September is library card sign-up month. Do you remember receiving your first library card? Some lifelong patrons of the library hand us cards that they’ve had since they were children, complete with their 5-year-old self’s signature. We’ve had patrons gently, lovingly, hand us cards so thin and frail that they are held together with tape and memories. Some cards we see are barely more than a barcode, and some were issued just this week. When you visit the library this month, add your vote to our “Which decade did you get your first library card?” display. If you don’t have a library card yet, fill out an application at the circulation desk and go home with one the same day.
Library road trip If you took part in the Four County Library System Road Trip, take a moment to answer questions about your experience through this online survey: https://forms.gle/euoNG8GiMbVe4tHQA
Knit & Crochet Group Tuesdays, 3 p.m. Community members gather on the main floor of the library for yarn crafts and conversation. Bring the project you are working on and enjoy friendly conversation as you knit and crochet.
Mahjong Thursdays, 5:30-7:30 p.m. for everyone who loves to play or wants to learn. Bring a friend or come alone. All skill levels are welcome. Meet on the main floor.
Storytime: Fridays, 10:30 a.m. It’s September, a time for crisp new beginnings, crisp crunchy apples and crisp, chilly weather! Join Miss Donna downstairs for our September Storytime series beginning on Friday, Sept. 15. Rhymes, songs, and stories about this lovely time of year. An appropriate craft or activity will follow each story time.
The Great Give Back: September-October If you know how to knit or crochet we need your help. As part of an annual library initiative called “The Great Give Back,” the Ogden Library will partner with the Walton Toy Bank to provide hats for local children in a special community service project. The library has been given fifty skeins of yarn to be turned into hats for infants to children aged eight. Stop by the library to sign up to participate and to be given yarn for as many hats as you wish to make. We have some simple patterns available, or you can use your own. Return your finished product to the library before Nov. 1. The Great Give Back is a community service initiative created by the Suffolk County Public Library Directors Association and the Suffolk Cooperative Library System, in conjunction with the Nassau Library System. The mission of The Great Give Back is to provide opportunities for the patrons of the public libraries of New York state to participate in meaningful, service-oriented experiences.
Apple Pie Making: Saturday, Sept. 9, 11 a.m. Hey teens, don’t be shy! Come make a pie and bring it home to bake! It’s September and the apples are ready to be picked and eaten. Join us on the lower level of the library to cut up your apples, make a pie crust, and put it all together. We supply everything. Space is limited and registration is required. In honor of Grandparent’s Day, if you bring your grandparent along, we will count you both as one.
Movies by Moonlight: Saturdays, Sept. 9, 16, 23 and 30 at 7:30 p.m. Movies by Moonlight, back by popular demand and bigger and better than ever. Bring a blanket or a lawn chair and join us on the Gardiner Place lawn for family friendly movies on our new giant inflatable screen. Free popcorn, compliments of the Walton Theatre, and hot cocoa will be provided. In the event of rain, movie night will be canceled. Watch the library’s website and Facebook page for up-to-date information. Sept. 9: Encanto; Sept. 16: A Dog’s Way Home; Sept. 23: Soul; Sept. 30: Lightyear.
Forest Farming: Thursday, Sept. 14, 6:30 p.m. Small forest landowners often have limited options for managing their woodlot or generating income to pay for forest management activities. Forest farming is an agroforestry practice that can provide landowners with options where traditional forestry practices like timber harvesting are not feasible. Learn about how you can use forest farming to connect to your land meaningfully, reap ecologically sustainable benefits from your forest, and actively manage your land with non-timber forest products. Education Forester for the Catskill Forest Association Zahra Bellucci provides consultations to landowners, assists in implementing CFA’s programs, and administers and develops the forestry education services CFA offers to members and the local community. Before forestry, Bellucci spent several years in the Catskill and Hudson Valley regions working in small-scale agriculture. The Catskill Forest Association (CFA) is a non-profit organization whose mission is to promote forest stewardship by providing education and forestry services to forest landowners, timber harvesters, foresters, and the general public in the Catskill region.
International Talk Like a Pirate Day, Tuesday, Sept. 19, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. Avast, me hearties! It be nearly International Talk Like a Pirate Day! Release your inner Blackbeard Sept. 19 as the crew of the S.S. Billy B let the pirates take o’er for just one day. Veteran seadogs and rookie scalawags alike can participate. Stop at the circulation desk and use your best pirate voice to tell us a tale, or your best pirate joke, and plunder our coffers for your Pirate’s Booty. Thar be temporary tattoos for the darin’, or take yer picture with our special pirate photo props. Weigh anchor, me scalawags, for Talk Like a Pirate Day comes but once a year.
Book & Film Chat: Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2 p.m. Gather on the lower level to share reviews of the titles read and watched. This group enjoys a range of genres and subject interests. Everyone is welcome - add your recommendations to the conversation.
Crafterwork: Thursday, Sept. 21, 6:30 p.m. Welcome birds into your backyard with this month’s crafterwork project. Adults are invited to the lower level to build and paint a bird feeder. Participants are encouraged to bring their own hammer and Philips-head screwdriver. Other supplies are provided free of charge. Space is limited; registration required. Call the library at 607.865.5929 or stop in to sign up.
Library board of trustee meeting: Tuesday, Sept. 26, 7 p.m. The library board will hold its regularly scheduled meeting on the lower level. The public is encouraged to attend.
Book Club Discussion: Wednesday, Sept. 27, 7 p.m. The book club will meet on the lower level. Reading This month: “Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family” by Robert Kolker ©2020 The heartrending story of a midcentury American family with twelve children, six of them diagnosed with schizophrenia, that became science’s great hope in the quest to understand the disease. What took place inside the house on Hidden Valley Road was so extraordinary that the Galvins became one of the first families to be studied by the National Institute of Mental Health. Their story offers a shadow history of the science of schizophrenia, from the era of institutionalization, lobotomy, and the schizophrenogenic mother to the search for genetic markers for the disease, always amid profound disagreements about the nature of the illness itself. And unbeknownst to the Galvins, samples of their DNA informed decades of genetic research that continues today, offering paths to treatment, prediction and even eradication of the disease for future generations. Copies can be reserved by calling the library at 607-865-5929, or by visiting www.4cls.org
Coming Soon:
• NYS defensive driver’s course: Wednesdays, Oct. 4 and 11, 5-8 p.m.
• Safer & Seen: How to support your LGBTQ+ loved Ones: Thursday, Oct. 5, 6-7:30 p.m.
