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SAVE THE DATE: The Friends of the <strong>Library</strong> Annual Benefit featuring author and editor Evan Thomas Friday, Oct. 24<br />
Bonnie days at the <strong>Library</strong> Store<br />
By MARGARET SIECK<br />
FRIENDS OF THE LIBRARY<br />
Tuesday mornings are Bonnie<br />
mornings, not because the sun<br />
might be shining but because<br />
<strong>Library</strong> Store volunteer Bonnie<br />
Giacobbe [Gee-uh-co-bee] opens the<br />
store. As the store is closed Sunday and<br />
Monday, it’s the beginning of the store<br />
week. Bonnie comes in a little early to<br />
clean and straighten up, to see how<br />
things stand with the cash register, and<br />
to be ready for customers at 11 a.m.<br />
(Store hours are Tuesday through Saturday,<br />
11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursdays, the<br />
store is open until 8 p.m.)<br />
Bonnie, who lives in Montgomery,<br />
joined the <strong>Princeton</strong> <strong>Library</strong> when two<br />
other local libraries were simultaneously<br />
closed for renovations about a<br />
year and a half ago. As a member, she<br />
saw a notice asking for store volunteers<br />
and signed on.<br />
“I fell in love with the library and love<br />
the mixture of people who come into<br />
the store,” she says.<br />
A retired teacher, Bonnie still teaches<br />
children who learn differently six hours<br />
a week. She is an active grandmother to<br />
six children, ages 14 to 4. Her experience<br />
as a teacher and grandmother can<br />
lead to sales in the store. She recalls<br />
having an older woman come in before<br />
Christmas. Bonnie asked if she could<br />
help her.<br />
“I need something to fit between the<br />
silverware at my Christmas dinner, for<br />
the children to amuse themselves with,<br />
while the adults linger over the meal,”<br />
Bonnie remembers the woman saying.<br />
Bonnie Giacobbe behind the cash register she mastered in<br />
the <strong>Library</strong> Store.<br />
“It can’t be too big or spread across<br />
the table, you see.” Bonnie could see,<br />
and fixed the woman up with Sudoku<br />
puzzles, pencil and paper games and a<br />
small crossword tile set.<br />
While Bonnie enjoys helping people<br />
find just the right thing, she also loves<br />
the camaraderie with her fellow store<br />
volunteers. She catches up with them<br />
when the shifts overlap. In the holiday<br />
season, Bonnie also works Sunday<br />
afternoons with an extra volunteer at her<br />
side and gets to meet and work with new<br />
people every week.<br />
The only downside Bonnie can admit<br />
to? “It took a while to master the cash<br />
register, but I’ve got it now,” she says.<br />
Bonnie has never worked in any kind<br />
of store before and says proudly, “I got<br />
out of my comfort zone.”<br />
no discs<br />
no tapes<br />
no downloads<br />
just Brontë<br />
Playaways are here<br />
visit the Welcome Desk<br />
friends<br />
FRIENDS OF THE LIBRARY<br />
PAMELA<br />
WAKEFIELD<br />
FRIENDS PRESIDENT<br />
Meet the<br />
program<br />
professionals<br />
Recently, I sat across a table<br />
from Janie Hermann and listened<br />
as she described her<br />
job.<br />
Janie is the Program Coordinator<br />
for the <strong>Library</strong>. Janie works with a<br />
library-wide Program Team and<br />
what they do is truly impressive. In<br />
search of great programming, they<br />
read newspapers and the publishing<br />
news, and they scan the Internet<br />
for topics, speakers, authors and entertainers.<br />
They listen and respond<br />
to the public, young and old. They<br />
talk to the Teen Advisory Board.<br />
They check out what’s going on in<br />
the community, in the state, in the<br />
country and on local campuses.<br />
In the next stage they invite, coax<br />
and plan. They publicize. They select<br />
appropriate hosts. They juggle<br />
schedules, space requirements,<br />
technical needs and financial considerations.<br />
They organize and they<br />
worry. They worry about embarrassingly<br />
small crowds and huge<br />
overwhelming crowds — they have<br />
had both. They worry about snowstorms<br />
and delayed speakers and<br />
technical problems — they have<br />
had all three. They set up seats and<br />
screens and they plan refreshments.<br />
Then the rewards for all the<br />
hard work begin to happen, the<br />
extraordinary programs: programs<br />
to amuse, programs to inform, programs<br />
to entertain, programs to<br />
inspire and programs to help. Just<br />
look through this issue of Connections<br />
and you will see what I am<br />
talking about. Last year, the library<br />
offered 1,718 programs.<br />
And finally, as this is a letter from<br />
the President of the Friends, I have a<br />
reminder for those of you who support<br />
the Friends. You can and should<br />
consider yourselves members of<br />
Janie’s Team — they couldn’t get<br />
it all done without you. That’s what<br />
Friends are for.<br />
Unless otherwise noted, all progamming is in the Community Room, first floor connections THE PRINCETON PUBLIC LIBRARY NEWSLETTER 19
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