discover life's possibilities | March

Book It To The Library
As a teenager, my parents suggested that I volunteer at my local library. I was an angry young lad, upset at the injustice in the world and not sure what to do with my anger. At their insistence, in the afternoons after school, I grouchily helped clean and shelve books and did odd jobs for the librarians. Eventually this turned into one of my first paying jobs, and I was steadily less grouchy the longer I worked there.  
 
My parents understood something I didn’t yet grasp: I needed to find a sanctuary, somewhere to figure out who I was and who I wanted to be. The Library was that place for me. No matter what frustration my teenage brain was working with, a librarian was willing to listen me, and they always had a just-right book recommendation ready for me. Whenever life's storms caused me to flounder, I knew I could return to the library to catch my breath, and try again. That sanctuary became something I wanted to pass on, setting me on my path to become a librarian.
 
Each of us is on a hero's journey, traveling to figure out who we are and what we could be. When we get a little lost, we may need a guide to point out the paths and possibilities that have become difficult to see. If you need it, the Library can be that pathfinder. So I ask you: where are you on your hero's journey? Do you need a sanctuary? If so, come to the Library, and we will help.
-Anthony
 Anthony Morris
 
-Assistant Library Director
-Feckless Beekeeper
-Confirmed Gremlin
Currently Reading
Library
Announcement
Learn about the Library's Operational Levy Lid Lift!
 
 
In August 2024, the Library will ask for an operational levy lid lift. The Library has been frugal and strategic with its last levy lid lift reserves and annual funding but needs to ask for a new levy lid lift to sustain the current level of library services, programs, and collections. Click on the image to learn more!
 
PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS
ADULT
BIRD WATCHING
 
Start your Spring by learning a little more about the local wildlife! Check out our Bird Watching Kit, which has everything you need to get started. Learning the names of your local birds has never been easier!
TEENS
FREE SCHOLARSHIP HELP
 
Don't let a pesky application get in the way of your future! Come to a Scholarship Support Session offered in partnership with Sophia Lyles from the Family Resource Center to get free help filling out and submitting scholarships.
YOUTH
SMOKEY READING CHALLENGE
 
Celebrate Smokey Bear’s 80th Birthday! Complete a reading challenge this April to learn about wildfires and the environment. Pick up a packet at the library starting April 1 to get started, or pre-register online today!

RESOURCES HIGHLIGHT

Consumer Reports
Whatever you need to buy, Consumer Reports is here to help! Make sure you're getting the best deal for the best product by searching through Consumer Report's trusted ratings, reviews, recommendations, and buying advice for thousands of products and services.

STAFF HIGHLIGHT
Naomi's Knitting
We keep a basket of yarn by the fireplace, and community members work together to make winter blankets for the Animal Shelter. Library Superstar Naomi worked on some of latest creations sent to the shelter. These donations are both beautiful and cozy, and we are grateful to Naomi and all the knitting volunteers for helping our furry friends to have something comfortable to sleep on.
 
What to join in? Join the Knitting Underground at the fireplace for knitting and conversation each Thursday at 12:30-2pm.
 
UPCOMING EVENTS OF NOTE

COMMUNITY MEETING
The Library Levy Lid Lift
  
NEIGHBOR DAY
Join us for refreshments and other activities as we celebrate our first Neighbor Day at San Juan Island Library. Come meet your neighbors - Library staff, friends and families, and other members of our beloved island community who call San Juan Island home.
 
LOCAL BOOK LAUNCH
The Disputed Islands by Boyd Pratt
Join author and community member Boyd Pratt to celebrate and discuss his new book, The Disputed Islands: Ordinary Life in Extraordinary Times, The San Juans, 1850-1874.
 
 
FRIENDS OF THE LIBRARY
ANNUAL MEETING & PROGRAM
Learn all about what the Friends of the Library have been up to! Following the meeting, join us for a special program featuring D.C. Alexander, author of "Friday Harbor" a mystery novel set in the San Juan Islands during the prohibition era.
 
 
STAFF PICKS
Check out our current faves!
 
The Hunter
by Tana French 

Moving to rural Ireland, Cal Hooper, who took early retirement from Chicago PD, has built a relationship with Lena and is gradually turning teenager Trey Reddy into a good kid, but when Trey's long-absent father reappears with an English millionaire and a get-rich-quick scheme, Trey wants revenge. 
Uncommon Measure : a Journey Through Music, Performance, and the Science of Time
by Natalie Hodges 
 
How does time shape consciousness, and consciousness, time? Do we live in time, or does time live in us? And how does music, with its patterns of rhythm and harmony, inform our experience of time? Uncommon Measure explores these questions from the perspective of a young Korean American who dedicated herself to perfecting her art until, crippled by performance anxiety, she was forced to give up her dreams of becoming a career solo violinist.
Vampires in the Lemon Grove : stories 
Karen Russell 

A new collection of stories by the Pulitzer Prize finalist author of Swamplandia! features such protagonists as a pair of centuries-old vampires whose relationship is tested by a sudden fear of flying, a dejected teen who communicates with the universe through objects from a seagull nest and a massage therapist who heals a tattooed veteran by manipulating the images on his body.  
 
Discover Life's Possibilities
1010 Guard St
Friday Harbor, Washington 98250
(360) 378-2798
www.sjlib.org