New Digital Magazines Available

Have you tried Zinio yet? This online service gives Ridgefield Library card holders access to several dozen popular magazines in a convenient downloadable format for reading anywhere, any time, on a computer, laptop, smartphone or tablet.

The full content of every page of the magazine is reproduced, in full color and with added interactive navigation features. Once you have downloaded them, there is no due date, so you can continue to enjoy them indefinitely (great for cooking magazines with tempting recipes!).

While not all publications are available for library subscriptions, we have tried to select an appealing and diverse selection.  Joining perennial favorites like The New Yorker, Cook’s Illustrated, Newsweek and Kiplinger’s Personal Finance are new selections including Clean Eating, Entrepreneur, ESPN, Every Day with Rachel Ray, Harper’s Bazaar, and Rodale’s Organic Life.

Zinio also has a commercial interface, so make sure you are signing up for Zinio for Libraries for free access courtesy of the Ridgefield Library. Instructions on setting up and using your account are available at the Adult Services desk or on the “Library on the Go” page at ridgefieldlibrary.org.  Happy reading!

Summer Reading Rocks

As of July 7^th, we are halfway through Summer Reading, and the numbers are looking great!  In just 3-1/2 weeks, 112 adults have registered 233 items; 318 teens have logged 5,169; and a whopping 1074 school-aged children have completed 14,117 books and audiobooks.  This is well on a pace to be our busiest summer of reading ever.

In addition to the sheer enjoyment of reading, participants are urged on to new heights by the fabulous rewards they can earn. Adults have been thrilled by the gorgeous gift baskets created by the Friends of the Library and raffled off each week.  Teens are competing enthusiastically for prizes from The Cake Box, Deborah’s Sweet Shoppe and Books on the Common.  The Toy Chest and Deborah Ann’s have contributed coupons for all children reading a certain number of books, and the Friends of the Library have generously supplied additional prizes.

While the official end of the Summer Reading Program is July 31^st, the online reading log system will remain up and running, and young readers can continue to log their books and earn rewards until the day before school starts.  It’s not too late to get in the game - start your Summer Reading log today at www.ridgefieldlibrary.org.

Searching for the Bard, and the Boss @ the Library

Looking for Kenneth Branagh or Laurence Olivier?  What about Placido Domingo or Bruce Springsteen?  Look no further than the Fine Arts and Literature collections in the historic front part of the Library.  Opera CDs and performance DVDs, Shakespeare audiobooks and performance DVDs, and non-fiction and documentary DVDs on art and artists, music, movie-making and other fine and performing arts topics are now located in the Goldstone Special Collections Room and the Ruggles Fine Arts Reading Room right inside the Main Street entrance.

This change puts all of our printed and media materials related to these topics in one convenient location. Pick out a coffee table volume on the Impressionists, then select an episode of a made-for-TV art appreciation series or a documentary film on the life of Degas or Monet.   Also here are live concert recordings by pop icons like Springsteen and Paul Simon and recorded live performances of musicals like CATS.

This is a great place to brush up your Shakespeare (or Verdi or Tchaikovsky) before Live in HD film presentations at the Ridgefield Playhouse of productions by the National Theatre, Met Opera and Bolshoi Ballet.  Then show your Ridgefield Library card at the box office and get the special member discount price.