Wines wins award
Accolades for Altamont’s librarian



ALTAMONT — Fish and chicks have brought acclaim to the Altamont library.

The New York Library Association presented Judith Wines, the library’s director, with the JanWay/NMRT Excellence Award at its annual conference last week. Each year, NYLA gives the award to a librarian who has developed new programs, sought grants, and generally improved library services. Among the things that Wines has brought to the library is a fish tank and an incubator that hatched chicks.
"The library’s role is shifting," said Wines. She wants to build a community around the library, breaking it out of its traditional research-oriented role. Of the fish tank, she said she was "trying to make it more of a learning experience."

In the year-and-a-half that Wines has been heading the free library, she has brought several new programs, including: a computer class for adults, new reading groups, story time for toddlers, and a read-to-a-dog program.

Kids sometimes feel like they’re being judged when they read to a grown-up, said Wines, so they can sign up to read to Teri Conroy’s Portuguese water dog instead. The dog does some tricks and makes reading fun for self-conscious kids, she said.
One of Wines’s favorite new programs is the children’s book clubs. She has one group for second- and third-graders and another for fifth- and sixth-graders. Introducing kids to books by classic children’s writers, like Judy Bloom and Roald Dahl, is rewarding, she said. "I just really like watching the kids make connections," said Wines.

Also near the top of her list of favorites is the book-discussion group for mentally-disabled adults, she said. The program began after she got a grant aimed at including that group. She picks books that are an appropriate reading level and largely picture driven that also have an accompanying movie so that everyone can be included, she said.

Wines also received a National Endowment for the Humanities grant, called Becoming American, that deals with immigration issues and a Brownstone Foundation grant that will supply 100 new children’s books.

Wines writes a witty weekly column for The Enterprise, detailing the library’s many activities and concluding with a literary riddle.
"One of the advantages to working in a small place like this is it’s easy to effect programming," said Wines, noting that she doesn’t have to get approval from a large bureaucracy, just from the library board. Vice President of the board, Pat Spohr, nominated Wines for the award. "I can always rely on her," Wines said of Spohr. "She’s an invaluable resource."