Victoria Reads: a view from the public library
This blog will discuss programming and services offered through Victoria Public Library from the point of view of the assistant director, Dayna Williams-Capone.
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Grand Reopening a Success Library Renovations Victoria Reads Closing Event Elmer Kelton Brown Bag Book Group Victoria Reads Events Victora Reads for Kids Bob Shook and the Camino Real Henry Wolff on Elmer Kelton Preparation for Victoria Reads January 08 February 08 March 08 April 08 May 08 June 08 July 08 August 08 
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Thanks to the staff of Victoria Public Library, the Victoria Chamber and many library supporters our grand reopening last Friday was a success. If you haven't had a chance to stop by and see our major changes or to get the children in your life signed up for our summer reading program then a trip to your library needs to be on your to do list. I am also including a couple of pictures taken last Friday. If you are interested in seeing more library pictures go to our website.
Preparing to rearrange and recarpet a library is similar to moving into a new house while it is still being built and planning to host an open house for several hundred people soon after you move in. The last several months have been a time of intense preparation as the library staff worked to get the old library decluttered and ready for new carpeting. Staff spent months studying our new floor plan, deciding where to place all of the library materials, making sure we had enough shelving and getting rid of old and unneeded furniture. Our hard work has finally paid off with a much more inviting library interior, new carpet and a lot less dust.
If you haven't already stopped by to see the new library, plan to attend our grand reopening this Friday from 12:30 - 5 p.m. We aren't finished yet with the updates and we want to hear your feedback on what we can do to make things even better. We also have printed maps available for those of you who work well with maps. And we're always available for tours or individual assistance so you can find just what you need.
Tonight we close out Victoria Reads 2008 by honoring our featured author, Elmer Kelton in words and music. Dennis Tardan, Pat Hathcock and Walter Womack will be reading excerpts from three of Kelton's most famous works of fiction: The Day the Cowboys Quit, The Time it Never Rained and The Good Old Boys. Margaret Clegg and the Happy Go Lucky Strings will be providing the music for tonight's event. We start at 7 p.m. in the Bronte Room of the library.
It was an honor on Saturday to have Elmer Kelton speak about his writing career as part of Victoria Reads 2008. In the morning Kelton spoke to a full house at Fossatti's. I was told by one of the attendees who had heard Kelton speak before that he thought this was one of Kelton's best presentations. I would agree that it was a great presentation with many insightful and funny anecdotes. I was also amazed that Kelton spoke so calmly and to the point for almost 45 minutes without notes. He took time to answer questions and sign books before joining us at the library in the afternoon for an informal question and answer session. He was just as welcoming, witty and down to earth in the afternoon. We also had the opportunity at the afternoon reception to hear a few comments from Kelton's wife Ann about her experience of moving to West Texas from Austria following World War II.
Kelton commented before he left the library that he was pleased with the response he received from the audience here in Victoria. It was a wonderful day for both long time fans and those of us who are new fans. Thanks Mr. and Mrs. Kelton for sharing your stories and spending the day with us.
Today at noon the Brown Bag Book Group met to discuss our Victoria Reads 2008 selection Sandhill's Boy by Elmer Kelton. There were 18 people who attended with several new people joining our group. As always it was a good discussion. The overall feeling from members of this group was that they enjoyed this book and those who were not familiar with Kelton's fiction were now interested in reading one of them too.
We debated the question of how people who write memoirs actually remember events. Did Kelton draw upon his own memories in writing his autobiography ,did he draw upon the memories of other family members or is it a combination of both? What does an author do when his memory of an event conflicts with another person's memory of the same event? Several members of the book group felt that Kelton really honored his characters and that he gave them quite a bit of depth. Other participants said that they could see the similarity between the real life people Kelton wrote about in his memoir and some of the characters in his works of fiction. We also wanted more details about Kelton's military service and his reaction to moving from West Texas to Austria. Maybe another memoir is in order. For those of you who were unable to attend today you have a second chance to come and discuss Sandhill's Boy and Elmer Kelton on Tuesday, February 12 at 7 p.m.
This week there are a variety of Victoria Reads events occurring at the library. Tomorrow night at 7 there will be a gardening program led by Laurie Garretson of Earthworks Nursery. She will be talking about drought resistant gardening.
