I am not the man in the picture. Jamie LaRue is out of town and offered me his column space this week. I accepted happily seeing it as an opportunity to share an insider's glimpse into the library world.

Sometimes, you come to the library with a question.

It isn't always clear, though. Sometimes, where the question starts isn't where it ends. For instance, you might begin by asking, "Do you have anything on the Civil War?"

We say, "Yes! Heaps! Can you tell me a little more about what you're looking for? Are you trying to find out how it started? Are you curious about some of the key military leaders?"

About a year ago, we decided to do something about our "long overdues." These are the items that our patrons have checked out, but never brought back, despite the three notices we sent them.

Our schedule works like this: we send the first notice (which may be a phone call or e-mail) when the item is one week late; the second when it is two weeks late; and the third is when the item is a month past due.

Change is coming (again) to the Parker Library. In 1996, Douglas County voters approved a mill levy increase to expand, renovate, and operate our libraries. At the time, the Parker Library was our newest and largest facility.

Since then, we've just about run out of room.

But our architects did something very smart. In an effort to contain costs, we "banked" some space in the building. Of our 20,000 square feet, we left about 4,000 square unfinished.