Altamont Library Notes for Tuesday, April 13, 2021
One of the many wonderful things about being located where we are is that right outside our front door, we have Orsini Park. We have concerts, book clubs, summer reading programs, and so much more there when the weather is nice, and our annual Library Lights gazebo lighting ceremony in the winter. Orsini Park is our second home, and just like any home, it deserves a spring cleaning.
Please join Altamont Community Tradition in the park on Saturday, April 24, from 9 a.m. to noon for their annual Green and Clean, where we’ll pick up sticks and trash, prepare the garden beds, and generally give Orsini, Schilling, and Angel parks a nice spiffing up.
It’s a great way to give back to the community and to show your gratitude for the wonderful place that we call home. If you happen to have some garden tools and/or a wheelbarrow that you can bring, it would be greatly appreciated. See you in the park!
Village-wide Garage Sale
Speaking of wonderful annual events, the Altamont Elementary School’s annual Village-wide Garage Sale is back this year on Saturday, May 1.
There will be some differences this year in acknowledgement of the ongoing pandemic: There won’t be any food trucks, or vendors in Orsini Park as there have been in the past, in order to reduce crowds. For the same reason, I am sorry to report, the library has decided not to participate either, and so we will not be accepting book donations this year.
We encourage all of our usual book donors to support the PTA’s largest fundraiser of the year by registering with the PTA and holding their own book sale. You can pick up a registration form here at the library in our entryway or by sending an email to .
Meanwhile, we still have a ton of books here that we’d love to send to a new home. We will be holding regular smaller book sales throughout the summer, and we’ll announce details about that soon.
But, if you are holding a garage sale, and would like to supplement your wares with some of ours, send me an email at and I’ll put together a box of books that you can sell at your garage sale on May 1.
If you want to donate the proceeds from the sale of those books to the library, great! If not, that’s fine too. Either way, we hope you have a great sale!
Browsing and Lending
A few weeks ago, we reopened to the public browsing by appointment for the first time with the fall surge of COVID-19. It’s been wonderful having folks back in the building and we look forward to seeing even more of you soon.
Here’s how it works: You can call us at 518-861-7239 to make an appointment to come in and to browse the library collection. At first, appointments will be scheduled between noon and 6pm Monday through Friday. Visits must be scheduled ahead of time by phone, and walk-ins will not be allowed, even if no other appointments are scheduled at the time.
Appointments will be limited to 15 minutes per visit (a little longer than the last time we tried this), and to one patron or family (five people maximum) at a time. Facemasks must be worn covering the mouth and nose throughout your visit even if you’ve already gotten vaccinated, and all patrons must use hand sanitizer upon entering the building.
Computers will not be available to patrons, but the photocopier and fax machine will be available. Please be advised that all toys have been temporarily removed from the children’s section, in order to keep the library hygienic and safe for all users and staff.
Curbside Grab & Go service remains our primary mode of lending, and when items are requested, we will continue to prefer that method of delivery. Please do not schedule a visit if you are experiencing any COVID symptoms. If you are feeling unwell, or if you are unable to wear a mask for any reason, we will be happy to arrange for curbside delivery.
We look forward to continuing to serve our community in all of the ways that we safely can. We thank you all for your continued support, patience, and respect for these new rules. On behalf of the staff, we sincerely appreciate it.