Passing the book

You don't need to be quiet in the library.

You're allowed to talk, and laugh, and enjoy yourself.

The cliché of the stern librarian with a finger to her lips, hair pulled back in a bun and a cross look as she shushes you, is one that Jill Mackey and Bonnie Stahla have always wanted to dispel.

"We've worked hard, especially with the kids, to make sure they know they're welcome at the library and they know what the library provides," says Mackey, who steps down at the end of the month as director after 28 years of service to Crook County's libraries.

She will be replaced by long-time colleag...