"An' bleak December's winds ensuin/ Baith snell an' keen!"

Happy St. Andrew's Day!  The brother of Peter; missionary to Asia Minor, Scythia, and the Ukraine; crucified on the crux decussata, the X-shaped cross; St. Andrew is now most famous in the West as the patron saint of Scotland, a nation he never visited.  (Not that it matters: dying in 1253 hasn't stopped Claire of Assisi from becoming patroness of television.)  So, fly your Saltire, eat your haggis, and get ready for a full slate of Library Society events between now and Hogmanay.

(Speaking of eating, don't forget, if you place holiday orders with the SweetSmith Bakery [843.573.2322: 1124 Sam Rittenberg Blvd.,West Ashley], and let them know you want your order to help the Charleston Library Society, we get a cut of the profit [and you get a great holiday treat!])
 
As for events: first, on Friday the 4th, the Coastal Community Foundation and Donna Rayburn and Mike Griffith will have a reception for the 2009 recipient of the Lowcountry Artist Award, Bernadette Cali.  The reception will run from 5:30pm to 8:00pm in the Ripley-Ravenel building.  Ms. Cali's artwork will be on display at the Library Society through the end of the month.


Then, this Sunday, December 6th, the Library Society will have its annual Christmas Parade Party.  We hope you'll join us for a fun, festive, informal afternoon as we watch the Charleston Christmas parade from the best seats in town, the front steps of the Library.  Inside, we'll have holiday music and treats, not to mention sheltering warmth.  Top tip: anyone planning on sitting down on our marble steps might consider bringing stadium seats/blankets/some form of insulation to prevent frostbite of the posterior.  Hot cider can only warm one up so much...

Pat Conroy will be here on the 10th.  All tickets have been sold out for months, and we're no longer taking book orders, so this reminder is more a reminder to jump on tickets as soon as they're available, and less a reminder about Pat.  Still, it's Pat!  We're kinda excited.  For those without Conroy tickets, there is a pretty good consolation prize: local historian Mike Coker will be having a book signing for his new work, The Battle of Port Royal over at the SC Historical Society that same night.  It's from five to seven in the evening, Thursday the tenth; light appetizers and drinks will be served.  If you're not going to be here, you should be there.


Après Pat, we've got a holiday strings concert from the CSO that will be here at the Society- pencil that one in for the 12th; we'll send out more details as soon as we get them...  Don't forget, for more information, or to RSVP for any event, call us at 843.723.9912, or email us at rsvp@charlestonlibrarysociety.org.

Goodnight, sweet (canine) prince, and may flights of angels sing thee to thy rest...

Between France cheating Ireland out of a spot in the World Cup, and the untimely death of Uga VII last night, it has been a sad week for your loyal blogger.  Still, there is nothing to be down about concerning the Library Society, so I'll jump right into some news:

Thanks to Lynn Smith and the SweetSmith Bakery, we've got a great way for you to support the Library this holiday season.  Call or stop by the SweetSmith Bakery (843.573.2322,  1124 Sam Rittenberg Blvd., West Ashley), and let them know you want your order to help the Charleston Library Society.  You get a delicious pastry, and the Library Society gets a cut of the profit.  Brilliant.

Coming up on Friday, December the 4th, from 5:30 'till 8:00, the Library Society will host the Coastal Community Foundation, and Mike Griffith and Donna Reyburn as they present the 2009 Lowcountry Artist's Award.  The $5,000 award is given annually to a Charleston County artist whose work reflects the "look and feel of the Lowcountry" to produce a work of art in the same manner.  This year's recipient is Bernadette Cali.

Link to the event's Facebook page.

Other stuff:  The Library will be closed November 25-29.  Regular hours will resume Monday, November 30.  There are only thirty four days until Christmas: remember, Library Society membership makes a great gift.  Speaking of Christmas, the Library will be closed from December 23rd 'till the end of the year.  Finally, happy 85th birthday, Benoit Mandelbrot.

