By the book

I do believe my lifelong love of reading (and writing) and my career as a word nerd are due to all the time I spent in the public library when I was a child. I was a heavy user, a voracious reader who read everything I could put my hands on. :-)

I still like to visit the library (and so does my daughter) although I have to admit that neither of us uses it as effectively as we could. Look at all the possibilities -- these days the library has much more than books to lend out. There are movies on DVD, music CDs, books on tape or CD ... even games. I need to start using it more, especially since it's so easy to browse for and borrow items through the Mid-Hudson Library System Web site.

I am thinking about libraries because this coming week (April 13-19) is National Library Week and you can support the libraries in the Mid-Hudson Library System when you shop at participating Barnes & Noble stores in our region (Poughkeepsie, Kingston, Mohegan Lake, Albany, Danbury & Newburgh). During the week, B&N will donate 10% of your purchase to MHLS libraries.

More details and a voucher that you can bring to the store are here. At the same site are other promotional materials you can download -- activities for kids and a list of National Library Week events at participating libraries.

Speaking of events, I know that my local library has a full week of special events planned and it's likely that yours does too. There are links to our area libraries at the MHLS Web site.

So -- happy reading!