Howland Public Library Card = Music to Your Ears

       September is Library Card Sign-Up Month. This year, the Howland Public Library (HPL) offers a new incentive to sign up for an HPL card or to clear up problems with an old one. Anyone in the Beacon City School District with a valid HPL card and a personal PC or MP3 player can download one free song each week from Freegal--a free, legal source for downloadable music. There is no due date -- the songs are yours forever. When HPL's weekly limit is reached, users can put songs in a wish list for future downloading.  

       Freegal music comes from the huge Sony Music and IODA catalogs - everyone from Adele to Zubin Mehta. Access to Freegal is offered in addition to our 1,000-plus HPL CD music collection and access to over 19,000 music CDs from all libraries in our system. Find Freegal and our catalog at beaconlibrary.org or click on the Freegal image above. 

       To get a library card, bring a picture ID and proof of residence to the library, and fill out a short form. Because parents are responsible for their children, anyone under 18 must be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian to co-sign for a library card. For more information, visit the Howland Public Library at 313 Main Street, call our front desk at 831-1134 x 0, or look for our library card policy online at www.beaconlibrary.org under "About Us".

        Once a person has a valid HPL card, she or he can download music for free. And that's just the beginning! An HPL card provides free access to thousands of books, including graphic novels and ebooks; databases of news articles, encyclopedias and test preparation materials; an after-school homework center and the help of a professional reference librarian; free educational, cultural, informational and inspirational programs for people of all ages, and much more. HPL offers free Internet access for families without home computers or Internet access, and free wireless Internet access (no library card needed) for those with personal PCs and other devices.   

       Library Card Sign-up Month is a time when the American Library Association (ALA) and libraries across the country remind parents that a library card is the most important school supply of all. HPL reminds everyone that your library card is one of the most valuable cards in your wallet or on your keychain. This September:  Share resources, save money, and get music with your Howland Public Library card.  

Howland Public Library & Friends Join  

Poughkeepsie Library for Big Read   

L - R: John Desmond (DCC Professor), Ed Maisel (Director of Our Town production), Jennifer Lombardo (Highland Public Library), Julie Kelsall-Dempsy (Highland Public Library), Pat Breen (Friends of the PPLD), Lisa Karim (LaGrange Library), Patricia DeCarmine (Barnes & Noble), Marcia Fishman (Jewish Community Center of Dutchess County), Phyllis Keaton (Howland Public Library), Marion Imperatore (Friends of Howland Public Library), Jewel Ratzlaff (PPLD Staff), Tom Lawrence (PPLD Director) Photo Credit - Julie Hering, PPLD Public Information Officer

The Poughkeepsie Public Library District received a $15,300 Big Read grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA).  Marion Imperatore, Friends of the Howland Public Library, and Fanny Keaton, HPL Director, joined local officials, sponsors, partners, and library staff at Adriance for a brief celebration, where Poughkeepsie's Mayor John Tkazyik congratulated library staff and pledged his support for the 2011 Big Read event. 

This is the fifth year that the Poughkeepsie Public Library has received a Big Read grant.   When matched by local sponsors, Big Read grants provide communities with the resources to develop engaging opportunities to read, discuss, and celebrate a great work of literature. The NEA also provides participating communities with high-quality educational materials free of charge.

The 2011 Poughkeepsie Big Read focuses on two Pulitzer Prize-winning works by Thornton Wilder, The Bridge of San Luis Rey and Our Town.  Schools, colleges, libraries, businesses, organizations and book clubs will be reading and responding to these works between October 16 and November 13, 2011.    

HPL BIG READ EVENTS  

Nov. 5, 2011 from 1:00 - 2:00 PM in the HPL Community Room  

The setting of a cemetery is an important feature of the novel "Our Town" by Thornton Wilder. 

Join Robert Murphy, President of the Beacon Historical Society, as he discusses a variety of local cemeteries and their inhabitants - from the famous to the nearly forgotten. From historical figures and their descendants to slaves. Free. No registration is required.   

Nov. 8, 2011 from 2:00 - 3:30 PM in the HPL Community Room 

Special thanks to HPL Friend Marion Imperatore, who suggested that HPL participate in The Big Read, and who has been working on our programs with Alison Herrero, Adult Services Librarian.  For more information, email Alison  or call 831-1134 x 105.