"Take a point called Z in the complex plane, let Z1 be Z squared plus C,  and Z2 is Z1 squared plus C , and Z3 is Z2 squared plus C and so on; if the series of Z's should always stay, close to Z and never trend away, that point is in the Mandelbrot Set" -JoCo

"We're rich! Richer than astronauts!"

Well, near perfect weather, lots of cheerful volunteers, and a few months worth of our harping all came together for our most successful book sale yet!  By the time we locked the door of the Barnwell Annex on Sunday evening, we had brought in a couple of hundred dollars over our pre-sale projections, and beaten our own sales records to boot.  Thank you, to all of our donors, our customers, and especially to our volunteers for creating this success.

Also, I would be remiss if I did not mention last week's marvelous concert from the Charleston Academy of Music.  Besides being one of the best-attended events your loyal blogger has ever seen the Library host, it was certainly one of the most enjoyable.  With individual performances by Nicholas Bentz and Shannon Fitzhenry on strings, and Micah McLaurin on the piano, and a orchestral showcase by Kidzymphony, the evening was nothing short of fantastic.  We here at the Society can't wait until the next time we can host the CAM.



As for that other noise around here (the bad kind): the scraping is, mostly, over!  Restoration work continues at a remarkable pace.  Painting has begun in earnest, and also on the window trim.  Hopefully this idyllic weather will hold and we'll have a productive week of work around the place.  We can do without more rain mid-November hurricanes...


Don't forget: The Library Society will be closed from Wednesday the 25th until Saturday the 28th.  Regular Library hours resume on Monday the 30th.
Also: Twenty-five days until Pat Conroy's here!

I wish there was "A Thanksgiving Carol". Or at least a "Ghost of Thanksgivings Past"...

Forty two days left until Christmas, and the Library Society just received its first Christmas card.  Like the first robin of spring, or the first mosquito bites of summer, receiving the first Christmas card of the season is always a touching moment.  It would have been even more touching had it not been addressed to "Occupant", and if a note begging for money hadn't fallen out of it.  I suppose we are entering into that "time, of all others, when Want is keenly felt, and Abundance rejoices."

Are there no prisons?  Are there no workhouses?


(Please do not mistake your loyal blogger's badmouthing of specific charities [who send Christmas cards weeks too early] as a denigration of giving to nonprofits more generally.  And liberally.  And frequently.  'Cause we're bringing back the New York Times, and man is it expensive!  Also, do remember, you can't fit a whole library society into a Victorian workhouse, and even if you could, I doubt we'd be much good running their treadmills or crushing up boulders.  Too many elderly members.  And I'm sure old Ebeneezer was a generous donor to the London Library without the prompting of any ghostly apparitions. )

(Pictured left to right) Generous Library Donor; Rotund, Otherworldly Fundraising Volunteer

Anyhow, with the dawn of the Christmas Card season, your loyal blogger now feels free to a) plug the book sale this weekend as a great place to buy gifts, and, b) present the first events of 2010.  Starting on January 12th, the Library Society and the Gibbes Muesum of Art are having Toddler Tuesdays.  Free for all CLS and Gibbes members, this will be a fun story time for children ages three to five (with an adult).  Toddler Tuesdays should run from 10:15 to 11:00 in the morning, every Tuesday, with no reservations required.  We've also got a book signing on Thursday, January 7th with Quentin Whitwell, author of If By Whiskey.  We promise no overlap between Mr. Whitwell's story a sorority girl at Ole Miss, and our toddler story hour selections.

Though we do have the 1940's Curious George books where George smokes a pipe, and discovers ether...

The Art of Noise

The Library Society, typically a haven of rest, currently sounds like Milton's Pandemonium,

"where peace/ And rest can never dwell, hope never comes/ That comes to all; but torture without end..."

