Altamont Library Notes for Wednesday, September 4, 2019

Right around this time last fall, we launched a fun and exciting challenge for library lovers throughout the Capital District that we called the Upper Hudson Library System Library Expedition. The challenge was to visit all of the 36 libraries in Albany and Rensselaer Counties between Sept. 1 and the end of the year.

Thousands of people participated, and 375 completed the objective. Well, to celebrate the awesome time we all had doing it, we’re throwing a party, and if you participated in any portion of the challenge, you’re invited!

Join us at the Crossing Park in Colonie on Tuesday, Sept. 10. The party will run from 4 to 7 p.m. and you can drop in for 10 minutes, or make a whole evening of it and bring a picnic supper! There’ll be crafts, activities, music, cider, and doughnuts, but best of all tons of folks who love libraries as much as you do! 

Gala prep

Believe it or not, it’s time again for us to begin planning for the I Love My Library Gala we hold every February. Our annual gala is not only the social event of every Altamont winter, it’s also an incredibly important fundraiser for our library.

Our most recent gala raised just over 10 percent of our annual budget. A successful gala means that we can continue to be open every day of the week, and to provide the programs, materials, and services you rely on us for.

But, of course, the gala doesn’t organize itself. We have a great group of supporters who volunteer their time, energy, and creativity to making sure that we have a fantastic gala every single year, but we need more help.

Specifically, we need your help. If you love our library, joining the gala team is a wonderful (and fun!) way to show your support. We need folks to help make invitations and stuff invitations, to design centerpieces, to collect things for our live and silent auctions and much more!

There’s much to do and many hands make light work. If you’d be interested in helping out, we’d be very grateful if you’d send us an email at or a phone call at 518-861-7239. Thank you!

Mystery Book Club

Please join us for a meeting of our newest book club, which is focused exclusively on mysteries! We’ve got members interested in every subgenre from intense psychological thrillers to low-key cozy mysteries and every type of mystery in between.

If you love a good whodunit, please join us on Thursday, Sept. 19, at 7 p.m. as we try to crack the case of Star Island by Carl Hiaasen.  

Juice and Jammies​ Story Time

On Friday, Sept. 20, at 7 p.m., put on your pj’s and join Ms. Erika for a pre-bedtime story, snack and craft! This low-key storytime will be just the thing to prepare your young folks to count some sheep. Make sure to sign up in advance by calling us at 518-861-7239 or emailing us at

Upstate Potluck 

As you may know, every month we hold a very popular potluck dinner where we focus on a different national or regional cuisine every month. Since the early fall is gives us such wonderful food here in the Capital District, we’ll be coming back home this month. At 6 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 23, we’ll be sampling the foods (and drinks!) of Upstate New York!

If you’ve never joined us for a potluck before but have always wanted to, this is the month to do it! Please call the library to register in advance and bring a dish to share. If you need inspiration, check out one of our upstate-focused cookbooks.

Trivia Night

On Friday, Sept. 27, from  to 9 p.m., our monthly Trivia Night is back! Make a team, study up and BYOB to this mind-twisting trivia contest! Entrance is $5 and the winning team takes half of the door. Contestants must be 21 and up, please.