A LITTLE TOO QUIET: THE FERNDALE LIBRARY PODCAST

A Little Too Quiet: Patience and Fortitude

Here's another minisode where we go over some recent history of the Ferndale Library. From early 2007 through the late summer of 2010, this library began renovations, which meant that the entire collection was moved a quarter mile down the street into a temporary location described herein as a "factory-like gymnasium." We talk about how this was never seen as any kind of setback to the staff, as the drive and imagination for new programming only accelerated during this time. It's also important to note the exchange of support from the community, and the gratitude of staff for its patrons - as the library's renovation was approved by voters at a precarious time (the 2008 recession was looming). We talk about the patience of the community, and the fortitude of the staff, in this minisode on Ferndale Library history.  

Follow this link to see some photos from the renovation and the big move: https://fplobserver.wordpress.com/2020/01/16/photos-from-2008-2009-renovation-the-move-our-temporary-location/ 

A Little Too Quiet: Book Clubs & "What to Read Next?"

We're chatting with Ferndale Library's Assistant Director, Librarian Darlene Hellenberg, about the vital service of "Readers' Advisory." Basically, it's how librarians help YOU figure out what to read next... We're also looking back on ten years' worth of inventive ideas for Community-wide Book Club events, and just what a special experience it is to read as a group. 

We're also sharing Darlene's Top 3 (but actually Top 5) Favorite Books of the Decade (as discussed in the episode):

1. All the Light We Cannot See - Anthony Doerr 
2. Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine - Gail Honeyman 
3. Everything I Never Told You - Celeste Ng 
Honorable Mentions:
4. Saga by Brian K. Vaughan
5. Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

 

A Little Too Quiet Mid-Season Sampler

Just wanted to say thanks to everyone who's downloaded or listened to our first batch of episodes!

We're looking forward to the rest of Season 1 of "A Little Too Quiet," where we'll have more conversations that look at the ways in which libraries have evolved over the last quarter-century.

Featured interview guests include author Kathe Koja (scheduled for a Book Launch Party & Immersive Theatre Performance here at the library on April 25), and musician/producer Nadir Omowale (a Ferndale resident, recently featured in our Summer Concert Series, who was raised with a great appreciation for libraries and community engagement).

We're also looking forward to talking to Joe Grimm (Detroit Free Press Reporter, and author of The Faygo Book), visual artist Dalia Reyes (exhibiting here on June 21), and singer/songwriter & poet Carolyn Striho. 

A Little Too Quiet: Author Michael Zadoorian (The Narcissism of Small Differences)

We're chatting Michael Zadoorian, author of The Leisure Seeker. (You may have even heard, or seen, the recent film adaptation of that story, starring Helen Mirren & Donald Sutherland). Zadoorian has a new book coming out this May, The Narcissism of Small Differences (Akashic Books). Zadoorian creates compelling characters in the slow-motion throes of big changes to their lives, and the relatable ways in which they bond, or have bonded, with cultural artifacts of a steadily fading past. He invites you into their worlds and builds them out with accessible narration that builds a world for the reader to inhabit, leading us to reflect on our own little worlds, and what we hold on to, and the permanence of what we treasure. 

 http://www.michaelzadoorian.com/

A Little Too Quiet minisode: The Dream of the 90's

As we mark the 90th anniversary of the Ferndale Library, we're looking back, appropriately, to "the 90's..." #Libraries in the #90s

Podcast producer Kelly Bennett (who's also Head of Circulation) joins Jeff Milo to look back on libraries in the era before the Internet, particularly reflecting on how much has changed over the 20+ years since the two of them first started working in libraries. 

We'd love to hear your memories of what you loved most about visiting libraries in your youth, and how much your own public library has changed over the years: email us at podcast@ferndalepubliclibrary.org 

A Little Too Quiet: Library History & Sci Fi Lit with Kevin Deegan-Krause

For our local audience here in Ferndale, we have some insights into the history of the Ferndale Library over the last 20 years, but for broader audiences, this is a discussion about how libraries are surviving and thriving even while some had predicted their demise. Libraries couldn't survive and thrive without the support of their community, and that's what we're chatting about with Kevin Deegan-Krause, Associate Professor of Political Science at Wayne State University, and former President of the Ferndale Library Board of Trustees--an integral advocate for getting this library renovated 10 years ago. 

For Sci-Fi literature fans, and for those who have always been curious about trying out that genre, we also talk about the Sci-Fi Book Club that Deegan-Krause facilitates here at the Ferndale Library.