Warren Librarians Turn TV Hosts on New Cable Show

reference librarians are now "stars" of a new local television show, appropriately called "Check It Out."

The 30-minute programs are taped and then aired on Cablevision Channel 15 and Verizon Cable Channel 44. A topic is featured each month and is shown twice a day at 2 p.m. and 9 p.m.

For those who don't receive those stations, or who just want to "Check It Out" with others, the library is hosting a special viewing party from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. Sept. 27.

Everyone who works on the show volunteers their time, including the reference librarians Phyllis Chiavetta, Eloise Costello, Cathy DeBerry and Theresa Sanchez. Each month a different topic is featured and there are short, informational segments on how to use the library's resources. 

"Our intent is to get more people to use the library," said DeBerry. "There are so many neat things you can do at the library."

Chiavetta and Sanchez host some shows with more of a book discussion style, while DeBerry and Costello focus on more do-it-yourself type books and offer demonstrations.

In the first show, which began airing Sept. 1, Sanchez and Chiavetta talked about different authors who are popular in New Jersey.

In the second program, which will be shown during the month of October, DeBerry and Costello will discuss craft books. They also will demonstrate the same craft taken from three different books.

"Martha Stewart's version was a little more complex," De Berry said.

The schedule for upcoming topics includes:

• November—a discussion of documentaries on DVD
• December—a cooking show where they will make the same recipe three different ways
• January—information on audio books
• February—exercise books and the librarians will offer a demonstration of yoga and transcendental meditation

For DeBerry, who teaches the adult services classes, public speaking isn't a big deal, but taping television shows is a little different.

"The only problem I have is talking to a camera and not a person," said DeBerry, who usually asks her department manager to be there so she has a person to talk to. "It's a little harder to be spontaneous."

DeBerry hasn't watched any of the finished episodes. "I have no plans on seeing them," she said.