-Paradise Lost, Book I

as right now dozens of workers simultaneously scrape ninety year old paint off our windows.  They scratch and beat and scour and rasp and generally fill the Main Reading Room with an obstreperousness that is about to drive your loyal blogger up the ding-dong wall.

That said, this is major renovation work that the Library has needed for a long time.  Furthermore, while it may be as loud as Hell in here, it is comfortably cool; it smells more of old books than sulfur; and our friendly and dedicated renovation workers are far, far from Milton's Belials, Baalims, and Beezlebubs.  Those of you in need of the Library's customary calm still have the Ripley-Ravenel building, which remains quiet as a tomb.

This Thursday evening the noise of the Society will switch from the cacophonous to the symphonic as we host the Charleston Academy of Music's Hand In Hand benefit concert.  Proceeds from the concert will go towards funding CAM’s Honors Program scholarships. The concert will feature current CAM Honors Program students Nicholas Bentz (violin), Shannon Fitzhenry (violin), and Micah McLaurin (piano) as well as CAM’s newest after school orchestra program for children called “Kidzymphony.” Nicholas, Shannon, and Micah study under CSO concertmaster Yuriy Bekker, renowned pianist Enrique Graf, and violinist Tomas Jakubek. The program will feature two violin solo works, Symphonie espagnole by Lalo and Saint Sanes Violin Concerto #3, and Rachmaninoff 2nd Piano Sonata. The three performers will also present a Haydn piano trio. Due to limited seating please RSVP your reservations through the CAM by calling 843-805-7794 or emailing cam746@yahoo.com.

Also, this weekend is the Fall Book Sale!  The bottom of the Barnwell Annex is jam packed with discards from the collection, used books, new books, magazines, vintage vinyl, trashy dime novels, Cliffs Notes, et cetera.  The event will run Saturday from 9 am to 5 pm, Sunday 1 pm to 5 pm.  If you're interested in volunteering, we would love to have you around: call us at 843.723.9912 or email us at info@charlestonlibrarysociety.org for more information.

See you soon, and bring earplugs...

Notes following two weeks of craziness. Painful, Tom-Cruise-on-Oprah level craziness...

It's been two crazy weeks since your loyal blogger last posted.  Despite 261 years of existence, I'm not sure if the Library Society has ever hosted back-to-back weekends of major events before... with good reason.

First was the Membership Libraries Group conference: every year the Library Society meets with the other American membership libraries to discuss library management, fundraising, governance, programs, and a range of other issues where we share common ground.  The meetings were not just enlightening, but very, very enjoyable, thanks to the wonderful librarians and directors in attendance.  Besides, it's always nice to hang out with the small handful of people who know the pain of explaining what a "non-governmental public library" is to slackjawed visitors, over and over again...

Second was yesterday's lecture by Doctor Lisa Sanders, internist at Yale and technical advisor for the show "House".  Doctor Sanders' event was extremely well attended, which is always exciting.  Increasing the excitement was the large difference between the RSVP list and the number of attendees.  While RSVPs certainly were not an absolute necessity, the lack of them did make the event standing-room only.  Like I said earlier- it's been a hectic few weeks.

November should be much less hectic.  Coming up on the calendar, our monthly Young Professionals Group meeting is this Thursday, November 5th- Guy Fawkes Night!- so we hope you'll be able to swing by the Library, have a drink, and meet up with other local professionals from their mid-twenties to mid-forties.  Our first concert is coming up soon, too: the Charleston Academy of Music is having a benefit concert, hosted here, at 5:00 PM on Thursday, November 12th.  Fall Book Sale is the 14th and 15th.  Relative to October, this month looks almost devoid of activity.

Remember, you can call 843.723.9912 or email us at rsvp@charlestonlibrarysociety.org for more information or to make event reservations.  Please, please do.

