Goodbye & Thank You, Susan

As most of you know by now, our Director, Susan Cassagne, is leaving the Armstrong Library. She has been selected to be the State Librarian of Mississippi and will serve as the Executive Director of the Mississippi Library Commission. This is a big honor for her, but she will be missed big time. The good news is that she is maintaining her residence in Natchez. Also, the Armstrong Library will definitely have good connections on the State level. (See the article in the Natchez Democrat.)

The Friends of the Library had a reception in the Library Thursday to say goodbye and thank you to Susan.




Mayor Butch Brown came and gave her a proclamation from the City in recognition of the work she has done.

Susan had a few words to say to those in attendance. There were tears in the eyes of many there, especially her staff.

Maria Bowser, President of the Friends, announced that the Friends were going to renovate the Meeting Room and rename it the Susan Cassagne Community Room. Be sure to go to the Library and see what that room looks like now, so you will be able to appreciate the new look.

Anne White, Assistant Director of the Armstrong Library, presented a present to Susan from the staff - a picture of her with all her staff members in a beautiful frame.

Duncan McFarlane, Chair of the Library Board of Trustees, introduced Pamela Plummer, the new Director of the Armstrong Library.

Pam Plummer also spoke to the audience, although she said she was not prepared to speak. A Natchez native who has been commuting from Natchez for 30 plus years, she said she was thrilled to finally be working in her home town.





Be sure to check out the article in the Natchez Democrat. They have much better pictures!

Favorite Reads 2012: Loves Carolyn Haines

A native of Mississippi, Carolyn Haines is the author of over fifty books in multiple genres. She was named the 2010 recipient of the Harper Lee Award and is the recipient of the 2009 Richard Wright Award for Literary Excellence.

Bonefire of the Vanities is my 12th book in the Carolyn Haines Bones series. Why do I continue reading every one of these books? Well...when they are so well written and more than interesting...how could I not continue reading them. This latest in the Sarah Booth Delaney Mysteries was no exception.

Sarah Booth Delaney and her BFF Tinkey (and partner PI) have been requested by Madam Tomeeka aka Tammy to guard Marjorie Littlefield from harm. It appears Marjorie is staying with the Westins, Brandy & Sherry, at an estate, Heart's Desire. Heart's Desire has a long history and most of it is quite dark and only getting darker. Sarah Booth and Tinkin set out under the guise of being maids for Marjorie.  How long being a maid will last with Tinkie...your guess is as good as mine!

Despite the wishes of her overprotective fiance, Sarah Booth Delaney can't give up her detective work, no matter how dangerous it becomes. It's too much a part of her. On this case, avoiding danger might be impossible--she's on the trail of a porn-star-turned-psychic operating from a haunted estate on the edge on town. Medium Sherry Cameron promises to reunite grieving family members with their dearly departed, but it seems vaguely suspicious that Sherry will only accept emotionally vulnerable and tremendously wealthy clients.  Aging billionaire Marjorie Littlefield fits the profile perfectly--her daughter died in a tragic accident as a young girl, she's been estranged from her son for decades, and she's planning to leave her considerable inheritance to her cat.

Convinced she's uncovered a scheme to separate a lonely woman from her fortune, Sarah Booth talks her way onto the estate as a maid, where she finds Marjorie and several other wealthy eccentrics ready to commune with the dead. Between chores, Sarah Booth explores the estate, mingles with the other staff...and finds a few dead bodies. But which guest or staff member might be the killer? Even Jitty, Sarah Booth's personal haunt, won't tell until Sarah Booth has uncovered all of Sherry's well-kept secrets.

With spooks and charlatans around every corner, Sarah Booth is the only PI in the southlands who can put an end to this elaborate scam in Bonefire of the Vanities, the charming twelfth entry in Carolyn Haines's sparkling series.

I love going back to Dahlia House and going on another journey with Sarah Booth and Tinkie.  Love this series and appreciate the author taking the time to write such an interesting story with substance rather than churning out one shallow book after another in short order.  Well worth the wait.

The Library Has a Baby!

Right after he was born

The Library has a baby! I know, you didn't even know we were expecting. That's because we didn't actually deliver it ourselves. That honor belongs to our children's librarian, Eboni Perryman.

Karion Jermaine Watson was born on Tuesday, December 4 at 3:52 pm. He weighed 7 pounds, 14 ounces and was 21" long. The mother and the baby are doing fine and hope to be home today.

When he woke up

As you can see from the pictures, he's adorable. Eboni says he is a really good baby and rarely cries. The nurses say he likes everybody and loves to cuddle. The only trouble was he didn't seem to know how to nurse, although he liked his bottle. Eboni was wondering if something was wrong with her or her milk. Fortunately, one of the mothers in our Tuesday morning story time came to the rescue. She has lots of experience nursing babies and was able to show Eboni how to do it. Now the baby seems to be nursing just fine, and the amount in the supplemental bottle is decreasing.

Now he's socializing

We tried to get a picture of the mommie with her baby, but she was being camera shy. She promises one soon.

Eboni will be on Family Medical Leave for six weeks, but in the meantime, we'll keep you updated on the Library Baby on facebook.

PS: Don't tell Eboni this is the Library Baby - she thinks he's hers!

Librarians Head to New Orleans

On Saturrday June 25th, eight library employees headed for New Orleans to attend the American Library Assosiation annual conference. I'm new to the Library, and this was my first ALA conference. It was pretty overwhelming. There were over twenty thousand attendees, wide eyed and eager to see the latest - including over five thousand venders displaying their wares.

We spent five hours trudging through exhibits with bags upon bags full of free samples of books, posters, gadgets, and many, many catalogs. We returned to Natchez tired but full of new ideas to help our patrons have a pleasant library experience. Be on the look out for new books and fun, interesting programs for everyone from kids to adults.

Have You Met Leonard?

Leonard Lucas is our new summer employee. He comes to us courtesy of the Summer Youth Work Experience Program, an arm of the WIN Job Center.

If you've been in the Library since he started, then you probably know him. He's so outgoing and friendly. In fact we think he has a future as a stand up comedian. But his plans are quite different. He's majoring in software engineering and is a real computer wizard. And he said he's taught himself most of what he knows, since his high school didn't offer computer courses.

Leonard is a Natchez native and graduated from Cathedral in 2008. He then left for Mississippi State. Unfortunately, he got quite sick during his freshman year and had to come home. He's been attending CoLin since then but plans to return to Mississippi State in the spring.

When asked what he likes about working in the Library, he said he enjoys meeting all the people who come in here. And he said he loves the food. Food?? Apparently, several of the women are mothering him and bring in dishes for him to try. But what he really likes best is talking to Patrick, our IT guy. When those two get to talking, it sounds like they're speaking a foreign language.

If you see him, you'll not be surprised that he was a basketball player in high school and still plays for fun. He said he was inspired by Michael Jordan. He's a bit of a health nut and likes to stay in shape and eat right.

But his absolute favorite pastime is designing video games - and he plans to do it professionally. One day maybe he'll be rich and famous. Hope he remembers his friends from the Library.

Whatever he chooses to do with his life, he'll be a success - and the Library is so glad we got to enjoy him this summer.