A NOVEL APPROACH TO THE LIBRARY

There's more to a public library than meets the eye, and two enthusiastic new librarians want to help Cape Girardeau patrons make that discovery.

Adult librarian Paula Gresham-Bequette and children's librarian Sharon Anderson are the latest additions to the Cape Girardeau Public Library staff. Gresham-Bequette started work in November and Anderson started Jan. 8.

Both women can be found most days assisting patrons among the library's stacks of books, magazines, reference materials, cassettes, videos, computer software, toys and games.

"It's very exciting when you can help someone find the information they need," said Gresham-Bequette, a former school teacher. "When you see them leaving with it, it's a very gratifying part of the job."

Anderson, who also has a background in education, said she derives much satisfaction from helping children, who aren't always sure what they're looking for, develop an interest in a particular author or subject matter.

"The challenge with kids is if you want to hook them -- if you want a reader for life -- you've got to find that match," she said. "So many have never read a book that sparked that interest in them."

Gresham-Bequette, a 53-year-old Collinsville, Ill., native who lived in Jefferson City, Mo., before moving to Cape Girardeau, previously worked at Riverside Regional Library in Jackson, Mo.

She said it was natural transition for her to go from teaching to being a librarian.

"If you teach, you work with books all the time anyway," she said. "You also work with people and you use the library. You naturally think of another environment that's educational."

A skill she has had to acquire during her time as a librarian is refraining from thumbing through every book that catches her eye.

"I have a pretty wide range of interests. It seems like every title I pick up, something grabs me," she said with a laugh. "I've learned not to get distracted by the titles. I'm like a kid in a candy store."

Gresham-Bequette oversees all adult services at the library and said she is looking forward to developing more adult programs for the library.

For instance, on Sunday, the library sponsored an Irish music program that was well attended, she said. The library will have similar programs in the future during its "Sunday Afternoons at the Library" series.

Anderson, 42, worked in book stores for seven years and was a costumer at Southeast Missouri State University. Currently, she is creating costumes for a production of "The Merry Wives of Windsor" in Atlanta.

Anderson said she intends to bring her love of theater to the library by having more story-telling sessions and live theater for young readers.

'Magic carpets'

"I love fairy tales, but I like some of the newer ones that are coming out. I like the ones that allow children to see that girls can have quests, too, and that quest isn't just to find a prince," she said.

"I have a passion as well for stories that take me beyond Missouri and beyond what I know now. Books are magic carpets that allow me to see what I've never seen before and experience things I've never experienced before."

Anderson said she hopes parents and children will come to the library to learn more about existing programs and materials that many patrons are not already aware of.

For instance, she said, parents and teachers can check out a variety of children's toys, books-on-tape, educational and family videos and teacher resources. Children also can participate in monthly library story-telling and craft sessions.

This weekend, the library expects to begin a computer software circulation program. Parents can "try before they buy," Anderson said, or youngsters who are bored of their own programs can select from among 35 titles at the library.

Anderson said that even though she has only been on the job a few days, she is excited and eager to be of help to the library's younger patrons.

"I feel a little bit like Goldilocks in that this feels just right," she said.

Reading listsFor adults:

* "A Child Called It" by Dave Pelzer

* "The Bean Trees" by Barbara Kingsolver

* "The Four Agreements" by Don Miguel Ruiz

* "The Greatest Generation" by Tom Brokaw

* "The Horse Whisperer" by Nicholas Evans

* "An Hour Before Daylight: Memories of My Rural Boyhood" by Jimmy Carter

* "House of Sand and Fog" by Andre Dubus III

* "Like Water for Chocolate" by Laura Esquivel

* "The Lost Boy" by Dave Pelzer

* "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" by John Berendt

* "Native Son" by Richard North Wright

* "Organizing From the Inside Out" by Julie Morgenstern

* "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver

* "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" by Stephen Covey

* "The Sibley Guide to Birds" by David Allen Sibley

* "Simble Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy" by Sarah Ban Breathnach

* "Tuesdays With Morrie" by Mitch Albom

* "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson

* "Where the Heart Is" by Billie Letts

* "The World According to Garp" by J. Irving

* "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" by Robert M. Pirsig

For children:

Preschool through kindergarten:

* "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" by Eric Carle

* "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" by Bill Martin and John Archambault

* "Catching the Wild Waiyuuzee" by Rita Williams-Garcia

* "Go Away, Big Green Monster" by Ed Emberley

Grades 1 - 3

The Arthur series by Marc Tolon Brown

* "Where the Wild Things Are" by Maurice Sendak

* "The Shaking Bag" by Gwendolyn Battle-Lavert

* "When Papa Snores" by Melinda Long

* "A Dog Like Jack" by Dyanne Disalvo-Ryan

Grades 3 - 6

* The Ramona series by Beverly Cleary

* The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling

* "The Chronicles of Narnia" by C.S. Lewis

* The "Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing" series by Judy Blume

* "Tuck Everlasting" by Natalie Babbitt

Grades 6 -8

* "The Giver" by Louis Lowry

* "The People Could Fly: American Black Folktales" by Virginia Hamilton

* "Bridge to Terabithia" by Katherine Paterson

* "Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret" by Judy Blume

* "The Hobbit" by J.R.R. Tolkien

* "A Year Down Yonder" by Richard Peck