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Mrs. Louise and Mr. Kenny had all-you-can-eat steaks on the menu for the library Christmas party. That’s all that needs to be said here.

We have a large metal pole in the backyard of our library. It’s probably between 100-200 feet tall and is only about 30 feet away from the actual library building, if that.

It’s a giant lightning rod.

A storm passed through one morning before we were open, and Mr. Robb heard a lightning strike nearby, followed by some other noise. After smelling smoke, he looked around and found a big mess in our server room. The server room has our electrical switches, server, and similar stuff. It’s about as big as a small closet. When he walked in Mr. Robb found a shattered receptacle on the floor, melted wires, and charred circuits (not to mention black marks all over the wall where the receptacle exploded).

It turns out that the lightning stuck that big pole in our backyard, traveled through some wires into our building, and made its way to the server room, where it literally burned, melted, or blew up anything near the receptacle. It also left that pleasant electrical fire aroma lingering. I guess we should be glad the library didn’t catch fire and burn down.

Our library has a foyer with two sets of automatic doors. Even though the wind rarely blows from north to south at our location, it creates a problem when it does. Some gusts are stong enough to activate the first set of automatic doors. This would be fine if the wind would activate the second set of doors, but most gusts don’t. When this happens, the air blows straight up into the ceiling tiles, throwing them around like old scraps of paper. Most of the time, the tiles will fall 20 or so feet to the floor, but this time, the tile remained suspended in the air by a wire leading from a smoke detector.

You can’t really see the wire unless you’re sitting at the circulation desk, so I’d just as soon put up a sign to tell patrons we have an anti-gravity exhibit on display for the time being.

I was forced into being the Cat in the Hat for our character dress-up day. It was a last-minute decision, but I guess it was an easy one to make since all libraries are required by law to own at least one “Cat in the Hat” hat.

Birds make up about 20% of our patron population. Unfortunately, they don’t check out items very often since they never bring their cards.

Our staff was featured in The Livingston Parish News:

The dedicated staffs of our five new state-of-the-art regional libraries have made them the cultural centers of Livingston Parish.

Heading up the staff at the South Branch Library between Killian and French Settlement is manager Robb Webb. With undergraduate and Master of Library and Information Science degrees from LSU, he remained at the university there to serve for 10 years on the staff of Middleton Library. He then became head of circulation at Baton Rouge Community College Library for five years before being hired to his present position in 2006.

“I am very impressed by the warmth and generosity of the community and I am encouraged by their participation in programs held at the library,” Webb said. “The … staff has been wonderful to work with and I am motivated by their dedication, hard work, and imagination.”

A 1965 graduate of DSHS, Louise Bankston is putting her 25 years of working with the public in service and retail sales to excellent use as both the adult book club facilitator and the organizer of gallery exhibits. She knows her audience and what they like.

She gives “The Kite Runner,” a novel set in Afghanistan, as an example of the opportunity the book club provides to “entertain ideas never explored and travel to places we have never been.” She said the hunt for local exhibitors is “like finding hidden treasure,” and she finds excitement in getting the exhibits to “flow.”

Nora Melancon followed her SLU business degree with six years in the business world before opting to join the library, where she works with young adults in the book club and Anime/Addicts Manga/Maniacs group. She gears book choices to those that offer “another pair of eyes” to give teens insight into possible outcomes of their decisions. Once the purview of “outsiders,” she believes Manga and Anime have become teen staples, and her group provides an outlet for opinions and creativity inspired by that interest.

A 2001 LSU graduate in mass communications, Rob Mulhearn worked in retail management before joining the library where he teaches computer classes, maintains library statistics and serves the public at the reference and circulation desks.

A local student enrolled in a double degree program at SLU, Austin Dixon graduated from Maurepas High School as valedictorian of the class of 2006. While preparing to attend medical school and become a psychiatrist, he works part time at the library, where he worlds at the circulation and reference desks and assists Mulhearn in teaching computer classes. (“Applause”)

Works Cited

“Applause.” The Livingston Parish News [Livingston, LA] 27 Oct. 2009. Web. 22 Apr. 2011.