Before I came to Garfield County, I lived in two big cities: Chicago and Denver. I was surprised to learn that I did a lot more walking and biking there than I did in the more rural and suburban settings I’d lived in before. Cars are a hassle in the city. In the country, you […]
Jamie LaRue
Posted inColumns
Literate Life: Deep state or mob rule?The lessons of history
Jamie LaRue is the executive director of the Garfield County Public Library District. When my grandfather died, I inherited his collection of “The Story of Civilization” by Will and Ariel Durant. This 11-volume series, 50 years in the making, stretches from “Our Oriental Heritage” (volume 1) to “The Age of Napoleon.” The prose is magisterial. […]
Posted inOpinion
Literate Life: GCPLD seeks qualified trustees
The Garfield County Public Library District is seeking trustees (our word for library board members) to fill three vacancies. (For more information, visit www.bit.ly/GCPLD-wanted). Applicants do have to live in Rifle, New Castle or Parachute. By the end of the year, the Rifle position will have been vacant for six months, due to delays in […]
Posted inColumns
Censorship is no laughing matter
The past week, Oct. 5-11, was Banned Books Week. This event, the offshoot of a book expo in 1982, celebrates the Freedom to Read. It does so, paradoxically, by recounting the many ways people try to remove or restrict access to books, movies, magazines, databases, exhibits, programs and virtually anything else a library provides. The […]
Posted inColumns
Literate Life: ‘That’s impossible!’
When I was 12 I was talking with my mom at the dining table. Suddenly she looked up, stood up and said, “Mother?” She asked me, “Did you hear that?” I’d heard nothing. “I hear my mother calling my name!” she said. She walked around the house, upstairs, out front. My maternal grandparents lived about […]
Posted inOpiniones
El abuso de sustancias tiene soluciones
En marzo de este año, un usuario de la biblioteca de Rifle le informó a nuestro guardia de seguridad que un hombre aparentemente estaba dormido en el baño. El guardia contactó a nuestro personal, y fueron con cuidado a investigar. El hombre no estaba dormido. Pero no respondía y tenía saliva cayendo de la boca. […]
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Literate Life: Substance abuse has solutions
Back in March of this year, a Rifle library patron reported to our security guard that a man was apparently sleeping in the bathroom. The guard contacted our staff, and they went carefully to investigate. The man was not asleep. But he was unresponsive and drooling. There are people reading this that are already nodding. […]
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Literate Life: Spotlight on Glenwood Springs Branch Library
One of the standard segments of our library board meetings is the Branch Manager Report. In July, our director of branches, Nancy Barnes, filled in for vacationing Abraham Korah. Their comments were so good I thought them worthy of wider dissemination. I have lightly edited them, adding my own intro and conclusions. IntroOur board meetings […]
Posted inOpiniones
La guerra contra la información
¿Qué sucede cuando el gobierno elimina datos públicos sobre salud, derechos civiles y niñez? Jamie LaRue reflexiona sobre los peligros de la censura de datos. Este mes me gustaría escribir sobre dos asuntos relacionados: la información gubernamental y las amenazas hacia los niños. El primero es la purga de datos en sitios web federales. A […]
Posted inOpinion
Literate Life: The War on Information
This month I’d like to write about two related issues: government information and threats to children. First is the purging of data on federal websites. Beginning in January of 2025, according to NPR, “several webpages from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention with references to LGBTQ+ health were no longer available. A page from the […]