Howland Public Library | 313 Main Street | Beacon | NY | 12508
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Knowledge Is Power.
Be Smart. Borrow a Kill-a-Watt!
 Photo: P. Keaton
HPL Board President Marcia Frahman and a "Kill-a-Watt" Kill a What? "Kill-a-Watt!" A Kill-a-Watt meter is a nifty electricity monitor that helps you identify the
energy guzzlers in your house. Plug an appliance into the Kill-a-Watt meter and the LCD display will show the appliance's power consumption in kilowatt hours. Do you save energy if you unplug your coffeemaker after use?
Is it cost-effective to buy a new energy-efficient refrigerator? The Kill-a-Watt meter helps you answer questions like these and puts you in
charge of saving energy and money. HPL has three Kill-a-Watt meters available
to borrow. Check them out!
-- Alison Herrero
Adult Services Librarian
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Clafouti aux
Pommes
(Apple Flan) Ingredients:
Apple Filling:
1� lb (3 cups) crisp
eating/cooking apples, ex: Golden Delicious
3-4 Tbs butter
2 Tbs Calvados (apple
brandy), dark rum, or cognac
� tps cinnamon
1/3 cup sugar
Cake Batter:
1 cup milk ( heavy
cream/ milk mixture)
� cup sugar
3 eggs
1 Tb vanilla extract
1/8 tsp salt
� cup flour (scooped
& leveled) Method:
To make apple filling:
Peel and core apple, cut apple into
lengthwise slices � inch thick, about 3 cups.
Saut� to very light
brown in hot butter, then let stand in skillet for � hour with the
brandy/rum, cinnamon, and sugar. Add the soaking liquid to pudding/cake
batter.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
F.
To assemble flan: Place the ingredients
#6 to #11 in blender jar in the order listed. Cover and
blend at top speed for 1 min.
Pour � inch layer of
batter in the baking dish (see note) in the preheating oven for about 5 to
10 min. till a film of batter has set in the bottom of the dish (see
note).
Remove baking dish
from the heat. Lay the apple filling slices from outside in (like petals
of flower). Pour on the rest of batter. Tilt, tap and shake gently to fill
any air gaps between the apple slices.
Place in the middle
position of preheated oven and bake for 50 to 60 min. The clafouti is done
when it has puffed and lightly browned and knife inserted into its center
comes out clean.
Sprinkle top of
clafouti with powdered sugar just before serving. Best eaten warm or room temperature
with French vanilla ice cream. May warm up in microwave oven, if baked the
day earlier. Note: Used 9" spring-form
pan to bake.
Line the spring-form
pan with parchment paper:
Paper between the
bottom and side of the pan to form creases, and fold over the side of the
pan.
Then place the parchment
paper over the pan, fold and push so the paper is conformed to the shape
of the pan.
Pour a thin layer of
the batter on the bottom of the parchment-lined
spring-form pan to bake.
(So the apple filling does not sink to the bottom. It forms a rosette design on
the cake, when it is baked.)
-- Ai-Ping Ma
Library Assistant
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Teddy the Collie Receives Doggie Library Card!
HPL E-News readers voted 3:1 to give Teddy the Collie a library card. Teddy may not be able to read, but he's a great listener. He's one of the special therapy dogs brought to the library to listen to children practice
reading out loud. Positive
Paws volunteers will continue the "Doggie Tales" program in the fall. For more information, contact Youth Services Librarian Ginny Figlia at 845-831-1134 x 103.
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Library Hours
Monday
Wednesday
Friday
9:30 - 5:30
Tuesday
Thursday
9:30 - 8:00
Saturday
10:00 - 4:00
Sunday
12:00 - 4:00
(year-round)
Emergency closing information:
831-1134 x 101
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Open
Summer Sundays
12 - 4 PM!
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There's always something good going on at the Howland Public Library.
Click below
for more info:
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Howland Public Library
E-News 2009 | four
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"Even, and especially, in times of financial distress, ordinary citizens turn to public libraries to learn skills, find out what's going on, and get more deeply plugged into the community. Public libraries serve the public good and deserve to be strongly supported...so they can continue serving the needs of our diverse public."
-- Tom Conroy
Friend of the Howland Public Library
The Howland Public Library is a public good of the Beacon City School District. If you know family or friends who would enjoy reading about the library and community or who would benefit from library coupons, please let them know about HPL E-News!
