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Celebrate the U.S. National Parks 100th Anniversary!

The National Park Service turns 100 on August 25! Here's a great picture taken by one of our staffers on a recent trip to Grand Teton National Park.  Click here for a little more from the park service on the festivities. Check out the books listed below from the library about the parks!

973.917 BR

917.306 SC

333.78 TH

333.78 DU







Spring Cleaning 2016: Time to Declutter!

Each year with the coming of Spring, an aura of newness fills the air. Life begins to spring from the ground and with new life comes new beginnings, new habits, and new goals. One of the challenges we often decide to tackle during this time is to rid our homes of clutter. We try to eliminate all those things taking up unnecessary space in our homes. The concept of decluttering has become very popular in the last two years. In an article titled, The Origin Story of Marie Kondo's Decluttering Empire, Barry Yourgrau states that in late 2014, when Marie Kondo's book "The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up" first came to the United States, her book sparked a whole new adventure into cleaning, organizing, and getting rid of things that were taking over people's homes. Now you can find and access a variety of books, blogs, and articles promoting the magic of tidying-up and decluttering. There are many resources out there to help you get inspired about tidying-up. We all need a little organizing in our lives! As to no surprise, the staff at the Northfield Public Library do as well. There are a number of tips, recommendations, and strategies out there but to give you a more personal list of tips to help you get inspired about declutter or spring cleaning, the staff of the Northfield Public Library have shared with me their personal tips and strategies. They are as follows:

• Sort your stuff into 3 piles
• Keep, Donate, Throw away
• Store things in clear bins instead of boxes. Your things will stay cleaner and will not get wet in case of a flood or due to humidity. (Plus you can see what's inside without having to open it.)
• Focus on one area at a time. Do the kitchen on Monday, living room on Tuesday, and so on...
• Make a list and cross off what gets done. The next day start with what you didn't finish and add to your list.
• Dumpsters are a good deal - mark the annual City clean up days on your calendar.
• This year the City of Northfield clean up days will be Saturday, May 7th and Saturday, May 14th from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. For more info click the link, City Clean-Up Days.
• Start small - with one drawer or closet. It will make you feel good to get that done.
• Find a non-profit organization you can donate to and get a tax deduction at the same time.
• Pick a spot and work at it for an hour -- put some music on if that helps!

There are also a few books at the Library about decluttering which you could take home. We hope this list can be of help to you. Happy cleaning!