Altamont Library Notes for Wednesday, September 11, 2019
It’s almost time for Founders Day! What? You’ve never heard of Altamont Founders Day.
That’s probably because this is the first time it’s being celebrated. This October, we’re commemorating the 1890 founding of the village of Altamont with a weekend of great events that will celebrate the history of our beautiful and unique community.
On Friday, Oct. 11, at 6 p.m., we’re gathering together Altamont residents with the longest memories for a group discussion about the Altamont of the past, which we’ll record for posterity. If you’d like to join us to reminisce about the Altamont Fair in the ’40s or Sand Street in the ’70s, please sign up at the library, and bring a friend!
Young Readers Book Club
Do you love Raina Telgemeier? Jack Gantos? What about Kate DiCamillo or JK Rowling?
Now that the school year has begun, we’re starting a book club for readers ages 9 to 12, and we’d love for your young book lovers to get involved. We’re still formulating a plan and a schedule, but as we do that, we’d love to hear from you!
What the last great book you read? What authors are your favorites? Do you like some kinds of stories more than other kinds? What days work best? Let us know!
We have a signup sheet at the desk, and you can always send us an email at with your contact information so that we can keep you in the loop about our first meeting!
Teen Book Giveaway
We sometimes get sent books for our collection, and sometimes even get sent extra copies and cool author swag to give away! We have a bunch of great young-adult books that we’d love to get into the hands of teen readers.
All you have to do is come in and fill out a raffle ticket with your contact info and you’ll be in the running to win some fabulous books! Good luck, and happy reading!
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.
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 7 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.
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 ever 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!