Town meeting day

I hope you will support the Kellogg-Hubbard Library on Town Meeting Day, March 4, 2008. We are asking voters in six towns for taxpayer support:

The Town of Berlin, which did not support us in 2007, was taken out of the Library's service area, meaning that Berlin patrons must pay for a library card. We petitioned Berlin voters to get on the ballot again this year, and hope for success!

More information on our town meeting day request is available on our web site here and here (the latter link is to a pdf file).

Thank you to all our patrons and friends who have supported Kellogg-Hubbard Library over the years!

Howard Norman and ghosts

Howard Norman called today to let me know what the topic of his presentation will be in May, which is Why I Love Ghosts in Northern Japan. Norman is one of the local authors who is sharing his passions in a library series called, Why I Love What I Love. David Dobbs, the creator of this series, has organized a fascinating group of writers talking about a wide range of topics from entropy to slate to ghosts. Howard was previously booked to appear on Wednesday, May 14 but that has been changed to Wednesday, May 21 at 7pm. The next presentation in the series is Wednesday, March 12 at 7pm, Why I Love My Niddy-Noddy: Weaving, Hobbies, and the "Flow State" by Mary Hays. On April 9th Tom Slayton will talk about why he loves Thoreau. Join us in the Hayes Room at the Kellogg-Hubbard Library!

Spend school vacation at the Library

There's more than great books to check out at the Kellogg-Hubbard Library this spring break!

Crafternoons - Origami Olympics
Saturday, February 23 at 1pm
The Cardboard Teck Instantute will host the first ever Origami Olympics. Fold a frog and try it out on the long jump and the high jump. Learn how to build bangers, shooters, biters, and trickster origami toys.

Cooking and Booking - Localvore Mac & Cheese
Monday, February 25 at 3:30pm
Think mac and cheese comes from a cardboard box? Cook up the real thing with local students from New England Culinary Institute, with a side order from the Kellogg-Hubbard Library.

Dark Knight Comics Club
Tuesday, February 26 3:00-4:30pm
Have you heard about the DK Comics Club? It's a weekly jam session of drawing and writing stories for comics. Join up and attack your comics with a club!

Leap Year Day Checkers Tournament
Friday, February 29 at 1pm
It only comes once every four years, so we're celebrating with an in-house checkers tournament. Are you the next champ of checkers? Participate and get a frog. Win and get a frog trophy!

Games, Games, Games!
Every Friday starting February 22 from 3:00-4:30pm
We have new games at the library including Apples to Apples, Scrabble, Backgammon and more. Ben T. Matchstick will be showing and playing in his own favorite games - some fun board games that you've never heard of!
Get your game on at the library!

Library closed on Monday

The Kellogg-Hubbard Library will be closed on Monday, February 18th for the President's Day holiday. We are open tomorrow, Saturday, from 10am to 5:30pm. Stock up tomorrow for the long weekend.

New program series on investing

On Tuesday, February 19 at 6:30pm will be the kick-off of a new 16 week program series called Investing for a Sustainable Future. This reading and discussion series will explore several issues like: What is socially responsible investing? What does it mean for companies to be responsible? Can traditional economics and modern capitalism shift their emphasis from infinite growth to sustainable human well-being? The first few weeks will use the book, Socially Responsible Investing by Amy Domini. We have four copies of this book at the library. Three other books will also be used. You can pick up the reading list at the library. No pre-registration required. Guest Speaker on February 19th is Gary Flomenhoft, Research Associate for UVM Gund Institute for Ecological Economics.
This program is made possible in part with support
from the National Life Group.

MDCA's new interactive map

Suzanne Hechmer, the Director of the Montpelier Downtown Community Association has a new interactive map of Montpelier businesses and attractions on MDCA website. The Kellogg-Hubbard Library is considered an attraction! Hover over the picture of the library on the map, and our webpage appears. Thank you Suzanne for this great map!

Why I Love Slate Postponed until Feb 21 at 7pm

Once again the snow has caused our Wednesday program to be postponed. Last week The Culture of Food in Rural China was cancelled due to snow and has been re-scheduled to Wednesday, April 30th at 7pm. Tonight's program Why I Love Slate by Jody Gladding has been re-scheduled to Thursday, February 21 at 7pm. To read more about the Why I Love What I Love Series organized by David Dobbs please click here.

Community meetings on town meeting day funding

You are invited: Please come to a community meeting to discuss the Kellogg-Hubbard Library's Town Meeting Day request to voters.