For those of you who have been reading our featured book, Sandhill's Boy by Elmer Kelton you will have your first opportunity to take part in a book discussion at noon on Wednesday. Our noon book group is called the Brown Bag Book Group. This group meets the first Wednesday of every month and they are very friendly and talkative. I always leave their meetings smiling because they are so much fun and with a long list of new books to read because they are not shy with sharing reading suggestions. If you are unable to make a daytime discussion then you will have a second chance on Tuesday, February 12th at 7 p.m. On Thursday we will be showing the movie Good Old Boys at both 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. This movie is based upon one of Elmer Kelton's books by the same title. The movie was directed by Tommy Lee Jones and stars Jones and Sissy Spacek as the leads. Saturday is your opportunity to meet Mr. Kelton himself. He will be available to sign books and visit at 1:30 in the Bronte Room of the library. I am looking forward to meeting him for the first time. If you have time to stop by the library you might also want to take a look at our display of Bianchi spurs and horse paintings by local artist, Virginia Tijerina.
This afternoon at 4 p.m. we are having a Western themed program for kids in 2nd - 5th grades. Miss Jessica from the children's department will be reading a book and then each child will have his or her picture taken sitting in our western scenes that have been set up in the Bronte Room. Miss Felecia will be doing her magic to make the pictures look "old fashion" and then each child will have time to make a picture frame for his or her picture. No sign up is required so please join us this afternoon.
If you haven't had time to attend a program you must come to one even if it is to see the Bronte Room. The staff at the library have done a wonderful job decorating the room and it will only have this special set up during Victoria Reads!
We had a nice size crowd for last Saturday morning's presentation by Bob Shook. Bob presented an informative and convincing argument about the location of the Camino Real. According to the National Park Service maps issued in 1998 and later revised, this Spanish trail did not run through Victoria County, but based upon Bob's research and old Spanish documents that is not the case. The Camino Real did come to La Bahia when it was located on the Guadalupe River just north of Victoria. I learned quite a bit of history about Spanish trails and Victoria County. Two copies of Bob's book which goes into greater detail about this topic are available here at the public library. The title of his newest book is Caminos y entradas: Spanish legacy of Victoria County and the Coastal Bend, 1689 - 1890.
As luck would have it I came down with the terrible upper respiratory flu on Tuesday and was unable to attend the opening event for Victoria Reads. I am quite upset because I was unable to meet Henry Wolff and I heard that he made a wonderful presentation. A member of the audience sent me the following, "The Henry Wolff program last night was very good--he is an entertaining speaker and he returned me at times to my eighteenth year when I proof read for a newspaper . I recall the inebriated society editor who frequently returned to work in the evenings to catch up on a few stories and would high step around the office and slur her words as she sipped her laced coca cola from a bottle. Or the older woman reporter who was there for a while just as I came to work at 6 and would call me 'little bit' . Really catching my attention was the male lead writer at night who would fling his paper copies all over the office in his frustration at not getting the right results. These were the real life characters who educated me into the real world in a way the classroom never did. Well, the audience in the Bronte room last night seemed to really get into the presentation and participated afterward with questions. I think the staff did a good job of presentation of cowboy theme in the room and we look forward to the remainder of your Victoria Reads."
Victoria Reads continues tomorrow with a presentation on the Camino Real by Robert Shook at 11 a.m. in the Bronte Room. I am planning to be there if my health continues to improve. It will be my first introduction into some of the old history of
Next week I will celebrate my one year anniversary as the assistant director at Victoria Public Library. In this last year one of my big projects has been working with the staff of the library to develop the Victoria Reads program. Many of the staff have been involved in planning programs for this annual event since 2002, but this is my first go around. Victoria Reads is a one community, one book event meaning that we choose one book as our focus, plan programs based upon the themes of the book and then encourage members of the community to read the book, attend book discussions on the book or experience the book through public programs and events.
The program planning process began last March when a group of librarians met to choose the featured title for our event. We decided to choose a book with a strong Texas connection and wanted a book written by an author that we hoped could come to Victoria for a public presentation. This committee finally agreed upon the book Sandhill's Boy by Elmer Kelton. This book is Kelton's memoir of growing up in West Texas during the 1930s, leaving Texas during World War II to serve in the military, meeting his future wife in Austria, bringing her to live with him in West Texas and pursuing his dream of becoming a writer. When Kelton agreed to come to Victoria we knew that this would be a good choice for VIctoria Reads 2008. Victoria Reads 2008 begins next Tuesday evening with a presentation by journalist Henry Wolff. He will be speaking about memoir and his memories of working with Elmer Kelton at the newspaper in San Angelo, Texas. For a complete list of events go to http://www.victoriapublicli... 
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