Mercer County Library Blog

If you visited the Lawrence Headquarters Branch last year, you might have seen a transformation occurring in our front garden beds — especially the birth of our native plant meadow. Have you noticed a magnificent chaos beginning to bloom outside the library doors this season? What may have once looked like an unkempt lawn is becoming a vibrant native plant meadow, a living extension of our Mercer County Library System's mission to foster growth and learning. By replacing traditional manicured grass with native species, we are doing more than just landscaping; we are restoring a vital ecosystem. These plants — like Creeping Phlox, the pollinator-favorite Purple Coneflower, and Purple love grass — are specially adapted to our local climate. Unlike typical lawns, this meadow requires no fertilizer and, once established, survives on rainfall alone. In the gardening world I came across what seems to be a common saying for perennials:  "The first year they sleep, the second y...

Eid Mubarak! On Saturday, March 14 th , we celebrated Eid al-Fitr at the Hightstown Branch with crafts, decorations, and snacks. This was our third year doing the program and the most successful one yet. It’s always wonderful to see everything come together after working so hard to create a program that will be enjoyable for both people who are familiar with the holiday, and those who are not. Growing up in New Jersey with no close relatives and few families that my parents knew well, Eid was always hit or miss. We would go to prayer in the morning, my sister and I would put mehndi (henna art) on each other, and we would eat seviyan (a pudding made with thin pasta). The rest of the day was not spent doing much. Occasionally, we would be invited to lunch or dinner at someone’s house, which for kids was more boring than being home and watching TV. We did not really decorate the house, except for putting up Christmas lights outside when Ramadan started. However, my parents would sometime...

Ever since I started hiking, I have thought about what it might be like to do a thru-hike of the entire Appalachian Trail, which stretches from Georgia through Maine and is the world’s longest hiking path. I have hiked sections in New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont, but like many people, I’ve never had the time to hike the entire trail. Several times when I have hiked a part of the Appalachian Trail in Vermont, I’ve met thru-hikers at the trailhead who had nearly finished their journey hitch-hiking a ride to town. They had usually started on the trail in the southern Appalachians in March and were looking forward to finishing their hike in Maine. It sounded like a wonderful adventure. But a several month trek across nearly 2,200 miles on foot is not something to be undertaken lightly. So, it’s worth doing some research. If you are interested in trying a thru-hike sometime in the future, or if you just want to find out some more about the Appalachian Trail and the best ...

Did you know that March is Social Work Month? First celebrated in 1963, it is meant to build public support for the profession and raise awareness of all the wonderful things that social workers do. Every year, the National Association of Social Workers (NASW), the main professional organization for the field, picks a theme for Social Work Month that represents the current climate. This year they have designated the theme as “ Social Workers Uplift. Defend. Transform.” This captures the many different ways that social workers help people and improve their communities. Qualification to be a Social Worker What makes someone a social worker? Social worker is a professional title that designates anyone who has received a degree in the field. There are three levels of social work degrees: Bachelor of Social Work (BSW)/Bachelor of Arts in Social Work (BASW), Master of Social Work (MSW), and Doctor of Social Work (DSW). Social work education focuses on how different systems (social experi...

The Mercer County Library System Teen Advisory Board is fueled by creative, book-loving teens who craft social media posts, write zines, and share reviews on the library’s Goodreads page. Meet Jason—TAB member, devoted stargazer, and fan of fast-paced mythological adventures. Enjoy his latest book review. The Red Pyramid , the first book in The Kane Chronicles trilogy by Rick Riordan, weaves together Egyptian mythology, adventure, and humor to create a fast-paced story that appeals to readers of all ages.  The two protagonists, siblings Carter and Sadie Kane, have spent most of their lives apart ever since their mother’s death years ago. But on their yearly Christmas Eve reunion, their lives are changed forever when their father brings them to visit the British Museum. In an attempt to summon the Egyptian god Osiris and resurrect their mother, he blows up the Rosetta Stone and releases four other gods. One of them is the evil god Set who banishes their father to the Underworld....