Sometimes it’s hard to figure out what to write about in these columns. In order to not repeat myself, I often glance at previous years’ columns to rule out certain topics. Let’s see… last November I promoted Purse-a-palooza (which isn’t happening this year BUT the Friends of the Library ARE raffling off some beautiful purses currently. There’s probably a graphic about that in this newsletter somewhere). Two Novembers ago I discussed home delivery, a service that is provided for free to anyone in our service area that includes the towns of Hamilton, Madison, Brookfield, and Lebanon. Everyone already knows about home delivery though, so not today.

Okay, it’s November, so my first thought is to be thankful (note: the Library is closed at 4pm on Wednesday the 27th, as well as closed fully on Thursday the 28th and Friday the 29th), but I talked about being thankful in May for some reason. Boy, I really botched the timing on that one!

What else is in November? There’s Veterans Day (which we will be closed on Monday the 11th in observance of) and Daylight Savings (yes, that’s still a thing)... Aside from being appreciative of those who serve and setting clocks back, there isn’t really a full column’s-worth of material with those two days.

I still don’t have a topic yet. This is getting difficult! What else is going on this month that I can relate to the library? Maybe the election? Well, November 5th is election day, (we’re a polling location, and be sure to bring cash or your checkbook for the Friends of the Library Bake Sale OR if you’re into baking, be sure to drop off some baked goods on Monday, November 4th to help raise money for the Friends! Not into baked goods? That’s okay, they’ll be selling T-shirts and raffling off some purses as well!) and National Stress Awareness Day is apparently on November 6th. While I’m sure National Stress Awareness Day falling a day after Election Day is related, neither are really directly related to the library. I guess I still don’t have a topic for this month.

Welp, I’m off to drop off some ice skates for sharpening as that collection is already out and circulating. Maybe I can talk about ice skates? Nope. According to my files I wrote about that in December 2023. I guess I won’t talk about how they circulate for a week and we have over 80 pairs available, how they’re sharpened regularly and maintenance is paid for by the Friends of the Library. It’s definitely not my place to report on the status of the Municipal Ice Rink, which will be installed this winter next to our parking lot, as we don’t know when that will go up yet.

There must be some new books around to promote. Oh, I know! I just started The Message by Ta-Nehisi Coates, but at only a few pages in I’m not going to review it. It’s a great read so far and I recommend putting a hold on it! Maybe I’ll talk more about that next month? I’ll need something to write about then!

And will you look at that? No room for a column this month. How’d that happen?

Thank you for reading and visiting the Hamilton Public Library.