Library to Commemorate Sesquicentennial, Announces Public Celebration

Tompkins County Public Library will launch a year-long commemoration of its Sesquicentennial April 4 with “150 Years and Counting:  A Community Celebration of Library Service.”

 

Anniversary festivities planned for April 4 through 6 include exhibit openings, proclamations and presentations by state and local legislators, a local history presentation by County Historian Carol Kammen, and a special storytime featuring Beauty and the Beast Storytellers.

 

April marks 150 years since Ezra Cornell’s vision of a public library was endorsed by the New York State Legislature.  The sixth public library to be chartered in New York State and the first to be located within a village, the Cornell Public Library was located on the southeast corner of Tioga and Seneca Streets where it served patrons until 1960.  In 1964, the Tompkins County Legislature assumed responsibility for Library funding.  Shortly thereafter, its name was changed to Tompkins County Public Library.

 

Noting TCPL’s storied history, Susan Currie, the Library’s fifth director, said the Sesquicentennial is a time for the entire community to celebrate the Library’s past and plan for its future.

 

“The vision that Ezra Cornell had all of those years ago still inspires what we do today,” Currie said.  “His understanding that every community deserves a vibrant public library has carried us a century and a half and will continue to drive our plans for 150 more.”

 

The Library’s community celebration begins April 4 at 5 p.m. with special Gallery Night access to “150 Years and Counting” the Library’s sesquicentennial art exhibit.  This three-part exhibit includes “Artists in the Archives,”  an installation of works by Carla Rae Johnson, Barbara Page and JoAnn Wilcox designed to showcase the delights, discoveries and priceless connections made possible at libraries through re-envisioned and repurposed library cards and card catalogs.

 

“Artists in the Archives” includes, “The Alternet,” Johnson’s 50-drawer card catalog featuring cards from more than 85 artists, poets, writers, musicians and creative thinkers; “Call to Everyone,” Wilcox’s exhibition of nearly 600 discarded library catalog cards that have been re-purposed as canvases for cell phone photos; and “Book Marks,” Page’s two-drawer catalog featuring library charge cards representing books that have made an impression on her life.

 

Also included in this celebratory exhibit are:  “Talk Tompkins,” an audio visual exhibit of photographs of, and interviews with, members of the Tompkins County community created by photographer Ben Altman, and “Diary of a Library:  A Community Card Catalog of Pictures, Memories and Stories.”

 

A multi-year project, “Diary of a Library,” was launched by longtime TCPL Exhibit Coordinator Sally Grubb.  The exhibit features a 15-drawer, card catalog  representing-- through drawings, poems, stories and photographs submitted by community members, libraries staff, trustees and friends-- 150 years of Tompkins County Public Library service to the community.

 

On April 5 at noon, Library Director Susan Currie will join local and state legislators in the Library’s Avenue of the Friends for a cake cutting and reading from the Library’s charter and presentation of proclamations recognizing a century and a half of Library contributions to the community.  This event will be followed by a 1 p.m. presentation by Tompkins County Historian Carol Kammen on life in and around Tompkins County in 1864.

 

The “150 Years and Counting,” weekend concludes Sunday, April 6 with a 2 p.m. family-friendly storytime by Beauty and the Beast Storytellers.  Storytellers Mitch Weiss and Martha Hamilton will read “It’s Not Always Easy to See the Elephant,” an adorable story, written by Kammen, about the first elephant to visit Ithaca.

 

Additional commemorative events are planned throughout 2014. 

 

For more information, contact Carrie Wheeler-Carmenatty at (607) 272-4557 extension 248 or cwheeler@tcpl.org.

Freeloading Librarians to Offer Training at YMCA

Tompkins County Public Library and the YMCA of Ithaca will partner April 3 for a demonstration by the “Freeloading Librarians,” a group of library staff members offering instruction, advice, and support for downloading free eBooks and audiobooks to mobile devices.

 

The demonstration will be held from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. and include personal assistance for downloading books to iPads, iPods, Kindles, Nooks and smartphones through the Finger Lakes Library System’s free Overdrive Media Console application. 

 

Participants should bring their library card or sign up for a free card at the event. Photo identification with a current, local address is required to receive a library card.

 

This program is part of an ongoing series of “Freeloading Librarian” programs designed to increase digital confidence and awareness among readers.

 

For more information, contact Thomas Fredette at (607) 272-4557 extension 271 or tfredette@tcpl.org.

 

 

Library to Host Mother/Daughter Book Club

Girls in grades five through eight and the special women in their lives are invited to attend Tompkins County Public Library’s Mother/Daughter Book Club.

The Mother/Daughter Book Club will meet from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. in the Library’s Thaler/Howell Programming Room.

Facilitated by author and educator Emily Rhoads Johnson, the Club provides a wonderful opportunity for participants to learn about themselves and others by discussing literature in a welcoming, judgment-free environment. 

Upcoming meeting dates and titles to be discussed are:

 

·         April 26—“The City of Ember” by Jeanne DuPrau
·         May 17—“Penny from Heaven” by Jennifer L. Holm

Participants may attend one or all of the meetings. Registration is not required, and refreshments will be served.

