Beach library looks for volunteers to trim palms
Weekly Activities
n Preschool Story Hour for children on Wednesday, May 20, at 10:30 a.m.
n Knitting session on Wednesday, May 20, at 6:30 p.m.
n Writer’s Group meets on Thursday, May 21, at 10:30 a.m.
n Dog Day on Thursday, May 21 from 4 to 5 p.m.
n We are closed on Monday, April 25 for Memorial Day.
n Internet Scams presentation on Tuesday, May 26, at 1:30 p.m.
Activity Details
Knitters, both new and experienced, have a chance to gather for sharing conversation and ideas on May 20.
Writer’s Group meets May 21 as an avenue to keep communication open among aspiring and working writers.
Making reading fun is the goal of Dog Day on May 21. Parents, pre-register children for a session so that your child can read to a dog.
The top 11 Internet and Email Scams will be under discussion come May 26. Pre-registration is necessary.
Upcoming Events
Cardmaking session is set for June 11 at 10:30 a.m. This is an opportunity to make that needed summer event or special occasion card. Pre-registration and $3 materials fee are needed.
We generally know about the importance of Thomas Edison in American life. A presentation on May 18 will focus on the life of Edison in Florida. You’ll be surprised at the range of activities that was right on our back door.
Volunteer
If you’re handy in trimming palms, we have a need for some trimming on a few trees. This is a project that can be fitted to your schedule. Our operating budget for the current year experienced a 7 percent reduction and, as you know, none of our basics like utilities, maintenance expenses or salaries have gone down in price. We do not want to cut any library services, so look to seeking volunteers to do some needed tasks such as outdoor trimming.
If you might be available to do this and have the trimming equipment, please see me and we’ll together look at what needs attention. All work follows the direction of the landscape committee.
Memorial/Special Event
Remember a loved one, deceased or living, by donating $25 or more to have a new title added to the collection and a plaque added to commemorate and honor the person or event.
Powell
American literature knows only a few writers who are able to present a fully detailed portraiture of people and places and do so with a sense of energetic comic description and satire. One who fits this bill well is Dawn Powell.
Powell wrote prodigiously, producing hundreds of short stories, a dozen novels, ten plays, and a diary to which she contributed most of her adult life. The Library of America, which strives to publish the best of American writers, has devoted two volumes to Powell’s works (CL POW).
She was born in small town in Ohio and lived in Manhattan. Both of these milieus become the fodder of her writings. She married at age 24 and had her only child the following year. The child, who we would probably today say was autistic, was a challenge to raise but yet she wrote at an avid pace. The influence of both Ohio and New York in her life led to an interesting presentation in her writings.
She died from colon cancer at age 68 and donated her body to the Cornell Medical Center, which offered to return body parts five years later but her executrix wouldn’t accept them and so Powell was buried on Hart Island, the “potter’s field” for New York City.
You can pick up any of the two volumes and enjoy just one novel. Volume One contains “Come Back to Sorrento,” “Turn, Magic Wheel,” “Angels on Toast” and “A Time to Be Born,” while Volume Two concentrates on “My Home Is Far Away,” “The Locusts Have No King,” “The Wicked Pavilion” and “The Golden Spur.”
Usage
U.S. public libraries experienced growing usage during the past year. More than 68 percent of Americans have library cards, the greatest number of Americans with library cards since the American Library Association started to measure library usage in 1990.
The report from the ALA notes that more than 2 billion items were checked out in the past year, an increase of 10 percent compared to date from the last economic downturn in 2001. To help and increase options as you check out materials, we added 565 new print and media titles to our collection last month.
Accessibility
To make it easier to notice and browse new titles, we are highlighting four new areas in the upcoming months: travel, health, self-help/psychology, and gentle fiction. The first area that you’ll soon see available will be travel. New titles being added to the area will be displayed on gondolas.
Library Hours
Don’t remember library hours? Call for information. When we are closed, a recorder gives the hours of operation, either on 765-8162, or on 765-8163. Except for holidays, which would be mentioned on the recorder, we are open Monday and Wednesday from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Tuesday, Thursday and Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and Saturday 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. We look forward to seeing you.