Hand-crocheted afghan to be raffled

   A hand-crocheted afghan by Jo Zaharis, on display in the foyer of the library, will be raffled with the proceeds to benefit library programs. Tickets are $.50 each or 3 for $1.00. The drawing will take place at 5 p.m. on December 19. You need not be present to win.

December & January Book Discussions

Our book selection for December will be “Skipping Christmas” by John Grisham.

Our book selection for January will be “Water for Elephants” by Sara Gruen.

Dates for December: Wednesday, Dec. 26 from 6:30 – 7:30 p.m. Also Thursday, Dec. 27 from 10:00 – 11:00 a.m.
Dates for January: Wednesday, Jan. 23 from 6:30 – 7:30 p.m.. Also Thursday, Jan. 24 from 10:00 – 11:00 a.m.

There is a waiting list for “Water for Elephants” so reserve your copy ASAP!

Tonight and Tomorrow! – Book Discussions

You are invited to join us for a book discussion group tonight, Wednesday, November 28 from 6:30 – 7:30 p.m. OR if you prefer a morning group, we will have a group tomorrow morning, Thursday, November 29 from 10:00 – 11:00 a.m. The book for discussion for both groups is “Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America” by Barbara Ehrenreich. The groups will meet downstairs in the library staff room. We hope you will join us! 

Financial State of New York

We have just received two volumes from the state comptroller’s office: “Comprehensive Annual Financial Report” and “Financial Condition Report” both for fiscal year ending March 31, 2007.

Some interesting tidbits gleaned from the report:
 - Medicaid costs increased in 2006-07 by approximately $1.6 billion, or 5%, while the number of recipients decreased by 1.9%
- The number of public assistance recipients decreased by 11% from 2003-2007 but the number of food stamp recipients increased by 27% during the same time period.
- For the 2005-06 school year, New York was the second highest state in per pupil expenditures, about $13,551, this is 51% higher than the national average of $9,022 per pupil.

For reference use inside the library only.

Holiday Hours (Thanksgiving)

The library will close at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, November 21.

Closed on Thursday, November 22.  HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Open on Friday, November 23 normal hours 9:30 a.m. – 5:30 p.m.

Are you a book addict?

Then you will surely enjoy one of our recent purchases, “A Book Addict’s Treasury” by Julie Rugg & Lynda Murphy.

“This collection is intended to please anyone who has ever smelled a book before reading it, obsessives who surreptiously rearrange other people’s bookshelves and book-squirrels who own more volumes than it is humanly possible to read.”

Full of quotes and passages about reading, books, and libraries. Here’s one that caught my eye:

“Libraries are reservoirs of strength, grace and wit, reminders of order, calm and continuity, lakes of mental energy, neither warm nor cold, light nor dark. The pleasure they give is steady, unorgastic, reliable, deep and long-lasting. In any library in the world, I am at home, unselfconscious, still and absorbed.”
       – Germaine Greer, Daddy, We Hardly Knew You (1990)

Going Green

Librarians at the Middletown Thrall Library in Middletown, New York have put together a fantastic Web guide, “Going Green: A Sustainable Living Web Resource Guide.”

You will find topics such as Climate Change, Conservation, Pollution, Recycling, Energy & Fuels, Organic Food and much more.

You can find it here.

Coming Monday, November 12!!!!

Audio and E-book downloadables!

Your library never closes. Browse, check out, and download audio books with your library card. The collection is available anytime, anywhere.

http://flls.lib.overdrive.com

Shelf Life

Want to know more about books, writing and authors? Then you must add the Shelf Life blog to your daily routine. Shelf Life produced by Laura Ryan of The Post-Standard in Syracuse will keep you current with book news, author signings, interviews with authors and much more.

Here’s a link to additional tidbits of her interview with Pulitzer Prize-winning non-fiction author Tracy Kidder that did not make it into her Sunday Post-Standard piece in Stars magazine. Kidder will speak tomorrow night at the Rosamond Gifford Lecture series in Syracuse.

BTW, the Gifford lecture series is sponsored by the Friends of the Central Library (Onondaga County). Their Friends group uses the proceeds from the lecture series for new book and material acquisitions as well as children’s programming at the Central Library and city branches.

We are trying to get a Friends group organized here in Cortland. Having a lecture series is just one of the ways Friends groups help their libraries. Meetings are held the second Saturday of every month at 1 p.m. at the Cortland Free Library. Come join the Friends group and help to make the Cortland library the very best it can be!

Harvest Fest

Offered by SUNY Cortland students in the Youth Services room of the library. Autumn activities and refreshments for ages 3-12.
Saturday, November 3
1-4 pm.