For more information, contact the Youth Services Department at (607) 272-4557 extension 275.

 

Library to Host Program on Iroquois Women

Tompkins County Public Library will celebrate Women’s History Month with “The Iroquois (Haudenosaunee) Influence on Women’s Rights,” a presentation by Sally Roesch Wagner, March 31 at 6 p.m. in the Thaler/Howell Programming Room.

Made possible by the New York State Council for Humanities, this program will offer a glimpse into the social, political, religious and economic liberties Iroquois women were afforded centuries before the suffrage movement and how those liberties inspired American suffragists, including Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Matilda Joslyn Gage.

Roesch Wagner, the founding and executive director of the Matilda Joslyn Gage Foundation, is a professor of women’s studies, one of the first women to receive a doctorate in women’s studies in the United States, the nation’s foremost expert on Gage, and a founder of one of the first women’s studies programs at California State University--Sacramento.

This program is free and open to the public.  For more information, contact Carrie Wheeler-Carmenatty at (607) 272-4557 extension 248 or cwheeler@tcpl.org.

Library to Host Storytime Featuring Ithaca College Music Fraternity

Tompkins County Public Library will welcome members of Mu Phi Epsilon for a special musical storytime March 29 at 3 p.m. in the BorgWarner Community Room.

Children and families of all ages are invited to join students from Mu Phi Epsilon, a professional and co-educational music fraternity at Ithaca College.  Fraternity members will read and provide musical accompaniment to John Lithgow's “Never Play Music Right Next to the Zoo.”  Following the reading, members will offer an "Instrument Petting Zoo," in which children can look, listen, touch, and play with a wide range of musical instruments.

For more information, visit: http://tcpl.org/kids/programs.php or contact the Youth Services Department at (607) 272-4557 extension 275.

Library to Host Herrin for Reading, Signing

Tompkins County Public Library will host Lamar Herrin for a reading and signing of his timely novel, “Fractures,” March 27 at 6 p.m. in the Thaler/Howell Programming Room.

An environmental novel set in a town with recognizable similarities to Ithaca, “Fractures” provides an often overlooked humanity to the scientific issue of fracking.

“Fractures” explores, through the intricately-presented, fictional Joyner family, the connections and conflicts innate to those faced with selling family land to natural gas companies for the purposes of drilling.  The book has received praise from The Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune, Booklist and Library Journal.

Herrin, a Cornell University professor emeritus, has received numerous awards and honors for his teaching and writing.  He has published several novels, stories and memoirs.

This program is free and open to the public.  Copies of “Fractures” will be available for purchase courtesy of Buffalo Street Books.

For more information, contact Carrie Wheeler-Carmenatty at (607) 272-4557 extension 248 or cwheeler@tcpl.org.

Library to Host Teen Game Night

Tompkins County Public Library will unveil its newly-acquired collection of designer board games, March 26 during “Game On,” a fun-filled board game presentation for teens.

 

Participants will join Stacia Humby from local game store The Enchanted Badger for tutorials on how to play Defenders of the Realm, Tales of the Arabian Nights and Discworld:  Ankh-Morpork.

 

This program will be held from 4:30 to 6 p.m. in the Library’s Thaler/Howell Programming Room.  It is free and open to a teen audience.  Refreshments will be provided.

 

For more information, contact Teen Services Librarian Regina DeMauro at (607)  272-4557 extension 274 or rdemauro@tcpl.org.

Library to Offer Reading Sessions with Furry Friends

Children are invited to practice their reading skills by sharing a story with the best nonjudgmental listener-- a dog--each Tuesday from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. in the Thaler/Howell Programming Room.

This program will be held weekly through April 29 and is co-sponsored by Cornell Companions.  For more information, contact the Library’s Youth Services Department at (607) 272-4557 extension 275.

 

Library to Host Weekly Writing Circle

Tompkins County Public Library will host “Creative Mash-Up,” a free, six-part  writing workshop combining visual images and writing, beginning March 17.

This weekly workshop will be held Mondays from 2 to 4 p.m. in the Library’s BorgWarner Community Room—West. 

Facilitated by Irene “Zee” Zahava, “Creative Mash-Up” will offer beginning and experienced writers an opportunity to create stories, poems, essays and memoirs by responding to unusual combinations of visual images and texts. 

Zahava is a short story writer, haiku poet, small press publisher, published anthologist, former owner of Smedley's Book Shop and the founder of Zee’s Writing Studio.

This program is free and open to the public; however, advance registration is required.  To register, contact Zahava at (607) 273-4675 orzee@twcny.rr.com.

Library to Host Family Science Program

Tompkins County Public Library and Cornell University’s Science Engineering and Educational Development program will host “The Wonders of Drones”, a family-friendly science program exploring the science of drones, March 16 from 2 to 3:30 p.m. in the Library’s Thaler/Howell Programming Room.

Through fun-filled, hands-on activities including an interactive signaling and circuit games, families with children ages five and older will learn that a drone is a flying machine that incorporates sensors and circuits and how they are used in science and engineering.

