By Carole Howard and the Library Staff

Library trustees and director Jackie Welch are pleased to announce the appointment of Mable Martinez Barber as your new youth services librarian. Mable is a Pagosa native and graduate of the Pagosa Springs High School who comes from a pioneer county family. She has her teaching certificate in Spanish and is working on her masters degree in special education.

Needless to say, Mable is a lover of books and believer in the importance of literacy. “I have always been a book worm,” she said. “I love to read because books can take you to places where you wouldn’t otherwise go.” Although she’s new to the job, Mable already has some ideas for innovation and change. “I really want to expand the number of books in our Spanish section,” she said. “And I want to organize more Spanish and bilingual programs.”

Any other goals? “I would like to attract more older kids and teens to the library,” she said, citing her experience as a teachers’ aid at the high schools here. “I saw then that many young people aren’t aware of all the opportunities awaiting them at the library. This is an untapped resource for many of them.”

Mable is replacing Barb Draper, who just retired as children’s librarian, except that Mable will be reaching out to pre-teens and teens in addition to serving children. We hope you will come into the library to meet Mable, and take advantage of the programs she will be organizing.

Pagosa Reads! lecture this evening
The second year of a highly popular library program called Pagosa Reads! debuts this evening when U.S. Forest Service fire investigator Brenda Schultz speaks at 6 p.m. at the library. Theme for this year’s events is fire. The two books for this season’s Pagosa Reads! are “The Seasons of Fire: Reflections on Fire in the West,” a non-fiction book by wildland firefighter David J. Strohmaier, who shares his views on the formative role that fire plays in human life; and the fictional “Firestorm” by Nevada Barr, an Anna Pigeon mystery set in Lassen Volcanic National Park after a firestorm. Multiple copies of these books are now available at the library.

This evening’s speaker, Brenda Schultz, is a special agent with the Forest Service in Durango. She has a Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Resources and a Master of Arts degree in Geography, both from Eastern Kentucky University. She has been a certified wildland fire investigator since 1991. She also teaches three levels of wildland fire investigation training -- first responder scene protection, origin and cause determination, and complex case development.

Pagosa Reads! is being planned by Gail Shepherd, with support from the Alpine Lakes Book Club. The second lecture takes place next Thursday, May 17 when Durango Hotshot Clayton T. Yazzie will speak. We hope you will join us for both these talks.

Earth Day project helps library
Our gratitude to Danielle Sullivan from the Archuleta County High School (the “alternative school”) and Elizabeth Parker from the San Juan National Forest Pagosa Ranger District for organizing students to assist with the reseeding of the library grounds. Ten students -- Jenny Richards, Josie Montoya, Justin Johnson, Steven Weed, Alberto Serrano, Alex Belmear,

Amanda Vogel, Jose Vizcaino, Calvin Sandoval and Ryan Bromley – picked up rocks, raked, and put down grass seed and straw. Everyone who has had to look at the messy grounds since our reconstruction project will praise these kids for their community service!

New fiction: humor, a thriller and mysteries
“The $ilverville $windle” by Kym and Mark Todd is a humorous novel about the frenzy that grips a town after a UFO is spotted. “ Bone Mountain” is another thriller by Edgar award-winning author Eliot Pattison. “Parasites Like Us” by Adam Johnson tells of an anthropologist hoping that by studying lost civilizations of human history he may come to understand those nearest him. “Daddy’s Girl” is the latest mystery by New York Times best-selling author Lisa Scottoline.

New non-fiction focuses on the U.S.
“Our 50 States: A Family Adventure Across America,” which aims to inspire kids to learn more about our country, is by Lynne Cheney, wife of the vice president and a talented writer with impressive credentials of her own. “Second Chance: Three Presidents and the Crisis of American Superpower” by Zbigniew Brezezinski is an assessment of how both Presidents Bush and President Clinton have performed as global leaders. “Blood and Thunder: An Epic of the American West” by Hampton Sides tells the good and bad of Kit Carson and other Americans responsible for the conquest of the West.

Thanks to our donors
Our thanks this week for books and materials to Deni Blaisch, Lenore Bright, Anne Centers, Karen Converse, Edward Crutchley, Carol Dillard, Lyn and Ralph Frank, Cheri Fryar, Sandra Gabel, John Graves, Kay Grams, Karen Hack, Marie Layton, Jeannie Lemmo, Susan McKnight, Donna Michael, Janna Parks, Janet Rohrer, Natalie Tyson, Patricia Waters and Codie Wilson.

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