Also, now that Halloween is over, I feel free plugging our merchandise as GREAT CHRISTMAS GIFTS.  We've just got a new run of notecards featuring the original architectural drawing of our front elevation: they're available for purchase at the front desk now, and should be in the online store shortly.  In the pipeline, our handwritten manuscript of John Locke's Fundamental Constitutions of Carolina is being prepared for limited run of hardbound reproductions...  we're still not sure when they will be ready, but they will certainly be a unique piece of both Caroliniana and Society history.

"The angels may love her / But surely they do not visit her."

By now, Library Society members should have received their 2009 Annual Appeal letters.  If you've got yours, then you have noticed that the Society now has a tiered membership structure. There is a basic Friend of the Library membership at $75 (the same as the old Adult Annual membership), a new Senior membership at $20, and a range of giving circles to recognize gifts from $100 right on to gifts of over $5000.  These circles have been named for figures either important in the history of the Society or whose work is an outstanding part of our collection.

All of this is prelude for something I've been wanting to do for weeks, ever since it was decided to name our $100-$499 giving Circle after her: talk about Beatrice Witte Ravenel.

Here goes: stop reading this blog, come down to the Society, and check out the poetry of Beatrice Witte Ravenel.  It's a quick read, and it's ridiculously great.  A wildly talented poet- during her time at Radcliffe she was an editor of the Harvard Monthly Magazine, and was published in Harpers and The Atlantic- Ravenel abandoned her poetry when she married.  During her lifetime she produced just one bound volume, The Arrow of Lightning: one more volume, The Yemassee Lands was compiled after her death.  Her three dozen or so poems stand as the greatest poems of the Charleston Renaissance; they easily equal any contemporary work on the national scene.  Today Ravenel is a largely forgotten part of the Charleston Renaissance, but her work is unforgettable to any readers who experience it.  An excerpt, describing Nicholas Trott's judgment of the Pirates from the view of the condemned, and then a full poem:

"And first he lifts from your shoulder the cover of common humanity,
Men?  You are not men.  You are hostes humani generis,
Enemies of all mankind.  Neither faith, nay, nor oath need be kept with you.  You were formerly ousted of clergy.
Now the law grants you this comfort; and, with a smooth lovingkindness
Equal to that of the law, he trusts you will profit.
But- he may allow you no council.

"He is telling you further
That the God of the land made the ocean,
(He swivels the Scriptures about like a gun, texts spitting for grapeshot):
That he parceled it out and place it under the thumbs of Kings and of lawyers.
(O ye fowls of the air, ye wild winds, ye waterspouts,
Praise ye the Lord!)
And against all these three, God, King, and Lawyers, have you offended."

-excerpted from "The Pirates"

"Salvage "

Three things in my house are my own.
Not the dark pictures whose blood runs in my veins,
Nor the vines that I trained round the windows,
Nor even the books.
But the curve of a shabby armchair that molded itself on your body,
And the echoes of songs that you sang,
And the square of sun
That comes as it came, first in the morning,
When you had opened the window.

There: there's a little poetry for a slow Thursday afternoon.  Stop by, pick up a copy of The Yemassee Lands, take it home, read the whole thing in forty minutes.  Connect with your cultural inheritance as Charlestonians; experience some of the best literary imagery of the Lowcountry ever penned; feel a little more civilized for checking out a book of poetry.

One last excerpt, from "Tidewater":

"Is Marathon richlier echoed
With voices of youthful heroes
Than the swamps of Santee?
When the bloom runs over the moss
In a lost gray glory of tarnished sliver,
  of shadowy pearl,
Riders furrow the night-
Marion, Marion's men,
Pass in a voiceless tumult,
Pass like the smoke from a torch,
With dark, unextinguished eyes."

It's not lupus. It's NEVER lupus.

Confirmed News: Lisa Sanders, faculty of Yale School of Medicine, NY Times Magazine columnist, inspiration for and technical advisor to the television show House, and author of Every Patient Tells a Story : Medical Mysteries and the Art of Diagnosis, will be talking at the Library Society on November 1st. This lecture should be informative and entertaining in equal measure, and the CLS is quite privileged to host it. More information-will be available soon.  The event starts at 5:00 PM and there is no admission charge.



