Wallkill Public Library
Celebrate with the library
Summer's unofficial start kicks off this weekend

Memorial Day is on its way, which can only mean summer's not far behind! 
The library has lots in store for all ages during our Summer Reading Program, and tons more to keep you busy until then, too!
  • Today: School is closed, but we're open! Come in for Toddler Story Time at 10:30 a.m. and Art Club at 4!
  • Monday: Join us for a Memorial Day ceremony on the front lawn at 11 a.m. The library will be open from 10 a.m. to noon that day - come on in and check out our holiday display, then help us honor our troops with Operation Gratitude (see below).
  • Tuesday: School's still out, but we're in! Mommy and Me is offered at 10:30 a.m., followed by Book Buddies at 11:30 a.m. The Magic Tree House Book Club meets at 4 p.m. to discuss Midnight on the Moon and do an activity. Book Talk meets at 6:30 p.m. This month's selection is Earwig and the Witch by Diana Wynne Jones.
  • Wednesday: Toddler Story Time takes place at 10:30 a.m., followed by Book Buddies at 1 p.m.
  • Thursday: Celebrate the work of Jackson Pollock with a Make and Take Art Project at 4 p.m. Parents are welcome to join in! (Please note registration for this event is mandatory due to limited supplies.) The Knit/Crochet Club meets at 6:30 p.m.

Ongoing:
  • There are still spots available for Lego Camp! Ages 5-7 are invited to join the 9 a.m. to noon session July 9 through July 13. Ages 7-12 are welcome to attend the 1-4 p.m. sessions. Cost is $120. Registration and payment must be made in advance at the library. Payments go directly to Play-Well Teknologies.
  • Family registration forms for the Summer Reading Program are now available at the circulation desk. There you'll also find sign-ups for this summer's Drawing Class with Wallkill River School Instructor Rudy Troncone. These workshops will focus on the basics of cartooning and will be offered from 6-7:30 p.m. Wednesdays from June 27 through July 25. Cost is $50 per student. Ages 11 and up are welcome.
  • Geek the Library Night at Dutchess Stadium starts with the Renegades playing the Staten Island Yankees at 7:05 p.m. June 30. Watch the game and stick around for the fireworks - they're included in the $15 price of your ticket (as is a Renegades hat)! Ask at the circulation desk for more information.
Tell our troops you care with a letter 
  This Memorial Day weekend, you can show your support for servicemembers and wounded warriors alike by dropping them a line (or a drawing....or a card).
Wallkill Public Library is once again participating in Operation Gratitude, the program that mails out care packages that include these special thank yous to deployed troops and those who have been wounded in the line of duty.
You can drop your contributions into the box set up at the circulation desk from now until June 8. Then we'll ship the box out to Operation Gratitude's headquarters.
You can also take a few minutes to compose a letter or draw a picture during the Memorial Day ceremony that will be held on the front lawn of the library at 11 a.m. Monday. The library will be open that day from 10 a.m. to noon.
For more information on the project, feel free to visit Operation Gratitude's website or give us a call at 895-3707. 
Applications here for Talking Books 
  New York State Talking Book and Braille Library applications are available now at the Wallkill Public Library. 
The free service for the blind and physically handicapped offers those eligible special equipment with which to listen to recorded books, as well as magazines and books in audio or braille formats. The digital download service, Braille and Audio Reading Download (BARD), also makes available more than 20,0000 titles and 40 magazines for those who have registered with BARD.
For more information, ask at the circulation desk or visit the Talking Book and Braille Library website.
Technology spawns the eBookish type
  According to a new study from the Pew Research Center, the boom in eReaders and tablets has resulted in Americans starting to read more.
According to the study:
  • The average eBook user reads almost ten more books a year than non-eBook users
  • 42 percent of those who read digital content say they now spend more time reading than they did before, whether it's in bed or on the go
  • Women are reading more than men 

Since only 29 percent of Americans currently own an eReader or tablet, those figures are sure to grow!

And because the Wallkill Public Library supports reading in all formats, we'll soon be loaning out a Kindle and a Nook! Keep a lookout for more information!

Story Walk combines literacy, fitness 
  Leptondale's Junior Girl Scout Troop 60226 wants people to do two activities more often - read and exercise! That's why they've come up with a perfect initiative to combine the two:
The troop, led by Brenda Griffin, has gotten approval from the town to create a Story Walk along the Rail Trail. Laminated pages from a children's book will be posted along the trail, extending from the Route 208 entrance (across from the police station) to the first intersection of the trail. Visitors will be able to walk down that section of the trail, make a U-turn, and read the remainder of the book on the way back toward 208.
The Story Walk is due to be ready toward the end of June. More details to come!  
Friends groups share ideas, inspiration 
Merle Bercow and Adrienne Gelfand-Perine
Representatives from Wallkill attended a Friends Gathering in Warwick this past week.
Hosted at the Albert Wisner Public Library, attendees of the event gleaned fund-raising ideas as well as new strategies for promoting awareness from other Friends groups.
Director Mary Lou Carolan accompanied Friends of the Wallkill Public Library President Adrienne Gelfand-Perine and member Merle Bercow to the program.
If you would like to become a Friend of the Wallkill Public Library, please ask for more information at the circulation desk. Friends meetings are held monthly. The next one is scheduled for 7 p.m., Thursday, June 21, at the Friends' Used Book Shop.  
Catalog continues its evolution

The new library catalog is still in the process of being fine-tuned, and we appreciate your continued patience. We understand certain technical glitches coupled with the novelty of the Enterprise system have caused some frustration, but eventually it's hoped the catalog will be as intuitive as possible.

