Good News and Not So Good News

​By Carol Van Why, originally published in the August 2024 issue of the 1666 Coffman Newsletter

Resident and Library Committee member Eileen Smith has been dealing with serious health issues. In an effort to simplify life, she’s decided to rent rather than own. Her priority now is readying her Coffman unit for sale.

To say we’ll miss Eileen once she leaves Coffman is an understatement. As busy as she is, she’s determined to finish cataloging the last 1%-2% of the Library’s holdings, including its newest books. Her enduring contribution to 1666 Coffman will be a digital record of the nearly 4,000 items in the library’s collection. 

The committee’s biggest job this summer will be juggling members’ responsibilities in order to manage book donations and keep the library looking appealing. Normally, at this time of 

year, we’d be preparing for September’s Book Fest. In light of everything on our plate at the moment, we’ve decided to cancel Book Fest 2024.

Instead, the Committee has spent a significant portion of our accumulated funds on some of the best of the year’s new books. By early August, you’ll notice 33 new books on the Library’s Recent Arrivals shelves.

In August, the book publishing industry will begin revealing some of the most anticipated books of the Fall 2024 season. Again, we’ll allocate another portion of our budget to purchase some of the best of the fall books. You’ll see those on our bookshelves about the time they appear in local bookstores.