Summer Reading is over. Storytime doesn’t start again until September 16 and the library is nearly empty every afternoon. Please come in and visit, we’re feeling abandoned. The AC is on; new materials arrive every week. The Tiffany Window, 750 piece jigsaw puzzle is about half done. It’s a perfect season to visit your local library and stay a while (Smyrna and Earlville will welcome you too!).

Summer Reading was a tapestry of logistics in space and time; talented people; available funding; dedicated, hard-working library staff; interested families and experienced library patrons; and focused willing volunteers. Many thanks to Cathy Weinell who wove a bright and spectacular cloth this summer. Her dedicated crew included volunteer Jessica Lathrop, and staff members Joelle Clark, Molly Ogden, Alex Rodreguez, and Jeff Taylor. They worked hard for Sherburne’s edification and delight.

They presided over 6 Wednesday afternoon entertainments held in the UCC parlor, next door. Our attendance was up from previous years, we saw between 42 and 125 people at the showcase events, for a total attendance of 434 people. Cathy’s crew welcomed 36 patrons in the park for the evening with Lorrie Schumacher and her raptor friends. The crew were participant observers for all of the Prairie Days activities. They presided over the Picture Search answer sheets and handed out the ice-cream-cone coupons. They also did the essential library background work such as sorting and shelving check-ins, processing new check-outs, and creating cards for new patrons.

Many contributors made our summer activities possible. The Town of Sherburne has funded our operations for 99 years; the Town’s support is why we’re still here. This summer, in no particular order, we received additional help from Bruce Webster, The Mid-York Press, Burgess & Tedesco Funeral Homes, Classic Pharmaceuticals, North Norwich Motor & Trailer Sales, Taylor and Mavady Attorneys, Mirabito Fuel Group, Gilligan’s Island, Stewart’s Shops, Pat Martin, Big M Supermarket, the New York State Council on the Arts (administered by the Chenango County Council of the Arts), the Ezra Jack Keats Foundation, and Federal Library Services and Technology Act funds, awarded to the New York State Library by the Federal Institute of Museum and Library Services (administered by Four County Library System). Every year I give thanks for all of the efforts that create our Summer Reading Summers. I hope that I have not left out any of the many who helped this year. If I missed you, the neglect is my ignorance, and not lack of appreciation.

Community is what makes public libraries sustainable. Helping your public library, or helping any other organization that provides services to the community, is community building behavior. The land that is Sherburne has been blessed with community builders for 200 years of written history. This land was cherished and cared for by its occupants even longer than that. We live big in this pretty little valley; thanks for helping.