Shop Local and Support your Library at the Same Time

You can be part of the effort to Shop Small by shopping locally with 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 28^th from 10:00 AM – 8:00 PM, Saturday the 29^th from 9:30 AM – 6:00 PM and Sunday the 30th from 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM.

The 29^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. As a special incentive that day, the bookstore will be participating in IndiesFirst, a program in which authors take a turn at being booksellers at their local independent bookstore – drop by and Lauren Tarshis, Roz Chast, Peter Spiegelman and Mark Slouka will be on hand to serve you!

The Library will be closed on Thursday the 27th and Friday the 28th, 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. 

Teen Advances Environmental Education @ the Library

Thanks to Ridgefield teen Samantha Holmes, the Library has recently enhanced its resources for children in the area of nature and the environment.  Headed off this fall to Duke University, Samantha was the recipient of a Keep America Beautiful grant from the Wrigley Foundation, which she dedicated to purchasing educational materials and recycling supplies for schools and libraries.  With the funds she donated to the Ridgefield Library, we were able to purchase 37 books and DVDs for children and teens, which are currently on display in the Lodewick Children’s Library. A hand-out listing the titles for future reference is available in print and on the Library’s website.

Among the books Samantha researched and recommended are “Children of the Earth: Remember” by Schim Schimmel, “Compost Stew: An Z to Z Recipe for the Earth” by Mary McKenna Siddals, “Composting: Nature’s Recyclers” by Robin Koontz and “Where Does the Garbage Go” by Paul Showers.  Geared to young people in elementary and middle school, other titles deal with nature-based crafts, climate change and global warming, recycling techniques and America’s national parks.

A message from Samantha in the front of each book says “We hope you find this book inspiring” – apt words from a young woman who is herself an inspiration.

Finding Fine Arts @ the Ridgefield Library

On the newly re-configured upper level of the Library, there are several rooms in the Morris Memorial wing that are dedicated to particular segments of our adult book collection.  One of these is the Sara and Rudy Ruggles, Jr. Reading Room, which houses books on art, photography, music, theater, dance, film, television and radio.  Specially designed extra-deep shelving accommodates the large portion of oversized books that are typical in these subject areas, and waist-high countertops provide a convenient place to browse through a bulky coffeetable format volume.  A study table and several wingback chairs complement the traditional elegance of this restored section of the original 1903 building.

Among the volumes to be found in the Ruggles Reading Room are the newest acquisitions made possible by a generous gift arranged some years ago by a donor in memory of Theodore Barnes, Jr.  Each year, our librarians are invited to select several dozen books from the latest catalog of the Yale University Press, known for its exceptional offerings in many scholarly areas, including the fine arts. Recent selections include “Vermeer and Music” by Marjorie E. Wieseman; “Van Gogh at Work” by Marije Vellekoop; and “The impressionist Line from Degas to Toulouse-Lautrec” edited by Jay A. Clarke.