At the Library 5/26/22

At the Library
by LeAnn Kunz

The other day I said to one of my fellow librarians “we are the hardest triers of all, aren’t we?” Then I realized how true this is. We spend our days at the WPL trying our best to please our patrons. Books are our business and it is our endless quest to assist patrons, young and old, in finding the right book. We want you to go away with excitement and anticipation for the pile of books you check out and if we do not have a particular title (and it is at least a year old), we can usually attain a copy for you through our Interlibrary Loan service. Also, if you are looking for new ideas for books to read, you can try out NoveList. This is a free online resource you can use through our website (www.washington.lib.ia.us) to aid you in finding new authors or books of interest. Also don’t forget to pick up a free copy of Book Page at the circulation desk the next time you are in to keep track what is newly published.

Besides peddling books, we also have some services to make your life easier. One of our most popular right now is PrinterOn. You can send your print jobs from anywhere to our public library printer and then stop by to pick up those prints. They are 10 cents apiece for black and white and 25 cents for color. Simply visit our website to find the PrinterOn icon that will take you through the process or you can use the PrinterOn app on your phone. Another service is our Scan to Email. So many times you have a hard copy of a document that needs to be faxed to an organization or business. Your Washington Public librarians can do that too, for $1 per page however, if you have an email of the organization or business, we can easily scan the copy and send it to that email in one step, all for free. A final resource I want to mention is our Gabbie text messaging. If you have a question for the library and would rather text than make a phone call, simply send your message to 319-384-8883. That message will arrive at our computer terminals and we will do our best to get back to you with an answer promptly during library hours.

There is a wonderful quote from Kurt Vonnegut’s short story Harrison Bergeron.

“He tried. That's the big thing. He tried to do the best he could with what God gave him. He should get a nice raise for trying so hard.”
 

Your WPL librarians try hard every day to meet your needs and our biggest reward is your smile, your “thank you”, and your continued support.