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Arlington Public Library

Library Communications Officer

Too Cool for Yule: #15

Photo of a vintage cassette and cover on a wooden surface.

For most of the years I have worked with Arlington Public Library, I have created a holiday playlist variously known as “Don’t Touch that Dial” or "Too Cool for Yule."

This annual tradition is deeply personal. It reminds me of the hundreds (thousands?) of hours I’ve spent over the years making mixtapes for friends, siblings, work colleagues, and often, just for me. Granted, with the likes of Spotify and iTunes, it’s a lot easier these days to put together a mixtape. No more painstaking searches through LPs, careful dropping of the stylus onto the correct groove, long waits by the radio to capture the perfect tune to fit the mood, person or occasion.

Like all art, holiday mixtapes tell a story. The best ones contain an eclectic blend of edgy and whimsical, happy and sad, a little silly, a little snappy, and occasionally, a little sappy. I had fun putting it together and I hope you have fun listening.

Open on Spotify

Every year I honor a few of the musicians who have left us. Norma Waterson, Loretta Lynn, Ronnie Spector, Jerry Lee Lewis … gone and not forgotten. And I close each list with a song I hope speaks to all of us. This year’s selection is Woody Guthrie’s "This Land" sung by the Staple Singers.

As 2022 winds down, take a break, grab a beverage, and give a listen to "Too Cool for Yule 2022." And don’t be shy about singing along. It will make you feel great.

From all of us at Arlington Public Library. Always Free. Always Open.

Diane Kresh
Director
Arlington Public Library

Scrawled signature of Diane Kresh

Attention History Buffs

The Center for Local History along with the National Archives is celebrating American Archives Month throughout October.

Although American Archives Month is coming to an end, through the Center for Local History you can always access local history.

Join us for two upcoming programs to learn about the history of the American Nazi Party in Arlington and how to use The Virginia Chronicle to delve deeper into your family history or to find information on the transformation and growth of Arlington.

George Lincoln Rockwell at former U.S. party headquarters, 1965.

History of the American Nazi Party in Arlington

Wednesday, Nov. 2, 7-8 p.m.
Online only, registration required

Join the Center for Local History and author and historian Charlie Clark for a virtual presentation about the history of the American Nazi Party in Arlington.

Since the violent protests by white supremacists in Charlottesville, VA in 2017, the threat of renewed political agitation by neo-Nazis has haunted public safety officials.

There may be some lessons to be learned from this by looking into our own local history.  Why did George Lincoln Rockwell, a former American Navy veteran, choose Arlington County as his base of operations for his racist and anti-Semitic American Nazi Party?  This and other questions will be answered in Clark's illustrated talk.

Register

News clip of The Sun, 1936.

Learn how to use The Virginia Chronicle

Wednesday, Dec. 7, 7-8 p.m.
Online only, registration required

Join the Center for Local History to learn how to effectively access and use The Virginia Chronicle in your research. Newspapers are a great source for historians, genealogists, educators and students. The Virginia Chronicle is a historical archive of Virginia newspapers, hosted by the Library of Virginia, which provides free access to full text searching and digitized images of over 2.5 million newspaper pages.

This presentation will cover:

  • Setting up an account
  • Helpful search tips
  • How to apply newspaper research to your project
  • Ways you can help The Virginia Chronicle
  • Q&A
Register

Attention APS High School Alumni

Are you an APS high school graduate and want to take a walk down memory lane? The Center for Local History holds a collection of over 350 Arlington County school yearbooks.

Book a research appointment. Come explore the Center for Local History.

Research Appointment

Taking it Personally: National Coming Out Day

Tuesday, October 11, marks the 34th anniversary of National Coming Out Day, an annual observance to raise awareness of the interests and rights of the LGBTQIA+ community. Arlington Public Library is honoring this date by displaying Pride flags.

Photo collage of Library Director Diane Kresh against a Pride flag and book shelves.

Arlington Public Library Director Diane Kresh

As a gay person, National Coming Out Day holds personal significance.

The below message was originally published three years ago, but it all remains true. In fact, it seems more than ever, the LGBTQIA+ community is threatened. Book bans are on the rise. A public library in Michigan was defunded following a controversy over LGBTQIA+ books.

I take it personally when we discover pages in our Library’s children’s books about gay moms and dads which have been deliberately torn or defaced.

I take it personally when a patron writes me and tells me that the Library’s Pride Month book displays promote sexually deviant behavior.

And I take it personally when a patron threatens to trash a branch library because it has displayed the Pride flag.

As an Arlington County leader, my support of National Coming Out Day means that I encourage Library staff to show up at work as they truly are — proudly and without fear of consequence.

