New County Agreement

The Board of Trustees of Webster Groves Public Library recently approved a new agreement with St. Louis County Library, allowing residents of Webster Groves free access to County Library locations.

The change was spurred by County Library’s decision, taken at its September board meeting, to eliminate the transactional fees associated with reciprocal borrowing agreements, and allowing the provision of free library cards to all patrons of St. Louis Public Library, St. Charles City-County Library, and the nine Municipal Library Consortium member libraries.

In 2014, Webster Groves Public Library withdrew from a previous reciprocal borrowing agreement, citing the associated fees and the high cost of maintaining it. Since that time Webster Groves residents who wanted to use St. Louis County Library locations have been asked to pay a $50 annual non-resident fee. The new agreement will be effective as of January 1, 2018.

New Books, Old Books

There is kind of a prejudice among library users to always look for new books. They enter the library and head straight to the new book shelves. But there is an old saying among librarians: Every book is new until you’ve read it. Among 50,000 books in the library, aren’t there some older ones that you haven’t read and yet might be interested in?

Recently I have been doing some research about music. In pursuit of that I found a book from 2012 that I had not seen when it came out all those years ago. It is called The Story of Music: from Babylon to the Beatles, How Music Has Shaped Civilization, by Howard Goodall. The author is an English musicologist, and though his learning and knowledge are very evident, his prose style is casual, welcoming and informative.

I have never read a book which, in the course of just a few hundred pages, taught me so much about how Western music developed, from the simplest flutes, drums, and stringed instruments to the full symphony orchestra. It deals with how notes, chords, harmony, and finally concerto and symphony form developed. It also helps you understand why people you may not have heard of, such as Guillaume de Machaut, Josquin des Prez, and Arcangelo Corelli may be more important in the development of musical form than Mozart, Beethoven, or Tchaikovsky. And the author takes us right up to modern times, with examples of popular song composition from Adele, the Beatles, Sting, and more. A highly recommended read.

So the next time you’re in the library looking for something to read, remember—the new shelves are only about 1 or 2% of our collection. Every book is new until you’ve read it!