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Borrowing eBooks easier
Next Generation simplifies library eBook lending |
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 OverDrive, the library's digital platform from which eBooks and other digital media are loaned, has changed to make browsing and borrowing easier than ever for users!
OverDrive's new Next Generation digital library website offers many search and navigation improvements slated to begin the week of Feb. 18, including a one-step checkout and browser-based eBooks.
The new website also uses "responsive design," which allows the mobile and desktop experience to be the same - optimized for any screen size regardless of the user's device.
OverDrive Read, the browser-based eBook-reading feature, is available for the majority of EPUB eBooks in the library's collection - so there's no need to purchase, activate, or install any extra software - all you need is a computer, tablet, or mobile device with a modem web browser.
Next Generation still supports (and provides easier borrowing for) all currently compatible eBook and audio/video devices, including Kindle, Android, iPad, and Nook.
Keep a lookout for this new-and-improved OverDrive - if you were too intimidated to start taking out library eBooks, this will be your chance to find out how easy it really is! |
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Coming up at the Wallkill Public Library  Monday: School's closed, but the library's open! The Mini Art Club meets at 10:30 a.m., as usual!
Tuesday: Book Buddies meets at 10:30 a.m. Celebrate a belated Presidents' Day with Patriotic Story Time at 4 p.m. Books Alive! rehearses at Wallkill Reformed Church from 3:30-5:30 P.M. Textile Tuesday handcrafters meet between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. at the community room of Town Hall. Wednesday: Mommy and Me meets at 10 a.m., followed by Toddler Story Time at 11 a.m. The Art Club meets at 4 p.m. - participants will choose their favorite subjects and paint them on canvas! Thursday: Pre-K Fingerpainting will take place at 1:30 p.m. Millie the Tail-Wagging Tutor will be in at 4 p.m. to listen as her friends read her a story. The Knit and Crochet Club meets at 6:30 p.m. The Friends of the Library meet at 6:30 p.m. at the Friends' Used Book Shop. Friday: Lego Building will be offered at 4 p.m. Saturday: The Third Annual Lego Build-a-Thon will be held from 1-3 p.m. at the community room of the Town Hall. Bring your kids and help them get creative at this popular event. |
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Archivist to discuss Barbarie patent  Wallkill Public Library archivist Matthew Thorenz will be the featured speaker at the next Historical Society of Shawangunk and Gardiner meeting. He'll be discussing The Barberie Patent: A Transatlantic Story.
Matt will reveal details about the 1709 Barbarie land patent- the "birth certificate" of the town of Shawangunk - and its importance in the world of early America. The meeting will be held at 7 p.m. March 6 in the community room of the Town Hall. |
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Tuskegee Airmen presentation Feb. 26  Celebrate Black History Month with the Wallkill Public Library as we offer a special presentation about the legendary Tuskegee Airmen.
Tuskegee chapter president Lt. Col. (Ret.) Glendon A. Frasier will help us learn about this groundbreaking group of African-American pilots, who overcame segregation and prejudice to become one of the most highly respected fighter groups of World War II. The program is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 26, at the community room of Town Hall. Everyone's welcome, though ages 9 and up will probably get the most out of the program. Call the library at 895-3707 for more information. |
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Fiction an educational experience, too  How many times have we readers of fiction been looked down upon by our friends/spouses who "only read nonfiction"? Yet how many times have we been able to answer the odd Jeopardy! question correctly? While writers of nonfiction must do great amounts of research in order to ensure the truth of their work, fiction writers must do research and concoct a story at the same time.
For instance, Linda Fairstein, author of a series of mysteries featuring assistant DA Alexandra Cooper in New York City, has taught me a lot about the city and its environs. I learned of a myriad of storerooms and tunnels under Bryant Park that is used by the New York Public Library (also a great place for a murder). In another book from this series, she includes a history of Breezy Point; and as her character has a house on Martha's Vineyard, season tickets to the Metropolitan Opera and a beau in France, now I know more about those places, too. Each book spins a mystery and educates the reader about a different aspect of New York City life. In another novel, The Rule of Four by Ian Caldwell, I discovered that there was an actual bonfire of the vanities. In 1497, bonfires were lit by order of Savonarola to burn any and all objects thought to be occasions of sin. Mirrors, paintings, statuary, literature, etc., all destroyed forever - but a great start for a mystery about where some of the saved masterpieces might be hidden. And thus the origin of Tom Wolfe's interesting title. Reading The Given Day and Live by Night by Dennis Lehane gives you a history lesson spanning the return of soldiers from World War I through Prohibition, with characters like Babe Ruth, Jack Reed, and Eugene O'Neill. James Patterson paints a grim picture of Newburgh in I, Michael Bennett. So don't be discouraged by those nonfiction purists. We can learn many things from our fictional tales, and enjoy a good story at the same time! Peg Wilson Wallkill Public Library staff member |
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Grads can party safely at school event  Wallkill Senior High School's All-Night Senior Celebration offers graduates a safe, drug- and alcohol-free environment in which to celebrate their success.
