Happy Cinco de Mayo! Come celebrate with the Friends of the Library. We will be serving Fiesta Pile On with dessert and a drink for a suggested $10 donation. Let us do the cooking and cleaning Thursday, May 5 from 5:30 until 7:30 p.m. at the Dickens County Spur Public Library located at 403 E. Hill Street. We will have dine in or take out plates for your convenience.
I just got back from Fort Worth after a week at the Texas Library Association Conference. Librarians from around the state gathered for the first live conference since 2019. It was my first live conference. I have attended two virtual conferences, and they can’t prepare you for an actual conference. The conference averaged more than 7,000 librarians, publishers, vendors and 500 exhibiting companies pre-Covid. They expected about 40% of a normal TLA conference, or about 3,000 attending.
There were long lines for checking in and at some author signings, but for the most part it flowed pretty well. I attended several sessions and gleaned as much information as I could in each one. The exhibition hall was apparently a huge draw for the attendees. There were publishing companies, independent book publishers, furniture vendors, authors and storytellers, just to name a few of the attractions in the hall.
I found the Tocker Foundation booth and spoke to Darrell Tocker, executive director and board member of the foundation ,and Karin Gerstenhaber, associate director of the foundation. The Tocker Foundation has awarded the Dickens County Spur Public Library over $20,000 in grant funding in just the past 2½ years that I have been at the library. The grants were for enhancing our collection of materials at the library, for an automation upgrade, and most recently for the T-Mobile hotspots we have available for our patrons to check out. I was able to personally say, thank you for all they do and have done for our library.
I bought a copy of John R. Erickson’s “Finding Hank: The Most-Often Asked Questions about Hank the Cowdog.” I also got to meet Mr. Erickson and have him autograph the book. He even agreed to a selfie with me. The book will be available for our patrons to check out soon.
I visited with Becka Oliver, executive director of the Writer’s League of Texas. Becka, along with Arianne “Tex” Thompson will be at the library on Saturday, May 14, at 10 a.m. Becka will be sharing with us “The Path to Publication.” She has over 16 years of experience in the publishing business. Tex will be sharing her knowledge with “Writers of the Purple Sage: Adding Western Elements to your Work.” The event is free to the public and refreshments will be served. Please call the library at (806) 271-3714 to reserve your place. Walk-ins are welcome if space is available.
While I was in Fort Worth, mom (Gladys) was busy adding some new books to our shelves. In large print we have the thriller “Death of a Black Widow” by bestselling authors James Patterson and J.D. Barker; also in large print we have the western “Silver Grass” by John Nesbitt; and also in large print is “Give Unto Others” by Donna Leon.
Don’t forget to shop at Helping Hands of Dickens County in the month of May because all proceeds after expenses will go to the Friends of the Library!
Check it all out at the library.
Donnice Carruth is director of the Dickens County-Spur Library, in Spur.
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