Wallkill Public Library
Books Alive! actors debut

Wallkill Public Library board member Christi Crowley poses with Books Alive! cast members Sunday afternoon.
Fans got a special preview of this year's Books Alive! performance Sunday when cast members performed monologues from the play, Fractured. 

Senior actors from the children's theatre group brought their fairy tale characters to life as they played to a packed house throughout the day at Gardiner's gorgeous HiHo Home Market.

Much thanks to HiHo owner Heidi Hill-Haddard for graciously hosting the shows!

Fractured will be performed in its entirety March 10 at 1 p.m. and again at 5 p.m., at the John G. Borden Middle School.
Help needed for Books Alive! program 

 Carpenters and costumers are needed to help with the Books Alive! children's theater project! If you or someone you know has some expertise and time to offer, please contact Adrienne at [email protected].

The production continues to progress at warp speed. The junior group has been cast, and now the actors are beginning to learn their lines and the lyrics to the original score, which is composed by Barbara Ganin. The songs and scenes are being staged and the children now have to begin the process of learning the choreography. They should be applauded already for their infectious energy and enthusiasm!

Coming up at the Wallkill Public Library
Ezra Keats' The Snowy Day will be featured during Art Appreciation Day.
  • Fridays are DS Days for gamers of all ages. Bring in your DS and a game and connect with your friends from 4-4:30 p.m.!
  • Saturday is Art Appreciation Day. All ages are welcome to come in and hear The Snowy Day read, learn about its author, Ezra Keats, and create their own artwork in his style! 11 a.m.-noon.
  • Tuesday the Magic Tree House Book Club meets to discuss Pirates Past Noon and have their own adventures! 4-4:45 p.m.
  • Wednesdays the Art Club meets from 4-4:45 p.m. to create projects in a variety of mediums.
  • Thursday ages 5-7 are welcome at 4:30 p.m. to Imagination Playstation, for fun with experiments, art, Play-Doh, games, Legos, and more!
  • Thursday evening the Adult Fiction Book Club meets at 7 p.m. to discuss Sue Monk Kidd's The Mermaid Chair
A huge thanks goes out to Lenny Adams for painting the baseboard downstairs in the Children's Room, where everyone enjoys these great activities!!

Program glitch may delay holds
Due to a problem with the new circulation software, patrons may have to wait a little longer this week for the items they're expecting.
This problem has been made a top priority and will be fixed as soon as possible. We apologize for any inconvenience!
Tax forms on the way...at some point
 Tax forms and instruction booklets have been ordered (awhile ago, in fact), but the library has not been told when they'll get here.
In the meantime, we'll be happy to print out whatever forms you need from the state or federal websites. Instruction booklets can also be printed out, but will cost a flat fee of $5 each as most of them are quite long. 
Volunteers trained as tax counselors will prepare and electronically file tax returns at Ulster County Community Action offices from Feb. 4 through April 13. To make an appointment or for more information, call 802-7190 between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. The UCCA offices are located at 70 Lindsey Ave., Kingston.
Baseball fans, get your tickets here!

 June 30 is Geek the Library Night at Dutchess Stadium, where the Hudson Valley Renegades will be playing the Staten Island Yankees!

You can pick up your tickets for the 7:05 p.m. game here at the library starting next month. Cost includes the game, fireworks, and a hat, all for either $15 per ticket or a special group rate of $65 for five!

Help RCLS members as we show our team spirit for libraries and our communities! Proceeds will benefit children's programming.

 

Tablet, eReader ownership up

Tablet and eReader ownership nearly doubled over the holidays, according to the Pew Research Center's Internet and American Life Project.

Overall, 29 percent of American adults now own at least one of these devices. While 36 percent of people from families with annual incomes greater than $75,000 have a mobile reading device, however, only 8 percent of those with incomes below $30,000 report this is the case.

What does this mean for libraries? Two things:

  • Our role in creating and supporting a nation of readers and lifelong learners, no matter their income brackets, remains strong
  • The pursuit to meet the needs of changing technology continues, since many of the largest publishers limit or just don't allow library lending of eBooks
Thanks to our volunteer of the month! 

 Deborah Fasce engages in such stimulating pursuits as peeling "New" stickers off not-so-new books, reading the shelves to make sure the books are in correct order, and deleting boxes upon boxes (upon boxes) of unneeded reference items. She does all this and a lot more, and she does it for free!

Deborah has a better work ethic (by far) than most adults who get paid.

So thank you, Deborah, for all you do, and for constantly having a smile for everyone as you do it!! The library's lucky to have you!

Website of the week.... 
  AudioFile Magazine  is great for audiobook fans. Besides reviews of current and upcoming releases, the site offers features on the narrators who read the books, award winners in various genre and age categories, archived reviews, links to publishers, and more! It will be your one-stop source for what's going on in the industry.
Community spirit outside the community

  One of the best things I learned early on in my career with non-profits is the benefit of collaboration. Working closely with other people and organizations is a great way to share and minimize expenses, add unexpected connections to your project from the others involved, and to gain expertise from others in planning and organizing events and raising funds. Sharing these kinds of things does not come naturally to all, however, and a great frustration I have in life is trying to work with people or organizations that are short-sighted, won't share their toys, and don't understand the great joy and ultimate benefit of creating innovative and compassionate communities.

Heidi Hill-Haddard owns Gardiner's HiHo Home Market.

Not so in working with Heidi Hill-Haddard, visionary owner of the HiHo Home Market in Gardiner. This past weekend, Heidi opened up her shop - and her enormous contact lists - to share the promotion of our kids in performing monologues from their upcoming Books Alive! production. Heidi transformed a small upstairs showroom into a makeshift stage so the kids could perform. She didn't balk at the space constrictions, but instead envisioned this event happening and went on to make it so - to the delight of all who attended. The lessons we learned from Heidi - all things are possible; cross-promoting your offerings with another business or organization invites the opportunity for new customers and supporters; creativity has no bounds - are invaluable.

  Thank you, Heidi, for sharing you space, your enthusiasm, and for helping to promote a library program from a different town, because you saw the shared benefits for all.

 

Mary Lou Carolan

 

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