Click this button to:
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Featured Article
Free (Legal!) Music at
Pandora Internet Radio is for folks who wonder, "Where Have all the Flowers Gone?" and for freaks who "Walk on the Wild Side". It's for people who heard Beethoven roll over when WAXQ classic rock radio replaced classical WNCN. And, yes, it's for everyone who is a little bit country and a little bit rock and roll. Pandora is for everyone who loves music. To tune in, all you need is a computer, an Internet connection, and if you're using a library computer, some headphones.
Pandora lets you create personal radio stations that play the kinds of music you want to hear. Type in the name of a favorite song or artist, and Pandora's Music Genome database scans almost a century of recordings to produce a playlist of similar songs old and new, well-known and obscure. As songs play, when you like a song, click on "thumbs up"; when you don't like a song, click on "thumbs down". Each choice targets your musical likes and makes your station more "you". You can create up to 100 stations, shuffle them, share them, listen to them on-the-go, buy music, and more.
Since 2000, Music Genome Project musician-analysts have been listening to songs and collecting their musical details. Pandora says it takes 20-30 minutes per song to
capture about 400 attributes ("genes") that give each recording its sound - melody, harmony, rhythm, instrumentation, orchestration, lyrics, etc. Pandora provides band, album, and song information, and (yay!) lyrics are often included. If a band doesn't come up the first time you search Pandora, try again in a few weeks. New music is added all the time.
Pandora isn't perfect: You select a specific song, but may only hear songs like your selection.
You can't listen to a whole album. You can skip only a few
songs per session, and there are those pesky Botox (Not!) ads. Keep in mind that licensing
limitations and ads keep Pandora free, plus you get to hear performers you may never have known about. I'm enjoying my "Funnel of Love" station while writing this. I hope you enjoy Pandora as
much as I do. Click below to give it a try!
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Howland Public Library
Film Night Goes International
Our community has long had a hidden treasure: Friday Foreign
Film Night at the Howland Public Library. Since 2005, a monthly film has been
shown to what started as a small, loyal following of film aficionados. It has become one of the most popular programs offered by the Howland Public Library.
Library Assistant Ai-Ping Ma has
been at the heart of Film Night since its inception. When asked what makes this night so special, she replied, "It's a chance
for people to come to the library just to relax, get together with friends for
a good time, and have the chance to meet new people."
There's another reason it's a special evening. Ms. Ma is a warm, gracious hostess who makes
everyone feel at home. Her legendary homemade desserts are the highlight of each
evening. Depending upon the culture or country of the film being shown, she
searches for an authentic dessert, often trying several recipes to find the best one.
"My family has eaten a lot of desserts that didn't pass the taste test," she said.
Ms. Ma sees the dessert as one more opportunity to give
people a first-hand experience with a different culture. One example she
pointed out is a sponge cake recipe from Vietnam that is similar to Julia Child's French sponge cake recipe. The French colonized Vietnam for many years. A recipe for clafouti aux pommes (apple flan) is at left.
Despite the popularity of foreign films, changing HPL's format to international films opens the door to some excellent American films, too.
International film night is a free event, one Friday
each month. All films are shown in the original language with English
subtitles. Doors open at 6:30 PM and the film begins promptly at 7:00 PM. Please join us for these upcoming films:
7/24 - Gran Torino - USA
8/28 - Shall We Dance? - Japan
9/25 - Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day - France
10/23 - Shirley Valentine - England
11/13 - Italian for Beginners - Italy
12/11 - The Bishop's Wife (1947) - USAArticle & photo: Alison Herrero
Adult Services Librarian
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Baby & Me Story & Play Time
 Parents & caregivers are invited to bring babies, birth up
to age 24 months, to the Howland Public Library on 313 Main Street in Beacon for a six-week
session of Baby & Me Story & Play Time beginning Tuesday, July 7th and running through Aug. 11th. Baby & Me will be held on Tuesday
mornings from 10:30 - 11:15 in the Children's Area.
The
first half of Baby & Me is lap time, introducing children to simple
books, rhymes, lap games, and songs. After lap time, babies and adults share playtime and socialize. It's best that each baby have time alone with his or her adult; however, siblings are welcome. Everyone loves this program!
No
pre-registration is necessary. Check
the CALENDAR for more information. Questions? Contact Ginny Figlia, Youth Services Librarian, 831-1134 x 103.
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 This summer, HPL teens will take part in the 5th annual Battle of the Books for students entering grades 6-9 in September. BoB is a nationally-recognized literature contest in which teens answer trivia questions based on specific books. BoB encourages reading, teamwork, and friendly competition with teens from other schools.
