To the Editor:

A week ago, when I walked into the Guilderland Public Library, I saw the library now sells hunting and fishing licenses.  I took advantage of this service to renew my fishing license.

And yes, it's worth getting a fishing license this month as there are many, many great fishing opportunities in the fall.

Laurie Vincent in the library’s Circulation Department processed the renewal in a fast, friendly and easy manner.  I imagine her other four senior clerk co-workers will do the same.

This new service gives hunters and anglers an option if other license agents are having computer troubles or have run out of the special computer paper on which these licenses are printed.  It gives library patrons who hunt and fish another way to support the library; the library receives 5 percent of the fee for each license sold.

Improving library access is the most appealing part of this new service to me.  The library lends spin cast fishing rods.  While children under 16 do not need a license, it is a good idea for any adults along to help to have a license.  They can buy a one-day, five-day or season-long license.

If you stop by the library to get a license, please stay a few minutes longer and enjoy items in the library’s collection that are either about hunting or fishing or include these sports in the book, movie, or television show. 

Norman Maclean’s novel, “A River Runs Through It” is available as a book on the shelf, a book on CD, and as a DVD of the movie.

Hunters and anglers will enjoy C. J. Box’s Joe Picket mystery novels, available in books and books on CD.  And speaking of novels, there is always some fishing occurring in Jim Harrison’s and Thomas McGuane’s novels and short stories.

The library’s fishing section, the 799s, has three bookshelves with titles on how to, where, and why to fish.  With books costing $15 to $35, reading a range of books first, before deciding which ones belong in one’s permanent library, is a good way to get ready for or continue an angling life.

John Rowen

Guilderland