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December 1, 2009
Getting Baked:
Late nights at the Library return with extended hours, baked goods for all Story and photos by Matt Benoit Horizon Editor
Linda Lambert, library director at Whatcom, says her favorite thing to bake is chocolate chip cookies. Always. “I love chocolate,” she says, adding that her favorite recipe is “chocolate coma cookies,” from a mystery novel by Carolyn Mott Davidson.
“Brownies always go first.” -Linda Lambert Lambert is just one of about a baker’s dozen of library circulation staff, librarians, classified staff, and work study students who can and probably will be baking up a storm of tasty treats for this quarter’s “Late Nights at the Library,” where the library will be open for extended hours in preparation for student finals and projects. This year’s dates are Dec. 2 and 3, with a second “batch” on Dec. 7 and 8. The library will be open until 10 p.m., one hour later than normal hours for the quarter on Mondays through Thursdays. Lambert says “Late Nights” have been occurring since 2005, when she had the idea to offer a basic package of ideas summed up in the library’s flyers for the event: cookies, coffee, and librarians. The library would offer extended hours, and, at the same time, coffee, cookies and other baked goods. The event, which occurs at the end of each quarter, costs $600 each year, and is paid for through the Associated Students of Whatcom. “I’m making chocolate pea-
nut butter bars,” said Julie Horst, a reference librarian at Whatcom. Horst said the bars have a peanut butter base and are covered with chocolate. “They’re extremely addictive,” she added, mentioning that they’re loaded with fat, sugar, an entire pound of powdered sugar, and she doesn’t even have to actually bake them. One thing that most of the staff loves to bake are chocolate chip cookies. Kim Struiksma, administrative assistant in the library, makes her grandma’s top secret chocolate, chocolate chip cookies. Jon McConnel, librarian, bakes chocolate chip cookies because he has a good recipe and, he added, it’s easy. “It’s what I bake for myself; it’s what I bake for the students,” he said. “I bake my aunt’s recipe for 10-cup cookies,” said circulation desk librarian Linda ComptonSmith. She always makes the recipe, she said, and described the cookies as having a full cup of each of the ingredients—including peanut butter, chocolate, and coconut among others—in each batch. Laurie Starr, another circulation desk librarian, says her recipes vary. She has made everything from snickerdoodles to double chocolate oatmeal cookies, and is thinking of making salted peanut bar cookies, which she described as butterscotch-like in nature. “It’s always fun,” she said of the baking. The library usually never runs out of treats altogether, but Lambert said Ara Taylor, who manages the reserves at the circulation desk, has baked up things at home and run them to the library on the few occasions they’ve run short on treats. Lambert said that one type of baked good seems to be consumed faster than others. “Brownies always go first,” she said.
Late nights at the library returns! The library will be open with plenty of sweet treats, until 10 p.m. on December 2 and 3, and again on December 7 and 8.