HPL is recruiting students to participate in the local Battle of the Books that will begin on Thursday, July 9th. The team will meet with coaches every Thursday from 5-7 PM to practice answering questions, enjoy pizza and snacks, decorate T-shirts, and participate in book-related activities. Students will compete in Mini-Battles with local libraries in August; some will be tapped for HPL's All-Star Team that will participate in regional competition with 20 other teams in September.
Booklists and books are available now. Anyone interested in joining should contact Ginny Figlia at 831-1134 x 103.
This program is made possible in part by the following 2009
sponsors: Mid-Hudson Valley Credit Union, Town of Esopus Library Foundation, Friends
of Town of Esopus Library, Assemblyman
Timothy Gordon, Assemblyman
Marcus Molinaro, Blackwood and
Brower Book Store, Friends of Grinnell Library Association (Wappingers
Falls), and the Foundation for Hudson Valley Libraries-Poughkeepsie Public Library. Thanks also to funding from Dutchess County and Friends of the Howland Public Library. |
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Photo: P. Keaton
The Changing of the Board!
The June meeting of the Howland Public Library Board of Trustees was the last for Sandra Moneymaker (standing left) and Joseph Guarneri (standing right).
Mrs. Moneymaker, a recently retired Forrestal Elementary School teacher, served HPL for nine years, the last as Board Secretary and as Chair of the Action Development Committee. Sandy was instrumental in creating the Helen Savoit Award for Library Advocacy, and she has agreed to continue to help with library projects now that her term is over.
In his five years on the Board, local business owner and former Beacon City Councilman Joe Guarneri served on and/or chaired both Building & Finance and Personnel Committees. His financial guidance helped keep the library on a steady course through our years without a budget increase. Joe has also generously offered to consult as needed.
Public library trustees are elected officials responsible for maintaining an institution that -- directly or indirectly -- improves the quality of life of everyone in the community. Library trustees shoulder a great civic responsibility and receive no financial compensation. They deserve a big thank you for their service. In July, two new trustees will be sworn in: Prudence Posner & Dale Leifeste. More about them in the next E-News.
HPL board meetings are held the first Tuesday of each month at 7 PM in the Community Room. All meetings are open to the public. Date changes are published in local media and in the library.
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June signals the end of the school year, and the beginning of HPL's Summer Reading Program for children, teens, and adults. This year's statewide theme is "Be Creative @ Your Library", and we have plans to inspire you! Check our CALENDAR for details. It helps to have a library card. Library cards are free to new users, but there is a replacement fee for lost cards. Our recent library card amnesty was so successful we're continuing it through our Summer Reading Program. From July 1st - August 30th, all HPL card replacement fees will be waived. If you need to replace a lost library card, or if you'd like to trade your old card for a new
key ring card, fill out the coupon below and bring it to the front
desk. What can you do with your new library card?
(The same great things you can do with your old one!)
Borrow freely from a collection of over 2.25 million books, music CDs, books on CD, DVDs and other media provided by HPL and area libraries. Order them online from our LIBRARY CATALOG or ask our staff for help. Read subscription-only online newspapers and magazines; access expensive databases such as Chilton's Auto Repair and the archive of the Poughkeepsie Journal, and so much more! See what's available by clicking: DUTCHESS DATABASES
In the library, you can use our free WiFi connection, if you have your
own laptop. If you don't have a laptop, you can use one of our public Internet computers. All of this is in addition to our "classic" library materials, services and programs. If you haven't been to the Howland Public Library in a while, check out our Summer Reading Programs, made possible with funding from County Executive Bill Steinhaus and the Dutchess County Legislature (special thanks to our local legislators John Forman and Alison MacAvery) and with funds provided by the Friends of the Howland Public Library. We are grateful!
Photo: A.L.R. Keaton
Sincerely,
Phyllis Keaton, Director|Editor
& Your Friends at the Howland Public Library
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 Summer Reading Program Library Card Amnesty No Lost Card Replacement Fees! Sign me up for HPL E-News: ___
I already read HPL E-News: ___
My name is: ______________________________________
My email address is: _______________________________
(Please print clearly!)
Replace an old or lost card with a new HPL card and/or key-chain card.
Don't have a library card? Bring ID and proof you live in the BCSD to HPL.
(People under 18 who never had a card will need a parent/guardian to co-sign.)
STAFF: Amount waived _____ Initials ______
Offered: July 1 thru August 31, 2009
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