Recent Additions to Library Catalog Options

Do you rely on your cell phone as a primary form of communication?  If you text or tweet or get your email on your phone, the Ridgefield Library wants to make it easy for you to get the information you want about our collections and programs. Two new text messaging options have recently been added to our online catalog for your convenience.

You can receive hold notifications from the Library as text messages;  you will see this as an additional option in the usual screens for placing holds and managing your account preferences.  No more driving right by the Library only to get home to discover an email or phone message about a book waiting to be picked up.

When you find an item of interest in the online catalog, you can send the call number information to your cell phone as a text message to help you locate the item when you visit. Just look for the “text to phone” link next to the call number. No more searching around for elusive pen and paper.  With the expanded shelving areas coming in the New Ridgefield Library, this will be even more of a help in finding what you seek.

Shop Local and Support your Library at the Same Time

Have you taken the Shop Local Holiday Pledge?  This new movement spearheaded by the Chamber of Commerce encourages Ridgefielders to shop, give and eat locally this holiday season.  You can find out more and take the pledge at the Chamber’s Facebook page.

One way you can enter into this spirit is by taking advantage of the annual Ridgefield Library Days at Books on the Common during 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 29^th from 9:00 AM – 8:00 PM, Saturday the 30^th from 9:30 AM – 6:00 PM and Sunday December 1st from 11:00 AM – 5:00 PM.

As an additional incentive, the 30^th is also Small Business Saturday, when shoppers get a rebate on purchases made with an American Express card at participating small retailers including Books on the Common.

The Library will be closed on Thursday the 28th and Friday the 29th, so be sure to come in before then if you don’t have a card. Stop by the Circulation Desk today; all you need is proof of Ridgefield residence.

Young Adults vs. Teens

“Divergent” by Veronica Roth, “Twilight” by Stephenie Meyer and “The Hunger Games” by Suzanne Collins used to be in our YA (Young Adult) fiction collection. Now, to find one of those titles, you need to go to our Teen fiction collection. 

The Future Business Leaders of America from Ridgefield High School spent several hours in the Ridgefield Library on October 24, helping us re-label the entire YA Fiction collection. These cheerful teenagers spent their volunteer time sticking new labels that read “Teen” over old labels that read “YA”, then taping the labels down.  They handled several thousand books and helped us quickly make the transition to the collection’s new designation. 

Why did we make this change? Well, I am the Library’s Teen Services Librarian and work with our Teen Advisory Group. When the New Ridgefield Library opens in the spring, there will be a new Teen Room for my patrons. I serve people in middle school and high school; they are ages 12-18; they are teens, not young adults. “YA” is a jargon-y term that book publishers’ marketing departments use. It seems right to eliminate it from the Library, and to use a word that is clearer, more accurate, and reflects what my patrons call themselves: teens. 

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