As a public library director, National Coming Out Day reminds me that each day in a library is coming out day. Libraries are judgment free zones — safe spaces that welcome all who enter their doors, regardless of beliefs, preferences, country of origin, age, income status or appearance.

And as a gay person, National Coming Out Day affirms a commitment I made to myself: to respect and honor my choices and to be who I am, this day and every day.

Arlington Public Library: Always Free. Always Open. Always Welcoming to Everyone.

Signatue of Library Director Diane Kresh.

Diane Kresh
Director, Arlington Public Library

Stand Up for Books

Director’s Message

"Don’t let the bastards grind you down.” 

– Margaret Atwood, banned book author of "The Handmaid’s Tale."

Established in 1982 by the late Judith Krug, then director of the American Library Association’s (ALA) Office of Intellectual Freedom, Banned Books Week (September 18-24, 2022) promotes free and open access to ideas and information.

Hardly a week goes by when there is not a news story about a book challenge happening somewhere: "The Bluest Eye," "Maus," "Gender Queer," "The Hate U Give." Frequent targets are fiction and nonfiction about people of color, LGBTQIA+ protagonists, and books dealing with Jewish and Muslim religious/ethnic themes.   

Several Arlington Reads authors have been banned book listed: Kiese Laymon, Jacqueline Woodson, Judy Blume, Alison Bechdel, Tim O’Brien. And this year marks the 100th anniversary of the publication in the US of James Joyce’s "Ulysses," the standard bearer for book censorship.   

Challenges are on the rise. 

According to an article in the Washington Post (March 22, 2022), "School book bans are soaring. Although the vast majority of challenges go unreported, the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom counted 330 incidents of book censorship in just the three months from September to November 2021 — marking the highest rate since the association began tracking the issue in 1990.”

And the rhetoric is getting hotter. 

Earlier this year, one Oklahoma lawmaker compared librarians to cockroaches. Less comically, we have been called groomers and pedophiles for having LGBTQIA+ books on the shelves.  Closer to home, two members of the Spotsylvania County School Board in Virginia advocated for burning certain books, and a lawsuit filed against two authors and a book seller in Virginia Beach hopes to prohibit the sale of books deemed obscene. Not great.

Books are transformational.

They challenge our beliefs and biases, expose us to different experiences and cultures. They help us learn to think for ourselves and not follow the group think of public opinion. Yes, they can be dangerous and offensive.  And that is how it should be.  Indeed, there is a book in every library that offends someone somewhere.  And if there isn’t, librarians are not doing their jobs.   

How can you help celebrate Banned Books Week?

Here are a couple of ideas:

  1. Become informed on the topic.  These are resources we have found particularly useful: https://pen.org/banned-in-the-usa/ and https://www.ala.org/aboutala/offices/oif.
  2. Commit to reading at least one challenged book.
  3. And if you have a child at home, ask your child to commit to reading one, too. The family that reads together, thrives together.

"Let the wild rumpus start.” 

– Maurice Sendak, banned book author of "Where the Wild Things Are."

Signatue of Library Director Diane Kresh.

Diane Kresh
Director, Arlington Public Library

Reading Between the Lines: Year Two of Reading in a Pandemic

For me, 2021 was marked by reading. A lot of reading. I read classics, I read detective, I read NYT Best Sellers, I read non-fiction. I read print and on my iPhone. I fell in love with audio books. And most of what I read was borrowed from the library.

At the beginning of the year, I set an arbitrary Goodreads goal of 65 books and surpassed that number months ago. Yet I kept going and am now closing in on 100. A personal best. But for me, the record signifies more than bragging rights on Goodreads.

Photo of book shelves in the library.

Let me explain.

I read widely because I can.  That is not the case everywhere in the world.  Books can be banned, press freedoms restricted, internet limited, if available at all. Disinformation is rampant and difficult, if not impossible, to check.  Censorship is not a new thing nor are attempts to ban and burn books.  Serious threats are raging just a few miles down the road from where we live in Arlington.

When America’s Founding Fathers were drafting the rules for a new government, they did not get everything right. What they did get right was understanding the value of free access to information.  All information — not just information officially sanctioned or promulgated by self-appointed arbiters.  And they backed up their belief with actions: Benjamin Franklin established the first lending library in Philadelphia and Thomas Jefferson’s gift of his personal library created the Library of Congress.

The shelves of Arlington Public Library are filled with books someone, sometime, is bound to find upsetting, ugly, false.  And that’s by design.  We purposefully build our collection to be both broad and deep. Whether one is looking to be entertained, informed, comforted — it’s all here and all free.