Open to all seniors, the event takes place during the evening and through the night of the graduation ceremony, which falls on Saturday, June 22 this year. Food, music, entertainment, and prizes are included in the event, which has been a tremendous success and very well attended in the past. Businesses and organizations within the community are asked to consider donating either cash, prizes, or both to supplement the funding efforts used to make the evening a celebration to remember. For more information, call the high school at 895-7151. Checks can be made out payable to the Wallkill Senior High School Senior Celebration and mailed to Wallkill Senior High School Senior Celebration, PO Box 310, Wallkill, NY 12589. |
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Local author discusses new book You can celebrate Women's History Month with local author Sally Wortmann March 9 as she discusses her book, Stitches in Time.
Ms. Wortmann will bring the 19th-century wedding dress that inspired her to travel back to 1832 Burlingham, N.Y.
Though a children's book, Stitches in Time gives readers of all ages the unique opportunity to look back into their own local and family history while discovering something new about themselves.
The discussion will taker place at 2 p.m.
Attendees are encouraged to bring an item from a special woman who has had an impact on their lives and share her story.
Refreshments will be served. Call 895-3707 to reserve your seat! |
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Music program for little ones starts soon  An early childhood educational music program will be offered at Wallkill Public Library starting March 1!
Musikgarten offers infants, toddlers, and young children lessons that help them develop a deep love of music and the ability to express it. Classes will be offered Fridays at 10:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. for infants and toddlers (newborn to age 2), and at 12:30 p.m. for preschoolers ages 3-4. The registration fee is $35 per class, which includes a CD, songbook, and an instrument or game cards for family fun at home. Tuition is $125 for 10 weeks. Call 905-2556 with any questions or to register! |
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Eat a pancake and help a child read  Like your morning flapjacks? You can enjoy them and help out a good cause at Applebee's Flapjack Fundraiser Saturday, Feb. 23.
Visit the Newburgh Applebee's on Route 300 for either the 8 a.m. or 9 a.m. seatings that morning and for $7 per person you can enjoy a delicious breakfast, 100 percent of whose proceeds benefit the Pediatric Reach Out and Read (ROAR) program. ROAR prepares America's young children to succeed in school by partnering with doctors to prescribe books and encourage families to read together. Parents are advised at regular pediatric checkups about the importance of reading aloud, while at the same time new, age-appropriate books are handed out to children at each of their well visits. The program begins at the 6-month checkup and continues through to age 5, with a special emphasis on children in low-income communities. Children served by ROAR enter kindergarten with larger vocabularies, stronger language skills, and a six-month developmental edge. You can help out by volunteering at the Greater Hudson Valley Family Health Center, which is creating a Reading Nook in their pediatric department for volunteers to read to children. You can also donate new or gently used books for the Nook or to be "prescribed" to children at their appointments. Or you can become a volunteer at an event like the Flapjack Fundraiser! To purchase tickets for the event or volunteer, call 220-3156 and mention the Wallkill Public Library! |
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Website provides thousands of facts
Trivia may be the clutter of the mind, but it tends to come in handy.
Even if you have no immediate plans for a Jeopardy! audition, you can always impress (or annoy) your friends with the many intellectual tidbits you can glean from Factsie, such as "During WWII, Japan bombed China with fleas infected with the bubonic plague." Below every fact is a "source" link that leads users to whatever website provided that day's information.
The site is pretty self-explanatory - when you visit it you'll find one fact ready for the absorbing. If you want more, you can click, "I want another fact!" or visit the site's archive. |
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New DVDs offer something for everyone
The Oscars are coming up, which means those movies you didn't have a chance to see when they were in the theater will soon be out on DVD.
And the Wallkill Public Library will have them! A lot of them, at least. Some of our new and soon-to-arrive titles include:
- Anna Karenina, starring Keira Knightley and Jude Law, in which the
 aristocrat Anna Karenina enters into a life-changing affair with the affluent Count Vronsky in 19th-century Russia. - Argo, starring Ben Affleck, which is a dramatization of the 1980 joint CIA-Canadian secret operation to extract six fugitive American diplomatic personnel out of revolutionary Iran.
- Cloud Atlas, starring Tom Hanks and Halle Berry, an exploration of how the actions of individual lives impact one another in the past, present and future, as one soul is shaped from a killer into a hero, and an act of kindness ripples across centuries to inspire a revolution.
- The Words, starring Bradley Cooper, which involves a writer at the peak of his literary success who discovers the steep price he must pay for stealing another man's work.
Each month the library orders the latest releases, so if you're a movie fan, make it a habit to peruse our shelves -the film's on us! |
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