Make STEAM @ Home

Looking for fun and educational activities when the family is stuck inside during the winter weather? Now you can Make STEAM @ Home with the Ridgefield Library’s new STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math) Kits for children ages 4-11. The Library is developing a series of fun, interactive, thematic learning kits about a variety of topics and skills that relate to STEAM and literacy.

Make science at home with Snap Circuits or Osmo. Learn coding with Bee-Bots or Dash & Dot. Engineer with K’Nex or dominos. Make art with a Spirograph or Cursive kits; make math with the Money Kit or the Telling-Time Kit. Drama, knitting and Ozobot kits will be coming in February.

Stop into the Lodewick Children’s Library to see the available kits and bring one home for seven days with the use of your Ridgefield Library Card. STEAM kits are only available for check out from the children’s information desk (and must be returned there) and cannot be reserved. One per family, please; late fees $2.00 per day, up to a maximum of $20. STEAM kits at the Ridgefield Library are made possible by the McGovern Family.

Contributed by Kristina Lareau, Head of Children's Services

Buy a Book for the Library

We are pleased to introduce a new way for library supporters to help us maintain an up-to-date and attractive collection for all ages – one book at a time! For a modest tax-deductible donation, you can select a specific title to add to our holdings.

Just go to our website at www.ridgefieldlibrary.org and click on the Wish List link.  Select the Books tab and browse through the items our staff have picked out. These include fresh editions of classic picture books to replace copies that have been “loved to death,” missing titles in popular series for young readers and projected adult bestsellers due for publication in the next few months. Donate to purchase a new release, and you can be the first one to read it! The wish list includes fiction and nonfiction and even DVDs and audiobooks.

Books may be purchased to honor a special occasion (birthday, Christmas, terrific report card) or person (relative, teacher, favorite librarian!). When appropriate, a bookplate will be included in the item purchased, and a card will be sent notifying your honoree. This is a great alternative for those who don’t need any more “stuff” – or consider it a gift to the entire community that relies on the Library for reading choices.

Transforming the Lodewick Children's Library

The Library staff is always seeking better ways to help our patrons find what they need, whether it is a satisfying leisure read or information to fulfill a homework assignment. In the Children’s Library, for example, collections are divided into separate sections for different ages, reading levels or purposes, such as the Holiday collection and the Early Reader section, further divided into 3 subgroups to correspond to level ranking used in the schools.

Over the summer, we have been making a number of additional changes. When complete, one of the most noticeable will be the creation of a separate location for “Chapter Books,” previously mixed in Juvenile Fiction right next to the huge volumes by J.K. Rowling and Rick Riordan.  These are books geared to those just moving beyond Early Readers, such as the Magic Tree House and other popular series.

To help folks become familiar with where things are now located in the Lodewick Children’s Library, we are hosting a Back-to-School Scavenger Hunt the week after Labor Day. Kids in Kindergarten through Grade 5 are invited to drop in any time the Library is open on September 5-9 and pick up a scavenger hunt form.  All who complete the hunt will receive a small prize.

Laszig Fund and Library Join Forces to Assist Ridgefield Seniors

The Library shares with the founders and administrators of the Paul and Johanna Laszig Fund for the Elderly a commitment to supporting Ridgefield residents aged 62+ in the many needs they experience as they become older.  For many, one of the first and often most troublesome is the development of difficulty with their vision.  For the avid book lover, diminishment of the ability to read traditional books can be devastating.  Large print books and audiobooks can help extend a lifelong love of reading. With the support of a recent grant from the Laszig Fund, the Library is pleased to announce the addition of several dozen new titles for its large print collection.  It has also purchased a number of Playaways, which are an innovative format that combines a player and an audiobook in one small, easy-to-use device.

Playaways purchased include hot new titles such as John Grisham’s latest, “The Whistler,” and the award-winning “The Underground Railroad” by Colson Whitehead. New large print acquisitions include the runaway hit “My Brilliant Friend” by Elena Ferrante, Martin Walker’s latest Bruno, Chief of Police mystery and Liane Moriarty’s bestseller “Truly Madly Guilty.” Ask at the Circulation or Adult Services Desk for help finding these and many more large print books and Playaways.

Celebrating Picture Books @ the Library

Picture Book Month is an international literacy initiative that celebrates the print picture book during the month of November each year.  It is supported by numerous literacy and cultural organizations, authors and others, including local libraries. Here are a few ways you can help celebrate at the Ridgefield Library throughout the month.