One of the most rewarding and most challenging responsibilities of a public librarian is our ethical obligation to provide access to materials that cover a wide range of viewpoints and opinions, even those with which we do not personally agree. We do not know the specific reasons why members of our community might choose to read a book, nor do we question their right to do so. Some might want to read a book because they agree with its perspective. Others might want to read it because they disagree. They might read it to gain a better understanding of one viewpoint in a national dialogue. In every case, we defend their right to read it.

We are thankful Arlington Public Library patrons have made us part of their reading journeys. And we appreciate their working with us to keep our collection diverse, welcoming of many viewpoints, and, yes, occasionally discomfiting.  Nobel Prize winning author Toni Morrison, whose “Beloved” was the subject of a recent local school controversy, had some things to say about banned books and censorship. This quote has stuck with me.

“The thought that leads me to contemplate with dread the erasure of other voices, of unwritten novels, poems whispered or swallowed for fear of being overheard by the wrong people, outlawed languages flourishing underground, essayists' questions challenging authority never being posed, unstaged plays, cancelled films — that thought is a nightmare. As though a whole universe is being described in invisible ink. Certain kinds of trauma visited on peoples are so deep, so cruel, that unlike money, unlike vengeance, even unlike justice, or rights, or the goodwill of others, only writers can translate such trauma and turn sorrow into meaning, sharpening the moral imagination.”

Stay safe, stay hopeful.  And keep reading.

Scrawled signature of Diane Kresh

Diane Kresh, Director, Arlington Public Library

Search Thousands of Historic Arlington Papers Online for Free

Discover Arlington's history and browse newspaper content online from 1935 to 1978.

During the past year, Arlington Public Library’s Center for Local History (CLH) has been working with the Library of Virginia (LVA) to make five decades of Arlington research material available online.

Spanning the years from 1935 to 1978, the materials include historic articles, photos, and news clippings from four Arlington newspapers: the Columbia News, the Daily Sun, the Northern Virginia Sun and the Sun.

Previously, these publications were only available in the Center for Local History as microfilm and digital scans, which were not easily searchable.

These newspapers are a fantastic resource for historians, teachers, genealogists and anyone curious about Arlington's past through the eyes of local journalism.

“Delve deeper into your family history, find information on the transformation and growth of Arlington and discover more of its unique history,” said Arlington Public Library Director Diane Kresh.

The free news archive is 100% keyword searchable by location, date, title and issue and features a clipping feature that allows researchers to save an image or text block of an article.

To access the new source materials, visit the LVA ‘s Virginia Chronicle, which is a large online depository for historic newspapers from across the Commonwealth.

The CLH collects, preserves and shares historical documents that tell the history of Arlington County, its citizens, organizations, businesses and social issues. The CLH operates the Research Room at Central Library and the Community Archives program.

The Library Director’s 2020 Book List, Continued

Reading in a Pandemic

“Salvation is certainly among the reasons I read. Reading and writing have always pulled me out of the darkest experiences in my life. Stories have given me a place in which to lose myself. They have allowed me to remember. They have allowed me to forget. They have allowed me to imagine different endings and better possible worlds.”

Roxane Gay, "Bad Feminist"

In late December last year, I compiled a list of books I intended to read in 2020.  As with most “to do” lists and resolutions, I began with good intentions. And then the pandemic hit and the books on my list no longer seemed adequate. My reading tastes shifted along with everything else in both my work and home life.

Photo of hand written notes of a book list.

I’ve always been a reader, but I began reading voraciously, as if I was running out of time.

Barely was a book closed before another opened. My hold list in the library catalog grew and grew and GREW. I created booklists on scraps of paper and in the margins of the arts and style sections of the newspaper. I listened faithfully to The Book Review Podcast from the New York Times.

And I read. All the time. More than 50 books in all, across genres and styles, dating from the 19th century to the present.

Diane's 2020 Pandemic Reading List
Photo of book covers.

There were many standouts. Long a fan of coming of age novels, I read five that will stick with me. Each of these authors is known for other, more famous books. These are worth a look for everyone who wants to revisit the trials of adolescence and early adulthood.

I dipped into classics:

And on the lighter side because I needed a dose of hopefulness, “A Wrinkle in Time,” by Madeleine L’Engle.

Photo of book covers.

Race was very much on the national mind and steered me toward:

The 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment and women being granted the right to vote drew me to women’s issues more broadly. I read:

For the pure pleasure of superior plotting and writing, I’ll mention “Disappearing Earth” by Julia Phillips.

Photo of book covers.

And finally, the wonderful Arlington READS authors whose books we featured in our 2020 series, “We the People.” In a year of reinvention of Library programs and services, we Zoomed the author talks, part of our new now.

