Guilderland Library Notes for Tuesday, November 17, 2020
— Photo from Luanne Nicholson
Library within a library: Part of the collection at Guilderland Public Library is now temporarily housed in the Helderberg Room, due to construction activity. The building is currently closed to the public, with plans to reopen for browsing in December.
If you've driven by the library recently, you can see the progress being made outside as we prepare ground on the east end of the building for the new 6,555-square-foot children's addition. Inside, many changes are unfolding too. It looks somewhat unrecognizable these days, with exposed ceilings, empty shelves, and a minimalist stripped-down ambiance.
We’re shifting much of our collection to other parts of the building to accommodate construction work. For example, non-fiction books are now housed in the Helderberg Room temporarily.
Throughout this relocation process, we’re striving to keep the maximum amount of materials available to patrons. We are pleased to report that the vast majority of our print collection for children, teens, and adults is still accessible during this transition period.
We appreciate your patience and understanding as we work through the rapidly-changing logistics involved. Updates are posted on https://bit.ly/GPLbuildingproject, Facebook and Instagram. To subscribe to our weekly eNews and monthly newsletters, go to https://bit.ly/GPLeNews.
Current services
GPL continues to serve patrons through online resources and curbside services.
Our curbside hours are: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Tuesday and Thursday from 1 to 7 p.m.; and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Our return shed hours are: Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. All materials are quarantined for 96 hours, then sanitized prior to reshelving.
It became necessary to close the Normanskill Room to public browsing recently, due to construction. This space is now needed as a staging and processing area for curbside materials. We are preparing to welcome patrons back into the main building for browsing in December — please stay tuned.
Trustees meet
The Guilderland Public Library Board of Trustees will conduct a virtual monthly business meeting on Thursday, Nov. 19 at 6 p.m. on our Facebook page. Public commentary may be directed to: . GPL Board meetings are archived at: http://bit.ly/GPLBoardMeetings.
Holiday hours
Hours of operation on Thanksgiving Eve, Wednesday, Nov. 25, are 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The library will suspend all services, including returns, on Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, Nov. 26.
“American Dirt”
The next installment of our Night Owls virtual book group is scheduled for Monday, Dec. 14 at 7:30 p.m. “American Dirt,” the widely-acclaimed 2020 bestseller by Jeanine Cummins incorporating crisp writing, swift pacing, and remarkable empathy, will be discussed.
Please register on the Events tab of our website, where you will find further instructions. For assistance placing a hold for curbside pickup, call us at 518-285-0050 or email us at .
Hoopla Bonus Borrows
November is a “Hoopla Bonus Borrows” month! Hoopla is a dynamic digital media service offered by more than 1,500 public libraries throughout the United States and Canada, including GPL. More than 750,000 movies, music, audiobooks, eBooks, comics and TV shows are at your disposal. Content can be streamed instantly on your computer, tablet, phone or TV; or downloaded for later viewing offline.
This month, over 1,000 specific titles will not be counted toward your monthly limit, so you can check out as many of them as you wish! Browse the entire Hoopla collection at: https://guilderlandlibrary.org/e-library-landing-page/#watchtv.
Multilingual community
Did you know that there are at least 59 languages spoken throughout the Guilderland area? Some of the most prevalent are Mandarin, Telugu, Hindi, Spanish and Tamil.
One of the learning tools on our website is Pronunciator, a fun and interactive way to learn any of 163 languages with personalized courses, movies, music and more. There’s also a new COVID-19 course in 101 languages. See https://guilderlandlibrary.org/learning-tools to explore all the options.
Dial-A-Story
With all the screen time we subject ourselves to these days, listening to a short story provides a welcome break to rest our eyes while igniting our imagination. Each week, our Dial-A-Story features two new tales – one for adults, one for children. Simply dial 518-519-4111 to hear an engaging story anytime.