2012 The County Reads

A Good Man by Guy Vanderhaeghe presented by Janet Kellough
Fifteen Days: Stories of Bravery, Friendship, Life and Death from Inside the New Canadian Army by Christine Blatchford presented by Peter Lockyer
The Better Angels of our Nature Why Violence Has Declined by Steven Pinker, presented by David Simmonds
The Cat’s Table by Michael Ondaatje presented by Katy McIntyre
The Pity of the Winds by Robin Timmerman presented by Mark Despault

The 2012 County Reads ballot is now available online

Save your library

Concerned residents of Prince Edward County have put together a petition opposing the proposed closure or dismantling of the Ameliasburgh, Bloomfield, and Consecon branches of the Library. Thank you to everyone who signed the petition.
Thank you for signing the petition in support of the library. Your voice made a difference and the proposal to cut library services by closing or relocating branches to inadequate sites has been taken off the 2012 Budget and Financial Sustainability Opportunities report..
Budget deliberations continue, however, and we are hopeful that library services
will not be adversely affected. We look forward to your continued support

At the Public Library

Carolyn Barnes shares her piece, “At the Public Library”

At the Public Library
Who do you see at the public library?
Everybody. Every age, every interest, every fear, every hope.
Toddlers aim crookedly for the Circulation Desk, hugging picture books in their small arms.
Elderly folk, some brave and bright, others weary and beaten, make their slow way to the day’s destination – bookshelf, magazine rack, computer terminal, easy chair.
A teenager prints out her resume in hope of a summer job. A man who was young once prints his out, too, with far less hope.
Brisk people on lunch dash in to pick up the latest bestseller.
Lonely individuals seek solace in the newspaper, on the computer, in the friendly faces around them.
Panicked kids, deadlines looming, look for help. What is the longest river in the world? How did World War I affect Canada’s economy?
People with troubled faces gather books and websites on cancer, on Alzheimer’s, on fibromyalgia.
People arrive whom birth or trauma have dealt a hard hand to play — many on their own, some with caregivers — to check a favourite website or find a book or video to enjoy.
A young woman, abloom with excitement, hunts out the wedding planning section.
People gripped by steel trap minds fiercely research the topics that consume them.
Avid readers, returning last week’s pile of books, fill their tote bags up again.
You see everybody at the public library. Every age, every interest, every fear, every hope.