New art exhibit

Our November exhibit in our art gallery will be the photography of Cortland resident Ed Woodworth.

See it starting Thursday, November 1.

Voter guide for judicial candidates

The Judicial Campaign Ethics Center has recently launched their third annual non-partisan voter guide for judicial candidates. The guide will list all candidates for elected judicial offices in New York State except for town and village justices. Candidates have been invited to provide a personal statement and biographical information.

You can find the guide at www.nycourts.gov/vote/

Kay at NYLA

The director of our library, Kay Zaharis, recently returned from the New York Library Association conference in Buffalo.

Here’s a photo of Kay with other graduates of the Leadership and Management Academy of the New York Library Association.

Congratulations Kay!

Prefer a morning book discussion group?

Starting with next month’s book discussion group the library will be offering 2 separate book group meeting times. We will continue with our evening session on Wednesday, November 28 from 6:30 – 7:30 p.m. but will offer another session on Thursday, November 29 from 10:00 – 11:00 a.m for those who would prefer a morning session.

November’s selection for our book group is “Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America” by Barbara Ehrenreich. First published in 2001, this book has become a classic of undercover reporting. Ehrenreich decided to see what it was like to work for minimum wage in various jobs across the country. She worked as a waitress, hotel maid, house cleaner, nursing home aide and a Wal-Mart salesperson. She shares her stories and the  stories of the people she worked with.

There are plenty of copies within the library system. You can give us a call to reserve your copy or you can reserve online at http://catalog.flls.org/polaris

Hope to see you at one of the sessions. Everyone is welcome.

MySpace to collaborate on book

The online social network, MySpace, and a publisher, HarperCollins, will be collaborating on an environmental handbook to come out on April 22, 2008 – Earth Day.

The book will feature ideas from MySpace users who are encouraged to post environmental tips on www.myspace.com/ourplanet. The deadline for posting tips is soon – November 7.

The publisher has said that about 40 of those tips will be included in the text of the book.

For more information view the press release here.

Are you a tween or do you know one?

If you are between the ages of 9 and 13, you are a tween. And we will be hosting a special Mystery Night for tweens this Thursday, October 25th  from 6:30 – 7:30 pm.

Read a mystery book and bring it with you to the program. Come solve a mystery. Have fun and take home a mysterious prize.

Downtown Arts Tour

Don’t forget the Cortland Free Library will be one of the stops on the Downtown Arts Tour this Saturday, October 20 from 4 – 7:30 pm. Stop by and check out the Finger Lakes Decorative Artists exhibit including works by Shirley LeFever, Nancy Focardi, Mary Potter, Bonnie Wolf, Shannon Daugherty and Sandra Lee Cleveland.

Doris Lessing awarded 2007 Nobel Prize

Doris Lessing has been awarded the 2007 Nobel Prize for Literature, it was announced yesterday.

“Ms. Lessing, who turns 88 this month, never finished high school and largely educated herself through voracious reading. She has written dozens of books of fiction, as well as plays, nonfiction and two volumes of autobiography. She is the 11th woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature.”

Check out this New York Times story.

Another new blog – 50 Book Challenge

Angela, our children’s librarian, has taken up the 50 Book Challenge. She will read 50 books during the 2007-2008 school year. Then Angela will write a book review for each book and post it on her own blog. All books reviewed will be either J-level or YA-level books. Check out her new blog under the Children’s Room heading or find it here
http://angthelib.wordpress.com/

Thompson talk

If you ventured out last night to attend Dr. Robert Thompson’s talk at the County Office Building, you were treated to a presentation that started with Edward R. Murrow in the early 1950s and ended with the reality TV craze of the last 7 years. Video clips included ones of Murrow for the first time ever showing live simultaneous shots of the New York and San Francisco skylines , the Sopranos theme song, 9/11 footage, 2000 election coverage, Survivor and other reality shows, and the infamous Janet Jackson fashion foul-up at the Super Bowl.

What became quite evident during his presentation? No one knows as much about TV and popular culture than Dr. Thompson.

Thanks to the Fenstermacher Fund and the Central New York Community Foundation for sponsoring this event.