Listening with Intent

Audiobooks are hot everywhere, especially in Ridgefield.  The Library has 1,300 audiobooks on CD that circulate so frequently that at any given time, only about 55% of them are available. Recently, we’ve added more than 1,000 downloadable audiobooks to the collection and those have proven very popular as well.  Audiobooks are a true art form in and of themselves.  There are publishers devoted solely to creating them, and people often have favorite narrators, whom they will follow from book to book. Every year, the Audio Publishers Association holds the Audies, the premiere awards program in the United States, recognizing distinction in audiobooks.  I have been fortunate enough to have been chosen as a judge for the 2012 Audies Competition, in the non-fiction category. This means listening to and evaluating more than 25 audiobooks between now and the new year. While listening for technical specifications (good sound quality, no odd edits or paper shuffling noises), I also have to be attentive to the narrator’s tones, energy, and overall performance. It is a pleasure to spend time with all these talented narrators.  I encourage you to check out some of the Library’s audiobooks and discover this art form for yourself. 

Contributed by Geri Diorio, Teen Services Librarian and head of Children's Serices

Library Days Return to Books on the Common

It’s time once again for Ridgefield Library Days at Books on the Common the weekend after Thanksgiving.  Just show your Ridgefield Library card at the register and 15% of the proceeds of your purchase will be donated to the Library. To make your holiday shopping even easier, the bookstore will be open Friday the 25^th from 9:30 AM – 8:00 PM, Saturday the 26^th from 9:00 AM – 6:00 PM and Sunday the 27^th from 11:00 AM – 5:00 PM.

Books on the Common and the Ridgefield Library are partners in many projects, including this fall’s Author Talk series featuring John Burnham Schwartz, Tom Perrotta and Stewart O’Nan (coming December 8^th is Linda Urbach, author of “Madame Bovary’s Daughter”). We are pleased to offer this opportunity for you to support both your community library and a treasured local store through Ridgefield Library Days at Books on the Common.

The Library will be closed on Thursday the 24^th and Friday the 25^th, so be sure to come in before then if you don’t have a library card or have lost yours. Stop by the Circulation Desk today; all you need is proof of Ridgefield residence (such as driver’s license, lease or utility bill).

New Tech Trends and Old-Fashioned Fun @ the Library

Libraries seem to be situated right at the intersection of the traditional and the cutting edge, and the Ridgefield Library is no exception.  This week, on Saturday, November 12, two special programs in the Dayton Program Room illustrate how hi-tech and tradition go hand in hand @ your Library.

From 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM, families are invited to celebrate Family Game Day by playing good, old-fashioned board games suitable for all ages, such as Scrabble, backgammon, Battleship, Sorry, Candyland, Settlers of Catan, Blokus, Bananagrams and Connect Four.  Come enjoy a family favorite or learn a new game, so you are prepared to weather the next storm!

In the afternoon, we switch gears to the newest of new innovations, with a hands-on workshop called “Downloading Library E-Books and Audiobooks 101.” Drop in between 1:30 and 4:30, and staff members will be on hand to provide one-on-one assistance with downloading eBooks and audiobooks from our Overdrive service for use on your computer, eReader, mp3 player, smartphone or other portable device. Considering purchasing an eReader?  Stop by to try out a Kindle, Nook, Sony Reader or iPad.  Educate yourself now about these new technologies, before the holiday gift giving season.

Ridgefield Authors Online @ the Library

Ridgefield -dubbed "the Lenox of Connecticut" in the early 1900s--has a proud literary past, with some of the most prominent authors and publishing figures of their time, including: legendary publishers who had summer houses here, such as E.P. Dutton and Henry Holt; influential magazine editors such as Henry Luce; authors–many of whom wrote some of their most important work here–such as Nobel Prize-winner Eugene O’Neill, two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Allan Nevins, Pulitzer prize-winning novelist Robert Lewis Taylor, futurist Alvin Toffler, novelist Howard Fast, the notorious newspaper columnist Westbrook Pegler (himself a Pulitzer recipient), journalist/playwright Clare Booth Luce, popular history writer Cornelius Ryan, as well as Roz Chast and Maurice Sendak.

In commemoration of the town’s tricentennial in 2008, the Ridgefield Library created an online directory of these and other Ridgefield authors, past and present. We are now pleased to announce that our directory has been completely revised and updated, thanks to research and writing by author Victoria Secunda and technical assistance from recent RHS graduate Jenna Dubin.  The directory may be viewed at ridgefieldauthors.wikispaces.com/.

Inquiries about being added to our list should be directed to Reference Librarian Christie Mitchell at camitchell@ridgefieldlibrary.org or 203-438-2282 x1016.