I am so thankful that when I was growing up my small town had a library.  For me, it was a house of books that could take me to far-away places, make me laugh, make me cry, and even possibly make me sound smarter.  Many of the books that I brought home from the library as a child and young adult had a major impact on my thinking and my life and for that I am grateful.  They still do today. That part hasn’t changed although the libraries of today have changed in so many ways.

Today we can still get books from the library to read and learn from but now we can get them in the traditional paper or an electronic version.  We can check out movies and enjoy family night in the comfort of our own homes and save the dollars we would have to spend at the movie theater for other things.    We can check out music cds to match our moods or broaden our musical taste.  We and our children can learn to appreciate art through books, dvds, the sculptures throughout the building, the contest photographs on the walls and even watercolor classes. We can access the Internet at the library.  We can take classes to get our GED’s or even classes to learn how to babysit (something a particular family in my small town wished I had taken before leaving me with their precious baby for one night!).  Our children can enjoy bedtime stories and have their pictures taken with Santa.  Some of them even got to see an actual piece of the moon a few years ago. 

All the activities and services that our Haltom City Public Library offers is sometimes overwhelming to me--especially when I’m trying to decide which one to write about for the library blog.  But I’m not complaining.  Instead I am thankful for all that our library offers us and our families.  And I’m even more thankful for all the library staff that work so hard to makes these services and programs available for us.  They are, in alphabetic order:  Allison, Ann, BeckyD, BeckyE, Cyd, Dean, Dianne,  Gail, Grant, Jamie, Janet, Jesica, Laura, Lesly, Maria, Patricia, Rina, Robbie, Rosa, Rose, Wanda and Yog. 

Wishing you all a wonderful Thanksgiving and happy reading from your Library Blog Mistress