New Year's Resolutions

The topic of New Year's Resolutions came up at work today. A co-worker asked me if I had chosen a resolution for 2008, yet. I like the idea of resolutions, but rarely, if ever, stick to them; I like the idea of a new year, a new start. According to Wikipedia, New Year's Resolutions can be traced back to the Babylonians, where it's said that the most common resolution was "to return the borrowed farm equipment". As for Americans, we tend to be a little more body-conscious with our resolutions, and the most common resolutions are to exercise more and eat better. How often do we actually stick to these resolutions, though? Mine usually peters out sometime around March.

I like the idea of resolutions that work to improve society or who we are as individuals. Making a resolution to volunteer once a month or to be more environmentally conscious positively affects society and the world, as well as improving our own self-image. Maybe it would be easier to stick to a resolution that affected more people than just ourselves.

The New Yorker recently published an article by Caleb Crain entitled, Twilight of the Books: What Will Life be Like if People Stop Reading?. This is a topic that frequents the thoughts and conversations of librarians. According to the research presented in this article, Americans are choosing to read less and less. If you feel like you don't read as much as you would like to, the library can help you with this resolution! We have all sorts of reading activities going on at the library. We have book discussion groups for adults, Storytime for preschoolers, and Tiny Tales for babies and toddlers. These programs provide great opportunities to expose yourself and your family to reading and literacy. You can visit our website for a detailed schedule of events going on at the library. Just click on the Newsletter link. We can help you keep your New Year's resolution of improving you and your family's reading.