• Come in to the Lodewick Children’s Library, find a picture book you really like on the shelf, and bring it to the desk so we can add it to a display of Readers’ Favorites.
• If you love picture books, head for our special shelves of Caldecott Award winners, where you will find beloved classics as well as the newest talents. The Randolph Caldecott Medal annually recognizes the preceding year's "most distinguished American picture book for children", beginning with 1937 publications. It is awarded to the illustrator by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association (ALA).
• Watch the Library’s Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts for postings by our staff of their personal picks, then chime in with your own suggestions.
• Read a picture book to or with a loved one and experience the joy!

Trick or Treat @ the Library

Calling all young goblins and princesses! Drop by the Library during the downtown Halloween Walk on Saturday, October 29^th from 10:00 AM – noon, show us your costume and get a special treat – a book provided by the Friends of the Library (while supplies last).

Seasonal books and other materials fly off the Library’s shelves ahead of each holiday, but now we can offer an alternative if you miss the boat for these special occasions.  Hoopla offers a wealth of downloadable and streaming content for all ages that can be enjoyed on computer, tablet or phone.  For Halloween they offer scary movies from Stephen King to Disney; TV series such as Dark Shadows and the animated Sabrina; Walking Dead and many other comics; spooky songs and sounds to provide a soundtrack for your Halloween party; and audio and eBook versions of many favorites from picture books to Goosebumps to adult horror thrillers.  Check our website or ask at any service desk to set up your account.

Our fall School Scrabble Tournament takes place on November 5^th, but keeps up the Halloween spirit, with costume contests and themed activities.  Scrabblers in Grades 4 through 12 are invited to send in their registration forms, available at the Library or online at www.ridgefieldlibrary.org.

Challenging Reading

What books are in your Top Ten?  If your list includes “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” or Mark Haddon’s “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time” or John Green’s “Looking for Alaska,” you may be surprised to learn that these titles are also on the list of books challenged, restricted, removed or banned in schools and libraries in 2015-2016, according to the American Library Association (ALA) Office for Intellectual Freedom.  You will find these and many others this week in our display in observance of Banned Books Week 2016.  Each year, along with the ALA, the Association of American Publishers, American Booksellers for Free Expression, the National Council of Teachers of English and other organizations, we use this occasion to celebrate the right to explore ideas and to express ourselves freely without censorship.

Since the first Banned Books Week event in 1982, many thousands of titles have been challenged, including those by 21 Nobel laureates and winners of nearly every literary prize.  They include children’s picture books and beginning readers; young adult titles; classic as well as contemporary adult fiction; science, memoir and other non-fiction; graphic novels and poetry. Stop by this week, pick up a displayed book and stand up for your right to read.

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!

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. 

June Is Audiobook month @ the Library

On the go or on the track? In the car or in the kitchen?  These are just a few of the places you can enjoy listening to audiobooks any time.  And the Ridgefield Library can help you find a wealth of titles for all ages available at no cost to you.

Almost every kind of book is now available in audio format, from romance and science fiction to memoir and non-fiction. You can learn a language, catch up with a favorite series character, explore the ideas of great thinkers, sample a new author or re-visit a beloved classic.

Our newest offerings are downloadable audiobooks from OverDrive and Hoopla, two subscription services available to Ridgefield Library cardholders.  Learn how to access these from most computers or devices by asking at the Adult Services desk or visiting our Digital Library Page at www.ridgefieldlibrary.org.

Many listeners are partial to the convenient Playaway format, which incorporates a playback mechanism into the packaging of each title, so you don’t have to have yet another device.

And, of course, we also have the traditional book-on-CD format featuring adult, teen and children’s titles, along with read-along kits for youngsters including a book and an audio narration.

Happy listening!

Important Service Notification for Ridgefield Library Borrowers

For the foreseeable future we will no longer process requests for items we do not own. We apologize for the inconvenience this will cause many of our regular patrons.

We are experiencing a problem affecting the entire state of Connecticut which is not related to the budget woes of the state.  Our once reliable delivery system has changed radically, and currently books and other items moving from one community to another can take more than 6 weeks to get delivered to the right spot.

Therefore, if you would like to place a hold on a title we own during this uncertain time, PLEASE go to a service desk (Circulation Desk, Adult Desk, Children’s Desk) and do not place holds yourself through the catalog. We ask for your cooperation with this, as it will only put additional strain on the system.

You may elect to travel to another library, in a neighboring community or elsewhere across the state, to pick up a book from their building. Our staff can guide you in locating and confirming availability.

Staff will also be happy to help you find alternatives, such as digital copies of some titles, or discussion suggestions available in our Book Club Corner.

Since items are also not being returned in a timely manner to their owning libraries, you may receive an overdue notice for something you borrowed elsewhere and returned here (or vice versa).  Please bring this to the attention of the circulation staff.

Spring Is Coming!

How can you celebrate Spring @ the Library?  There are so many ways!

