Competition? What Competition?

This coming week, beginning on Sunday, April 8, is National Library Week. Some people see bookstores and libraries as competitors. Libraries and bookstores both begin with books, it’s true, and the two institutions serve some overlapping needs and demands, but there are important differences. I had it in mind to write more about the differences, but somehow my inspiration fled. Lucky you!

The important points are next week’s recognition of libraries and, in Northport, a celebratory evening Wednesday, April 11, from 6 to 8 p.m. It’s a poetry and soup evening, so bring poems to share and your favorite soup mug. There’s also a special Robert Burns connection, which makes me doubly sorry I’ll be out of town and will miss the fun. I would have loved another chance to perform an interpretive reading, in Scottish dialect, of “To a Mouse,” my favorite Burns poem.

P.S. If anyone thinks I’m kidding about bookstores and libraries not being competitors, I’d like to say that our local librarian and at least three Friends of the Library members attended my recent author event and bought signed copies of the author’s book. Also, I have been working with the FOL committee to help put together this summer’s author series at the library. In a place as small as Northport, we all have to work together so that all may swim and none may sink.

P.P.S. Dog Ears Books will be closed today, Wednesday, April 4. The Leelanau Township Library opens at 3:30 p.m. on Wednesdays and is open until 8 p.m. Tomorrow both bookstore and library will be open morning and afternoon.