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We strive to make Mifflin County Library a welcoming and inviting place. It is sort of difficult when there is pounding and hammering and drilling and trucks everywhere and limited parking. But once you get inside the library doors, even though it is pretty noisy, we want you to feel welcome.
In order to do this, we decorate the library with different displays each month. In fact, we are getting ready to put up the pumpkins. And here's another interesting and fun fact. September is Happy Cat Month. One of our displays for September will feature cat-themed books because there are a lot of murder mysteries in which the detective’s cat features prominently. In particular, the Rita Mae Brown books; she also writes her books with her cat, Sneaky Pie Brown, and the cat is listed as the co-author.
In the Mrs. Murphy series, Mary (called Harry) Haristeen, the local postmistress of the small town of Crozet, Virginia, solves murder mysteries, against the wishes of both her friends and law enforcement, with the help of her beloved cat, Mrs. Murphy. The 34th book in the series was recently published and is called "Clawed and Dangerous."
If you want to start this series, it is recommended that you read the books in order only for the character development. The individual mysteries are contained in each book and don't carry over from one book to the next and the author gives enough background information about the characters that a new reader to the series will not feel lost. Just keep in mind that cats are smarter than people and make great detectives.
Look for our Happy Cat Month display on the rolling purple book cart.
September is also Library Card Sign up Month and our main display area will feature books about libraries and librarians with a laptop set up for people to come to MCL in Lewistown and register online for a library card. If you don't have a library card, September is a great time to get one. Library cards are for Mifflin County residents age three and up.
One thing to remember about our book displays is that we want you to see a book that you want to read and we want you to take it. Too often library patrons come to us and ask, "I'm so sorry to bother you but can I have that book that's on display? It looks really good."
Of course you can. That's the point of the display. We always have other books in mind to be used to fill in the gap.
Libraries are not bookstores and so we can't have books shelved by genre. For example, murder mysteries can't be shelved together in one area and romances in another. Having books on display is one way that libraries can highlight an author, a series of books or a genre. This is one way to give you the reader ideas about other books to read.
Remember, MCL in Lewistown and Kish Library in Belleville are closed today and Monday for the Labor Day holiday.
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Susan Miriello is the Executive Director of the Mifflin County Library. You can call the library at (717) 242-2391. Kish Library's phone number is (717) 935-2880. Visit the library website at www.mifflincountylibrary.org.