Pittsfield's Roger Clark Memorial Library

Thanks to all who participated in what proved to be a very fruitful work day at the Roger Clark Memorial Library on Sunday, November 15th.  Seven adult volunteers, five young adults and even a second grader spent the day, cataloging, cleaning and organizing.
 
Thanks to Del'rae and Madison Merrill for spending hours alphabetizing the card catalog; Wyatt Merrill for dusting and putting stickers on the catalog cards; Nancy Blessing for butterscotch brownies and taking her data input job very seriously.  Special thanks to Traci Templeton for the Herculean task of  organizing the shelves containing art supplies and many other unidentifiable objects; Angelique Lee for fudgy chocolate brownies and organizing the day, assigning tasks so that no one was without a job to do; Cassie and Dejah Lee along with Eliana Ruben for cataloging, cataloging, cataloging ….
 
Many thanks, as always to Susie Martin, for her bottomless knowledge and unflagging volunteerism.
 
Thank you to Tom and Julie at The Original General Store for donating the tasty pizzas to nourish us all and to Marion Abrams for delivering them to the work crew.
 
Many new books were put on the shelves, stop by and check them out!!!

~submitted by Sharon Mayer

Please join us for a work day at Pittsfield's Roger Clark Memorial Library on Sunday November 15th from 10 to 2.  Pizza will be served, bring drinks and snacks to share.
There is lots of work to be done, and no skills or experience needed.  Jobs range from carrying boxes, to typing cards, and making displays to vacuuming.  Remember we are a 100% volunteer library, without your help we don't exist!

We have a special need for good typists and their laptops during our next work day. We have come up with a way to speed up the book cataloging process using laptops and Microsoft Word (or most other word processing software). If we all work together we should be able to catalog a hundred or more books! I promise it will be easy and incredibly rewarding to get some great books out onto the shelves. If you think you'll be there, shoot us an email and I will send you the MS Word templates we'll be using (we don't have WifFi in the library so you'll need them in advance). I'll give everyone a quick tutorial on Sunday.

Thank you to Pittsfield's General Store for donating Pizza.

Please spread the word.  Saturday's music program has been postponed.  Susie Smollen's music for kids "Dinosaurs" program will now be held Saturday November 21st  at 10am at the Roger Clark Memorial Library in Pittsfield.

Thank you Joanne McDonnell and Max for spending two days at our library encouraging young kids developing their reading skills. Max is a perfect gentleman (with the spiffiest dog coat this writer has ever seen) and always gentle, sweet, and attentive to his young readers. Joanne's obvious joy and interest in the children was spirited and wonderful, we are so fortunate to have their team as a resource in our valley.

If you missed Max, LET US KNOW. Max and Joanne would love to come back we just need two or three kids available to keep them entertained!

Pittsfield was alive with kids and costumes!  And all of them made their way to the Library for some trick-or-treating.  Once again, the volunteers at the library were excited to give books to the kids for their 'treat'.  And I think we all would agree the serious down pour of rain that evening was the 'trick' of the night.  Traci tried to light the pumpkins but the wind and the rain made it almost impossible.  Alas, one pumpkin stayed lit all night!
 
Inside the library, spooky music played and a table filled with books was the center of attention. It was fantastic to see all the kids take the time to look through the books and choose one that really interested them.  There were a lot of great comments about the library and it's growing selection of books and programs. All in all, it was a SPOOKtacular community event!   
 
A big thank you to Odle for carving our great RCML pumpkin sign and to Joyce Putnam for all the scary decorations! See you next year.
 

We had a great turn out for our annual carving of the pumpkins.  The weather was a little brisk but we were able to carve our pumpkins outside this year.  The kids picked out their pumpkins and began the big task of cleaning them out.  We had pumpkin guts galore!  In the end, we had scary pumpkins, sweet pumpkins, Twilight pumpkins and many creative designs.  Thank you to Jane Aiken, Mrs. Johnstone, and Steve Nissemblat for lending a helping hand.  We can't wait to light them outside the Library on Halloween!
 
An important reminder to parents: Children in 2nd grade and younger must be accompanied by an adult.  Also, our programs typically end a bit before 5:00 and the Library closes at 5pm.  Remember, we're all volunteers, so please be prompt in picking up your child. 
 

A big thank you to Alison Hans of Sangha Yoga.  Alison helped kick off our Fall After School Program with some Kripalu Yoga.  Kids and parents enjoyed the afternoon of relaxation.
 
Kelly O'brien led a group of enthusiastic kids into the backwoods of Pittsfield where they gathered natural material to be used for building fairy and elf houses.  It was such a beautiful afternoon the kids decided to build their houses outside on the Pittsfield Green.  It was great to see the kids collaborate, use the material they collected, and construct some awesome houses the elves and fairies are sure to enjoy!  Some are hidden, some are not, stop by and check them out.  Thanks Kelly!

CLICK HERE to see more of Traci's great photos.

On October 13th our weekly after school program gets under way, organized by one of our super volunteers Traci Templeton.  To find the full  5 week schedule go to our programs page.

Saturday October 24th we have two great programs.  Make appointments in the morning to meet with Max the reading dog (first Max session will be the 17th.)  Then at 11am come enjoy an interactive music program for young children with Susie Smollen.  Details on both programs, organized by two more of our volunteers - Angelique Lee and Eunice Rice, are also on the programs page.

And of course on Halloween night we'll be handing out free books to trick-or-treaters for the third year.

*Once again we had a successful library book sale at the Pittsfield Bazaar.  How do we define success?  We met and talked to many people about what we do at our 100% volunteer library.  We passed on 100s of books that we could not keep in our small library to readers who will enjoy them.  We earned $522 for the library to be used on programs, books and supplies.

I would like to thank Karen Waterworth for heading up the book sorting with volunteers Angelique Lee, Sharon Mayer and Nancy Blessing.  And I would like to thank volunteer Sharon Mayer who headed up our library booth on the day of the sale with help from her family (Gary and Lauren), Annabelle Westling-Williams, Angelique and Cassie Lee, and the Abrams family.  I'm sure there were other who helped as there always are, thank you to all of you!


*Our after school program will be starting up again on Tuesday October 13th with likely pumpkin carving, drama, scavenger hunt and bat programs.  

As usual our programs are free and open to the public, PARENTS PLEASE READ OUR KIDS POLICY:

Children of all ages are welcome to attend our programs.  However, children 2nd grade and younger require a parent present.  Parents are encouraged to accompany an older child who may benefit from your guidance.

Parents are responsible for their children while they are at the library or attending library programs, including when the child is dropped off by bus, or when the parent chooses to leave the building or program site.

Programs start at 3:45 and end promptly at 5pm when the library closes.  All programs meet at the library.

New Library Program
Max the Reading Dog for Kids!

Wait a minute, dogs can't read! But kids love reading to Max in a relaxed comfortable environment. It's a real confidence booster for early readers to share their new skills with an appreciative and non-judgmental doggy listener.

Max, a bichon-frise, is a certified Therapy Dog owned by Joanne McDonnell (Rochester's Town Clerk). Max will be available for private reading sessions with early readers at the library on two Saturdays during October. For now we only have three slots available and are asking you to commit to attending both Saturdays. Your session will be you, your child, Max and Joanne, for 15 minutes, the library will be closed to other patrons so you will have a private, comfortable space.

Please respond to pittsfieldvtlibrary@gmail.com to sign up.

Saturdays, October 17th and 24th from 10am - 11am.