Unconfirmed news: Hugh Laurie will also be along, singing novelty songs from A Bit of Fry and Laurie, and doing readings from Blackadder.

Okay, I just made the Hugh Laurie bit up. He's not coming. Though we would love to have him: I'm sure the man who claimed "[P.G.] Wodehouse Saved My Life" would be right at home here at a library where Jeeves and Wooster novels still fly off the shelf, sixty years after their publication.


ALSO: In much the same way that Generalissimo Francisco Franco remains dead, The Pat Conroy event is still sold out. Call or email, and we'll be happy to put you on the waiting list should tickets become available...

Dies iræ! Dies illa!

Day of wrath! O day of mourning! Pat is sold out, booked, packed to the gills, jammed full. All seats have been accounted for by pre-sales to members. There are no more tickets; there is still much more demand...

This coming Thursday is the first day of sales to non-members, and we've already been informed, many times, "My whole book club is ready to come get tickets, first thing on the 15th" or "Everyone I know is chomping at the bit to get tickets" or "All my friends are calling at 9:30 on the 15th!", et cetera, et cetera.

Your loyal blogger -the Library staffer who sits closest to the telephone- feels he is about to become a very unpopular person. The general public might have no shot at tickets: hopefully they won't have a shot at me, instead.

Lacrimosa dies illa,
qua resurget ex favilla
judicandus homo reus.
Huic ergo parce, Deus.
-Requiem, Tridentine Mass

Okay, enough lamentation, let's be positive: y'all sold out an event in a week's time. About two thirds of tickets were gone in the first 48 hours. With pre-sale available for members only, membership has jumped. Best of all, I had enough to handle last week concerning this event that I had to put off all the old work stacked on my desk. We knew that Pat Conroy is a draw second to none, but still, this is impressive.

If you haven't got your tickets yet, don't lament (but don't delay, either). Call us now, and we'll put you on our waiting list if tickets become available. It's a long time until December 10th...

"We're just a library, standing in front of a patron... asking you to love us."

For most of the year, Library Society fundraising is like a gawky and awkward Hugh Grant in a Richard Curtis movie... We quietly fumble about in the sidelights, all the while silently hoping you'll notice us for just long enough to see that we're madly in love with you. We're really quite charming, you see, and not at all anti-social; just rather shy, and awkward amongst pretty strangers.

Then comes the Annual Appeal Campaign (starting today)! Now we become climax/falling action Hugh Grant: it's almost the end of the movie, and we're racing across London in a friend's car, frantically trying to find you before you take off back to America, no longer moved by infatuation but earnestly longing for a deep, lasting relationship.

And what better way to define "deep, lasting relationship" than in monetary terms? Your gifts sustain our programmes, allow new accessions, provide for repairs and improvements. The year-round services the Library provides are possible because of this period Annual Appeal giving. In the past we have never failed to be both very impressed and deeply humbled by giving of our patrons, and we hope that generosity is expressed in the Appeal once again this year.



Also, if anyone has a Chagall they would like to donate, we would be more than happy to have it...





Because happiness isn't happiness without a violin-playing goat.

Suddenly, Monday appears again.

As promised last week, official details on the Pat Conroy event:

The night A South of Broad Evening with Pat Conroy (December 10th) will be divided into two complimentary events, one hosted by the CLS, and the other by the Gibbes. From 5:00 to 6:30 there will be cocktails and hors d'oeuvres with Pat here at the Library. Cocktails and hors d'oeuvers will be catered by the ever-wonderful Slightly North of Broad. In the interest of facilitating the best personal experience for all, and allowing every attendee time to talk with Pat, tickets will be very limited for this event. Tickets are $125 for members and $150 for nonmembers.

