'organization'

Look, I know the weather this week has been more winter than spring, but did you know that libraries also like to freshen up in the spring?  We have SO MUCH to get ready for!

Summer Reading!

We're getting ready for the 2022 Summer Reading Program! Andrea is hard at work making sure we have plenty of interesting things to do and see throughout the summer.  Keep an eye on our Facebook page, Instagram, and website for more information. 

Meanwhile, I am happily working to bring in plenty of new materials for our community to enjoy!

2022 Spring Book Sale: April 22 & 23!

Did you know that the Friends of the Library conduct book sales twice a year? Many of the available books come from donations, and many others come from the library shelves through a process we often called “weeding.” Weeding is an essential process in any library to keep a collection relevant and interesting and make room for new material. The Campbell Library staff have been working hard this winter to review the books in our collection, using a variety of metrics to decide whether or not a book should be selected for weeding, including age, usage information, condition, duplication, etc. This helps us ensure we are providing the best possible selection for our community! Here at the Campbell Library, many of those weeded books are made available during the book sales, where the proceeds go back to supporting the library.

Seasons change, and so do our shelves!

Young Adult Fiction

We’re adding a Young Adult Fiction section to better serve our youth and teen patrons and bring the collection in line with current industry trends. You can find these materials on the last range of shelves between Junior and Mysteries.

NEW Arrivals Shelves

Our new adult materials are currently located in the middle of the library, as you enter. We’ve added some additional shelves on either end for extra display opportunities. Fiction genres are on the west side, facing away from the circulation desk. Non-Fiction is on the east side facing the circulation desk. DVDs and Nintendo Switch Videogames are on top!

New Easy materials are located on the shelves next to the Storytime Room door. Picture and board books are typically on the top shelf, while new Easy Non-Fiction will be on the bottom.

New Junior and Young Adult fiction books are on the freestanding shelves in the center of the Junior section. Junior titles are on the side facing the library entrance, Young Adult titles face the back of the library.

Displays

Have you checked out (lol!) our displays as you enter the library? Our staff each get the opportunity to create interesting and relevant displays featuring materials from our collection! We currently have a display of titles about Ukraine and the history leading up to the current crises, as well as educational titles for children. We also feature special selections that change every couple of weeks. 

And don’t forget to check out the display case at the Circulation desk! Our staff members work hard to create displays about their interests, passions, and/or upcoming events. Coming next week: selections from my time in Okinawa!

Please check back often to see what’s new! You can also find featured new titles on our website and in the catalog. We love seeing our books find readers!

P.S. If you need inspiration for your own spring cleaning, by golly, do we have the books for you!

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up

by Marie Kondo

The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing // With detailed guidance for determining which items in your house “spark joy” (and which don’t), this international bestseller will help you clear your clutter and enjoy the unique magic of a tidy home—and the calm, motivated mindset it can inspire. Nonfiction // 648 KONDO

Messy Minimalism

by Silke Rode West & Joseph Sarosy

Realistic Strategies for the Rest of Us // With empathy, grace, and humor, Crawford—who curates the popular Abundant Life with Less site—shares doable ways to own less and live more fully. Laying out practical strategies for reducing waste, curbing consumption, decluttering, and finding lots more joy, Crawford offers no-nonsense solutions for the rest of us. // Nonfiction // 648 CRAWFORD

Other titles include (but are not limited to!): 

• The Home Edit Life by Clea Shearer // 648.8 SHEARER
• Declutter Like a Mother by Allie Casazza // 648.8 CASAZZA// Also in e-audiobook
• Keep the Memories, Lose the Stuff by Matt Paxton // 648.8 PAXTON
• The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning by Margareta Magnusson // 648.5 MAGNUSSON

Every New Year, I make the same promises to myself. I’ll add that exercise routine to my life! I’ll save up this amount of money! I’ll get my life together and become the best version of myself! 

Needless to say that nothing of the sort happened in the year of our forsaken lord 2020. A year of having plans smashed and one curveball after another thrown at me, I was just about ready to tap out on this year. Despite it all, it did make me realize one thing. I didn’t have to live with much.

On a whim, I checked out the book The Life-changing Magic of Tidying Up: the Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing by famous cleaning consultant Marie Kondo. I recalled the popularity gained by the Netflix series on social media a while back, but I hadn’t looked into or understood the process until I picked up the book.What I initially expected to be a dry, step by step instruction manual to cleaning turned out to be quite the opposite. Filled with anecdotes about Marie Kondo’s experiences and trial/error process of developing her tried and tested method to tidiness, I didn’t want to put it down! You can tell that Kondo is passionate about tidiness, or rather, the benefits of simplifying your home and life. Not only will this give you a guide on how to start the process yourself, but you’ll be motivated to do so!

Catching a ride on the same motivation train I had hopped on with Marie Kondo, I wanted to look deeper into this simplified lifestyle. A big struggle that people find when it comes to tidying is getting caught in a “consumerism cycle: earn more, buy more, want more…”.

Cait Flanders’ self memoir, The Year of Less, is her experience while challenging herself to go an entire year without shopping. She limited herself to only buying groceries, gas, and toiletries, as well as decluttering her apartment. This memoir is a very honest and naked look at how materialism is ingrained into our culture and influences our every decision and habits. In some ways, this book is less about preaching a minimalist lifestyle, and more about simply becoming more mindful of what we spend our money on.

The next time you take a look at your home book collection, take a look at each book and reflect on its usefulness to your life. Do you find yourself reaching for it often? Is it on your to-read list? Does it spark joy to your life to own this book? If you find there are less books that you have read than not, why not pass along books you no longer want to others in need. Your local public library will not only allow you the opportunity to borrow books for free, it can be a great way to keep only your most loved and used books in the spotlight at home.

In a world where wild headlines seem to dominate our news feeds and lives, the best thing we could do is make sure we are at peace in the place we call home.