Blog entries for Latest News

Book Club Books: Past, Present, and Future

Musser Book Club is for patrons 18+ and meets the first Monday of the month in room #017 (the Maker Space). If the location or time changes it will be noted below, in our newsletter, flyers, and social media posts. Want to browse our past book club picks in person? Go to our Book Club section of the library (lower level) to check one out!         Musser Book Club Books Current/Future: Title Discussion Date  Everyone Is Watching by Heather Gudenkauf  March 3, 2025 Location: Room #104 *Author Heather Gudenkauf will be doing a book talk/Q&A via video...

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Program Descriptions

Click the link below to see a description list of all of our programs. We can’t wait for you to join us! Program descriptions

Goodwill Career Advice

The experts from Goodwill will stand by in the 3rd floor computer area to offer you advice on the job hunt and your career in general. This is a free, drop-in service.

Summer Reading: Storytime with Latin Thunder and craft led by 4H Unidos

Join author and wrestler Juan Forneau, aka “Latin Thunder,” as he joins us to read stories! When storytime is done, it’s craft time with 4H Unidos.

Latin Thunder Storytime

Come join local author and wrestler Juan Forneau, or “Latin Thunder” for a storytime! There will also be a craft led by the Latin 4H Unidos.

‘Find Your Flow’ Healing Arts Presentations – Myofascial/Scar Tissue Release and Healing with Sound, Caleen Pagel

Exploring alternative/complementary methods and tools for healing body, mind and spirit, Caleen, a seasoned physical therapist and well-known Tai Chi instructor, will share a few of her fun and intriguing “ tools” of her trade from swimming noodles to tuning forks, slow release stretching, movement and breathing techniques to entice your body to move to a new level of healing … physically and emotionally. Come for the fun with an open mind and heart.  This presentation is one of a series. The remainder include: May 14 – Deb LaRue- Reiki May 16 – Suzanne Dunlap – Neuromuscular Massage and Essentrics...

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‘Find Your Flow’ Healing Arts Presentations – Cranial Sacral Therapy, Becky Schmertman

Becky Schmertman will introduce you to Cranial Sacral Therapy, a gentle-touch whole-body reset. It works by finding & addressing the restrictions on the spinal cord caused by various traumas. When cerebral spinal fluid flow is restored, nerves and tissues begin to revitalize and find their intended rhythms. This helps the entire body relax and normalize. Becky is a licensed massage therapist and registered yoga instructor. She’s been doing Cranial Sacral Therapy for most of her 19 years as a therapist and now takes new clients only for this modality. Catch her yoga classes early mornings at the YMCA or live...

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Wood Carving Demo

Expert woodcarver Matthew Johnson of M.L. Johnson Woodworks will bring his hand tools and several types of wood to demonstrate how to hand carve spoons. All are welcome to come watch, but the demonstration will be of particular interest to those who would like to try this art in both the May 22 and 23 classes Johnson will lead at the library. See calendar entries for more details.

Blog: Sloyd, or the art of spoon carving

  By Bobby Fiedler, Library Director I started woodworking as a hobby in 2009. In my job as a librarian, I spend a lot of time at the computer screen using technology for a variety of tasks. I’ve always been interested in technology and the ways that it can be used to accomplish any number of things, let alone the ability to connect to people and access and share information from all corners of the globe. But I also immensely enjoy working with my hands to create utilitarian, real-world objects. Enter woodworking. When most people think of a woodshop, they...

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Blog: The essence of the library’s purpose shines through in tragic times

Betty Collins Children’s Librarian The story I want to relate for this month’s blog did not take place in Muscatine, but in a public library I worked at in the San Francisco Bay Area back in September of 2001. This story is from September 12, 2001, to be exact. Like that of many other Americans, my sleep had been troubled the previous night because of the tragedies in New York, Washington DC, and Pennsylvania. I had always pictured the map of the United States smiling–not unlike the illustrations in picture book author Holly Keller’s Scrambled States of America–but now it...

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