Dates & Deadlines!

Here are a few milestone dates that are coming up at the Library.  More information about all of these activities is available at www.ridgefieldlibrary.org. 

August 21 – Celebration of our new wishing well. Children ages 2-8 are invited for games, crafts and wishes for the New Library.  Bring your spare change!

August 21 – The final session of our “Fiction of Relationship” online course meet-up.

August 27 – The first day of school and the last day to log your summer reading and earn prizes.  Don’t forget to print out your list to take to your teacher.

September 2 – Library closed for the Labor Day holiday.

September 3 – The new deadline for submissions to our Library Card Design Competition.  Get your artwork in by 5:00 PM, and your design may be made into a library card!

September 8 – One for the Books: a record setting event hosted by Ancona's Wines & Liquors, Ancona's Market, and Tusk & Cup. Mitch Ancona will attempt to beat the world record for most bottles of Champagne opened with a sabre in one minute. Proceeds will benefit The Ridgefield Library.

September 8 – Sunday hours 1:00 to 5:00 PM resume at the Library.

A Streamlined Way to Download eBooks

Recently, OverDrive, the company through which the Ridgefield Library offers eBooks to our Library cardholders, made upgrades to simplify the process of downloading titles.  As part of this change, OverDrive added a new option for getting eBooks called “READ”.

Simply put, READ allows eBook access from any device with web browser capabilities and offers a one-step download process that OverDrive describes as “see book, read book.”  If you have a computer, tablet or phone that supports Chrome, Firefox, Safari or Internet Explorer 10, you can download and read an eBook that you’ve checked out with a one-click process.  READ offers offline access to the title when you’re not connected to the internet and includes many options for customizing how the book is displayed, along with the ability to take notes and highlight passages. 

 For more information on this new feature visit our website or contact Adult Services Librarian Dorothy Pawlowski.    Or join us for the upcoming Tech Fridays program on August 23rd in the Library Program Room.  Drop in anytime from 1 to 3 PM with all your questions about downloading eBooks or audiobooks from the Ridgefield Library website.  We hope to see you there.

Contributed by Adult Services Librarian Dorothy Pawlowski

Read Before You Watch

Here at the Ridgefield Library we feel that the book is always better than the movie. But the sheer number of adaptations out there means the odds are against you having read the book before being exposed to the cinematic or televised version. Of course you were aware that The Hobbit and The Great Gatsby are based on books; but did you know that World War Z was? Max Brooks is the author. Or that Divergent is based on a very popular YA book series by Veronica Roth? Sequels like The Sea of Monsters and Catching Fire are probably on your book-to-film radar, but you may not know that The Mortal Instruments and Austenland are based on novels by Cassandra Clare and Shannon Hale respectively.  

Television is also rife with adaptations. Game of Thrones (books by George R.R. Martin) and Under the Dome (Stephen King) get a lot of press, but if you like Justified, you may want to read the Elmore Leonard books on which it’s based.

Come to the Library to read before you watch, or to read after you watch, or even to read and then write a script yourself before anyone else gets the idea! In addition to novels, we also have books on screenwriting. 

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

Destination Ridgefield – and the Ridgefield Library

Have you ever found yourself in a strange city and headed for the nearest public library for information, access to computers or the Internet or even just refuge for planning the next phase of your travels?  With our inclusion on the new Destination Ridgefield tourism website, the Ridgefield Library hopes that visitors to Ridgefield will be encouraged to stop by when they are in town.  While our main constituency is Ridgefield residents, we are pleased to be able to help make out-of-towners’ visits enjoyable for them and, ultimately, profitable for local businesses. Among the services that can be enjoyed by guests as well as locals are access to computers to check email, wireless access to the Internet, magazines and newspapers to peruse, assistance with geneaology and local history inquiries, and even drop-in storytimes and other programs (subject to space availability). We are happy to do what we can to help visitors leave with a positive impression of our town – and plans to return to sample further its many attractions.

P.S.   Look for the Library’s entry in the Chamber’s Chairish Ridgefield auction during Summerfest on July 20^th, with proceeds to support Destination Ridgefield.  See if you can find and identify our book-themed creation!

Surviving the Dog Days

It’s truly the dog days of summer now.  How can the Ridgefield Library help you cope?

Check out all the resources available on www.ridgefieldlibrary.org without leaving the convenience of your cool – and dry! – home or office.  Do research, find a good book to read, download an e-book or audiobook, learn a language and more.

Log in your entries for Summer Reading while on vacation.  You can record your reading online – no need to come in to the Library except to pick up your prizes and get more to read!

Look for Waldo – he’s all over town, including at the Library.  Pick up a passport and earn prizes.  It’s all part of Shop Local: Find Waldo Now organized by Books on the Common.

Download the Biblio app and check our catalog, your account, event listings and more on most devices while on the go to beach or camp.

Stop by to cool off!  Our building is nicely air conditioned, and we have lots of drop-in programs for kids, plus newspapers, Internet and more to keep adults happily occupied.  Don’t miss PJ Storytime every Monday night at 6:00 and our literature course MOOC meet-up Wednesdays at 6:30!

What Should I Read this Summer?

Headed to the beach or on vacation and need some reading recommendations?  Here are a couple of ways the Ridgefield Library can help. You can find these and more on the Reader’s Resources section at www.ridgefieldlibrary.org. 

• Subscribe to our “Reading on our Radar” blog for regular news of the hot new titles, plus some less well-known “sleepers” that are worth a look.
• Check out the Staff Picks list on the “Finding a Good Book” page on the website, where you will also find information on new releases, bestsellers, award winners and dozens of thematic reading lists, including the perennial favorite “Beach Books with Brains and Bite.”
• Sign up to receive periodic BookLetters email newsletters that feature new and recommended books in various genres.  Register on our website.
• Attend the monthly Books & Breakfast gathering (2^nd Monday of each month at 10:30 AM, currently at Keeler Tavern Museum), where staff and library patrons share what they have been reading – along with coffee and snacks. 
• Follow us on Twitter @ridgefieldlib and watch for our Friday postings of what our staff is reading.

And, of course, we are always happy to make suggestions in person – just ask!