Altamont Library Notes for Tuesday, November 29, 2022
Last week, we celebrated Thanksgiving, and I hope that you all had a safe, healthy, and happy one.
But earlier in the week, we celebrated another milestone: The AFL Board of Trustees got together to begin wading through the hundreds and hundreds of comments we’ve received from our community in surveys, interviews, and focus groups over the past year.
All of those comments were collected so that we would have a good idea of what our users and potential users think that we’re doing well, what we could be doing better, and how we can better serve the public in the years to come. Over the next few months, we’ll be taking those ideas and turning them into our new Long Range Plan of Service.
As we read through the comments and ideas that we received, there was one word that kept coming up again and again: Community — gratitude for the library community; ideas for how to increase our sense of community; requests for us to get out into the community more.
People want that sense of community as an antidote to the isolating conditions of modern life and to find stability in an ever-changing world.
We’ll do our best at the things we can do as a library, but I would kindly suggest that there are other ways to build a sense of community in our own lives: Go to church. Join the PTA. Start a bowling team. Read on the porch and say hi to your neighbors as they pass. Go to an ACT meeting, or a Grange meeting, or a town or village board meeting when you’re not upset about something. Check in on a friend or neighbor you haven’t seen in a while.
There are so many ways of building relationships with the people all around you, that you can’t go wrong no matter how you choose to do it. Here are a few more:
First Monday
Book Club
Do you love to read? Do you love talking about what you’ve read with other interesting and smart people? If so, please join us for the next meeting of the First Monday Book Club on Monday, Dec. 5, at noon.
If you would like to join us for our next meeting, please call us at 518-861-7239 or email us at and we’ll make sure that you get all the details. At that meeting, we’ll be discussing the classic children’s book “Little Women” by Louisa May Alcott (which turns out to be way longer than I remember it being!). There will be plenty to discuss, so call today to reserve your copy and join us!
Ukulele Group
Do you uke? If you do, even if you’re not very good yet, please join our monthly ukulele meetup. Our next meeting will be Tuesday, Dec. 6, at 6pm, and we’d love for you to join us.
It’s too cold to meet in the Orsini Park gazebo, so we’ll be meeting inside the library this time. Bring a song or two to share with the group if you like. This is a fun, inviting way of growing as a player, picking up hints and tips, learning new tunes, and meeting fellow ukesters. We hope to see uke there!
Library Lights
Feel that nip in the air? That’s a pretty good sign that the holidays are creeping up on us. We’re just a few weeks away from the Altamont WinterFest Celebration, so it’s time to start thinking about lighting up the Orsini Park Gazebo!
This holiday season, honor the memory of a friend, loved one, or pet with a light on the Altamont Village Gazebo in Orsini Park. The lights cost $5 each and all proceeds benefit the Altamont Free Library.
The honorees’ names will be read during the annual lighting ceremony on Friday, Dec. 9, at 6 p.m., and be published on the library’s website. Forms are available at the library and in this week’s edition of The Altamont Enterprise. Please join us at the gazebo on Friday, Dec. 9, for what is always a lovely and moving ceremony.
Gingerbread
house decorating
It’s almost time for one of our favorite annual traditions: Decorating gingerbread houses! Please bring your young folks and join us on Saturday, Dec. 10, from 3 to 4:30 p.m. to make your very own gingerbread house to display at the Altamont WinterFest Celebration the next day.
Sign up at the library, email me at , or call us at 518-861-7239 to register in advance. Space is limited at this always fun event, so sign up today!