September 11th 10 year anniversary

Do you remember where you were? Members of the staff at Massanutten Regional Library were in various places on September 11, 2001. Here are a few stories of where some of us were 10 years ago.

One staff member was still in Library School, and actually teaching college freshmen how to use the catalog at Florida State University in Tallahassee. In a closed classroom no one there knew what was going on outside until the class was interrupted because the University was closing. Many hours were spent trying to contact family in northern New Jersey.

Another staff member teaching in Culpeper, Virginia helped reorganize student pick ups to ensure that children whose parents worked in the Pentagon or the greater DC area would not spend the night alone if their parents could not get out of the city.

Here in Harrisonburg, one of the reference librarians was going through her morning routine, when one of our patrons told her about the first hit on the tower. Both thought it was an accident. A phone call from her husband about the second plane at the Twin Towers changed this assessment quickly. After that the CNN site was up on staff computers to answer questions from patrons. The librarian who was on duty in the children’s room also kept CNN up for parents coming in with their children for story time.

One of our volunteers is a retired OR nurse...she remembers seeing the live footage, and then preparing to go into work, knowing that they might need to set up an evacuation center, depending on what happened further. Her son worked in DC, so she called him at his office; he was surprised her call came through, because they were on lockdown...no calls in or out.

For more information about September 11th and its effects, take a look at the display of resources at the Main Library and listed in our Readers Resource Guide.

Want to see what our local paper had to say on September 12, 2001? You can access it at the library on Microfilm, or through our Newsbank database. Below is a link to the Daily News Record through the MRL webpage. Simply type in September 12, 2001 and you can view the stories from that day.

http://infoweb.newsbank.com/iw-search/we/InfoWeb?p_product=NewsBank&p_theme=aggregated5&p_action=explore&d_place=VNRB

Here are several events going on locally to remember the events of September 11, 2001.

Valley Family Forum is hosting a 10th anniversary commemoration of the 9-11 attacks at 3:00 p.m., Sunday, September 11, at the Court Square Theater in Harrisonburg. The featured speaker will be national security expert Michael Del Rosso, co-author of a recent book entitled Shariah: the Threat to America. The event is free and open to the public.

http://www.valleyfamilyforum.org/php/index.php?c=calendar&f=2

James Madison University is holding a candlelight vigil for the community at 7 p.m. on Sunday Sept. 11th, on the Quad.

Eastern Mennonite University Events

Planned events provide opportunity for corporate and individual lament, prayer and processing as a local and campus community.

• Saturday, Sept. 10, 7 p.m., interfaith gathering, “Turning toward Peace,” Court Square, downtown Harrisonburg, co-sponsored by EMU’s Center for Interfaith Engagement and others. The time will include reflections, poetry, singing, inspiration and artistic expression for peace. This gathering welcomes Christians, Muslims, Jews, persons in faith or no faith traditions, students and families. The event is open to persons of all ages.
• Sunday, Sept. 11, 1 p.m., National Moment of Remembrance. EMU will toll the bells at Lehman Auditorium for one minute.
• Sunday, Sept. 11, 7 p.m., outdoor gathering for reflection, singing, prayer and thoughts on turning toward hope for reconciliation and peace in our world. Sponsored by EMU Campus Ministries. Located on the hill behind the EMU Campus Center.
• Sunday, Sept. 11, 8 p.m., faculty and staff forum on how their work has been shaped and changed by the events of Sept. 11. Panelists will include Lisa Schirch, PhD, director of EMU’s 3P Security and professor in the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding; Carolyn Yoder, PhD, founder and trainer with EMU’s STAR (Strategies for Trauma Awareness and Resilience) program; and Ed Martin and Gretchen Maust from EMU’s Center for Interfaith Engagement. The forum will be held in Common Grounds Coffee House in the lower level of University Commons. The event is free and open to the public.http://emu.edu/now/news/2011/09/emu-plans-911-tenth-anniversary-commemoration/