Library’s circulation continues to rise

A remark­able event occurred at the Delaware County Dis­trict Library this week. The library’s cir­cu­la­tion (the num­ber of items you have checked out) sur­passed one mil­lion for the year, and as of this writ­ing, the num­ber stands at 1,007,538. Thank you, Delaware, for your sup­port of the library.

What makes this event even more note­wor­thy, though, is that the library sur­passed one mil­lion items for the first time in 2009, cir­cu­la­tion fig­ures con­tinue to grow in dou­ble dig­its, and in 2010, you checked out 1,018,254 books, DVDs and audio books. To sur­pass the one mil­lion mark with nearly three months left in the year is remark­able in the truest sense.

Of course, the open­ing of the Orange branch in May bol­stered cir­cu­la­tion num­bers tremen­dously, with cus­tomers check­ing out 157,416 items through the end of Sep­tem­ber. The amount of use that the Orange branch is enjoy­ing only rein­forces the need for library ser­vice in the south­ern part of the county. If you haven’t vis­ited this archi­tec­turally stun­ning branch yet, I invite you to do so.

The Delaware County Dis­trict Library con­tin­ues to strive to be the best used library in our com­mu­nity, and while num­bers are an easy and quan­tifi­able way to mea­sure suc­cess, pro­vid­ing our com­mu­nity with the ser­vice and mate­ri­als that you want and need is truly the most mean­ing­ful mea­sure of our success.

Please never hes­i­tate to let me or any­one on staff know if you are not find­ing what you need at the library, or if we can help you in any way. We cel­e­brate our suc­cess every day by work­ing harder for you, and hope that you join us in cel­e­brat­ing such a won­der­ful library system.

What hap­pened to Marie Antoinette’s children?

Marie Antoinette’s first child was a girl, Marie Thérèse, born on Dec. 9, 1778. Louis Joseph, the King’s male heir and the next Dauphin of France, was born three years later, fol­lowed by Louis Charles in March of 1785 and Sophie in July of 1786. But Sophie, who was born pre­ma­ture, died before her first birth­day, and Louis Joseph died two years later, likely from tuber­cu­lo­sis. Dur­ing the French Rev­o­lu­tion, Louis XVI was exe­cuted on Jan. 21, 1793; Marie fol­lowed 10 months later, on Oct. 16. On June 8, 1795, their son, the Dauphin, died at the age of 10, most likely of tuber­cu­lo­sis exac­er­bated by his bru­tal prison con­di­tions. Released from prison in Decem­ber 1795, Marie Thérèse died of pneu­mo­nia on Oct. 19 1851, three days after the 58th anniver­sary of the exe­cu­tion of her mother. A com­plete account is included in The Road From Ver­sailles: Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette, and the Fall of the French Monarchy.

How old is Paul Simon?

Born on Oct. 13, 1941, accord­ing to Biog­ra­phy Today, Simon just turned 70. Through his solo and col­lab­o­ra­tive work, Simon has earned 13 Gram­mys, includ­ing the Life­time Achieve­ment Award. In 2001, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and in 2006 was selected as one of the “100 Peo­ple Who Shaped the World” by Time mag­a­zine. Among many other hon­ors, Simon was named the first recip­i­ent of the Library of Congress’s Gersh­win Prize for Pop­u­lar Song in 2007. He resides in New Canaan, Conn.

What is a water­melon radish?

Food Lovers’ Com­pan­ion notes that it is a radish that is milder and sweeter than a reg­u­lar radish, and much larger, aver­ag­ing about three inches in diam­e­ter. Water­melon radishes can be braised or roasted like a turnip, or mashed like a rutabaga. They are often pick­led. With their green skins and pink inte­ri­ors, they look unusu­ally like a lit­tle water­melon when cut open.

If you have a ques­tion that you would like to see answered in this col­umn, mail it to Mary Jane San­tos, Delaware County Dis­trict Library, 84 E. Win­ter St., Delaware, OH 43015, or call us at 740–362-3861. You can also email your ques­tions by vis­it­ing the library’s web­site at delawarelibrary.org or directly to Mary Jane at mjsantos@delawarelibrary.org. No mat­ter how you con­tact us, we’re always glad you asked!

Posted by Andrew Tobias on Oct 21 2011. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Comments can be made below.