Tickets for members are available now. Tickets for non-members will not be available until the 15th of October.

Call us, right now, at 843.723.9912 and buy your tickets. Alternatively, email us at rsvp@charlestonlibrarysociety.org. Please give us more information than "My name is Mike and I would like tickets". Name, number of tickets, purchasing information and contact number should all be in there. Tickets are first come, first serve, and will go quickly.

Your Michaelmas present: Pat Conroy's coming!

Happy Michaelmas, the third most painfully English of holidays (just behind St. George's Day and Guy Fawkes Night, but slightly ahead of Plough Sunday and Remembrance Day)! We can't cook you a goose or bring bannock bread, so this'll have to do:

Pat Conroy is coming to the Library Society.

To mercilessly crib John Keats; we wish a more exciting word than excited, a more thrilling word than thrilled, to express our regard for so wonderful a writer. Our pleasure in hosting this event cannot be contained.

So, yeah, we're a little hyped up over it. And y'all are too: twenty-four hours after the Post and Courier wrote about the coming fundraiser- more than two weeks before tickets will be on sale- the Society was receiving phone calls about the event. Personally, I've received about a dozen calls and emails looking for tickets, and thereby learned that hanging out with Pat Conroy is a great way to get reacquainted with old friends and distant relations (and then disappoint them terribly).

Tickets will be available after October 15th: priority reservations will be available to Society members, and tickets will be limited. Hard details- exact times and prices- will not be released until sometime next week... so be patient.

While on the topic of events, I would be remiss to neglect the fantastic one we hosted last week. Bret Lott, bestselling author of Jewel and The Hunt Club and about a half-dozen other books delivered a terrific lecture to a very large crowd of members and guests. It was a great kickoff for our Fall events season, season of mists and mellow fruitfulness, close bosom-friend of the maturing sun... sorry, sorry, more Keats. Anyhow, Bret not only gave a great talk; he supplied the A's in an insightful Q and A session (that could have lasted all evening, had it been allowed); and stuck around for an hour on top of that, talking to attendees personally and fielding lord-only-knows how many more questions. As folks who know him- even those who met him just last Thursday- know, Bret is as wonderful a person as he is a writer, and the Society is always pleased to have him here.

Bret, you've got it goin' on...

Just a quick reminder, best-selling novelist Bret Lott will be here this Thursday at 7:00 PM. He will discuss his time at the helm of The Southern Review. Bret is the author of a dozen books, including The Hunt Club and Jewel. We hope you can make it to what is sure to be a wonderful event. Please RSVP via email at rsvp@charlestonlibrarysociety.org, or by calling 843.723.9912.


Also: yes, we know it means missing the first quarter of the Ole Miss-USC game. First: y'all know that game's going to the fourth quarter; second, we didn't know that Gamecock fans read books... I now stand corrected.






Gamecock superstar Steve Taneyhill: dedicated bibliophile.

Dispatches from the Chalerston Lybrary Societye

Hopefully, some of you are familiar with the continuously wonderful "group complaint about law, liberty, and leisure" that is Popehat.com. It's a site your devoted author frequents regularly and never fails to enjoy. A highlight of the blog is the "Road To Popehat", a regular feature showcasing some of the exact search terms that brought people to the blog, and then musing upon their weirdness.

So, now I'm appropriating the bit for Shh! Here are a few (thoroughly weird) items y'all put into Google that eventually led you to us:


"Chalreston", or "Charlestun", or "Chareston", or "Chalerston", or "Chereleston"
Hopefully these visitors went to Savanuh instead.

old library + king street + savannah
Yup. They did.

murder in Charleston, SC
Might I suggest Romney Street?

The Brick + Charleston, SC + Hours
5 PM to 2 AM, thank you. And in my experience, they're real strict about the 2 AM part.

"free jackhammer" and "damn+jackhammer"
Two folks after my own heart.