And on a personal note, I discovered the joy (and ease) of audiobooks, especially when read by the author. What a delightful way to get lost in a story.

Diane's 2020 Pandemic Reading List

Reading was an anchor, a sure bet during months of uncertainty. With hours blending into days, into weeks and then months, I occasionally lost track of the day of the week, but never lost my place in a book. I had something to look forward to and there were always more books.

My stacks of books have not disappeared, and I am still adding holds in the Library catalog. At this moment, I am reading “Surviving Autocracy,“ by Russian-American journalist, translator and activist Masha Gessen, who I am excited to announce will be our first Arlington READS author in the new year.

In closing, thank you for your support of Arlington Public Library. It is a joy and an honor to serve this wonderful community.

Stay safe, stay hopeful and keep reading.

Diane

Scrawled signature of Diane Kresh

Arlington Public Library Eliminates Overdue Fines

Minimizing Barriers to Using the Library

As of July 1, Arlington Public Library eliminated overdue library fines to make the library’s collections accessible to all Arlingtonians and library patrons. The goal is to increase access to and minimize barriers for marginalized populations to use the library, particularly for youth and low-income patrons.

“Every member of our community has a right to library services and library fines and fees are known barriers to use. We are pleased that we can eliminate these long- standing barriers and continue our mission to reach everyone regardless of their socioeconomic background,” says Diane Kresh, Director of Arlington Public Library.

The elimination of fines will reduce the Library fine budget by an expected $155,000 in anticipated revenue to $10,000 in FY 2021. The $10,000 remains in the budget due to the continuation of replacement fees for lost items.

Borrowing

Patrons will be able to borrow an item for up to twelve weeks if no other patron has placed a hold or up to 3 weeks if another patron has a hold on the item.

Library staffer adding back books to a shelf.

If the item is not returned at the end of the loan period, a grace period of twenty-eight days will come into effect. The patron will not accrue overdue fines during the twenty-eight days. If the item is not returned by the end of the grace period, the item is considered lost and a replacement fee will be charged. If a replacement fee is charged and the item is later returned, the fee is reversed. The replacement fee is dependent on the cost of the book.

Going forward, patrons who either lose or fail to return items to the Library will be assessed a replacement fee that will affect their ability to borrow, renew, place holds on materials, or log in to premium sites, such as Consumer Reports until the fee has been paid or the item has been returned.

Patrons with existing fines will still need to pay those. During the library closure, no fines were accrued for checked-out items.

Paying Fines

  • By phone at 703-228-5260; Monday through Friday between 9 a.m. - 2 p.m.
  • By mail with a check or money order mailed to Central Library, Attention: Circulation, 1015 N. Quincy St, Arlington, VA 22201
    • Please include the library card number with the payment and make the check payable to “Treasurer of Arlington County.”

To find out more about borrowing, loan periods and renewals, visit the accounts information page.

Public Libraries Stand For Liberty, Tolerance And Acceptance

Dear Friends,

Like many of you, I have spent the last several days feeling conflicted: alternately saddened and outraged by the death of George Floyd. Buoyed by the peaceful demonstrations that ensued in the wake of his cruel death and frustrated by the acts of violence. Our country is torn and this current state is, sadly, not a new experience. As someone who was living in Arlington in 1968 and witnessed the burning of our nation’s capital, I can say, with regret, I’ve seen this movie, too.

Now what?

  • It is not enough to share a social media post describing racial injustice or to add an emoji.
  • It is not enough to wait for others to decide what to do to address structural racism.
  • It is not enough to remain silent because conversations about race in America are difficult.

It is enough to look within ourselves and take an action —any action — that says to oneself and others: the disparate treatment of black people, brown people, other people, must not stand.

Today, the public library inhabits a unique role in American society. It stands for liberty, tolerance and acceptance.

It says believe what you will and your beliefs will not be judged. It says come as you are and you will be embraced as you are. And it says that if you are comfortable and secure or in need and uncertain, the library will be your refuge. A pretty tall order but one we signed onto when we entered this field — in my case, more than 40 years ago this week.

In this unprecedented time of crisis and chaos, we have a rare opportunity to revisit and reaffirm both our library and our personal values, beliefs and commitments to everyone in our community, especially those whom neither history nor prosperity has favored.

If not now, when? If not us, who?

Scrawled signature of Diane Kresh

Diane Kresh
Director, Arlington Public Library

The Cookie Chronicles: Life Skills 101

If the sign-up sheets haven’t yet begun circulating in your office, don’t fret. They will soon.

