Senior Computer Classes

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If you are 50 or older and would like to learn how to use a computer or improve the skills you have, now is the time to join us for a couple of lessons – no pressure, relaxed atmosphere, and hopefully, some enjoyment.

Each three-hour class will be divided between Monday & Friday from 10:00 AM to 11:30 AM. The two-part beginner class, intended for those who have never used a computer, will be held on Monday, March 30 and Friday, April 3.

For those with some experience, the classes are scheduled as follows:

April 6 and 10: E-mail and Internet
April 20 and 24: Word Processing
April 27 and May 1: Files and Folders
May 4 and 8: Graphics
May 18 and 22:  Library Card Catalog (<-date has changed->)

All sessions are from 10:00 AM – 11:30 AM.  As registration is required, please call the library at 642-2525 to register for any or all of the sessions.  All sessions are FREE, thanks to funding from Washington County Home for Aged Women.

Pember Presents: Women on Screen

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The Pember Library will present a lecture by Rob Edelman on “From Rosie the Riveter to Harriet the Happy Homemaker: Women on Screen During and After World War II”. Free and open to the general public, the event begins at 6:30 PM on March 19 at the Pember Library in Granville.  This event is made possible through Speakers in the Humanities, a program of the New York Council for the Humanities.

Rob Edelman is a Lecturer in film history at the University at Albany. He offers film commentary on WAMC (Northeast) Public Radio and is a longtime contributing editor of Leonard Maltin’s Movie & Video Guide. His books include Issues on Trial: Freedom of the Press, Matthau: A Life, and Meet the Mertzes, and he has written for a range of publications (from Women Filmmakers and Their Films to Base Ball: The Journal of the Early Game to The Political Companion to American Film).
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The following is a short description of Mr Edelman’s lecture:
Before World War II, women were expected to marry and remain at home where they cooked meals and raised children, while their husbands were the breadwinners. During the war, however, the role of women in American society changed. Women now were manning assembly lines, entering the military, and experiencing personal and economic freedom that previously had been the exclusive domain of men.

With peacetime came a return to “normalcy,” and the expectation that women would cheerfully exchange their paychecks for aprons, regain their lost “femininity,” and return to their traditional roles within the American family.

The changing roles for and expectations of women are depicted in the era’s Hollywood movies. This lecture will be accompanied by a range of clips from films of the 1940s and 50s, all of which illustrate the manner in which women were expected to act during and after the war.
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Since its launch in 1983, the Council’s Speakers in the Humanities program has linked distinguished scholars with a diverse audience through the presentation of lectures on a broad range of topics.  All Speakers events are free and open to the general public.  Each year, hundreds of cultural organizations and community groups take advantage of this program, which offers the very best in humanities scholarship to thousands of citizens in every corner of New York State.

The New York Council for the Humanities is a not-for-profit, independent affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.  Through statewide collaborations, and programs and services that encourage imaginative thinking and critical inquiry, the Council works to ensure that the humanities are present in the intellectual and cultural life of every New Yorker.

This Speakers in the Humanities event, which is free and open to the public, is made possible through the support of the New York Council for the Humanities, a state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

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Change in our downloadable audiobooks

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Netlibrary, the current downloadable audiobook vendor for the Southern Adirondack Library System, will end at midnight of February 28, 2009. The link has been removed from the Pember Library’s website so if you click on “eAudiobooks” nothing will happen.

Why is this being done? It was decided at the SALS directors’ meeting to try a different vendor for the downloadable product. The new vendor is Overdrive.

Because this is a new product for our system and libraries, there are technical, training and selection steps that must be taken in order to have the product working for our public. This means there will be a lag in service between the end of Netlibrary and the start of Overdrive.

We hope to have information available soon on how to access and use Overdrive. In the meantime, be sure to check out our collection of audiobooks on cassette and cd. They are located in the aisle behind the circulation desk.

Story Time

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Story time this week will feature Pets.

Children will have a chance to draw their favorite pet to be entered into our contest to win a long-arm monkey or bobcat. Adults can try to match Pember people with their pets to win a copy of the book “Dewey” by Vicki Myron.

Pember Presents: FUNance

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Fun and Finance Collide at the Pember Library

The kids yell and point as Brad Zupp attempts to keep eight plates spinning on top of poles. Running from plate to plate, he illustrates, in a way kids can easily understand, the financial concept of needs versus wants. “Kids love learning about how to be smart with money,” Zupp says. A former clown with Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus and former financial planner, he devised a 45 minute program that teaches personal finance to students in grades K-6. “But it’s not a boring lecture,” he adds. “Every concept is explained and made entertaining with comedy, magic, lots of audience participation, and circus skills like plate spinning and juggling.” Since the kids are being entertained while learning, they are more likely to both grasp and retain the lessons, he says.

Brad Zupp will bring to life financial concepts like the importance of saving, budgeting, needs versus wants, living within your means and more during his performance of “FUNance For Kids – Where Fun and Finance Collide” at 6:30 PM Thursday, February 26 in the main  room of the Pember Library.

