Early mornings are foggy. Pumpkins, gourds and mums have begun to appear in all the local produce stands and markets. The zinnias in my flower beds are looking very shabby. I dug out my recipe for pumpkin pie, cookies and bread. Port Royal is recovering from the ever popular 168th Juniata County Fair.

Here at the library we see a circulation shift in the Children’s Department from fiction to nonfiction as students are back at school and teachers are assigning reports. Young children and their caregivers are arriving for Storytime, eager for fun. Little do they know how much they are learning while participating in these early literacy programs.

A new series of Lifelong Learning programs have begun. Preparations are underway for the Pumpkin Decorating Contest in early October, Books and Brushes Art Show, Saturday, Nov. 3, and we’ve asked Mrs. Claus to come for cocoa and cookies, Saturday, Dec. 1.

Come and cheer for Bee A Reader, the library’s mascot, during the Mascot Olympics at Goosefest. United Way’s Day of Caring will be upon us soon. Mifflin County Retired School Employees are busily preparing for the Fall Book Sale, Sept. 26-30, during regular library hours. For those using Kish Branch, our Monday and Tuesday hours are now 11 a.m.-4:30 p.m. and 5:30-7 p.m.

It’s September and that also means it National Library Card Signup Month. What’s the smartest card in your wallet/key chain? Your library card, of course! Less than one fourth of the population in Mifflin County has a library card. Just about one half the residents of Juniata County has a library card. This is a good time to visit the library and get a card. Oh heck, anytime is a good time to get a card.

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This morning, the first thing I saw on my Facebook feed was a New York Times article entitled “To Restore Civil Society, Start with the Library” by Eric Klinenberg, a sociologist. He conducted an ethnographic study (systematic recording of human culture) in various public libraries. His research reaffirmed the value and worth of libraries. I was particularly impressed with the results of his yearlong investigation.

Klinenberg found:

“Libraries are an example of “social infrastructure:” the physical spaces and organizations that shape the way people interact. Libraries are the kinds of places where people with different backgrounds, passions and interests can take part in a living democratic culture. They are the kinds of places where the public, private and philanthropic sectors can work together to reach for something higher than the bottom line. Libraries stand for and exemplify something that needs defending: the public institutions that — even in an age of atomization, polarization and inequality — serve as the bedrock of civil society.”

I have never been so proud to be a librarian! What is your super power?

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And, on the opposite end of the spectrum, the next Facebook post completely evaporated my euphoria. A person asked a question of a political candidate. Another person replied, “That’s a really difficult question for a librarian.” What? The candidate stated their platform. The first person asked the candidate to clarify. Does the librarian comment mean a librarian couldn’t answer the question? My hands were poised over the keyboard just ready to lambast this person to smithereens. Taking a sip of coffee, trying to calm myself to create a cogent and thoughtful response it suddenly dawned on me that you can’t cure stupid. Hey buddy, there are no difficult questions for librarians. It’s what we do! Answer questions and satisfy curious minds. Of course, that’s assuming you have a brain and it is curious. I guess it’s much easier to build your self-esteem by denigrating others. The candidate chose to ignore the comment and I did, too.

Here’s hoping you fall into the leaves of a good book.

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Molly S. Kinney is the library director at the Mifflin County Library. She is currently reading “Every Breath You Take,” (Under Suspicion #5) by Mary Higgins Clark and Alafair Burke.