When: Wednesday February 13, 5:30-6:30 PM
Where: Worcester Town Hall

When: Wednesday February 20, 5:30-6:30 PM
Where: Middlesex Town Hall

When: Wednesday February 26, 11:00-noon and 5:30-6:30 PM
Where: Kellogg-Hubbard Library

Library staff and Board members will attend these meeting to discuss Library funding and to respond to your questions. If you are unable to attend but would like to discuss library funding, call me at 223-3338 or e-mail me at mhahn[at]kellogghubbard.org.

Martin

Sixteen Week Discussion on Sustainable Investing

Every Tuesday for 16 weeks the Kellogg-Hubbard Library will have a reading and discussion program called, Investing for a Sustainable Future. This program will meet in the Hayes Room at 6:30pm beginning February 19, 2008. You might wonder what socially responsible investing is or what it means for companies to be responsible. Can traditional economics and modern capitalism shift their emphasis from infinite growth to sustainable human well-being? These issues will be discussed in this series. There are four books that will be used and are available at the library:

Socially Responsible Investing by Amy Domini
The High Purpose Company by Christine Arena
Capitalism at the Crossroads by Stuart L. Hart
Mid-Course Correction by Ray C. Anderson

We will also have guest speakers and films to enhance this discussion course. No registration is required, but reading the material ahead of time is suggested. People can attend any number of the discussions. On Tuesday, February 19 Gary Flomenhoft will speak. He is a Research Associate for UVM Gund Institute for Ecological Economics. On February 26 the guest lecturer is Rick Hausman. He has been director of research at Clean Yield Asset Management in Greensboro since 1990. This program in made possible in part with support from the National Life Group.
To learn more about this series and our moderator, Elisa Leibowitz, please click here.

David Dobbs - providing a gift of vermont authors

Last Fall David Dobbs, local author, library supporter, family guy, blogger, and generally fun person, came to the Kellogg-Hubbard Library with a great idea: how about a monthly program series by local authors talking about their passions. We thought this was a great idea and invited David to organize this series for the Library. He's done it and it's great. So far we've had David speak about his love of neuroscience, Eric Zency talk about the second law of thermodynamics, David Goodman talk about Dick Cheney and this week we will hear from Jody Gladding as she talks about her love of slate. Jody is also a trustee of KHL. The series is called, Why I Love What I Love. Each month there is a page-long interview in The Bridge with that month's author and each program is videotaped by ORCA Media. The programs are viewed on the public access channel and a DVD copy of the presentation is available at the library. The programs are always on the second Wednesday of each month - no programs in July or August. David is already gearing up for next year's selection. If you see David around town - please thank him for his gift to us.

Join us this Wednesday, February 13 at 7pm in the Hayes Room for Why I Love Slate by Jody Gladding.

Lea Wood, poet and so much more!

On Saturday, February 9th, Lea Wood held her premiere poetry reading at the Kellogg-Hubbard Library. Although Lea has been writing poetry for years, make that decades, she enjoyed her first poetry reading yesterday in celebration of her first published book of poems, Wind & Water, Fire & Stone. Lea's poems appear in five categories: Wheel of Life, Kinship, In Love, Earth First, and Living my Life. Lea Wood has such a presence when reading her poems. I could have listened to her read all afternoon.
Here is one of her poems chosen for its timeliness:

LIVING THROUGH WINTER

On winter mornings I'm drawn
to the red line encased on the bird feeder.
The air's relation to zero will determine my day.
at twenty-two below I want to crawl into a book;
snuggle under my favorite sheep fleece
and reach for hot tea, lose myself in a fictional world
and stay there 'till spring!
Tasks call with faint voices
until guilt pushes me out.

At twenty-two above I emerge from dormancy
the iron clamp of cold loosened.
The glitter of sun on snow, the white-draped pines
blossoms of snow on bushes begin to delight me.
Each year I vow against the immobilization
of winter's long, dark hours,
and each year I'm caught in that black net.

Well, bears hibernate, trees rest, the very earth sleeps.
Perhaps living through winter with living words
is the way!
Underhill, VT 2003

Lea is donating the sales of her books to the Kellogg-Hubbard Library. They are available at the library. Thank you Lea for being a wonderful supporter of the Kellogg-Hubbard Library!

Food in Rural China Program postponed

Last night's program, The Culture of Food in Rural China with Middlebury Professor Ellen Oxfeld has been re-scheduled for Wednesday, April 30th at 7pm. We hope you can make it then!
For more information on this program you can read the January 28th post on this blog.

Annual report

Annually, the library director submits a report to the board of trustees on the prior year's activities. Hilari Farrington's excellent report on 2007 can be found here. (Link will open a Microsoft Word file. Go to our web site to find other versions.)