A new biography of Lewis Carroll, just in time for the release of Tim Burton’s all-star Alice in Wonderland Lewis Carroll was brilliant, secretive and self contradictory. He reveled in double meanings and puzzles, in his fiction and his life. Jenny Woolf’s The Mystery of Lewis Carroll shines a new light on the creator of Alice In Wonderland and brings to life this fascinating, but sometimes exasperating human being whom some have tried to hide. Using rarely-seen and recently discovered sources, such as Carroll’s accounts ledger and unpublished correspondence with the “real” Alice’s family, Woolf sets Lewis Carroll firmly in the context of the English Victorian age and answers many intriguing questions about the man who wrote the Alice books, such as:

• Was it Alice or her older sister that caused him to break with the Liddell family?

• How true is the gossip about pedophilia and certain adult women that followed him?

• How true is the “romantic secret” which many think ruined Carroll’s personal life?

• Who caused Carroll major financial trouble and why did Carroll successfully conceal that person’s identity and actions?

Woolf answers these and other questions to bring readers yet another look at one of the most elusive English writers the world has known.

(Book description from Amazon.com)

You can also read more on the author’s website:

http://www.jabberwock.co.uk/index.html

Call us @ 234-6313 or log onto our website (www.enid.org/library) to request the book be put on hold & then join us on July 17th @ 3:00 p.m. for our book discussion group!

Today’s meeting was a very special one, as they were able to present Director Michelle Mears with their very first finished quilt!

The ladies used an antique quilt top from the 1930′s in Aunt Gracie fabrics, quilted to a coordinating backing and then bound. 

…and then they turned around and started working on another one!

Aunt Bea’s Reading & Quilting Circle meets Monday mornings @ 9:30 a.m.

     The Public Library of Enid and Garfield County was selected as one of the libraries to benefit from the YLD’s first-ever Statewide Community Service Project Day at thirteen (13) public libraries on Saturday, May 1st in conjunction with Law Day.

     “The Enid Library is very excited about this project,” said librarian Michelle Mears.  “We are happy to host the young lawyer’s group for their day of community service in Oklahoma.  Many of these people are so busy with their work that they don’t get to come into the library very often.  It gives us a chance to show them what we are all about and they get to see the full range of services we provide to the community.”

     The 2010 YLD activities involve Community projects ranging from landscaping and general cleanup outside the libraries to re-shelving books and replacing glass on coffee tables inside the facilities. According to Jennifer Kirkpatrick, YLD May 1 Project Coordinator, four books on legal topics are also being donated to each library: The American Bar Association Complete Personal Legal Guide – The Essential Reference for Every Household, The American Bar Association Guide to Wills and Estates, The American Bar Association Guide to Resolving Legal Disputes Inside and Outside the Courtroom, and The American Bar Association Guide to Credit and Bankruptcy.

     “The Young Lawyers Division selected libraries to be the focus of this year’s community service project for several reasons. Libraries are widely utilized by a cross-section of people, they’re located in communities large and small—and lawyers have a special fondness for the written word,” said Molly Aspen, YLD chairperson.  May 1 was picked as the day of service because that’s the national celebration of Law Day, an idea that started in Oklahoma by the late Hicks Epton, a Wewoka attorney, she said.  Law Day is dedicated to celebrating America’s democracy and its ideals of equality and justice under laws.

     Young Lawyers Division (YLD) members are lawyers of all ages who have been in practice 10 years or less.  Board members are elected from each judicial district in Oklahoma. The 16,000-member Oklahoma Bar Association, headquartered in Oklahoma City, was created by the Oklahoma Supreme Court to advance the administration of justice and to foster and maintain learning, integrity, competence, public service and high standards of conduct among Oklahoma’s legal community.

To find out more about what is going on at the library call 234-6313, or check our calendar on the library website http://www.enid.org/library .

Another newspaper article from the Enid Daily Eagle on April 23, 1969:

Enid-Garfield Public Library Focusing Attention on ‘National Library Week’

Many hours of adventure were stored on the shelves of the old library where the smell of books and the hush of reading prevailed.  Those same adventures and more can be found in the gleaming ultra-modern building of the Enid Public Library.

