Librarian Jon Haupt

Happy March from the staff at your local library. Like all of you, we are busy remembering all of the milestones of the last year. The library’s plans for safe, limited reopening in-person are progressing and we hope to provide information shortly. In the meantime, we were excited to find out recently that California named library staff who work with students (basically all of our staff that work with the public) eligible for the new vaccines. We are thinking a lot about how we will reconnect more directly with our community over the next year as, hopefully, the pandemic situation continues to improve.
As I mentioned last month, the library has been transitioning to opening our book drops for returns every day. As many of you have noticed already, we’ve been conducting a “soft opening” by accepting returns during Curbside Pickup hours: 12 to 7 p.m. on Monday and Tuesday as well as 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday. We are still quarantining items for your safety, but we’re able to employ a creative “dance of the book bins” in order to keep accepting more items every day. Our soft opening has been a success and we definitely encourage you to bring your items back at any time during those hours. We know it has been a frustrating year for returning your library materials and we hope the frustration is behind us.
With April around the corner, we are working on Earth Day programming. Since in-person events are still at least a few months out, we are focusing on passive experiences that connect our community through books and nature. We hope all enjoyed our recent bird watching kit. In April, we will present Earth Day kits with a helpful booklet, supplies to make your own nature journal, seeds for nectar-producing flowers, biodegradable pots, a little soil, coupons for milkweed starts, pollinator information and more. Look for information at the library coming in April or give us a call in the coming weeks. We would like to thank local families, Dr. Jeanne Knapp, Club Sunrise of Healdsburg Rotary, Windsor Garden Club and of course our Friends of the Healdsburg Library for providing assistance as we embark on this little adventure.
The Sonoma County Library is offering several other new programs more broadly that will interest many in our county. Through a new collaboration with local nonprofit The Botanical Bus: Bilingual Mobile Herb Clinic, we are able to offer virtual wellness workshops that encourage community members to learn about the indigenous knowledge of herbal medicine. The presenter or Promotoras de Salud presents each holistic health workshop featuring remedies, recipes and medicine and focused on community empowerment and leadership. Workshops take place on the first Saturday of each month and more information may be found at our website: sonomalibrary.org/thebotanicalbus
A popular documentary film discussion group has made its way online as well. Thanks to Measure Y, we all have access to Kanopy, a movie streaming service that focuses on independent filmmakers and documentary films. Each month, viewers watch a film in advance and then meet to join the discussion. Our selection for April is “Breaking Habits,” directed by Robert Ryan; this is the story of Sister Kate, “the Weed-Growing Nun,” and her commune of activist nuns in Merced. The discussion will take place on Thursday, April 22 from 6 to 7 p.m. For more information, visit events.sonomalibrary.org/event/4833785. For these or many, many other events, browse our events calendar on our website or give us a call at 707-433-3772 for a list of upcoming programs.
Jon Haupt is the branch manager of the Healdsburg Regional Library.

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