Some of the advantages of the new catalog include:

  • The ability to choose any RCLS library as your pickup location for ordered materials
  • The option to suspend your Holds when going on vacation without losing your place in the queue
  • Seamless navigation between searching for materials and placing holds or creating wish lists
  • The availability of current best-seller lists for browsing

Don't hesitate to ask at the circulation desk for more information or help!  

Bowen weds history with mystery
Hush Now, Don't You Cry
By Rhys Bowen

In this latest addition to Rhys Bowen's award-winning historical series, Molly Murphy, now Molly Sullivan, and her new husband, Daniel, a captain in the New York Police Department, have been invited to spend their honeymoon on the Newport, Rhode Island estate of Alderman Brian Hanna in the spring of 1904. When Hanna is found dead at the base of the cliffs that overlook the Atlantic, Molly is forced to break the promise she made to Daniel that she'd swear off sleuthing once they were married.

Resume Builder does the work for you

It can be a daunting task putting your experience in writing, knowing that that piece of paper will be the first impression you make on a potential employer.

With the Resume Builder, you can create a professional resume that outlines your qualifications and highlights your skills and accomplishments.

Enter your information (with more than 1,000 brainstorming phrases to help you get started), choose a design, and let the Resume Builder expertly format your resume for you. When you're finished, you'll receive your resume as a word document, so you can print and mail it. You'll also be able to e-mail copies of your resume directly to employers and schools.

This is just one of many critical tools offered to degree- and job-seekers via the Ulster County InfoPortal, where you'll find the Gale Testing and Education Reference Center as well as a host of other great resources! 

New movies coming soon to shelves 
  The following are either available now or coming soon to our shelves:

 

The Artist - Silent movie star George Valentin bemoans the coming era of talking pictures and fades into oblivion and self-destruction, but finds sparks with Peppy Miller, a young dancer lighting up talkies like no one else. Stars Jean Dujardin, Berenice Bejo and John Goodman.

 

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close - A nine-year-old amateur inventor, Francophile, and pacifist searches New York City for the lock that matches a mysterious key left behind by his father, who died in the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. Tom Hanks, Sandra Bullock, and Thomas Horn star.

 

Joyful Noise - G.G. Sparrow faces off with her choir's newly appointed director, Vi Rose Hill, over the group's direction as they head into a national competition. Dolly Parton and Queen Latifah star.
 
We Bought a Zoo - Set in Southern California, a father moves his young family to the countryside to renovate and re-open a struggling zoo. Stars Matt Damon and Scarlett Johansson.
Tea to benefit historical society
 The Historical Society of Shawangunk and Gardiner will host its second annual tea Saturday, June 9, from 2-4 p.m.
The tea, which benefits the historical society, will feature a performance by the Men's Choir from Wallkill High School.
The program will take place in the community room of the Town Hall. Tickets are $20. Please call 895-3933 or 895-3986 if you'd like to attend. 
Our phones are smarter. Are we? 

Another study was in the news last week questioning whether technology is making us stupid.  I don't own a "Smartphone," only a dumb, cheap cell phone, so I can't talk to it like they do on those commercials and ask ridiculous questions like "Is it raining?"  I still am capable of looking out the window to figure that out on my own. (I prefer to hang on to my last remaining brain cells.) Yet, I have to wonder about my dependency on technology as I couldn't tell you anyone's phone number anymore since they are programmed into my phone;  I Google questions all of the time way before I have taken a few moments to ponder them;  and I go through serious withdrawal when my Internet goes down and I can't access my e-mail.  Even though I text "like a Grandma," according my 13-year-old, I have also become rather dependent on that form of quick communication, as well.  Access to technology has made me lazier, but that downward slide started with the advent of the hand-held calculator (yes, I was alive for that!) which has made me so dependent I can't add anything with more than three digits (and forget about division)! 

            Advancements in methods to access, store, distribute and calculate information are nothing new, they are just happening at a faster rate than ever before.  I have to figure that those guys who spent so much time carving information onto the clay tablets thousands of years ago would have been pretty impressed with Gutenberg for creating the printing press.  Think of the time that was saved!  That's the category I put it in - time saving (you may call it laziness, if you like), but I would rather spend my time creating ideas and programs then wasting it trying to find stuff or ending up in long conversations with people that I just wanted to leave a brief message for.  What I worry about, however, is obsession. I can still live without my cell phone for a day if I happen leave it on the dining room table.  Can you?

An image sticks in my mind from this past Mother's Day.  As my family dined on the Newburgh riverfront on that gorgeous day, talking and laughing with Mom and enjoying being together, I happened to glance over at the table beside ours.  There sat a young mom furiously typing into her Smartphone while her 5-year-old daughter sat beside her watching a movie on a DVD player.  When her husband sat down, he reached for his cell phone and starting swiping and typing.  It was almost surreal.  No one was talking, no one was communicating - at least not with the family members at the table.  It went on like that until the waiter arrived and continued until the food was placed before them.  All I could think of were those wasted moments of spending time together.  I looked back to my mom who is 88-years-old and wondered how many more Mother's Days we would be blessed to celebrate together, and I was glad to be there with her, present in every sense, my cell phone turned off, in my purse under the table.  Technology may be making me lazier, but it hasn't made me stupid, yet.

 

Mary Lou Carolan

Director

 
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