Happy summer, everyone. This is Memorial Day weekend. The library is closed today, Saturday, as well as Monday.

The library will offer a summer reading program for all ages. It’s just that things are different this year due to library renovations at the Lewistown Library. Children’s activities will take place at the Kish Library in Belleville with other activities around Lewistown as scheduled. Miss Kelly is finalizing details as we speak and information will be available when you visit the library next.

I know that renovations are interfering with normal everyday things at the library like story time, the summer reading program, and the Spring Book Sale. My buzz words are, “This is a temporary inconvenience and you’ll love the new library when this is over.”

I know I wrote about this before but it’s been a long time since I mentioned the unspoken competition between Mifflin County Library and the Juniata County Library.

JCL’s director Vince Giordano knows that I call him the younger brother I never wanted because he and I have a sibling-rivalry-thing going on. It may mostly be more on my part than it is on his.

Did you know that you can go to JCL and get a passport processed? I did, not because I’ve read about it in Vince’s Sentinel column but because MCL gets phone calls about four times per week from people asking if we do passports. When the staff reply, no; the patron usually always answers, “Well, Juniata County Library does.”

Did you know that Juniata County Library’s book sale will be at the end of June? I do because I looked on their webpage. I’ve had so many emails to my work email address from people asking me where they can get used books cheap that they can take to the beach or on vacation since Mifflin County Library isn’t having one. MCL not having a book sale is just a temporary inconvenience and you’ll love our new library improvements when they are finished.

“By the way,” one library patron emailed me, “why do I have to email you when at Juniata County Library I can chat directly with Vince on the chat feature on JCL’s webpage?”

But above all, the one thing that makes me cringe, is the old “why can’t you be more like…” statement. Every child with a sibling absolutely dreads that one and I try not to roll my eyes when people say that to me. Why can’t you be more like JCL and have mobile hotspots? I hear that one a lot. According to Vince, their mobile hotspots circulate all the time and there are always several holds on each one. MCL had mobile hotspots but our patrons invariably returned them “because they didn’t work.” Mobile hotspots work because of nearby cell phone towers and the outlying areas of Mifflin County don’t have reliable cell service.

There’s always, “You should be more like Juniata County Library and offer Notary services.” I just looked blankly at the person who said that. When did JCL start offering Notary services? Wouldn’t you know, Vince mentioned it in his Sentinel column. Apparently, they’ve offered that service for a while now.

All kidding aside, it’s not a competition. As well as the newest bestselling books, both libraries do our best to offer the services that meet the needs of the community we serve. (But MCL has been meeting the needs of the community since 1870 and JCL only since 1966.)

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Susan Miriello is the Executive Director of the Mifflin County Library. Her shenanigans are patiently tolerated by her counterpart in Juniata County. The two are in reality friendly colleagues.