October from the rear view mirror

October was all about Courtland apples, visits to old haunting grounds, sugar pie, seventh wedding anniversaries, and family bonding. Delish! I finished my bonding with Rushdie over Joseph Anton (amazing journey into his craft, and into his insane life during the fatwa - my only concern is his portrayal of every woman in his life....). I was blown away by Miranda Hill's Sleeping Funny, gripped by the plot twists in Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn, slightly bored by The Sweet Girl by Annabel Lyon, sad that Toby's Room by Pat Barker was definitely no Regeneration trilogy, and oddly sympathetic (especially for someone who has been cheated on) with the rat narrator of This Is How You Lose Her by Junot Diaz. I also bid farewell to a good friend, who OPL is losing to RPL, and planned world domination via Book Bank.

In other news, here's some work stuff I've been excited about:

• I'm pretty thrilled that (and tired from) tying with the Children's department (almost!) this month. We had 310 adults at a wide variety of adult programs for this month; children's programs attracted 330 children!
• We've been trying a Chinese storytime this fall, led by one of my colleagues, Feng (we went to library school together - shout-out McGill MLIS class of 2004!). So far, it's getting on its feet with a few participants: a few other branches have packed Chinese storytimes, so I am confident ours will grow.
• We had a great, loud, crowded TAG meeting with "a dynamic and powerful discussion on diversity and LGBTQ" given by one of our community partners. Patron going by the Adult Info desk: “I’ve never seen so many Teens at Carlingwood Branch– how did we do it?"
• Those adult programs: We held three “Coffee with the Community” events this month. The most successful, by far, was Coffee with Councillor Mark Taylor, for which we had 11 attendees. Our Reflections on Aging reading circle wrapped up, but will be offered in January again. Feedback: “the facilitators were excellent as well as the reading material they chose.” Also, “I really enjoyed the time and information regarding books I can borrow in the future.  I hope CA will have more reading circles.” This is one of the programs I am most proud of, thanks in large part to the wonderful coordinators, Wendy and Trudy. We also had Kim Thuy as part of OPL's Author Visits, who a patron described as an "exciting articulate speaker. I loved how she just spoke from the heart - no notes.”
• Our new part-time librarian started! We are all really excited to have her as a part of the team.
• We received over 60 grey bins one day near the end of this month! The team pitched in and worked together to process this high volume; some extra hours helped, too. I wonder how many people realise how much material is shipped inter-branch every day?... As I always say in outreach, over a month, we ship the same weight as a female beluga whale and her baby (I have visuals, of course!)
• We visited local schools and community groups, as always. I personally visited two groups.
• We blogged! The branch library pages on the website are getting an update soon, so branch blogging will soon be an option.

Lastly, Carlingwood Branch celebrated its 46th birthday! It opened in mid-August 1966, with an official opening ceremony on October 13th. At 13, 500 square feet, the new branch had a staff of six (now 30) and a collection of 5000 books (now approximately 120, 000 items). The branch was designed by architects Craig and Kohler, at a cost of $411, 106. Check it out: