JTEL December Developments

What a pleasure it was last night, to attend our monthly Library Board Meeting in same space that resides our bank of three-ring binders, details of architectural drawings, and inventory of JTEL fun stuff. Our new JTEL Operations Space and Brainstorming Center.

Thank you to Hans, Deirdre, Nancy and other library volunteers for gathering office furniture and supplies, moving the inventory of T-shirts and arranging our new work & meeting space. Thank you to our office sponsors for your help supporting our modest monthly overhead.

We are scheduling some great Library Lectures at Hartung Hall and our fabulous annual fund raising events for 2011. Plus, "Soup & Stow," the soup and shelving books social, will return to the library in the new year. All opportunities for our members and neighbors to gather, meet and enjoy a common love of reading!

Watch for announcements on this blog, our facebook page, the Ester P.O. and our local print news sources.

Board meeting date changed, office decorating

The JTEL board meeting has been changed to Thursday, December 9. The location and time are the same: Studio #8, the Annex (the JTEL business office), 7 pm. This is right after the DOT's meeting downstairs at the Annex on the proposed Gold Hill Road bike path (which is from 4 to 7 pm).

The board will be having a decorating party soon for the library office, and we still need a few items: a throw rug or two, a bookcase, a floor lamp, a desk lamp, a multifunction printer/scanner/copier, an extension cord, a power strip or two, and perhaps a desk. Please call Nancy Burnham at 457-6668 if you have one of these items or would like to help out at the office decorating party.

Upcoming library meetings

Both the Construction Committee and the Capital Campaign Committee are meeting this week.

Capital Campaign: Wednesday, December 1, 6 pm at the JTEL business office (agenda)
Construction: Sunday, December 5, 4 pm at the Golden Eagle Saloon (agenda)

And the library board is meeting next week:

Board of Directors: Friday, December 10, 7 pm at the JTEL business office (agenda)

All of these are open meetings; if you are interested in helping with the fundraising, please come to the Capital Campaign Committee meeting.

JTEL office organizing

Here's a couple more photos of the somewhat tidied but still fairly empty office. First, the office door:


Here's the temporary desk, with all the library records in binders on it. Hopefully we'll get a bookshelf soon where we can stash these and various books.

And here's the coffee table that Hans and I made a couple of years ago for an art show at the Annex. The chairs were in the library (we need to reupholster the one on the left, but it's still serviceable, if a bit mungy).

Moving in to the new office

Various chairs and boxes of stuff hauled into the office from the library.

And a few t-shirts and things stashed at Deirdre and Hans' house.

The view toward the door. At left are stackable cabinets that will house t-shirts, eventually.

The windowsill.

The moving guy, Hans Mölders, chair of the Construction Committee.

New office!

The library now has office space! The JTEL office is at studio #8, the Annex, 2922 Parks Highway. We expect to be here for at least six months, after which the JTEL board will re-evaluate the utility of an office space and our current location.

We are still seeking furnishings and office sponsors, and will announce office hours shortly. Office furnishings and equipment still needed are:

• table
• rug
• desk and floor lamps
• multifunction printer
• chairs
• desk
• office tools, supplies and equipment (power strips, three-hole punch, file folders, scissors, pens, letter-sized paper, etc.)
• telephone

Several items and records have been moved to the office so far, although organizing the place will take a little time. This has created some extra room at the John Trigg Ester Library; a Soup & Stow work party will soon be held there to clean up and reorganize the library to make it more welcoming now that it is roomier. (Check back for more information on the Soup & Stow.)

T-shirts will be available for sale at the office, and board and committee meetings will be held there.

The first meeting in our new office will be the next Capital Campaign Committee meeting, November 17, Wednesday, at 6 pm.

Amended annual report

 The annual report that was prepared for the 2010 JTEL membership meeting has been revised slightly to correct a few small errors and include a little more information. It's available on the web and is in color! (download the 904 kb file) Contents include:

• meeting agenda
• officers' reports (including the financial report for the year)
• library overview and history updated for 2010
• information on the Capital Campaign Committee and the Construction Committee
• membership statistics
• marketing & publicity report, covering the history of the library from 1999 to present
• goals & tasks projected for construction, library operation, and programs from 2010-2015
• overview of the capital campaign
• 2010 fundraisers report
• overview of current library policies
• biographies of the board members
• volunteering report & acknowledgements

Some sections are also available as html pages (links to those pages are above; these get updated from time to time).

An office for the library

The latest project for the Ester library is obtaining an office where we can keep our records together, have meetings, and work. Right now the records for the library are scattered across at least three computers and seven households, plus a few offices. One board member may have certain office records, but those records aren't accessible to the rest of the board unless special arrangements are made. It's just not a good way to try to work or coordinate events, meetings, and construction. Volunteers who would like to help catalog titles or work on events have no central place they can go to find the information or resources they might need. An office will make the work of the board and volunteers easier and more efficient.

So, the JTEL board has put out a call for office sponsorships! The board is weighing two potential locations in the Ester area, both of which rent in the range of $250 to $300 a month, and have high-speed internet access. With telephone charges, etc., we expect the cost of an office will be around $300 to $350 per month. We've already gotten so many sponsors that the amount still needed is only $135 per month! The response has been wonderful. The library's regular funding events and even the state appropriation could pay for the remainder, but that means that money won't be available for construction or design work.

The office will only be needed for a limited time, until the library building is complete. Before we move the books, we will move the office, so we expect that the duration of office sponsorship will be from two to three years. We are asking sponsors to commit to one year, if they can, and to pay in advance six months to a year if possible. However, sponsorships need not be large: we have sponsors who can only afford $5 per month up to those who have committed to $50 per month. Every bit helps, and is greatly appreciated.

Annual meeting update and upcoming committee meetings

The JTEL annual meeting was a success, with 23 library members in attendance. New bylaws were reviewed, amended, and passed, and a new board elected. The board of directors now includes:

• Ken Bluhm, new member and alternate, to 2012
• Greta Burkart, re-elected to another term, to 2012 
• Nancy Burnham, continuing member, to 2011
• Amy Cameron, new member and alternate, to 2012
• Roy Earnest, new member, to 2012
• Eric Glos, continuing member, to 2011
• Melinda Harris, re-elected to another term, to 2012
• Deirdre Helfferich, continuing member, to 2011
• Monique Musick, continuing member, to 2011

Two new committees have been created to focus on the design and construction of the library building and to raise funds for the library. Several people volunteered for these committees at the meeting, but both committees could use more help.

• Capital Campaign Committee: this group will focus on grantwriting, organizing the fundraisers, publicizing the library for the purpose of fundraising, setting up an endowment or other long-term support, the bookshelf dedications, shirt sales, solicitations to individuals and companies or organizations, and coming up with other means to provide funding for construction, library operation, and library programs. The committee's first meeting is Wednesday, Nov. 3, 6 pm, at the Republic Press office, studio #2 at the Annex, 2922 Parks Highway (entrance on the right-hand side of the building).
• Construction Committee: this committee will oversee the construction of the new library building, establishing a budget and timeline, securing materials and labor, working on the details of contracts, and so on. The first meeting is also on Wednesday, Nov. 3, but at 7 pm at the Golden Eagle Saloon on Main Street in Ester. MEETING CHANGE: the meeting will be held Sunday, October 31, 4 pm at the Eagle, so all members can attend.

Annual meeting this Sunday!

The library's second annual membership meeting is coming up this weekend, October 24th, at 4 pm. A potluck will kick things off, starting between 3 and 3:30. There will be door prizes and plenty of good food, as well as information on:

• grants and appropriations
• construction plans and committee
• architectural design
• marketing and publicity
• library history & update
• capital campaign and endowment
• bylaws & the federal nonprofit application
• board elections (see candidate bios)

Some information is on line in advance of the meeting. You can find the meeting packet and the agenda at the JTEL website.

See you there!

Photos from Readers on the Run

So far we only have a few. Here's some taken by volunteer Hans Mölders, who was a spotter on the intersection of Old Nenana Highway and Ester Creek Road.

Harry Simpson, #249. 

Lisa Baraff, poodle, out walking her husky.

Maia Luick, left, and Rachel Geiss.

Deirdre Helfferich, the Queen in Green.

Sally Anderson and son.

Readers on the Run this weekend!

Readers on the Run is tomorrow, check-in at 10 am at the Ida Lane Gazebo! Entry fee for race day registration is $15 ($25 to reserve a t-shirt too). Get yourself a silly costume, come on down, and run for the library!

Privatizing libraries

The John Trigg Ester Library is a public library held and operated by a nonprofit organization, the JTEL Inc. It turns out that the fifth-largest library system in the country is a private, for-profit operator: Library Systems & Services. Santa Clarita, California, is hiring this company to run their library system--and people are hopping mad.

Here are a few more stories about library privatization, from privatizationwatch.org:

• "San Joaquin County to consider privatizing libraries", by Ross Farrow, Lodi News-Sentinel, Sept. 14, 2010.
• "Brevard county checks out private option for libraries," Florida Today, July 20, 2010
• "Dartmouth library officials don't support privatization," by Curt Brown, Standard-Times, February 18, 2009

The American Library Association has a page on its website about privatization and outsourcing of library services, with reports from the ALA's Outsourcing Task Force, the Intellectual Freedom Committee, and some links to other resources on outsourcing.

celebrate the freedom to read!

Banned Book Week is Sept 25-Oct 02, 2010.

Banned Books Week (BBW) is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read and the importance of the First Amendment. Held during the last week of September, Banned Books Week highlights the benefits of free and open access to information while drawing attention to the harms of censorship by spotlighting actual or attempted banning of books across the United States.

For the complete story, visit the American Library Association website:

http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/bannedbooksweek/index.cfm

Banned and/or Challenged Books from the Radcliffe Publishing Course Top 100 Novels of the 20th Century

miss harris offers a few selections from the List:

The Call of the Wild, Jack London Banned in Italy (1929), Yugoslavia (1929), and burned in Nazi bonfires (1933).

How many of us formed our first impressions of the Yukon Gold Rush by following Buck’s adventure?

Catch-22, Joseph Heller Banned in Strongsville, OH (1972), but the school board's action was overturned in 1976 by a U.S. District Court in Minarcini v. Strongsville City School District. Challenged at the Dallas, TX Independent School District high school libraries (1974); in Snoqualmie, WA (1979) because of its several references to women as "whores."

One of my favorite movies, too.

Lady Chatterley's Lover, DH Lawrence Banned by U.S. Customs (1929); Banned in Ireland (1932), Poland (1932), Australia (1959), Japan (1959), India (1959); Banned in Canada (1960) until 1962. Dissemination of Lawrence’s novel has been stopped in China (1987) because the book “will corrupt the minds of young people and is also against the Chinese tradition.”

Ah, they fear the practice of good game-keeping...

The complete List:

http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/frequentlychallenged/challengedclassics/reasonsbanned/index.cfm

Library Lecture: Jamie Smith

Jamie will be giving the next JTEL lecture, Thursday, September 23, 7 pm at Hartung Hall on sequential art: gag cartooning, editorial cartooning, graphic novels, sequential art. For more information about the series, see the website. For more on Jamie, go to his blog.

Readers on the Run, volume 3

The 2010 Readers on the Run race is scheduled for Saturday, October 9. Pre-race check-in begins at 10 a.m. at the Ida Lane Clausen Gazebo on Village Road in Ester, across from the post office. Registration forms are available on line. We are looking for race sponsors, too! All proceeds benefit the Ester library, and get us that much closer to constructing our new library building.

Pie!

Melinda Harris has written up an article about the pie contest for The Ester Republic, and I posted it at the Friends of the Ester Library website. (I wrote a story about the 2010 LiBerry Music Festival, but haven't put it on line. It's in the September issue of the paper, too.) Bob Huebert took portraits of all the pies and put them on Facebook.

New title: The Devil's Share, by Kris Farmen

The Devil's Share, written by Kris Farmen of Anchorage and published McRoy & Blackburn, Publishers, of Ester, is a coming-of-age story that takes place in the Wrangell-St. Elias wilderness. This novel, Farmen's first book, is one of many titles available in the John Trigg Ester Library by authors, publishers, or illustrators who hail from Ester.

Adult, paperback, ISBN 978-0-9820319-3-3

New title at the JTEL: the Solar Design Manual for Alaska

The fourth edition of the Solar Design Manual for Alaska: Building toward the ultimate, net-zero-energy, passive solar Alaska home is out. This book, written and edited largely by Rich Seifert, shows that you really can use solar energy in Alaska, and describes passive and active systems, thermal systems and photovoltaics, solar gain in dozens of communities across the state, and more. This title is in the John Trigg Ester Library in the construction section of Reference. The book is published by the Cooperative Extension Service, publication #EEM-01255, and is also available for PDF download at Alaska Sun.

Pies, people, and music

The music festival was fabulous, and made about $500-$600 more than last year (final count over the next couple of days may increase the tally of day's take, which was in the realm of $3,150). We again had 17 pies entered in the contest, and TWO of the three judges' favorites went for $100 each! The funds raised will got to our site preparation, happening in September. We'll keep you posted on the details.

The information table is still up at the gazebo, so if you are passing by and would like to find out a bit more about the library, please stop in and rest awhile.

Photos from the event are on Facebook and a few will be posted here soon. Thank you to everyone who helped out, and to all who came to enjoy the great music and the yummy pies.

LiBerry Pie Throwdown!

Part of the LiBerry Music Festival is our fabulous pie contest! Last year, 17 pies were entered, with the big prizes going to the top three winners (and other entries won prizes, too), which were then auctioned off to the audience. The top-earning pie went for a $75!

The Pie Throwdown is a delicious way to support the library: bake a pie (or two, or three!) using berries and bring it to the Golden Eagle Saloon at 2 pm on August 21 for judging. Awards will be presented at 4 pm, and the grand prize winners will be auctioned off to benefit the library. The other pies will be sold by the piece.

Here's the particulars:

• pies must be homemade (no storebought) and must include berries, preferably wild Alaska ones. Berries may be those traditionally thought of as berries or any by the strict botanical definition (such as tomatoes or watermelons). Savory or sweet pies accepted.

• entry fee is $2 per pie. Multiple pie submissions by the same cook are perfectly fine.

• "Bribes," or extra donations to the library, may earn special note and an award (as happened last year: there was a Largest Bribe award). Just let the judges know how much and for which entry!

• Award categories will be determined by the judges at the time of the contest. Winners will be announced at the Golden Eagle starting at 4 pm.

• Judges are Judie Gumm, David Guttenberg, and one other to be determined by auction. If you would like to judge pies (and thereby have the duty to taste all of those delectable entries!) please arrive at the Golden Eagle no later than 2:40 pm. Bidding for the position will start at 2:45.

• Leftover slices will be offered up to the audience for donation. Top-winning pies will be presented whole (minus judges' sampling) to the audience for auction.

Jeremy Harrod, guitarist, will provide music after the awards. For more on the other great musicians who are playing, go to the music festival webpage. For more information on the contest, contact board member Melinda Harris, pie contest organizer, at 455-4359 or 378-6744.

5th annual LiBerry Music Festival!

The 5th annual LiBerry Music Festival, a benefit for the Ester library, is coming up SOON! A celebration of local music and berry pie, this fun event will take place Saturday, August 21, in Ester.

Where: Ester village, in the Ida Lane Clausen Gazebo (across from the post office), the Golden Eagle Saloon, and Hartung Hall

When: 2 pm until late at night on Saturday, August 21

What: a music festival, a drumming circle (4 pm at the gazebo), a pie contest (pie entry 2 to 3 pm at the Golden Eagle, awards at 4 pm) and a foot-stomping good time!

Why: a fundraiser to raise money for heating oil and the new John Trigg Ester Library building

Who: Elzbeth Adams, Almost A Minyan, the Banana Girls Marching Ukulele Band, Mel Birch, the Carper Family, Celtic Confusion, Russell Copelin, Dangertown, Jeremy Harrod, Hillbilly Mafia, Jesse Hobbs, Hustler's High, Matt Johnson & Friends, Jean McDermott, Musical Rumors, Tim Robb, Zingasa

For the complete schedule and performance locations, go to the festival page.

Dedication party at the gazebo

The dedication of the library gazebo took place on a lovely sunny Sunday afternoon. Here's a few photos of the event, by Monique Musick of PhotoSynthesis Alaska.

Deirdre Helfferich started off the event and introduced Bobby Lounsbury, a good friend of Ida and Ansgar Clausen.

Bobby read a biography of Ida Lane and told a few anecdotes about her.

Margaret Rogers and Sarie Brainerd looking at Ida's cookbook, which was passed around for the guests to peruse.

The stained glass windows in the gazebo were created by Denise Akert-Mohr. Hans Mölders did most of the construction on the gazebo, but many people helped with the grounds, the pad, and the final finish work.

After people spoke, it was time for food! A recording of Ida playing honky tonk at the Malemute made for some lively background music.

Joe Geiss of Harmony Logworks, left, made two beautiful benches for the gazebo. He, his wife Amy Cameron, right, Hans Mölders, and Deirdre Helfferich installed them at the work party.

Ida's Clip Joint sign and dedication on the bulletin board.

Dedication for the Ida Lane Clausen Gazebo

Wow. An out-of-this-world work party!

The two-day work party (with work done off and on during the week and a half before) was a resounding success! And then there was the party on Sunday!

Many, many thanks to all the volunteers who helped us get our beautiful gazebo ready for the dedication, with special thanks to Hans Mölders and Joe Geiss. The main tasks before the volunteers were: finishing the ceiling, preparing and putting paneling/siding on the window panels both inside and out, building and installing benches, building and installing the bulletin board, sanding and varnishing the gazebo posts and interior paneling, setting the pavers in the path, cleaning up the trash and rotted lumber and logs, and clearing out the shrubbery and invasive weeds that had grown up between the gazebo and the post office. The plan also included creating a trail through the woods up to the library site, but that was shelved for later. The weather was beautiful, sunny and warm (actually perhaps a bit too warm) and slightly breezy.

A tremendous amount of work was done this weekend, and the people involved deserve recognition:

Hans Mölders and Deirdre Helfferich were the work party organizers; Deirdre glued hundreds of corks onto the bulletin board; Hans and Don Cameron worked on the gazebo ceiling panels (which Kathy Birch varnished); Nancy Burnham and Maggie Billington tackled invasive weeds and shrubbery; Nancy made a few runs to the store for needed supplies; Eric Glos, Margaret & Stanley Rogers, Amy Cameron, and Maggie were responsible for a large part of the cleanup (Eric did his cleanup of the grounds on Wednesday); Mel Birch worked on cutting cedar siding and preparing it for placement around the windows and Don cut the window arches with a jigsaw and put up siding for two of the window panels; Kathy, Nancy, and Deirdre sanded the cedar shiplap for the inside of the window panels; Joe Geiss made two long and extremely comfortable log benches and Hans, Deirdre, Amy, and Joe installed them (that involved digging four holes in difficult ground!); Sarie Brainerd varnished the posts on one bench and was dogsbody; Jill Cameron and Charlie Gallagher dug holes along the path from the road to the gazebo and installed the pavers (with help from Deirdre, Joe, & Hans); Kathy, Sarie, and Nancy sanded the gazebo posts to smooth them out for the last coat of varnish; Hans and Deirdre installed the bulletin board. Amy also took photos during the work party (soon to be posted).

Nancy Therrell, Nancy Burnham & Don Cameron, Deirdre, and Margaret Rogers brought food and drink for the volunteers, which was definitely appreciated. Unfortunately, the wasps in the vicinity also liked the food, and the volunteers had to compete with them for the hoagie. During the weekend a couple of people got stung, but, considering the amount of activity, the wasps were actually pretty calm.

Everybody knocked off at about 3:30 on Sunday, sitting around for a while recovering from the frenzy of work and cleanup, and got to admire their handiwork. The gazebo is not completely done: the siding and paneling, varnishing, and three ceiling panels need be finished. The gazebo also still needs two more stained glass windows. However, it was ready for the party on Sunday and made a lovely and intimate setting for the people who came to that. More on the gazebo dedication in the next posts.

Eleanor Loback Clausen: gazebo dedication for Ida

Gazebo work party & dedication

The Ester library gazebo, across from the Ester Post Office, has been under construction since 2007. After a big work party that summer to pour the foundation, the gazebo was erected and roofed and stained glass windows installed. This summer, we will have the final work parties to complete the gazebo and make it ready for use at the fifth annual Li-Berry Music Festival. The gazebo has excellent acoustics and makes a good site for outdoor acoustic jams on warm days. It is also used as the staging site for Readers on the Run.

We'll be creating the bulletin board, a giant 4x8 foot cork board, during the weeks before these work parties, to give the glue plenty of time to dry. Anyone who wants to help put in corks, please come by the gazebo from the 21st-25th (we'll do one side, then give it a few days to dry and flip it over on the 26th to do the next side). There will be glue and, of course, plenty of corks. Please use the wooden ones only for this bulletin board.

(Materials and tasks lists will be amended on this post over the next couple of days as the librarians get more information.)