With attention focused on National Library Week, the Enid Public Library has received its fair share of notice.  Keeping up with the theme of the week, “Be All You Can –Read,” the library has set up displays and posters to focus on what it has to offer all book lovers.

Among the many facilities at the disposal of the public are OTIS and the Xerox copier.  OTIS (Oklahoma Teletype Interlibrary System) serves the entire state with library service through a system of teletype machines.  These transmission sites receive requests for books from patrons and relay them to a monitoring machine at the Oklahoma Department of Libraries in Oklahoma City.

The Department searches for the material in its collection and if it does not have it, relays a request for it to one of four resource libraries and even out of state.  OTIS fills 1,200 requests per month for materials according to the Department of Libraries.

The Xerox machine which is rapidly achieving the status of the mimeograph machine is available to the public at a charge of 10 cents per page.  According to head librarian Jean Harrington, many students and others who need material copied do not know that the library can serve them in this capacity.

The library offers phonograph records to be checked out as well as books.  An extensive research area upstairs aids the student.  The library keeps microfilm records of newspapers dating back to 1962 for anyone to use.  And favorite magazines are available also.

As well as providing these concrete services, the library sponsors a children’s hour every Friday morning as a boon to mothers of pre-school age children.  Children’s librarian Miss Edica Horner reads to the children in two sessions starting at 9:15 a.m.  She says that attendance is very good ranging from 40-60 children every Friday.

Special children’s hours are being held all this week for grade school children at 4 p.m. Miss Horner says that the library has  planned games with emphasis on hobbies.  “We hope to get them interested in books that can help them get started on hobbies to pursue during the summer.”  She said.

The library staff includes Georgie Throckmorton, reference librarian; Faye Davis, adult and circulation librarian and three assistants, Clara McFarland, Florence Parsons, and Mrs. Nancy Deighdon.  The library employs 12 high-school students in part-time jobs.

Items can be returned to the library during closed hours in the Book Drop, located in the alley between the Library and the Post Office on the north side of the building.  There are no overdue fines, so library items can also be returned without penalty when the library reopens on Tuesday.

Miss Jean Harrington served as the Head Librarian for many years. 

Her weekly column in the Enid Morning News featured news about the library & book reviews.  Along the way, someone made a scrapbook of the weekly column she authored & we are happy to share these with you.

The first was originally published on February 19th, 1979.  Some might find relevance today in the book she is reviewing, A Walk Across America. 

Extraordinary

By JEAN HARRINGTON

Head Librarian

On the morning of Oct. 15, 1973, a young man set out on an extraordinary journey.  Peter Jenkins and his dog Cooper began a long walk that would span continental America, its length and breadth.

                Just after graduating from college Peter had become so disillusioned by the turbulent events of the time that he considered leaving the country.  Instead, he decided to walk across it.

                “I was so discouraged by what I’d been hearing about this country that I decided I’d go and find out for myself.  I figured it would take me and my dog maybe a few months to walk to the Gulf and then over to the Pacific.  Well, it’s been more than five years and I’m still walking.  I found it wasn’t enough to just walk through America.  I had to stop and work and live with people.  And there I found it, the real America I’d been looking for, at home among the people.”

                During his walk he stumbles on unforgettable characters like Homer the mountain man; he observes at some length the black Olivers in North Carolina and the communal Farm in Tennessee; enjoys a royal welcome from George Wallace and a surprising religious moment at a revival meeting.

                In this book A WALK ACROSS AMERICA Peter records the first half of his journey from Alfred, New York, to the Gulf of Mexico, where he met and fell in love with a young seminarian, Barbara Pennell.

                Readers who accompany Peter and his dog Cooper will rediscover America also, as Peter tells what he found in a joyous celebration of a land and its people.  The book is well illustrated with photographs that Peter took while walking across America.

The Library would like to invite you to participate in our second History Read Aloud on February 20th, 2010 at 4:00 p.m. in the Great Plains Room of the Public Library of Enid & Garfield County.  They are asking members of our community to share a short reading, poem, or song to help celebrate.  Participants in the previous year’s program featured a variety of essays, readings of historical writings, and song.  The program will be immediately followed by a small reception.  If you would like to participate, please call the library at 234-6313, or email kcarmack@enid.org to have your name and/or group included in the program.

We will be closed Monday, February 15th for President’s Day.