At age 17, Zupp was one of the youngest people ever to attend Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus Clown College. After graduating, he spent two years touring with The Greatest Show On Earth. Since then, he has performed for over twenty years, on cruise ships and theme parks around the world, as well as at hundreds of schools and libraries. He also worked for three years with A.G. Edwards and Sons as a financial planner, helping people plan and prepare for their retirement years. “I found that there was a real lack of knowledge about basic personal finance,” he says, even among retirees and pre-retirees. “I realized that my skills as a performer and a financial planner were pretty unique, and could be combined to help the next generation better prepare for their financial future.” Zupp left the comfort of the office for the challenge of entertaining kids while teaching them important – and abstract – financial concepts. “Standing in front of hundreds of kids with the responsibility to make sure they learn how to be smart with money, but without boring them, is a challenge I love.”

This performance is part of the Pember Library’s Pember Presents Program, which will bring a variety of local and regional guests to the Pember and provide educational and cultural programs for the residents of Granville and the surrounding area.

The February 26 performance by Brad Zupp is intended for children in kindergarten through sixth grades and their families, and is sponsored by the Pember Library and a grant from the Leo Cox Beach Foundation. If you or your children need special accommodations to attend the performance, please contact the library at 518 642-2525.

February is Responsible Pet Owner’s Month

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In honor of the pets we all consider family members, the Pember Library will have a display of books about pets.

There will be a drawing contest for the kids with the prize being a long-arm bobcat.
For the adults, there is a contest to see how well you know us here at the Pember. The person with the most correct answers will win a copy of the book Dewey by Vicki Myron. In case of a tie, there will be a drawing from all the correct entries.

Both contests run through February 27.

Pember Presents

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The following is a list of the planned Pember Presents programs. I will post detailed information on each program about two weeks before the date of the lecture/program.  All programs are free and open to the public.

Upcoming Pember Presents programs include:

February 5: a public information presentation on the 2010 US Census. George Demas will give a general explanation of how the US Census is organized, and information will be available on when and how to apply for census jobs.

February 26: Brad Zupp will bring to life financial concepts like the importance of saving, budgeting, needs versus wants, living within your means and more during his performance of “FUNance For Kids – Where Fun and Finance Collide.” This presentation is sponsored by the Pember Library and a grant from the Leo Cox Beach Foundation.

March 19: “From Rosie the Riveter to Harriet the Happy Homemaker: Women on Screen During and After World War II”, a NY Council for the Humanities lecture by Rob Edelman

April 9: “From Muscles to Motors on the Farm: Henry Ford and the Great American Tractor Wars, 1910-1930”, a NY Council for the Humanities lecture by Dr. Milton C. Sernett

April 30: Joe Peck, a semi-retired farmer will speak about life on the farm. This presentation is sponsored by the Pember Library and a grant from the Leo Cox Beach Foundation.

May 22: author and historic interpreter Don Thompson will portray Samuel de Champlain commemorating the 400-year anniversary of Champlain’s explorations. This presentation is sponsored by the Pember Library and a grant from the Leo Cox Beach Foundation.

June 12: “Traditional and Historical Songs of New York State”, a NY Council for the Humanities lecture by Dave Ruch

July 2: Summer Reading Program kick-off

July 23: Ann Rich Duncan will be here with her new book and the game based on the book. The newest Johnny Vic story will focus on the Lake Champlain area.

September 24: To be announced

Library Closed

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We will be closed Wednesday, January 28, due to poor weather conditions.

Fines will be waived for items that become overdue because of the closing.

Gaiman’s book wins Newbery Award

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One of the new books that was donated through our Pember Angel campaign in December was Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book. It was announced yesterday that the book won the Newbery Award for excellence in children’s literature.

The story is a takeoff of Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book, with an orphaned boy being adopted by the inhabitants of a graveyard instead of a panther and a bear.

I haven’t had a chance to read it yet but all signs point to it being a spooky book for older children. There are thousands of internet articles and reviews if you do a search for the book. It had already been on best books lists for 2008 and, since being named an award winner, it has risen to a number five rank on Barnes and Noble and has the number six spot on Amazon.

The really cool thing, though, is that while Gaiman was on tour promoting the book shortly after it came out, he read a chapter each night of the tour. The reading was videotaped and all eight chapters are available online at The Official Neil Gaiman Website for Young Readers.

The book is shelved with the Young Adult “new” books.

Pember Presents

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The Pember Library, in cooperation with the US Census Bureau, is pleased to announce that a public information presentation on the 2010 US Census will be held Thursday evening, February 5, at 6:30 PM .

In addition to a general explanation of how the US Census is organized, information will be available on when and how to apply for census jobs. Various informational brochures will be available, as well as copies of a practice test for Census jobs. If you are interested in a Census job, or just curious about the upcoming Decennial National Census, please join us at the Pember on February 5th.