.m. on Halloween. This Sedona tradition started 32 years ago and is a thrilling night for all ages. On Tuesday, October 30, the day before Halloween, the Library is offering a daytime opportunity for youngsters to get together and sport their costumes. Children and their parents or caregivers are invited to come to the Library’s “Little Bit Spooky Story Time” in the community room at 10:30 a.m. With a young audience in mind, we have an hour of fun planned. Youth services staff—Miss Karen, Miss Marcia, and Miss Meghan—will dress up in friendly costumes. They have slightly spooky stories and songs to share, and Marcia will lead a parade! Little ghosts, superheroes, and other characters will all parade through the book stacks bringing a bit of noise and big smiles to those lucky enough to be in the library on Tuesday morning. Also for the little ones, games and craft activities will be set up in the community room. Pretzel bats, fruity snacks, and spiders will pop up, too! The Cat in the Hat will be on hand to encourage parents to join Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, a Rotary Club–sponsored project that delivers a gift book every month to the home of children under 5 years of age. Please come enjoy these free, fun Halloween events at the Library. We promise there won’t be any tricks. Just treats! Sedona Public Library is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Please support your library at www.sedonalibrary.org. Sedona Public Library Column for October 19, 2018 Written by Karen Mack, Youth Services Librarian This year Sedona Public Library is celebrating 60 years of serving the community. To commemorate this accomplishment, we’ll be burying a 60th Anniversary Time Capsule on Saturday, October 20, at 11:30 a.m. at the Library, 3250 White Bear Road, Sedona. It will be unearthed on our 100th anniversary, in the year 2058.
The Library’s history is woven into the fabric of Sedona going back over six decades. In 1958 a volunteer group established Sedona’s first library in a donated space with three shelves of donated books and magazines. By 1966, the Library was incorporated as a nonprofit with holdings of 6,230 books. Today the collection includes 61,000 books, and with membership in the Yavapai Library Network, we give patrons access to 1.3 million items, including audio books, movies and e-books. The Library moved into its first building on Jordan Road in 1969. The land was donated by locals Helen Ecker and Eugenia Wright, who wanted to see the land used to benefit the greatest number of people. They chose the Library, and the building constructed on that land was funded entirely by community donations. By 1985 the 5,000-square-foot building on Jordan Road was too cramped to meet Sedona’s growing needs, and the library board investigated ways to expand the facility. Sedona resident Ethel M. Low came to the rescue in January 1986 with a donation of $326,000 to buy land for a new and larger library. The Design Group designed the new building on White Bear Road, which was funded entirely by generous individuals in the community and gifts of materials and labor from the local construction industry. On May 14, 1994, a parade of 500 Sedona citizens formed “Books Across Sedona” to symbolize the move to the new library building in West Sedona. The book-carrying chain moved 5,000 books from the Uptown location. The move was completed during the next three weeks, and the new building opened its doors to the public on June 6. Today we are celebrating our history and our place in the community. The results of our 60th anniversary “60-themed” writing contest have been announced and we’re so delighted with the winning entries in each age category that they will all go into the Time Capsule. A library is one of the most common and relied upon places for collecting stories, and as part of our 60th anniversary celebration, we decided to collect a few of our own. Many volunteers, patrons, staff, and visitors have shared their thoughts, memories, and well wishes. There’s still time for you to include your story! These messages will also go into the Time Capsule. In the last couple of weeks children have been recording their special thoughts on what they currently do at the Library and what they might be doing in the year 2058. These are some of their comments: Sedona Public Library is important to me because…
In 40 years, when Sedona Public Library is 100 years old, I will be…
Please come by the Library during the next week as we decorate the outside and put memorabilia inside the Time Capsule. And join us on Saturday, October 20 at 11:30, after Saturday Story Time (which starts at 11:00). We’ll have a short parade to the spot where the capsule will be hidden for the next 40 years. Everyone is welcome to see the Covering of the Capsule! Sedona Public Library Column for October 12, 2018 Written by Virginia Volkman, Library Director Well, actually, we have nine winners in three age categories in Sedona Public Library’s first-ever writing contest. Forty-four local writers came forward to help the Library celebrate its 60th anniversary with stories, poems, and essays. They all adhered to one important rule: the text must include the number 60. Congratulations to our winners, who found funny, scary, and insightful ways to follow this rule in their submissions.
We received manuscripts that included 60 minutes, bananas, days, activities, shoes, and twinkling stars. We had two Room 60s, the Sixty Spy Agency, and Agent Sarah Sixty. One essay tried to convince us that 60 is actually 40, and one poem included 22 rhymed couplets describing 60 library activities and programs. The judges’ response to the variety and talent? “Reading these was so fun!” Thank you to everyone who submitted a manuscript. From 10 to 96 years old, our writers shared tremendous fiction, nonfiction, and poems. Here are the top three writers from each age group: 6–10 years old: First place went to Kyla-Jane Rogers for her story “The Haunting 60;” second place went to Miles Fuss for his story “The Bike Race;” and third place went to Clark Ortega for his poem “Snowy, My Cat.” 11–18 years old: First place went to Nora Fuss for her story “My Mother’s a Spy;” second place went to Anna Marie Gordon for her story “60 Days and Counting;” and third place went to Felicia Foldes for her poem “All Booked Up.” Finally, in our adult category, age 19+, first place went to Willma Gore for her story “Bird in the Hand;” second place went to Ronald Goldberg for his essay “The Sedona Syndrome;” and third place went to Celeste Barrett Rubanick for her essay “Sixty Is Actually Forty.” Please enjoy these excerpts from our winning manuscripts, and watch for publication of first-place winners on sedonalibrary.org. “I slowly walked to the stairs and started climbing to the 13th floor. I was regretting it. I wasn’t a daredevil. I took a deep breath, when a white wispy image floated past me and through one of the many doors. I walked up to see what door it flew through. It was my room, Room 60.” (from “The Haunting 60,” by Kyla-Jane Rogers) “Suddenly, large double doors at the other end of the huge room she was in, which appeared to be some sort of lobby, swung open. Instead of handles, these doors had the number sixty on them. One handle was shaped like a six, the other shaped like a zero . . . [A] woman stepped into the room. She looked older than Ava’s parents, but not old. Even though she didn’t have any wrinkles, her hair, worn in a neat and modern bob, was silver. ‘What’s going on in here?’ she asked.” (from “My Mother’s a Spy,” by Nora Fuss) “My feather phobia well in place, I didn’t want to touch the bird but neither did I want to witness its demise . . . Positioning myself before the tall window, I was reluctant to touch the bird but it descended to where I could reach it, and I pinned it against the glass, with my right hand, actually connecting with dreaded feathers. My left hand automatically went ‘to help’ the right and I cupped the nearly weightless feathered body in my hands.” (from “Bird in the Hand,” by Willma Willis Gore) Thanks to all of our participants, and special thanks to judges Janice LaDuke, Diane Phelps, and Kay Bork. First-place manuscripts will also be placed into our 60th anniversary time capsule. The capsule will be buried at a small ceremony on October 20, and writing contest prizes will be awarded later this month. Stay tuned for details. Sedona Public Library is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. We are grateful for your gifts. Please support your library at www.sedonalibrary.org. Sedona Public Library Column for October 5, 2018 Written by Anne Marie Mackler, Development Director |
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