BIXBY BULLETIN NEWSLETTER

July 2024

Doesn’t it feel good to step away from the day-to-day and get a fresh perspective now and then? That’s the opportunity I was afforded as the recently named Vermont representative to the American Library Association (ALA). My first official act was to represent the Vermont Library Association at the ALA annual conference in San Diego at the end of June. In addition to participating in the Council meetings, I felt like a kid in a candy shop attending presentations, hearing author talks, and touring the immense exhibition hall filled with all things library. 

As you’ve seen firsthand at the Bixby, libraries are not stagnant buildings, stuffed with dusty books. The conference was an immersion into how and why we keep evolving and adapting to the current needs of our communities. The ALA conference offered an opportunity to interact with fellow library workers, cutting-edge technologists, debut authors, and a host of potential new offerings. As an example, read below to learn how we’ll be investing in a new offering for our younger readers thanks to a local Eagle Scout project.

With Gratitude,

Catharine Hays

Library Director

The Bixby Library is excited to welcome Robin Berger as our new Children & Teen Librarian. Robin graduated from Trinity College of Vermont with a degree in Elementary Education and Math and a minor in Special Education. Since then, she has worked in a variety of youth positions including the Healthy Food Coordinator at The Family Room, Chef/Supervisor for the Burlington School District, the Lund Early Childhood Education Program, and Library Assistant/Substitute Teacher at Flynn Elementary School.

Robin is excited to join the Bixby community and pursue a Certificate in Public Librarianship. She promises to only read a few picture books when she is supposed to be reshelving them. When not at work, her favorite activities include cookbook collecting, cooking, eating, and sharing laughs with her friends, husband, and two adult sons.

The Bixby Library is delighted to welcome Deena Miller to the Board of Trustees. On July 1st, Deena assumed the role of Board Secretary.

A lifelong lover of libraries, Deena still has her well-worn, metal-plated card from her childhood library. She graduated from St. Michael’s College and then spent time in the Boston area, Selma, AL, and Lake Placid, NY, eventually settling in Ferrisburgh with her family in 2002. As a stay-at-home mom, she has spent countless hours at the Bixby with her three kids. Deena now enjoys working as a tax accountant for a small practice in Shelburne. When her nose is not buried in the latest fiction, you’ll find her running and biking along our local roads and exploring the woods of Vermont. She is also an amateur knitter and hopes to one day finish the sweater she started months ago at the Bixby's Fiber Arts Circle.

Weekly Booked for Bikes prize drawings have begun! We already have 40+ kids from ages Pre-K to 8th Grade participating, and 3 lucky winners have walked away with $25 in Vergennes Green Gift Certificates, donated by the Vergennes Rotary. The kids of the Bixby have read over 13,000 minutes this summer alone!

If your kiddo wants to join in on the fun, come into the library to pick up a reading tracker slip. Read, fill it out, turn it in, and receive a spiffy necklace or bracelet with beads to track your reading time. Prizes are drawn every week, with big winners announced at the end of the summer. Wheelie great prizes are just a book away!

Long summer days present the perfect opportunity to expand your reading horizons. Pick up a reading adventure passport to participate in our Adult Summer Reading Challenge: Read Around the World. We challenge adult patrons to see how many continents they can read a book from between June 1st and August 31st. Read a book set on three or more continents to win prizes!

Venture to our Community Reading Map in the lobby to see where the Bixby's patrons read. You can join in by adding a pin to mark the setting of any books you've read this summer. So far, our patrons tend to read books set in Northwest Europe, Japan, Korea, and the Northeastern United States, with one lonely pin in Antarctica. Plus, you can find inspiration for your next international novel or non-fiction book.

The summer of 2024 is shaping up to be a hot one. Lucky for you, the Bixby is your cooling destination! The Friends of the Library has graciously donated a brand new air conditioner to cool our Half-Round Room, upstairs. Now you can enjoy a cool spot in our air-conditioned Vermont Room, Children’s Room, and the Half-Round Room.

While you cool off in the Half-Round Room, enjoy a new exhibit celebrating the 150th anniversary of St. Peter’s Church in Vergennes. Learn about the community effort to construct the local Catholic Church through antique photographs, newspaper clippings, handmade maps, and artifacts including a brick from the Ferrisburgh Brickyard and an antique organ pipe. Thank you to Susan Ferland, President of the Vergennes Historical Society, for researching and creating this wonderful new exhibit.

The Bixby Library extends an enormous thank you to local Life Scout Grey Fearon and the 55 participants who helped raise over $1700 at the Bookin' It for Bixby 5K Run/Walk. As part of his Eagle Scout project, and in collaboration with Vergennes Parks and Recreation, Grey Fearon from Troop 539 hosted this event to raise funds for the Bixby Library. We thank Shaw's, Kinney's, and Hannaford's for donating supplies for the 5K.

Robin, our new Children's Librarian, will use the funds from the 5K to add Wonderbooks to our collection. Wonderbooks combine traditional print books with ready-to-play audiobooks for a multisensory reading experience. Grey will complete his project by creating a bookshelf to house this brand-new collection. Thank you, Grey, for the time, energy, and creativity you have dedicated to the Bixby Library.

Join us this summer and explore your creative side! Check our website or email me for more information.