Library Society charleston parking
It's a little known fact that we've had a parking lot behind the library for the past 97 years. It's free for patrons and guests!

Dr. King + Halloween Party + Charleston
I'm not touching that one with a ten foot pole.

the charleston library society is
Deep statement, young grasshopper.

charleston library society 29407
It would make my drive to work a little shorter.

what is the oldest and smallest instituion in society?
This feels like a riddle... I'm guessing the Libertarians.

charleston library society + myspace
We're not a band or a paedophile, so MySpace isn't much use to us, thanks. However, do feel free to follow our Facebook group!


Anyhow, that's enough of me being a wisearse. If nothing else, this has been a very insightful exercise: apparently we're not focusing on the illiterate and mildly mentally handicapped... and they are very interested in the "Charlee Lybray King stret".

For those of you who are not only fully literate and in possession of their mental faculties (that's you dear reader!), we have a host of events coming up soon. Bret Lott is here in one week: RSVP now, at rsvp@charlestonlibrarysociety.org, or by calling 843.723.9912. The Fall Book Sale is here in just under two months, so there's still plenty of time to drop by with donations. Remember, we're the "Charlee Lybray" behind the "old+ginko trees+29401", and once again, there is "free parking + Charleston Library". See you soon!




P.S.: To the ten people who have been searching "Clifford Jacobs on Facebook", (quite flattering, thank you) that's just a pen name... so you'll have search harder.

P.P.S.: If you're not a cute, available redhead between the ages of 19 and 35 (or someone looking to pay a freelance blogger), Clifford sez: feel free to stop trying altogether.

Fall Events are Here!

Next Thursday, September 24th, bestselling author Bret Lott will give a lecture entitled "Southern Writing and Southern Editing: My Life and The Southern Review". Mr. Lott was named editor of The Southern Review in 2004: he returned to Charleston last year, and now teaches English and creative writing at The College. He is the author of a dozen books, including The Hunt Club and Jewel, an Oprah Book Club pick and major motion picture.

Also, for those of you yet to stop by since we've started remodeling, a picture of part of the improved reading area in the Main Reading Room. The old green vinyl chairs have been happily relegated to the bowels of the building, and our casual reading space has never looked better or felt more relaxing. Stop by soon!

A brimful of Asha...

Quick tip for confused patrons: your new books are all still here, they've just moved twelve feet. The passageway gallery (!) between the Main Reading Room and the Barnwell Annex is now the home to all our new nonfiction, fiction and mysteries, along with our esoteric collection of non-accessioned books. Feel free to grab a few good volumes and have a seat in our new chairs or couches.

Our fine collection of East Indian art is now on display in the passageway. Though they have been out since 1990, we hope their new place in the passageway brings renewed interest in these wonderful pieces. The Society has many American colonial-era works, and even a few late medieval documents, but none of our written materials compare age to our Indic art. Reflecting on these Jain and Hindu carvings- some over eight centuries old when the Society was founded- makes one pause before calling the CLS a "venerable" institution (still, 1748's pretty good by American standards- even for Charleston!)

Don't forget- CLS Fall Book sale, mid-November. The Bhagavad Gita teaches,

"Worn-out garments are shed by the body; Worn-out bodies are shed by the dweller within the body. New bodies are donned by the dweller, like garments." -Bhagavad Gita II.22

Well, our book sale is exactly like that. Just instead of worn-out bodies, think of worn-out books. And the immortal atman of cash from resale moves through the samsāra of being exchanged for new books. Or something like that. Anyhow, stop by soon, and bring books- it's good for your soul.

Labor Day Weekend: more proof Grover Cleveland was our greatest president...

The start of September; the end of summer; the start of football season; the end of having large print books in the front room of the Barnwell Annex... it's an eventful time indeed. Labor Day weekend is here, unless you're one of the 6,335,000,000 or so people who don't live in the United States, Canada, or Bermuda. (Remember, they all celebrate Labor Day on May Day, better known as "Commie Christmas".) Which reminds me, I'm pretty sure the City of Minneapolis officially regards the first of May as "Labor Day". So there's another 330,000 or so folks not celebrating Labor Day this weekend, either.

