Marching Forward

There is a lot that I'd like to catch up on this time, but I'm most excited about having launched the series of thirteen town meetings we've arranged through March and into the middle of April.

This past week, we kicked the series off at Brighton District Library, with probably about 50 participants. Everyone contributed. We came away with lots of ideas and input for the Library of Michigan, about what
libraries' needs are and ideas about the future direction of the Michigan eLibrary (http://mel.org), and the participants got to express themselves and hear what others from similar or different situations and libraries had to say.

Charlene Huget and her staff were wonderful hosts, getting us all off on the right foot! Many thanks to them and to everyone who attended.



The next day, we were off to the Clinton Township main branch of the Clinton-Macomb Public Library for our second meeting. After finding my way there a bit late -- yes, I got lost -- once again, we had a wonderful meeting. This time I believe we had 35-40 participants, with everyone offering great ideas and comments about their libraries' services, challenges, and needs. At this second meeting we had a very good mix of people from public and school libraries, and several folks commented to me that they

really enjoyed hearing what their school or public counterparts had to say. No surprise there, but I was glad to hear that reaction in any case.

Larry Neal and his staff arranged for a great lunch, and on the basis of our first two venues, we are confident that we have great host locations lined up for all of our town meetings. I certainly hope to see many of you there in the next several weeks.

On Monday and Tuesday of this week, we'll be traveling to Detroit Public Library and Flint Public Library. I can't wait to see what ideas we gather at meetings three and four!


I've been running into library stories at home lately, as well as on the road. A couple of weekends ago, my husband and I spent the evening with friends and heard about one of their experiences the previous weekend. They had attended the annual Michigan Franchise Expo, held this year at the Southfield Public Library. Our friend was quite pleased about the quality of the venue for the day-long event which took place on February 17th. He was extremely taken with the fact that the Expo was able to utilize the meeting space at the library at no charge, and he added that he assumes libraries everywhere could benefit by offering their space similarly, as it can result in a lot of free advertising for the host library. Of course, this was not news to me, nor is it to you, but it was fun to hear the enthusiasm about libraries coming unsolicited and quite vocally from our non-librarian friends!

The other night, libraries popped up again, while Jim and I listened to the evening news while we cooked some supper. The story was about the passing of Ernest Gallo, who had recently died at age 97. The announcer referenced the famed brothers, Ernest and Julio (who had died over a decade ago), and noted that they had started up their well-known wine business in the 1930's after finding an old wine recipe in their local library. Who knew!? Well, perhaps it's an urban legend, but it's a fun one anyhow, and certainly it could be true ... Cheers!


Finally, for now, I have to comment on the wonderful afternoon I spent Saturday attending the 2007 Michigan "Poetry Out Loud" state finals at the Michigan Library and Historical Center. This program and event was organized by the Michigan Humanities Council, and was sponsored by them in partnership with the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Poetry Foundation, Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs (MCACA), and the Library of Michigan. MCACA Director John Bracey remarked during the recognition and awards presentation how this type of event reminds us that, in spite of all of our bureaucratic and budget hurdles, this is what it's really all about -- and it's clearly worth whatever it takes. He is so right!
Each of the finalists from the nine Michigan schools who participated recited three poems from memory, and all were judged by a four-poet panel. These talented students (pictured above) came from Alba, Inkster, Midland, Dansville, Holt, Houghton, Ionia, Owosso, and Lansing. They all did a wonderful job, and I was glad not to be part of the judging, as the selection of a winner and runner-up must have been very difficult. The runner-up was Michael Rux of Ionia, and the winner was Sarah Harris from Holt (shown in the lower photo). Sarah will have an all-expense paid trip to the national finals in D.C. We certainly wish her well in that competition, and we'll look forward to hearing about her experience there. Good luck, Sarah!