Altamont Library Notes for Thursday, February 14, 2019

This past weekend, we held the 12th Annual I Love My Library Gala. It was a wonderful event and we have many people to thank for its success.

First of all, our Gala Committee, Amanda Beedle, Christine Carpenter, Linda Cure, Sally Dague, Pat Spohr, Michelle Stevens, and Vicki Vattimo. I’d like to make special mention of Robin Love and especially Megan Connolly, who coordinated our silent auction, and Ronnie Lindberg who helped with checkout.

Major credit goes to Yvette Terplak, who pulled everything together and made sure that everything ran more smoothly than it ever has before. We were also assisted by a fantastic group of young volunteers, as well as by the dozens of friends who donated auction items, desserts, and appetizers.

We also couldn’t have pulled it off without the crucial assistance of Jim Gardner of Enterprise Printing and Photo; Diana Greene of Bella Fleur/Remedies; Troy Miller of CM Fox Real Estate; Black Sheep Antiques; and our fabulous caterers, Elegant Touch Catering.

We are deeply indebted to our very deserving honorees for the evening, Ron and Lois Ginsburg and Dick and Ellen Howie, who have done so much to improve the Altamont community over their decades of service. Finally, a tremendous thank you to those in the incredible Altamont library community, whose support we can always count on. Thank you all!

Story time

One of the best ways of getting our youngest friends to become strong readers is by exposing them to a wide variety of readers and reading environments. For that reason, and also just because it’s just fun, we have two story times each week on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings at 10:30 a.m.

Tuesday Story Times with Miss Ann are targeted at preschoolers, while our Wednesday Story Times with Miss Erika are for toddlers (but we don’t mind older or younger friends on either day). Please join us for mornings of stories, songs, and bubbles.

Juice & Jammies

Speaking of story time, we also have a special evening StoryTime that we call Juice & Jammies coming up on Friday, February. Put on your pj’s and join Miss Erika for a low-key pre-bedtime story, and snack. This will be the perfect thing to get your kiddos ready to drift off to dreamland.  

Bags 4 My Cause

Here’s a great way to support your library, while at the same time doing a good turn for the environment: Throughout the month of February, for every “Bags 4 My Cause” reusable shopping bag sold at the 5239 Western Turnpike, Guilderland Hannaford, Altamont Free Library will receive a portion of the proceeds. Thanks, Hannaford!

Joan Johnson Exhibit

One of the wonderful things we get to do here from time to time is to show off the homegrown talent we have here in Altamont. For the next few weeks, we’ll have the pleasure of hosting a special exhibit of one of our many talented friends, Altamont-based artist Joan Johnson.

Watercolors from Maine, a collection of six paintings by Joan, will be on display in our community room until the end of March. Come take a look! Thanks for brightening up the library, Joan!

Fine freedom

Have you heard? For all of 2019, we’ll be trying something new: No overdue fines on any children’s books! No matter whether you’re a kid, a parent, a teacher, or anyone else, children’s books checked out here (even if we have to get them from another library) will not accrue overdue fines.

In addition, if you have existing overdue fines on an AFL youth card, we’ll clear them. Patrons with overdue children’s books will still be notified through their normal channels, and after 28 days, the book will be considered lost and the borrower responsible for the cost of the item, but if it comes back after that, the fine will be cleared.

We hope that many of our friends take advantage of this experiment, so spread the word!