July 31, Saturday, noon
(come earlier if you like)

Tasks: building benches from the aspen logs, completing the ceiling of the gazebo, painting, installing flashing and the corkboard

Materials & Tools Needed: screws & screw guns or screw drivers, stepladders (6'), sandpaper, paint brushes (paint for gazebo supplied), varnish for benches, cordless drills, chain saw, beverages & snacks to feed the volunteers

August 1, Sunday, noon to 5 pm
(again, come earlier if you like; there will be somebody there from about 10 am on)

Tasks: removal of center post, finishing up Saturday's tasks, cleanup

Materials & Tools Needed: hacksaw with blade suitable for cutting metal, garbage bags

Gazebo dedication & party
Sunday afternoon, 5 pm

After the cleanup, the gazebo will be dedicated to the memory of Ida Lane Clausen. A short dedication event will be held, followed by a party and music! Please come to this event even if you can't make it to the work parties, and help us dedicate our library gazebo in honor of a talented, intelligent, and beautiful musician, cook, actress, singer, gardener, painter, writer, and dog groomer who for many years graced Ester with her lively presence. Bring your musical instruments and potluck dishes!

New title: biography of Jimi Hendrix

Only a few music titles have been catalogued in the Ester library's collections so far, but the newest is a biography of Jimi Hendrix by Charles R. Cross, Room Full of Mirrors.

Ben Sisario of the New York Times reviews this book in an essay published in August 2005. The book was published in 2005 by Hyperion. More reviews are available on Amazon.

ISBN: 1401300286, hardcover, 400 pages

Bylaws changed

The bylaws were amended (all four proposed amendments passed) at the special membership meeting held June 13. The dissolution clause, necessary for becoming a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, was changed slightly from the proposed version. The bylaws as amended are here.

Special membership meeting!

Attention, library members! There will be a special membership meeting on Sunday, June 13, at Hartung Hall in Ester, at 6 pm. This important meeting is being called to 1) amend the bylaws and 2) brief the membership on designwork and nonprofit application status. One of the bylaws amendments under consideration is necessary for our federal nonprofit status. This is a very important meeting and your attendance will be greatly appreciated. Proposed bylaws amendments will be available for review on the library website, www.esterlibrary.org. For more information, please contact the JTEL board at board@esterlibrary.org, or call Deirdre Helfferich, president, at 479-3368.

New titles: military history of Alaska

The Natural Resources Branch of the U.S. Army's Directorate of Public Works for the Alaska Garrison recently sent the JTEL ten books in a series on the history of Alaska as it relates to the Cold War, Fort Richardson, Fort Wainwright, the Army Corps of Engineers, and so on. These military history titles are: (by Kathy Price) Tracking the Unthinkable: The Donnelly Flats MIDAS Ground Station and the Early Development of Space Warning Systems, 1959-1967; The World War II Heritage of Ladd Field, Fairbanks, Alaska; Homesteads on Fort Wainwright, Alaska; and Northern Defenders: Cold War Context of Ladd Air Force Base, Fairbanks, Alaska, 1947-1961. By Karen Waddell, we have Cold War Historical Context 1951-1991 Fort Richardson, Alaska, United States Army Alaska; by Kristy Hollinger are The Haines-Fairbanks pipeline; Homesteads on Fort Richardson, Alaska; and The Early Electrification of Anchorage; and by Ronald J. Burr Neely, Jr., Early transportation routes, Fort Wainwright, Alaska and Early mining history: Fort Wainwright and Fort Greely, Alaska.

New title: Living with Wilderness, by Bill Sherwonit

Living with Wilderness, by Bill Sherwonit

The newest title in the Ester library is Bill Sherwonit's book, Living with Wilderness: An Alaskan Odyssey, published by the University of Alaska Press in 2008. Sherwonit has worked and lived in Alaska off and on since 1974, moving here permanently in 1982. From Andromeda Romano-Lax's review of the book: "…Sherwonit employs both a journalist’s skills and a non-specialist’s sense of humble wonder to deliver a portrait of the wild in its many guises. Though northern experiences take the main stage, his Connecticut childhood memories are particularly moving and instructive, reminding us all of the importance of early, unmediated experiences with nature. Throughout the book, Sherwonit taps the expertise of local natural history experts and mentors, weaving their observations and studies with his own, more personal discoveries."

Book information: 6 x 9 inches, 232 pages, paperback

ISBN #978-16022301-4-9

Library Section: Alaska nonfiction

Library lecture: Igor Pasternak on contemporary art

guerrilla art in a national park

Igor Pasternak, an adjunct art lecturer at UAF and an occasional visitor to the Ester Village Square and the Golden Eagle, will be the John Trigg Ester Library's next guest lecturer. Pasternak's talk is titled "Criticism, Craft, and Concept in Contemporary Art" and will be held at Hartung Hall on April 28, Wednesday, at 7 pm. Pasternak and his wife, Sveta, are also having a joint show at the Annex during the month of May.