Better late than never!
Another turning of the year and it’s a great time to review
2019. The library was the place to be!
We had so many fun and informative programs, and are grateful to all who
attended and those folks who were willing to present programs. Besides the weekly Sit n’ Knit group and our
revived Writer’s Group, we had 146 separate programs for families, children,
and adults & teens.
The town’s annual Snocade event was fun, we had Story Time
Plus several times for the young ones, ice lantern workshops, sewing classes,
and our 1st annual “Light Up the Library” event with games, crafts,
a bon fire for s’mores, and of course our community’s luminous display of ice
lantern creations. The 2nd
Annual is just around the corner: Wednesday February 19th 6-8pm. Later in February the Warren Co. Cooperative
Extension held a day of free tax preparation.
2020’s date is 2/25/20—be sure to make an appointment.
We had lots of earth-friendly stories and themes for Spring
break, using items culled from our collections to create new works of art. For the gardeners in our community, the
library held 2 straw bale gardening classes, and a vermiculture (worm
composting) class. Patrons ordered 90
straw bales to be delivered to the library for pick up in mid-spring from the
Hamilton Co. Soil and Water District.
Throughout 2019 the library partnered with the Caregivers
Support Initiative to bring a series of educational talks for those caring for
loved ones with Alzheimer’s Disease and other dementias. Local patron and educator Jodie Seymour began
an ongoing series on mindfulness that continues once a month into 2020.
Summer Reading 2019’s theme was a “Universe of Stories” and
we had lots of new books about space to share with our young readers. We studied different aspects about space
(planets, the moon, the constellations, travel and jobs in space) and ended
with a visit to the Indian Lake Theater to visit SkyLab Planetarium courtesy of
Up Yonda Farm, and a generous grant from Stewart’s Shops. Kids earned “book bucks” for every 15 minutes
spent reading and used their bucks to buy treats for themselves and friends,
but also they bought groceries and school supplies for Indian Lake Community
Action, over $140 worth! Summer Reading helps kids keep up their reading
skills, and their reading in turn helped the community. On July 31st
we celebrated Harry Potter’s and J.K. Rowling’s shared birthday with our first
annual “Stay Up Late at the Library. We
had more s’mores, crafts, games, and a telescope trained on Jupiter and saw its
4 moons traverse!
Other summer highlights were an herbal talk, a visit from
Adirondack Raptors, a beaver talk from the Adirondack Interpretive Center, DEC
led compass and map classes, and loads of craft projects. Our decentralization grant from the
Adirondack Center for the Arts brought us an audience at the Indian Lake
Theater with author, actress, and storyteller Fran Yardley, whose book Finding True North was our community
read. The Blue Mountain Center partnered
with us for a reading by journalist and novelist Helen Benedict. We plan for
more informative and exciting programs next year to keep the summer fun and
interesting.
We want to thank Bill LaPrairie, the head of our town Park
and Recreation Department for all of his help this year with the nearly $5000
construction grant we were awarded by our library system. With that money Bill and his crew made some
very nice improvements to our building. New
touch free toilets and hand dryers were installed to lower waste and keep germs
at bay. They installed a new book
deposit that makes life so much easier for our librarians, and more comfortable
for our patrons on the porch. Ken King built our gorgeous new video shelves,
the book drop cabinet, and two benches for patrons to use while in the
library.
Plans in 2020 are to build upon what we had going on in 2019
to make the library as essential to our community members’ lives as we possibly
can. The Indian Lake Central School has been sending the elementary grades over
monthly this school year to read fun books together and do activities based on
those stories, the younger we get them in the habit of visiting the library,
the better!
One big goal in 2020 is to spread the word on the important
magic of reading aloud to each other.
Stayed turned to programming on that very topic, and stop by to borrow
some fantastic books on the topic!
Thank you all for your support and suggestions.
