Celia Gurevitch Jewish Community Library

Two weeks, the last time the library was open, I was so busy that I didn’t have time to write an entry in this blog. Being busy is a great thing, I wish it would be always busy in the library.

It took longer than I thought it would to prepare the books I cataloged the previous week ready for the shelves. But, I had to do all of these things before I couls shelve the books:

• Print and cut due dates notes
• Print the “material label,” the ones with the bar codes and author/title information that goes in the book
• Print the “spine label” that has the call number of the books. These were needed in two copies, so if a book has a dust cover a label could go both on the book itself and another one onto the cover
• Put all of the above into the books: two out of three were self-adhesive, but the third need glue
• Cover the labels, but not the due date piece with a clear film to protect them from peeling down
• Add a protective transparent cover for the hardcover books.

While I was doing this a class from the religious school came in and they asked for a book on Passover. At the time I still had the Purim books out as we were just a  few days after the holiday (and on the second day of our Purim Spiel). So I recommended for them to read a Purim a story, while I gathered the Pesach ones. As of this writing, two weeks later, we are still before Passover so all the books for younger readers about this holiday are on library’s table. Come on in and borrow some to read with/for/by your children.

Are you confused why I put “Hasidism” in the title of this post? Don’t be, I am getting to it. A patron came in last time and asked for a book about this topic. I tried to guide the reference conversation to get more specifics on the nature of the “information need” as I learned it in library school. But the patron didn’t offer more details why he needs it, what he would like to find out about them, so I offered my two favorites books related to Hasidism.

Martin Buber‘s “Tales of the Hasidim” is an absolute must to understand the origins of the movement. It is a fantastic read of shorter, often funny and/or inspiring stories, with a great introduction to this world. On the other hand to understand the world of today’s Hasidism you need more. That is why I suggested the more sociologically inclined book by Sue Fishkoff titled “The Rebbe’s Army: Inside the World of Chabad-Lubavitch.” It provides insights to the operation of one particular, albeit the most well-known Hasid group