SEQUATCHIE COUNTY LIBRARY LIGHTS Winter 2011 a Great Community D Eserves a Great Library
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
SEQUATCHIE COUNTY LIBRARY LIGHTS Winter 2011 A great community d eserves a great library. The March Book Sale will be March 3- 8, 2011. Setup will Who knew begin February 28, 2011. geology can be Call Lucy Szelengiewicz at 423-949-7753, if you will be fascinating? able to help with setup or during the book sale itself. Dr. Nicholas Crawford, the Friends 2011 INSIDE THIS ISSUE annual meeting speaker, told his listeners about ancient cataclysms happening where we now All about Sequatchie Valley Geology & Geography stand, fascinating underground rivers, hidden 1 caves, and earthquake faults beneath us. READS, Free Book Downloads 3 Did you know the Sequatchie Valley was created by sinkholes and is fed by an underground 4 Master Gardeners Brave the Cold & the Library river instead of tributaries? If you attended the gets warmer. Friends of the Sequatchie County Library’s annual meeting on Tuesday, January 25, 2011, you learned 5 New Mural at the Library, Who won the quilt? & this and much more. In addition to Friends members, Requests to Members the meeting and the speaker’s presentation were free and open to the general public. Approximately 130 6 Library Lovers’ Month & National Library Month people attended. After the brief business meeting concluded, the guest speaker, Dr. Crawford, a professor from the 6 New Book Arrivals Department of Geography and Geology at Western Kentucky University, was introduced. In 1978, he Library Information 8 founded the first cave and karst center in the United States. In 1980 Dr. Crawford founded the now RReemmeemmbbeerr ttoo vviissiitt oouurr wweebb ssiittee Internationally-recognized Karst Field Studies program. SSeeqquuaattcchhiieeccoouunnttyylliibbrraarryy..oorrgg Karst is a geological term describing terrain shaped by the dissolution of a layer or layers of soluble bedrock, usually carbonate rock such as limestone or February 2011 Sequatchie County Library Newsletter Page 1 Newsletter brought to you courtesy of dolomite. This terrain presents a landscape dominated by springs, streams, sinkholes, and caves. Karst geography is by definition unstable. Sinkhole collapses occur when rainwater dissolves limestone or marble bedrock, creating underground caves that grow until the material above collapses Dr. Crawford has spent many years studying the geology of the Sequatchie Valley, Grassy Cove, Crab Orchard, and the many underground streams in this area. He told the audience remarkable karst terrain can be found in the Sequatchie Valley, north of which is Grassy Cove, the largest sinkhole in North America. He described Sequatchie Valley as being Snow threatened, but the enthusiasm of those waiting unique, able to be seen from space, remarkably for the annual meeting to begin was not dampened. straight, like a knife cut, and having been created from a series of sinkholes. The Sequatchie Valley illustration on the next page, from was created through the process of water gradually ubs.usgs.gov/ha/ha730/ch_g/jpeg/G098.jpeg, shows the Sequatchie enlarging small cracks and pores in the limestone, Valley development from anticline to anticline breached by allowing water to begin to pool. Over thousands the Sequatchie River. of years, these small pores and cracks expanded to become underground streams and caves. When Dr. Crawford also reminded us faults lie below the underground caves collapsed, sinkholes were Sequatchie Valley and described the intense 1812 intraplate formed. Over geologic time, Grassy Cove, to our earthquake known as the New Madrid earthquake which north, will eventually become part of the created the 18,000 acre Reelfoot Lake in western Tennessee. Sequatchie Valley through continued dissolution Although as a June20, 2009 Times Free Press article by Pam of limestone and collapse of sinkholes. Grassy Sohn reports, “’…there haven't been any major quakes in Cove is drained entirely by underground streams. the Sequatchie Valley within the last 10,000 or 20,000 The valley's main stream, Grassy Cove Creek, years,’” “East Tennessee is the heart of the second-most- flows northward across the cove then disappears active quake zone in the eastern portion of the nation.” Dr. into Mill Cave on the slopes of Brady Mountain. Crawford advised it may be a good idea for homeowners to It winds its way through a series of caves before purchase reasonably priced earthquake insurance. reemerging to form the headwaters of the Sequatchie River. At the business meeting Robert Lambert, President, Dr. Crawford cautioned listeners that opened the meeting and welcomed members and guests. Nina Hunt read the 2010 Annual Meeting Minutes. Reports water flows straight through limestone aquifers without being sanitized in any way. He were made to Friends members by: Pat Treadwell, recommended those able to obtain city water