The annual Girl Scout retail juggernaut is underway, spinning thousands of signatures into hundreds of millions of dollars in roughly six weeks’ time, a pace and margin of profit that is the envy of many CEOs. (I believe I have already committed to buying 16 boxes of Trefoils).

Photo of Queen of England Elizabeth and her sister Princess Margaret in Girl Scout uniforms

For fans of the original Netflix series, “The Crown,” both the future Queen of England Elizabeth and her sister Princess Margaret were Girl Guides (the European equivalent of Girl Scouts) in the Buckingham Palace troop. Princess Margaret eventually became the association’s president. Photo circa 1937. Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2147347/Diamond-Jubilee-Playing-castle-dungeons-Nazi-bombs-fell-Elizabeth-panto-princess.html

What began in 1917 as a modest troop fundraiser in Merle Haggard’s Muskogee, Oklahoma has become both a model of entrepreneurship and training program in “Life Skills 101.”

According to the Girl Scouts, young girls and women learn five basic skills: “goal setting, decision making, money management [boxes are priced at $4 each], people skills, and business ethics.” And consistent with the times we live in, cookie sales in at least two national councils–Houston and Minneapolis–have gone mobile. A website to help support young scouts establish an online sales presence is found here.

Girls Scouts and their moms have not baked cookies in decades, even though an enterprising troop leader in Chicago created an inexpensive cookie recipe in the 1920s.

This is a photo of a cookie.Two companies, Little Brownie Bakers, a subsidiary of Keebler, and ABC Bakers, are licensed to bake the cookies and may choose to produce among eight varieties, three of which–Thin Mints, Trefoils, and Peanut Butter Sandwich cookies–are mandatory. And there is some autonomy among troop councils as to which varieties they sell (provided they sell “The Big Three”), and which names they use: “Samoas” aka “Caramel deLites.”

Other useful bytes of information about cookies:

  • They have little or no trans fat and no preservatives or artificial flavors
  • Vegan “Thin Mints” are now available
  • Little Brownie Bakers does not use any high fructose syrup in its cookies
  • The packaging is sustainable

Not all adjustments to the nutritional value of the cookies, however, have succeeded. For example, low-fat and sugar-free varieties didn’t sell well and are no longer produced. They are cookies, after all. And some varieties, “Mango Cremes,” a vanilla and coconut cookie filled with a tangy mango-flavored crème; “Upside-Downs,” oatmeal treats with sweet frosting on the bottom; and my own fleeting favorite, “Dulce de Leche,” bite-sized cookies with milk caramel chips will never again see the inside of a cookie jar or sack lunch.

That’s the way the cookie crumbles.

I was a Girl Scout in Arlington in the mid-1960s, and was one of the legions of young girls selling cookies. In those days, the operation was pretty low-tech. I would come home from school, change into my uniform, and hit the houses in my neighborhood unaccompanied (something I cannot imagine a Scout doing today), lugging my cardboard carton of 12 boxes of the Big Three. No driving around with a parent, no meet-ups with other scouts and mothers to sell cookies in front of a grocery store or library, no sign-ups sheets carried by my father to his office. Just me, my carton and my sales pitch.

This is a photo of a girl scouts graphic.To the list of life skills that cookie selling teaches, I would add: self–confidence; the ability to look an adult in the eye; perseverance (I refused to quit going door-to-door until every box was sold); the value of team work and how achieving something individually (selling my share) contributes to the greater good (troop camping trips).

In fact, it’s the camping trips I most remember from my years as a Girl Scout. The fun of being outdoors and hiking, telling ghost stories and sleeping (only sometimes; I was notorious in my troop for keeping everyone awake all night with my joking and clowning around) in huge canvas tents with wooden floors. And cooking foil-wrapped dinners.

Most people have tried their hand at making “S’mores,” the campfire confection first recorded in “Tramping and Trailing with the Girl Scouts” (1927). While S’mores are tasty, I prefer the campfire treat favored by my Troop: a red apple (Fuji or Gala work best), cored and filled with the candy “Red Hots,” wrapped in foil and baked over a camp fire. Sweet, cinnamony, spicy, nutritious (well, sort of) and delicious.

For that treat alone, I would turn back the clock.

Shameless plug for Girl Scouts: Arlington girls interested in joining a troop or adults interested in volunteering their time and skills to serve as troop leaders and mentors, should consult http://gscnc.org. The current scout focus is the G.I.R.L. initiative which stands for: Go-getter, innovator, risk taker and leader.

Were you a Girl Scout with a story to share?

I would love to hear from you in the comments section below.

This is a photo of a black and white girl scouts group.

The author, top row, second from right.



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