Blog

What I’m excited about right now: New adventures!

October 31, 2022

What an Adventure! That is the best way to describe my transition from a public school special education teacher to becoming a children’s/teens’ librarian at Musser Public Library. As I approach the four-month mark of my career as a librarian, I have so much to be excited about! Although I have come to the job without prior library experience, I have taken on new and existing programming with enthusiasm and gumption. I have always been most excited when starting a new adventure, and my time in this position has already shown me it will be an incredible adventure! I am...

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What I’m excited about right now: Witnessing children’s learning and growth

September 29, 2022

What am I excited about? Childhood.  Actually, I am excited about just plain being human, alive on an unbelievable planet filled with possibilities. But what makes childhood especially exciting to me is its flexibility and potential. The young brain is set up to grow itself in response to its own environment, including the love, care, and curiosity expressed by those around it. At Musser Public Library we get to be part of that adventure. Like any rewarding undertaking –  mountain climbing, marathon running, or parenting, for instance – childhood is not easy! There are dozens of things that make it...

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What I’m excited about right now: Genealogy and history discoveries

August 24, 2022

    I always thought genealogy sounded interesting, but I didn’t really know where to start. When I started working here at the library, I discovered how many free and amazing genealogy resources our library has to offer. Now I am totally addicted to genealogy and can’t wait to find the next piece of the puzzle in my family’s history. I was especially interested in finding out more information about my mother’s paternal side of the family. I knew very little since my grandfather’s family was from out of state and he and his family members had all passed away....

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What I’m excited about right now: Remembering Jerry Garcia on his 80th birthday

August 1, 2022

  At the time of Jerry Garcia’s death on Aug. 9, 1995, he held the distinction of having performed live before more people than any other musician in history, both as a member of the Grateful Dead (the most successful concert band in music history) and in his solo career. I count myself very fortunate to have been able to see Garcia perform with the Dead once, just five weeks before Garcia died, and now, 27 years later, I’m excited about celebrating his 80th birthday on August 1. Numerous celebrations across the country are planned around this event. https://jambands.com/news/2022/06/23/american-institutions-to-honor-jerry-garcias-80th-birthday-yankee-stadium-blue-note-napa-and-jgf-archival-launch/ There...

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What I’m excited about right now: Collecting, memories of summer reading at MPL

June 24, 2022

What am I passionate about? This question makes me think about my many collections. I have a Wonder Woman collection because who doesn’t want to have an invisible jet? As a mom I have always enjoyed the fantasy of getting into my invisible jet and escaping from the kids, the cooking, the cleaning – for just a few minutes peace! However, my costume would be much more modest than what Lynda Carter or Gal Gadot wear. I’m more the yoga pants and t-shirt type. Another collection I have are Funko Pop figures. I don’t know what it is about these...

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What I’m excited about right now: Alpine Climbing

May 27, 2022

After leafing through a Mountain West travel guide in 2018, my significant other and I took that year’s week-long summer vacation in Leadville, Colorado. Situated in a valley next to the Sawatch Range of the Rocky Mountains, Leadville is the highest incorporated city in the United States at 10,152 feet above sea level. It’s a quirky town with only a couple thousand residents and prides itself on things like being the second leg of the Western Pack Burro Ass-ociation’s Triple Crown race. This basically involves a pack burro/racing donkey and a runner tethered together for a 15 or 21 mile...

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What I’m excited about right now: Enhancing library learning, outreach with tech tools

April 28, 2022

  I am excited about using state-of-the-art media engines to develop new ways to connect people with information. From the library, we are innovating modern gateways that support learning, offer literacy and local heritage, and enable all-ages access to diverse library services.  Channel 5 has become so much more than a local cable channel as we have designed a smart TV app for Roku and AppleTV.  We have created a portal to the channel available on the musserpubliclibrary.org website that is easy to view 24/7. We have implemented a Video on Demand (VOD) system that allows our content to be...

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What I’m excited about right now: a band book and a banned book

April 1, 2022

In my job, I see many books and media come and go, and I’ve found a lot that I enjoy in my personal life. These include psychology books and cookbooks, biographies, graphic novels, art books, etc. I use the cookbooks at home with my fiancee to learn about cooking and get ideas about meals we can make together. We are also interested in psychology, and I enjoy learning about the human mind and mental health. Currently, I am reading a biography about musician Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters. Titled The Storyteller, Grohl’s book is inspirational and a great example of...

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What I’m excited about right now: Overdrive and Libby app

March 8, 2022

What I’m excited about right now is discovering the Libby app and the Overdrive collection of e-books and e-audiobooks. It’s free, and all that is needed is a library card and a computer, smartphone or tablet. You can start from anywhere and use the materials anywhere. What a treasure trove! Through the Libby app or the Musser Public Library website, it’s easy to borrow any electronic books and e-magazines in the Rivershare system – our partner libraries eastern Iowa. The Libby App is accessible through the iOS App Store on Apple devices or the Google Play Store on Android devices....

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Want a Successful Holiday Meal That Impresses? You Need to Check Out These Recipes!

November 3, 2021

I know food is on everyone’s mind and November/December are the months to show off what dishes you like and what family dishes are served at the holidays. If you are having troubles coming up with “new” dishes, why not come to the Musser Public Library and check out our cookbook section. We feature everything from Trisha Yearwood’s cookbooks to Rachel Ray’s collection. We have very technical cookbooks with ingredients most people have never heard of to the book from the local church with Grandma’s recipe for bread pudding. “The perfect cookie for every occasion. Cookies are the treat that...

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