Ride your bike here when the weather is good.  There is a bike rack on the terrace level between the prospector and the Library for your convenience.

Sign up for the Run Like a Mother 5K on Mother’s Day.  Proceeds from race sponsorships benefit the Library’s Noreen L. Papa Mothers Live your Life Fund, which makes possible many materials and programs on health and wellness, fitness, parenting and related topics. Visit runlikeamother.com for more information.

Check out books, magazines and even DVDs on gardening, landscaping and repair, and get ready for spring cleaning and home improvement projects. You can even enjoy periodicals like Better Homes & Gardens or Organic Gardening on your computer or device with the Zinio download service.

Take advantage throughout April of programs in celebration of Jazz Appreciation Month and National Poetry Month, as well as our soon-to-launch Celebrating Shakespeare series commemorating the 400^th anniversary of the death of the Bard.

Save the dates of April 29 and 30 for Spring Stroll, this year featuring several wonderful professional chalk artists and lots of fun shopping, eating and entertainment in downtown Ridgefield, including at the Library.

BookSizzle!

With thousands of new books being published each year, deciding what to read next can be daunting.  The Ridgefield Library provides many ways to help in this selection process.   The newest tool is an electronic newsletter called BookSizzle.

Once you sign up to receive BookSizzle, it will appear weekly in your email inbox.  This online newsletter features the Library’s latest acquisitions including new fiction, non-fiction, mystery, business, science, children’s chapter books, and more.  In addition, you’ll find lists of the current bestsellers and recommended titles on themed topics and current events as well as in-depth features on popular authors.   Book suggestions link directly to the Library’s catalog where you can check for availability or place a reserve.  Each week our staff will also highlight items and events of special interest to Ridgefield Library users.  To sign up for BookSizzle, visit our website or fill out a form at any of the Library’s service desks. 

     

While BookSizzle is a great resource for remote access to reading recommendations, we hope you’ll utilize our in-person readers’ advisory services when you visit the Library.  Our staff is always ready to offer personalized suggestions based on your unique interests. 

Contributed by Adult Services Head Dorothy Pawlowski

Improving Access for Readers

We are always looking for ways to make the many facets of our collections more visible and accessible.  Here are a few of the latest improvements we have made.

• ·  Our extensive collection of opera recordings on CD has moved up to the Ruggles Fine Arts Reading Room on the Upper Level, convenient to books on the performing arts.
• ·         New large print books are now on display at the beginning of the large print shelves in the Bossidy Commons.  If you’re partial to this format, start your browsing there to see the latest acquisitions.
• ·         In the Ellis Family Teen Center, biographies have been separated from non-fiction materials and are highlighted in a more visible location near the new teen books.
• ·         Newly and recently returned DVDs are stored on a small cart near the Circulation Desk for easy browsing of the latest and most popular items.  Also look for the nearby list of our newest DVD acquisitions.  We are happy to put you on the waiting list for a particular favorite.
• ·         In addition to thematic book displays around the building, look for featured items showcased at the ends of the aisles in the adult fiction and nonfiction stacks on the Upper Level to tempt you!

Introducing the College Corner

The Ridgefield Library has a new College Corner to help parents and students with college decisions and the application process. We have the latest resources covering college listings, admissions and applications, the college essay, campus visits, test prep including the new SAT and PSAT, scholarships, paying for college, college living, and academic success.

The College Corner is located near the Teen Center on the upper level in the Library. One of the helpful features of the College Corner is that we have reference copies of many of the best college books, creating a comprehensive core collection, which stays in the Library. These “always available” books will be ready for you to refer to in the Library and for photocopying or free scanning to your email or USB drive. Of course, there are plenty of copies of these and many other college books available for checkout.

While visiting the College Corner, also ask about online resources such as LearningExpress Library for test prep and a schedule of upcoming lectures and workshops related to this complex process. You can also learn about our new exam proctoring service.

Let the Ridgefield Library and the new College Corner help you on your road to higher education! 

Contributed by Reference Librarian Christie Mitchell

Get Outside the Lines @ your Library

September 13-19 is the week when libraries around the country are showcasing how they help their patrons get “outside the lines” – and the walls – of the traditional library building.  In Ridgefield we are using this as an occasion to launch our latest digital collection.  hoopla digital is an online service, available anywhere with your Ridgefield Library card for login, which offers music albums, movies and television shows to stream or download, as well as audiobooks, eBooks and even comics.  It is easy to use and works with both Apple and android apps as well as on most PC browsers.  You can get all the details on our website at ridgefieldlibrary.org.

