Ruth Irene Garrett, best-selling author of Crossing Over: One Woman’s Escape from Amish Life, Born Amish and My Amish Heritage, makes a return engagement to the L. E. Phillips Memorial Public Library in Eau Claire on Thursday evening, April 29, from 7 to 8:30 p.m. She will speak about Amish life and her decision to leave it behind, as well as the recent publication of her children’s book, Ruthie Goes to Town: Stories of a Little Amish Girl. The free program will be presented in the Eau Claire Room on the library’s lower level. Books will be available for purchase.

Ms. Garrett will speak about her experiences growing up in the Amish farming community of Kalona, Iowa, and provide information about school, games, chores, foods, crafts and clothing. Her presentation also reflects on the expectations for girls and boys, and then for young women and young men, in Amish families, and on social roles, courtship and marriage, and the often wrenching decisions young men and women must make about going out into the world or staying in the Amish faith and way of life.

Ms. Garrett left the Amish faith and her family in 1996 and was ultimately excommunicated from the Amish church. Since that time, she has fully immersed herself in modern life. Her story represents a unique insight into the Amish, one far different than the publicly held notion that the Amish way of life is forever pristine and free from strife.

For information call 715-839-5004, or e-mail the library at librarian@eauclaire.lib.wi.us

Say Cheese Again!

The positive feedback received both statewide and nationally for the WLA Foundation's Wisconsin Libraries Say Cheese - A Day in Pictures 2009 event has encouraged the Foundation's Campaign Action Committee to plan a similar day in 2010. 

Mark Wednesday, November 17, 2010, on your calendars as the day to have your cameras ready and your "cheese" activities set to go. The committee is currently in the planning stages for this year's Day in Pictures for libraries across the state of Wisconsin and, as details become finalized, the committee will post the updated information once again at www.wisconsinlibraries.org/saycheese. Watch for new details and announcements to come. (Watch, too, for an upcoming article to be published in the ALA's American Libraries magazine about our state's 2009 Wisconsin Libraries Say Cheese event!)



We are announcing the 2010 Say Cheese program at this time for the benefit of those libraries needing advance notice for planning their fall activities schedule. 



Over 100 Wisconsin libraries of all types participated in the 2009 event, posting over 600 photos showcasing their activities, programs, patrons, services, and resources to the Say Cheese Flickr account for all the world to see. For those of you who did not participate in last year's event, we hope to see your photos this year and learn of the many creative ways that you were able to use this relatively simple, easy to implement, and cost-effective event to promote excitement and secure benefits for your library.