This program is free and open to the public.  For more information, contact Brenna Funfar at brf38@cornell.edu.

Library to Host Author, Activist Jewelle Gomez

Tompkins County Public Library will host “It’s Bigger on the Inside:  How Imagination Opens Us to the World Beyond Ourselves,”  a presentation by award-winning novelist, teacher, poet, playwright, and activist, Jewelle Gomez, Saturday March 15 at 3 p.m. in the BorgWarner Community Room.

 

Presented in collaboration with Cornell University and Cornell Cooperative Extension’s Multicultural Resource Center, “It’s Bigger on the Inside,” will explore, in part, the intersection of Gomez’ life and libraries.

 

Gomez is the author of the double Lambda Award-winning novel, The Gilda Stories (Firebrand Books), and seven other volumes.  She has penned numerous essays and film and literary criticism for publications including: the Village Voice, MS. Magazine, the Advocate, the San Francisco Chronicle, and Black Scholar.  She is the president of the San Francisco Library Commission and was a successful litigant in the lawsuit challenging California’s anti-gay marriage law.

 

For more information, contact Carrie Wheeler-Carmenatty at (607) 272-4557 extension 248 or cwheeler@tcpl.org.

 

Library to Recognize YardWorks Project During March Gallery Night

Tompkins County Public Library will host “YardWorks:  Garden Design for Native Birds,” an exhibit and expert advice for creating a perfect backyard habitat for native birds, during Downtown Ithaca’s March 7 Gallery Night.

This informative exhibit, on display through March 15, includes design boards from the YardWorks Project, a program of Cornell University’s Senior Design Studio.  Seventeen Fall Creek residents recently participated in the project, which led to the creation of site-specific designs for creating a better bird habitat and healthier environment in neighborhood yards.

The Library exhibit will illustrate--through the design boards—neighborhood-level environmental analyses, urban ecological design methods and individual site designs developed as a result of the YardWorks Project.

The Gallery Night event will offer an opportunity for attendees to explore the exhibit and to discuss the Project with some of the participating students.

A 5:30 p.m. presentation by Joshua Cerra, professor of Landscape Architecture at Cornell University will offer information and insight about the YardWorks Project.  Cerra’s talk will be followed by a 6 p.m. illustrated discussion by Joel Baines, author of “Native Plants for Native Birds:  A Guide to Planting for Birds In and Around Ithaca, New York” and the book’s photographer, David Ruppert, who will provide information on selecting native plants to promote healthy habitats for native birds and pollinators.  Copies of their book will be available for purchase, with all proceeds supporting the Cayuga Bird Club.

Both presentations will take place in the Library’s BorgWarner Community Room.  The exhibit has been made possible by Cornell University’s Senior Design Studio and Cornell Cooperative Extension of Tompkins County. 

Also on display during Gallery Night will be the exhibit “For the Joy of Dancing” and wood sculptures by Eva Capabianco and Gerry Monaghan.

Entry to the Library after 5 p.m. will be through the BorgWarner Community Room door, located next to TCAT’s Green Street bus shelter.

For more information about Gallery Night or other Library exhibits, contact Sally Grubb at (607) 272-4557 extension 232 or sgrubb@tcpl.org.

Library Launches New Book Club With Oprah Pick

Tompkins County Public Library will launch its Four Seasons Book Club March 6 with a discussion of Oprah’s Book Club selection, “The Invention of Wings,” by Sue Monk Kidd.

Inspired by the true story of suffragist and abolitionist Sarah Grimké, “The Invention of Wings,” explores the complex relationship between Grimké, the privileged daughter of a Southern plantation owner, and Handful, her family’s compliant, yet strong-willed, slave. Through alternating first-person narrative, Kidd masterfully illustrates the struggles of each woman to break free from their oppressors in pursuit of their dreams.

The Library’s Four Seasons Book Club is free and open to the public; however, advance registration is required.  The Club will meet quarterly, with additional meetings planned for May 1, August 7 and October 2.  Club meetings will take place from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. in the BorgWarner Community Room.

A limited number of copies of “The Invention of Wings” will be available to borrow for preregistered participants.

For more information or to register, contact Adult Services Librarian Teresa Vadakin at (607) 272-4557 extension 272 or tvadakin@tcpl.org.

Library to Host Mother/Daughter Book Club

Girls in grades five through eight and the special women in their lives are invited to attend Tompkins County Public Library’s Mother/Daughter Book Club.

The Mother/Daughter Book Club will meet from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. in the Library’s Thaler/Howell Programming Room.

Facilitated by author and educator Emily Rhoads Johnson, the Club provides a wonderful opportunity for participants to learn about themselves and others by discussing literature in a welcoming, judgment-free environment. 

Upcoming meeting dates and titles to be discussed are:

•       March 1—“Northward to the Moon” by Polly Horvath
•         March 22—“My Side of the Mountain” by Jean Craighead George
•         April 26—“The City of Ember” by Jeanne DuPrau

Participants may attend one or all of the meetings. Registration is not required, and refreshments will be served.

For more information, contact the Youth Services Department at (607) 272-4557 extension 275.