National Library Week

Written By: Marlene Osteen | Issue: April 2024

The celebration of National Library Week 2024 (April 7-13) recalls the many ways that libraries have evolved and adapted in recent years.

Long before Google there were libraries.

It was at our local library, among the shelves and card catalogs, that we researched and discovered answers to our questions. Where once the only sounds heard were “Shh,” today our libraries are buzzing with chatter of students congregating after school and the hum of computers in the background.

On Instagram and Tik Tok, Mychal Threets, a San Francisco librarian, has become a phenomenon posting upbeat videos and quirky photos – spreading “library joy” to the masses.

On the Plateau, the Albert Carlton Cashiers Community Library in Cashiers and the Hudson Library in Highlands continue to serve their constituencies with programs that enrich, and educate and make everyday life easier, and simply more fulfilling.

Those of us who were here on August 21, 2017, will never forget the wonder we felt when we found ourselves amid the 70-miles wide path of totality of the solar eclipse that crossed the continental United States from coast to coast. For a breathtaking two minutes we witnessed the Moon completely blocking the Sun, turning day into night.

Remarkably, another total solar eclipse is coming to North America on April 8, just seven years after the last one and the Hudson and Fontana Libraries are spreading the word with educational materials and distributing glasses for safe viewing. In the week preceding the eclipse, themed story times and activities will be included in kids programming. (Note the libraries are closed on Mondays)

Have you ever had a great idea for a book or a poem but unsure how to write it? Then this workshop is for you. From May 2 through the end of October, Michael Redman will lead the Writer’s Workshop every Thursday at 1:30 p.m. in the conference room at the Albert Carlton-Cashiers Community Library. Longtime writer and former adjunct professor at Western Carolina University, Redman will walk participants through the steps of writing a book from outlining to publishing. Potential storytellers gather in a relaxed and easy-going setting taking turns unwinding their stories – sometimes silently and occasionally aloud. Participants often find clarity and inspiration on topics from “how to find your voice or your subject?”

Participants have included everyone from age 12 to retirees, from writers of fiction to poetry and non-fiction. “You don’t have to think of yourself as a writer, you just need to enjoy writing,” Redman said.

For more information, contact the Cashiers Community Library
at (828) 743-0215.

Chronicling daily occurrences, taking stock of our lives, or cataloging the ways in which the presence of others affects us —journaling encompasses all of this and more; and the practice is gaining momentum for its myriad benefits, including its potential to reduce stress.

On the last Friday of month in the meeting room of the Cashiers library at 2:00 P.M., local reading tutor Laura Plush will host a journaling workshop. The sessions have a different topic each month.

April’s subject is how to keep a reading journal – keeping track of books that you have read or noting quotes or reminders of special information.

Since the month of May is “Mental Health Awareness May” the discussion will focus on “gratitude journals.”

Interested parties are encouraged to sign up beforehand by stopping by or calling the library at (828) 743-0215.