Treasurer’s; Linda Fletcher, Membership; Betty Worley, Librarian’s; Lucy Szelengiewicz, Friends’ Activities; and switch from well water to city water and recommended those unable to obtain city water Suzanne Spicer, Imagination Library. Jane Indyk presided take their well water to be tested. over the election of board members. Four Friends members were elected to the board or had terms renewed: During the presentation some of us heard Karen Fletcher; Nina Hunt; Jane Indyk; Linda Green the word “anticline” for the first time. Anticline is Johnson; and Pam Ryle. After the vote on the new board an upward fold in layers of rock, usually formed members, the board met to elect 2010 officers: Robert during lateral compression when two tectonic Lambert, President; Lucy Szelengiewicz, 1 st VP; Wilda Moss, plates are pushed towards each other so that strata, 2nd VP; and Nina Hunt, Secretary; and Pat Treadwell, layers of rock, slope down from both sides. The Treasurer. February 2011 Sequatchie County Library Newsletter Page 2 Newsletter brought to you courtesy of What’s better than free? More free. Some patrons have yet to discover some of the disappointment may be in store for some patrons, wonderful benefits of the Sequatchie County not all digital devices are compatible. For Public Library, like free downloadable books. example, the extremely popular Kindle is not now, and may never be, compatible. The tutorial on the We have mentioned READS, the "Regional site will let the visitor know whether or not his or Ebook and Audiobook Download System," in her devices are compatible. previous newsletters, and some patrons have clearly "gotten it." Some of our patrons visited Reaching READS could not be easier for those READS 1186 times between July 31, 2010 (the with Internet access. Visit the library's web site, beginning of our fiscal year) and December 31, www.sequatchiecountylibrary.org, and select the 2010. However, during the same period the "Links" page at the top of the scene. Once on the library circulated 15,441books, so some patrons "Links" page, you will see a hyperlink for READS must not yet know how easy it is to reach READS about halfway down the page. A hyperlink is an and gain access to materials there. We realize electronic connection between one place and some patrons do not have Internet access and another, which, if you select or click upon it, some probably hate computers, but for those with immediately takes you from the original spot to Internet access and those willing to recognize the the linked web site or page. When you arrive at benefit of the Internet, visiting READS is a must. the READS home page, you either create an Try it, and we believe you will like it. You will be account or, after you have created an account, sign able to download, without charge, audio books or into the site. When you sign in, you select your ebooks and other materials to your computer, your library region. Ours is the Caney Fork Region. phone, your Ipod, or many other devices. One The next page asks you to select your library February 2011 Sequatchie County Library Newsletter Page 3 Newsletter brought to you courtesy of system. There is a "drop down menu," obtained by selecting the down arrow to the right of the box, which allows you to select the Sequatchie County Public Library. The next box asks for your library card number, located below the bar code on your library card. Enter all the numbers and letters. Once you have created your account, you may search by titles, authors, or keywords. Recently published books may not be currently available, but you can put them on "hold," and you will be notified as soon as the book you desire is available. You can create "wish lists," so you can go back at any time and retrieve books you are interested in reading. This site even lists your favorite series by publication sequence and provides links to different categories of books, likes romances or mysteries. The site is easy to navigate and very user friendly. What better use for a cold, drizzly winter day than to learn something new by visiting the site and giving it a try. It was a cold, cold day outside the library, but the Master Gardeners were at work anyway. In January 2011, on what certainly must have felt like the coldest day of the year, undaunted Master Gardeners worked hard to make us look great in the spring. (It would take a miracle for us to look good right now, as bare as everything is.) They fought the crepe myrtles, and it looks as though the gardeners won, at least for now. Tune in again in the spring. Photo top right, smiling despite the cold: John Formby; Nita Formby; Jane Indyk; Sammy Finley; Sophie Gabalski; Jim Fawcett; Linda Barker; kneeling, Anna Lee Studer ; and Linda G. Johnson. Sheldon Barker is not pictured, as he was behind the camera, and neither is Lora Blackmon. In the photo middle right, Sophie Gabalski and Sammy Finley can be seen attempting to tame the shrubs and trees.