Volunteers Emily Landsman, Surya Parashar, and Francesca Formisano scoop ice cream at the SRP finale.

 Thanks also to Juckas Stables, Gear Up Sportsplex, Applebee's Restaurant, Stewart's Shops, and Hurd's Family Farm for being among the businesses to donate their goods and/or services this season! 

  The future of the modern library is a topic about as oft-discussed and dissected (among library people, at least) as the latest bestsellers. 

Is there a future for libraries as we know them? Or are they destined to morph into Internet cafes (sans the cafes)? One thing is abundantly certain - they're in for a change. And to some, unfortunately, change is never good.

No one addresses this topic more thoroughly (or optimistically) than David A. Bell in The New Republic's July 12 article, The Bookless Library. When writing about what's to some the frightening prospects on the horizon for bibliophiles and their hangouts, Bell steers clear of the portents of doom employed by some naysayers and instead focuses on the avant-garde and creative ways in which libraries can (pretty easily, if they don't fight it) adapt to the changes ahead.

   Amazon continues to corner the market on customer service with the installation of "Amazon Lockers"  in grocery, convenience, and drugstore outlets.

The large metal cabinets function as virtual doormen, accepting packages for customers for a later pickup, a tactic borrowed from  retailers like Wal-Mart and Best Buy.

The lockers have been in place in Seattle, New York state, and near Washington, D.C., for about a year, now. Most recently locker sites were opened in the San Francisco Bay area. 

When customers choose to ship their items to a locker, they're emailed a code after a package arrives that unlocks the door holding their delivery.

The lockers are both a response to the concerns of apartment dwellers who fear they'll miss a delivery or have one stolen from their doorsteps, and a means of taking on rivals like UPS stores who ship to appointed sites.

Read the entire Wall Street Journal article here.

This being a very important voting year - there are four seats on Wallkill's Library Board of Trustees up for grabs Sept. 25 (oh, and there's a presidential election coming up, too) - we wanted to remind those who qualify how to go about registering to vote.

Voter registration forms can be printed out or picked up from the library or your County Board of Elections. Once you fill the form out, you need to mail it back to your county's Board of Elections (284 Wall St., Kingston, NY 12401, if you're an Ulster resident) at least 25 days before the election in which you want to vote.

Once your paperwork is processed, the county will notify you that you're registered to vote.

Questions? Call the Ulster County Board of Elections at 334-5470.

After the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, the Canadian government uprooted Bin Okuma's family and relatives from their homes on British Columbia's west coast. Families were allowed to take only the possessions they could carry, and Bin, as a young boy, witnessed neighbors raiding his home before the transport boat even undocked. Removed from the 100-mile "Protected Zone," Japanese Canadians were sent to internment camps where for five years they lived in hardship in hastily erected shacks in the mountainous interior.

More than fifty years later, after his wife's sudden death, Bin travels across Canada to find the biological father who has been lost to him. Both running from grief and driving straight toward it, Bin must ask himself whether he truly wants to find First Father, the man who made a fateful decision that almost destroyed his family all those years ago. With his wife's persuasive voice in his head and the echo of their love in his heart, Bin embarks on an unforgettable journey into his past that will throw light on a dark time in history.

  Like many of you, I have spent the last two weeks immersed in national pride watching the summer Olympics in London. Marveling at what the human body can do, how great it can look when we take care of it (i.e., Ryan Lochte), and how hard some people work to achieve their dreams. Whether they are personal or professional dreams, or both, envisioning them is one thing, making them come true is another. That's where the work begins.
I was 11-years-old when Title IX became public law in 1972 and never would have dreamed then of the miraculous accomplishments U.S women have made today in the field of sports thanks to implementation of this law. I can't imagine how many little girls' dreams would have been shattered had equality of funding for sports programs not been put into play all those years ago. All their great stories we have been privy to from watching these games would never have been told.
Stories of struggle, strain, injuries, triumphs and the forging of deep friendships like those of Misty May Treanor and Kerri Walsh Jennings. Record-breaking achievements from Gabby Douglas - her confidence beaming with that gorgeous smile. Gold medals in volleyball, gymnastics, swimming, track, water polo, soccer....all of these dreams came true because some people had a vision years ago that girls' sports programs should receive funding equal to that of boys'.That's the thing with having a vision, a dream for what you want to come true. Sometimes they turn out even more fabulous than you could ever imagine.
Just the last two days, I watched a man born with no legs, South Africa's Oscar Pistorius, run on blades in the men's 400 meter semifinal. Who would ever have thought that could be possible? I had tears in my eyes when I watched Saudi Arabia's Sarah Attar, fully covered from head scarf to long sleeved track suit, run the women's 800 meter to become the first woman in her country to ever compete in a track and field event in the Olympics. She earned a standing ovation from the crowd in the stands as she crossed the finish line. Both of these athletes finished last but their stories will remain in my memory forever.
The Olympic stories make us wonder about our own as well. As we armchair Olympians swallow those handfuls of chips and swill back those sodas, we can't help but wonder what impact we are making in our own lives. I had a great struggle recently just writing a bio someone had asked me for. I know I have accomplished things but sometimes, staring at a blank page, they all fly out of my head. Perhaps I am just overwhelmed by the awesomeness of these physical accomplishments of a world full of athletes, but it has made me wonder. Writing a bio is about what I have done. A vision is about what I see as being possible and laying the groundwork to make it so. Yet, in between all of that is the magic that happens when the people and the opportunities appear before you that you may never have envisioned but are those invisible hands pulling you forward toward your greatness.
None of these incredible Olympic athletes achieved their greatness alone. They have had unimaginable support from family, friends, mentors, coaches, all of these "teams" of supporters that want to see them achieve their dream as badly as they do. So, who's on your team? What great dreams do you have to come true and who can help you get there? Let's keep the inspiration of these games and these athletes alive in our lives and watch our own stories unfold.
If you follow your bliss you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while, waiting for you, and the life that you ought to be living is the one you are living. When you can see that, you begin to meet people who are in your field of bliss, and they open doors to you.

 I say, follow your bliss and don't be afraid, and doors will open where you didn't know they were going to be.
-Joseph Campbell