To cap off the week, Friday the 18^th is International Read an eBook Day.  All you have to do is download one of the thousands of eBooks available to Ridgefield Library patrons through the OverDrive service. Then post about it on social media with the hashtag #eBookLove, and our library will be automatically entered into a drawing for $2,500 of credit towards additional eBooks for you to enjoy.

September is also Library Card Sign-up Month – what a great time to make sure you can take advantage of everything in the Library – and outside the lines!

Announcing Alice

It has been 150 years since the publication of “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” by Lewis Carroll (aka Charles Dodgson), and we can’t resist!  Our staff is smiling like the Chesire Cat as we put together a roster of Alice-related activities this fall for all ages.  We will start with a field trip on October 7^th to the Morgan Library and Museum in New York City, where we will tour their special exhibit “Alice: 150 Years of Wonderland, ” guided by exhibit curator Carolyn Vega. The culmination of our adventures will be a presentation on November 22^nd by author Gregory Maguire called “Green Witches, White Rabbits and Wild Things,” in which the author will talk about his own novel “Wicked,” his new book “After Alice” and his friend Maurice Sendak.

In between you can enjoy scholarly lectures, a book-to-film comparison, a Mad Hatter tea party, book discussions for children and for adults, and much more, in a series we are calling “Curiouser and Curiouser.”  If you are curious about Alice or the man who created her, please join us for our journey down the rabbit hole, sponsored by the Friends of the Library. Watch our website for full details, coming soon.

Opportunities for Lifelong Learners

Ridgefield students head back to school soon, but youngsters are not the only ones who can expand their horizons with new academic challenges.  In addition to our myriad scheduled programs, we invite adult Ridgefield Library card holders to explore two self-paced options for lifelong learning.

Thanks to the Friends of the Library, we continue to add to our collection of “Great Courses” audio CDs, featuring popular and highly respected teachers from the best colleges and universities in the country.  Each set consists of a complete series of course lectures, along with printed study guides.  Recent additions include 1066, After the New Testament, Art of War and Skepticism 101.

The Library has also served as a “meet-up” site for several Massive Open Online Courses, or MOOCs.  This summer several dozen people, from preteens to senior citizens, gathered each week to view and discuss excerpts from a course entitled “The Rise of Superheroes and their Impact on Popular Culture.”  Those who missed taking the full course online will have another chance, when it is repeated starting August 12^th.  Stay tuned for announcement of future opportunities to join with fellow scholars to take part in MOOCs on literature, art history or other topics.

The Inside Scoop on New Books for the Fall

Recently, I had the good fortune to attend Book Expo America, an annual event where publishers and authors promote their upcoming titles to booksellers and librarians. Here is a preview of some of the fall’s most anticipated books.

Watch out for new titles by popular authors Adriana Trigiani, Gregory Maguire, Lee Child, Geraldine Brooks, and Jane Smiley.  Coming in September, Jonathan Franzen’s “Purity” is being touted as his best to date and a literary feat.  For fans of Stieg Larsson’s Millennium series, a new author continues Lisbeth Salander’s exploits in “The Girl in the Spider’s Web.”

By all accounts, the fall fiction debut to watch out for is “City on Fire” by Garth Risk Hallberg.  At a whopping 944 pages, this novel set in 1970s New York City is purportedly impossible to put down and triggered a bidding war among publishers.  The most talked about upcoming non-fiction includes “The Three-Year Swim Club: The Untold Story of Maui’s Sugar Ditch Kids and Their Quest for Olympic Glory” by Julie Checkoway and Dan Marshall’s comic memoir “Home Is Burning.”

One thing is certain. With hundreds of new titles on the horizon, readers have a lot to look forward to this fall.

Contributed by Dorothy Pawlowski, Head of Adult Services

June Is for Audiobooks

June is a perfect time to celebrate National Audiobook Month, as family vacations get underway and folks spend more time in outdoor pursuits like gardening.  At the Ridgefield Library, we offer an extensive collection of listening material on CD, mp3 and Playaway and in several digital formats. Options include fiction and non-fiction for adults, favorite children’s and teen titles, recommendations for family listening, language learning material and even lecture courses by celebrated college professors.

Audiobooks are a great boon for commuters who want to put their travel time to good use catching up with the latest bestseller.  They can also be of great benefit to beginning or reluctant readers who need a helping hand.  Playaways in particular, with their self-contained player and simple one-button operation, are popular with those whose vision or dexterity may be less than 100%.

Some listeners seek out audiobooks read by particular narrators. Some readers are such a perfect fit with the material they present that they add immense pleasure to the listening experience.

Look for audiobooks in physical formats in the adult, children’s and teen areas. For a quick start to using digital audiobooks, just click on the square blue “Download Audiobooks” icon on our homepage at www.ridgefieldlibrary.org.