On This Date in 1998

Dear Jim and Arden,

JoAnna and I decided we weren’t going to send a “form” letter this year, but I quickly tired of jotting down the same note, with slight variations every once in awhile, on the inside of every card. So now I really have my work cut out for me just a week before Christmas. I plan to write a personalized note to the special people on our mailing list. The library “business” is going well. I just finished my year as president of the Wisconsin Library Association. It was a productive and rewarding year with no crises or controversies.. I still have another year to serve on the WLA board before I finish my commitment. On the local front, the library received in 10% budget increase for 1999, thanks to a very supportive city council who collectively felt it was time to add another librarian to the staff, provide a substantial increase to the book budget, and allow us to offer Sunday hours.

JoAnna is taking the month of December off. She resigned her position as director of the state Democratic caucus and is currently considering a number of new job possibilities. Much of her free time this year, what little she’s had, has been devoted to research on her family tree, whose roots extend back to the year 1646 in Nova Scotia (Acadia).

As you can see from the enclosed picture, the boys are growing up all too quickly. Andy’s just starting to get into music, and, unlike my parents when I was 11years old, I actually enjoy much of the music he likes. In small doses, of course. Eddie is our artist, who work was featured on the September page of the school district calendar this year.

I may have mentioned this last year, but I really enjoy using Merriam-Webster’s website. It’s amazing what an important resource the Internet has become for libraries in just the last few years. It certainly hasn’t had a negative impact on library use overall. Our circulation may be flat this year, but the number of visits is up significantly. And now, a lot of reference questions start out, I tried looking for _____ on the Internet, but I couldn’t find anything.