Talk About Literature in Kansas

Once again, our Friends of the Library are teaming with the Kansas Humanities Council to bring a challenging book discussion series to Independence. Today's Mysteries is the title and mysteries are what it is about.

The three-part series opens February 26 at 7 PM in the library meeting room where Sandra Calvin Hastings from the Johnson County Community College will present and lead a discussion of Reflex by the ever-popular Dick Francis.

The second discussion will take place on March 26 at 7 PM. Phillip D. Thomas will lead a discussion of Talking God by Tony Hillerman. Thomas comes from Wichita State University.

Lastly, Erin Pouppirt from Leawood, will lead a discussion of Where Echos Live by Marcia Muller on April 23 at 7 PM.


This series usually attracts a group with a lively interest in discussing a variety of takes on the viewpoints presented. Julie Hildebrand is the Library's Grant Manager for this series. Admittance is free and the discussions are open to the public.

Johnnie I Hardly Read Ye

Much of the civilized press recently noted the passing of John Updike with much fanfare and ballyhoo - marking him as a literary genius with a mountainous output - more than 50 books, countless short stories and essays, poems, grocery lists, and acceptance speeches for "The Best Writer in the Whole Wide World Award." Me, I could never get past chapter one, maybe chapter two, but no further. My shame is my own. I have hidden it well and avoided those cozy conversations trading tidbits from the latest Updike novel.

Maybe this is my non-Ivy League education coming home to roost, those night school courses at state universities where the beauty of the campus was less important than than balancing a job and an education with a family and a car payment.

I will admit that I tried. John Updike novels made the round-trip from the library to my night stand, but with all those first pages of Updike novels I managed to read, I admit that I never read a last page. But there is still time and I may use my retirement to become conversant in the antics of Rabbit Angstrom, but I doubt it. Anyway, another giant has passed.

Security at the Library

Last August we brought in a security company to help us with our security problems. Many of you remember the chaos that had become part of everyone's library experience starting at about 3:00 every afternoon. The problem with unruly kids had been confronted by library staff from the beginning - we wanted to turn the kids around - we thought we could reach them with argument, or with reward/punishment, we thought we could appeal to their better natures or to their parents, we thought that maybe we could single out the "real" trouble makers and then the problem would be solved. BUT, after a year and a half of butting our heads against a brick wall we brought in the pro's, and it worked.

When I say having a security guard worked I don't mean we have no more problem teens or adults, I mean that we have a professional to confront the person and resolve the matter. Staff is free to do library business and our security person is here to keep order and to keep the public safe. Just last night a small group of teenage girls were ejected from the library after raising a ruckus, abusing library staff with verbal filth and threats and generally making problems for everyone using the library at the time. Will they be back? They are welcome to come back if they bring a parent and are willing to sit down with library staff and go through a review of their behavior and what will be necessary for them to change in order to be allowed back.

I think many of the patrons that had been frightened off by the rowdy people at the library have returned and are using the library again, and for that we are grateful. We at the library remind ourselves regularly that our public service is a voluntary and consensual activity by the public - they don't have to use us and it behooves us to make their experience at the library a positive one that meets their needs, otherwise - we fail.

Our policy is about behavior. Everyone is welcome here at first. We are maybe one of the most neutral public services in Independence. We accept everyone at face value - at first, but we are committed to providing a public building that is safe for an 8-year old child to use on their own and we do what is necessary to keep that commitment - no apologies.

Happy Valentine's Day

Originally designed for the Museum of Modern Art as a Christmas card, the Robert Indiana screenprint is one of the most recognized pieces of art ever.


Publication excerpt
Deborah Wye, Artists and Prints: Masterworks from The Museum of Modern Art, New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 2004, p. 166

Born Robert Clark in Indiana, Robert Indiana took his native state's name after moving to New York in 1954, a gesture that presaged his Pop-inspired fascination with Americana, signage, and the power of ordinary words. In his studio on Coenties Slip at the tip of Manhattan, Indiana made assemblages of scrap materials and found objects, using stencils to introduce words into his art. By the early 1960s he was creating eye-popping paintings of text, numbers, and symbols that related to the hard-edge abstraction of the day, and included political and social overtones. Later he moved to the island of Vinalhaven off the coast of Maine, where he continues to work.