Pam
By Pamela West-Finkle
Library Repairs – Sorry for the Inconvenience
In late February, I noticed an odor when I mopped and by the first week of March, the floor in the circulation room began to buckle and get spongy in spots. We called in the contractors and it seems a staple grazed the new radiant floor line and it has been leaking throughout the winter. We had to close as of Friday, March 12th and they went to work fixing the problem, getting us back up and running in a week. Thanks to our new town building inspector Alfred Mohr and Schoolhouse Construction project manager Mike Houlihan for ensuring the fix was done right and for getting the contractors mobilized immediately.
Writing Contest for Summer Reading Program
Our Summer Reading Program Theme this year is Tails and Tales. Our favorite resident storyteller, Laurie McIntosh (Story Laurie), is already hard at work developing her library programs, and our good friend David Wasik of Create-a-Minibook is excited to work with our children to create their own Mini Books containing their own animal folk tale. We will be having multiple workshops (either online or in person, depending on how the Covid numbers are) over the summer with these wonderful teaching artists, and I’m hoping to collaborate with Andes Central School to get youth submissions for the writing contest I plan to hold.
Submissions for the Tails & Tales Writing Contest will begin May 1st and entries will be accepted until August 1st. We will have three age groups and three categories to choose from—Youth (ages 8-12), Teen (ages 13-17) and Adult (ages 18+). The categories are: Tall Tales (use a local legend or favorite animal to create a Tall Tale like Paul Bunyan and his blue Ox Babe); Animal Fables (like Aesop’s Fables that use animals to teach a moral lesson); or an Animal Folk Tale (folk tales that use the actions of animals to explain occurrences in the natural world like the changing of the seasons, night and day, etc.). The tale should be fewer than 1,000 words and can be typed or neatly handwritten. I will be gathering prizes from local businesses and will announce winners in August. All story submissions will be on display for the public.
Programs at the Library
As more people get vaccinated, we hope to eventually return to at least hybrid programs. Besides our summer reading programs, there are talks regarding our annual library party, our annual garden tour, and more people asking about our book club. The LitWits book club has not met since the beginning of the pandemic, but if anyone is interested in starting a book club on Zoom, please reach out and I can try to coordinate. The Stitch Witches traditionally meet the 2nd and 4th Mondays at 2 pm and I believe they will plan to start up again once the weather turns.
We would like to have a garden tour as one of our annual fundraisers. If any property owners are interested in offering their garden or fabulous mountain views and vistas to our tour, please reach out at an.ill@4cls.org or call 845-676-3333.
The library also hopes to participate in the CDO Workforce Youth Employment Program this year, so we are looking for a high school or college student (ages 14+) interested in working at the library for 4-6 weeks in July and August. Please contact 607-832-5777 for more information about this program.
Enjoy the beautiful Spring and get those seedlings going indoors. The Andes Library is participating again this year in the Seed Swap. Feel free to come take or leave some pre-packaged seeds.~