
It all started here, at the Library Congress in Washington, D.C., in 1898. After moving from the Capital to its new building, the Library needed a system for storing and retrieving its books. Alas, the Library of Congress Subject Headings or LCSH was born. Necessity is the mother of invention so the saying goes and the LC system of alphabetical subject headings would expand and eventually influence almost every library in the United States.(Along with the Dewey Decimal System) LCHS is still in use today, more than 110 years later. It has withstood the test of time, technology and modern culture. Obviously, it's a system that works, but it's not without its quirks. Many people and many, many, ok, countless hours of meetings have produced a dictionary of Subject Headings that uses words that just don't make sense to the men and women using libraries and, quite frankly, to a lot of the people working in them. One of the best examples of this is the word "Cookery". The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines Cookery as: the art or practice of cooking, so the use of the word directing people to books on cooking, including cookbooks, was technically correct. But how many people use this arcane word except in the occasional reference to a place, i.e. the cookery at a lumber camp? We don't go to a library and ask the friendly helpful staff "can you please help me find the books on cookery?" So, for years, when people have come to us in frustration because they can't find many books on cooking we've had to say to them with a straight face "you need to look under Cookery". You can imagine the looks we've received through the years. Read more »

I finished reading this book last week and I'm still thinking about it. I love a book that sticks with me for awhile. Olive Kitteridge, by Elizabeth Strout, won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 2009. This book has engaging characters and a good sense of place. Since those are two things I really need in a book it was a good read for me. Read more »

The Library sees a lot of action during the summer months. The action taking place in this photo is the best kind there is. This is exactly what we hoped having the boat would inspire. Reading is fun all by itself, but giving kids a unique place to do it makes it even more so. Take books to the beach, to the cabin, to the campsites, to the picnics, to the park. Take the books, the reading will follow.

This is just one of several pictures we have of kids with books in the boat that's " floating" in the Library this summer. The boat has been a real hit with the kids and every once in a while we'll notice it's suddenly quiet in the kids section and we walk over and find some kids reading contentedly, flopped on pillows in the bottom of the thing. It never fails to make our day. Read more »
Sturm Memorial Library
Summer Reading Program
June 7 - July 31, 2010
The Library offers all kinds of summer fun. You can participate in the following programs on your own schedule, in your own time, to your own liking. Read more »