Category: Services

If you think about it, there are not many things more powerful than words. They can make you laugh and they can make you cry. They are powerful enough to break hearts and are effective in mending broken hearts. They are so powerful that they alone can change lives, for the better or for the worse. Words can inspire an individual to do great and mighty things, but words can also send a person spiraling down and drowning in a cesspool of discouragement. Words can destroy a country and words can slowly repair the damage.

Words are a tool most all of us have to help us in maneuvering the maze of life. We can use the words for good or we can use our words for bad. There are a lot of words to choose from; we need to choose wisely. There are those words that are fun to say, such as ballyhoo, scalawag, piffle, namby-pamby, mollycoddle, and I could go on and on! Then there are those words that are difficult to pronounce, for example: Worcestershire, anathema, quinoa, isthmus, ignominious, and onomatopoeia. I could go on and on with this list also, as long as I can write them and not have to say them.

We at Lincoln Library have decided to do a “word of the week” to increase our vocabulary, and we would like to invite you to join us. Our first word of the week is a difficult word to pronounce; the word is “acquiesce” (a·kwee·es).” It is an intransitive verb that means to consent or comply passively or without protest. We are going to incorporate this word into our daily conversations, as soon as we learn how to say it correctly.

It is good to increase our vocabulary so that we have a better understanding when we read and are communicating with others. But even better is choosing to be careful with not only what words we use, but also the tone we send them forth with. If you can talk, acknowledge the power of your words. Choose kind words, whenever possible, that will encourage others, energize the tired, entertain the sad, exhort those needing a lift, empathize with those who are hurting, and work at excelling in the practice of the Golden Rule.

Just because I do believe in the Golden Rule, I acquiesce many times in confrontational matters due to the insignificance of the issue. (Did you see how easily I slid that new word in there?) Come on in and practice on us!

Don’t you dislike residue? For example, after removing stickers and labels, you are left with a sticky mess. The residue creates a whole new problem that has to be dealt with. We at Lincoln Library have noticed some annoying residue from the Covid-19 shutdown that has to be addressed. The first area that we are going to be dealing with is “lost” books. Please allow me to explain!

Judy has the job of reminding patrons that their books and movies are overdue. Everyone around here totally gets the quick passage of time and understands how two weeks can somehow disappear into what feels like two days’ time. That’s where Judy comes in; she reminds you of real time. Sometimes books are put out of sight, and you know what they say, “Out of sight, out of mind!” And again, that is part of Judy’s job, to bring those books back to your mind!

When she contacts those with overdue books, she also renews the materials that are checked out.

After 3 months of the book not being renewed, the software will declare the books to be lost and they move out of the overdue locale into another area in the system. Due to the Covid-19 shutdown, Judy was away from her desk several weeks and we had a lot of books and movies that slid right down the rabbit hole! We are going to be concentrating our efforts on getting those books and movies out of the rabbit hole and back on the shelves!

When Covid-19 descended upon us, we did shut down, but we breached, bent, and broke many of our guidelines to best serve our patrons during that weird time. There are many of our patrons who find books essential! We delivered way more than could be read in a couple of weeks, so we went fine-free. We decided to not charge fines through the summer and pick the fines back up come fall. We are much more concerned with retrieving these “lost” books than collecting fines on them. We will be going back to charging fines in October.

Included on the “lost” list are books that are part of series, books that are so new that they only have the one check-out, and favorite movies and books. It would take right at $1,000 to replace just the “lost” books. This does not include the hundreds of dollars’ worth of books that are now weeks overdue!

Now you know what our mission is. So, if you see any of the staff at Lincoln Library eyeballing you, nothing personal, we are just going through the list of patrons in our minds that we need to remind of their books being out. If we find you on our mental list, we’ll run it past you to see if you remember.

Thank you in advance for helping us in our mission of recovering these overdue and “lost” books as we start the cleanup of Covid-19 residue here at Lincoln Library!