Catfish Chronicle, Issue 7, Winter 2025
From the Desk of: Falls of Schuylkill Librarian, Jenn Estepp
From the Reference Desk
Hello, Friends! Let me begin my first column for The Catfish Chronicle with enthusiastic thanks. You all have given me such a lovely, heartfelt welcome to the Falls of Schuylkill Library and I’ve so enjoyed getting to know so many of you. For those of you whom I’ve not yet met, I hope you will drop into the library soon and say hello!
Perhaps you can swing by on a Saturday, after a morning at the Farmer’s Market, now that we have Saturday hours!
I was so pleased to be asked to pen a regular feature for the newsletter. I’m not quite sure what form my contribution will end up taking, but I look forward to figuring it out together. To start, I thought it might be nice to regularly spotlight a service or feature of the library that everyone might not know about.
To start, I thought I’d talk about one of our Lucky Day collections, as it’s one of my favorite things to browse and borrow from as a patron and to buy books for as a librarian! Lucky Day titles are the most popular of-the-moment books – bestsellers, new releases, and things that you might otherwise have to get on the waiting list for because they are so in demand. Since this past spring, the library has started buying additional copies of these books, which cannot go out for requests or get sent to other libraries. Instead, if you find it on the shelf, it’s your “lucky day” and you can skip the lines and check it out right away. The trade-off is that you only have two weeks to read it, cannot renew it, and can only check out two Lucky Day books at a time. As a bit of insider info, I often base the books I get for this collection not only by reading reviews, keeping an eye on the charts and scoping out social media for what’s getting buzz, but also by looking through some of the reserve lists to see what books are being requested by multiple Falls patrons.
So, if there’s something you would like to see there, definitely put your requests in. And the next time you’re in the branch, take a look at the Lucky Day shelf to see if you can find something for a little instant gratification!
As we enter into winter mode, like so many I am all about cozying up inside and getting my hygge on, especially once the new year starts. I’d love to know what you’re reading and watching, or hear your recommendations, so please stop by the reference desk for a chat or just to say hello. Cheers to you and thank you for your support!