Things are heating up at the Amherst Public Library

Maybe it's an omen.

John Henkel and Chase Harper first spotted the fire.

Library patrons tipped off staff today when a fire broke out at the Amherst Public Library today. “I had just stopped to talk to a friend when we spotted a burning bush”, said John Henkel.


Henkel had stopped near a parked car along the Spring Street side of the building to talk to Chase Harper. Harper ran inside the building to report the fire to library staff.

Amherst Police and Fire Departments respond to the call.

“It had really sparked up fast”, said Harper. “One minute we were just standing there talking and all of a sudden the bush was in flames and the mulch was smoldering.” Staff members responded to the fire by calling 911 while others grabbed fire extinguishers to contain the small blaze.

Cheryl Ashton was at the reference desk when she saw smoke billowing past the windows. Running downstairs she spotted Harper who pointed to the flames. “I’m wondering if we should take this as some kind of omen”, said Ashton. “You know it’s not the first time a message came through a burning piece of landscaping.”

Firemen soak down the mulch around the burned shrub.

A patron took over the first extinguisher as Ashton went back into the building for more. Don Dovala brought out a third extinguisher and the fire was contained by the time the Amherst Police and Fire Departments arrived. “Everything is so dry right now”, said one fireman. “It wouldn’t take much to set off a small brush fire. We’ll make sure it’s watered down well because the mulch has a tendency to hold in embers.”

Patrons soon returned to what they had been doing before all the excitement and some speculated to the fire’s origins. A carelessly tossed cigarette, spontaneous combustion, an ill timed promotion for banned book week?

The answers to many of life’s little mysteries are often found by looking at the library.  Checking out The Illustrated Book of Signs & Symbols by Miranda Bruce-Mitford explains many of the fundamental signs and omens that have become part of our folklore and our everyday life. Universal symbols like “mother earth” that permeate mythology across a multitude of cultures are examined as well as religious symbols and those found in nature.

 

Many books require the examination of omens and symbols. Dan Brown’s popular sequel to The Da Vinci Code, The Lost Symbol, traces back historical symbolism and secret societies that still exist today. Other authors picked up on the popular books releasing titles like Secrets of the Code: the unauthorized guide to the mysteries behind the Da Vinci Code by Dan Burstein.

Flipping through the Bruce-Mitford book it lists fire as one of the basic earth elements. Supposedly a vision of fire can lead to a deeper understanding of your place in the universe. Or maybe it means you’re going to meet a fireman. It’s elementary dear Watson.

Seasonal Evolution

Forget any celestial equinox or counting down the days till the solstice declares the perfect alignment of sun and stars to know when fall begins. The Farmer’s Almanac might give you weather predictions and advise you when to plant your winter wheat, but what’s happening at the library is as perfect an indication of the change of seasons as…well, Dick Goddard and the wooly bear.

 The library eased from summer reading into fall with people returning their summer paperbacks like The Au Pairs by Melissa de la Cruz, reads by Evanovich and thrillers like Laura Lippman’s What the Dead Know, a book that chronicled the mystery of two young girls that disappeared from a suburban shopping mall thirty years ago and show up at a hit a run accident years later.

Self indulgent mysteries, court room drama, and even summer romance has returned to the shelves as more weighty tomes find their way to the circulation desk. Look for research papers and science fair projects to bring in patrons searching for encyclopedias to cite as resources and heavier history books detailing civil war battles and world war scenarios. Reading lists still require ATale of Two Cities or Pride and Prejudice, but many kids now can download those books to their iPods.



For the last hundred years, students have visited the library to supplement their studies, once asking Maude Neiding for classic literature like Tom Sawyer and Treasure Island, now students use library computers to access the Internet or prepare PowerPoint presentations. During our annual book covering event at the library this year students brought in more than 500 textbooks that were covered here at the library, more books than Maude Neiding had in her original collection.

As the days get shorter look for fall favorites like Mediterranean Harvest by Martha Rose Shulman that lists more than 500 recipes such as Garlic Soup on page 161 or the Baked Eggplant Stuffed with Pasta on page 220. Recipes that celebrate the harvest, canning or pickling take center stage over recipes for grilling and summer smoothies.



While many students still require books for school projects, the downsizing of our school libraries and inclusion of more digital resources and computers, has evolved into more use of online databases and digital information sharing. The library’s Accelerated Reading database that merges with our library catalog is a valuable tool for students and parents who need library books to complete reading assignments.

A great book written with a teacher’s point of view, try Close Encounters of the Third-grade Kind: thoughts on Teacherhood by Phillip Done. His insightful depiction of every day life in the classroom as a new teacher is funny while at the same time acting as a soundboard for ideas.

Maude Nieding would be amazed at the evolution of the library as a community resource but also how we’ve learned to function through the seasons, turning over books and movies from one season to the next, just like the transition of baseball to football. The library constantly changes yet remains the same. I’d better check if we have enough copies of Tom Sawyer on the shelf.