For the record the Charleston Library Society is taking the holiday off- we're closed this coming Saturday and Monday. I'll personally celebrate the proletariat's struggle against capitalist running-dog lackeys by watching the Bulldogs of UGA (in red, no less) run a football down Mike Gundy's throat; glory, glory, and to hell with Oklahoma State.

Other goings on: Don't forget, we're only a month-and-a-half away from the Fall Book Sale, so stop by with your donations. The new library chairs are in, as are new lamps and some more stylish seating in the Main Reading Room.

...about a lucky girl who made the grade...

Your devoted blogger hopes your weekend was a great as his- I finally got Hey Jude, the weird compilation album released in early 1970 by Apple Records while the Beatles were still with Capitol Records, which means I'm only A Collection of Beatles Oldies away from having the complete official discography.

For those of you who haven't read the news today, our own Anne Cleveland was given a quick writeup in this morning's Post & Courier. Check it out here. P&C columnist, naval historian, and all-around good guy Bryan Hicks put together a nice piece highlighting not only Anne's (impressive) CV but her goal of increasing membership, especially amongst younger Charlestonians. So remember: go grab a young Charlestonian and drag them to the Library Society, to-day. You know that they'll be glad.

Free, convenient parking downtown: the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die.

Notes (re)compiled while wondering why this blog didn't post the first two times I clicked "Publish Post".

As most of you know, Eric left his position here at the Society early this month, and is busy bringing the skillful leadership to the South Carolina Department of Archives and History, (http://scdah.sc.gov/), one of the most prestigious history jobs in the state. We all wish him the best of luck.

Anne Cleveland is now Executive Director of the Library Society. Her handiwork here is already readily apparent (not to mention awesome). If you haven't been by in a while, now is the time to visit. Everything is clean and smells like lemons! And there are rugs and lamps and thoughtful decor! We're all very excited.

Decor changes bring me to the next topic- our fund raising campaign for new furniture! The Society wants to thank everyone who has participated so far. Your donations have been as speedy as they have been generous, and the new furniture should be here soon. I hope everyone's in the mood for a good sit!

Finally, the news y'all have been waiting for: the driveway is now open! Our segment of the streetscaping project has passed, leaving a lovely bluestone sidewalk, bricks across the driveway, and a renewed appreciation for on-site parking! A month of parking in the garage and walking in the August heat will do that to you. This is also a good time to remind everyone that when you park in the rear, you do not have to walk around to the front: just press the buzzer at the back door, and we're more than happy to let you in.

Papalaka-papalaka-papalaka-boo! Digariga-digariga-digariga-doo!

Today, August the fourth, is Saint Sithney's Day- the obscure Breton saint of mad dogs (if you ever contract rabies, he's your man). And, as Noel Coward taught us, only Mad Dogs and Englishmen are out on a day like today, when the heat index is at 98 degrees.

"In tropical climes there are certain times of day,
When all the citizens retire,
to tear their clothes off and perspire.
It's one of those rules that the biggest fools obey,
Because the sun is much too sultry and one must avoid
its ultry-violet ray..."
- Sir Noël Coward

So the synthesis of our little ecclesiastical and musical history lesson and weather report is this: if you're coming into the Library Society today, look out for rabid canines. (The Englishmen should be fairly harmless unless they are soccer hooligans, or they try to convince you that British food is suitable for human consumption. It is not.)

The driveway is still blocked off due to streetscaping: visitors may park in the 93 Queen Street garage for free if their ticket is validated at the front desk. We'll let you know when (if?) the situation improves.

ALSO COMING SOON: Fall book sale: October 17th and 18th November! Mark your calendar. Now.