Friday April 26, 2024 
Services & Events at Castleton Public Library, 2/21-2/27
CASTLETON – CPL is located at 85 S. Main St., Castleton, NY. All events are free. Questions? Call 518-732-0879.
Castleton Public Library is open for walk-in service, with limited capacity & services. Check www.castletonpubliclibrary.org or call for current info. We also offer curbside pick-up!
Our Events:
Favorite Book Photo Challenge – Send your photo by 2/22 – Take a photo with your favorite book & email it to youthservices@nullcastletonpubliclibrary.org & you’ll be entered to win a $10 Amazon gift card (3 winners drawn randomly). All ages. The deadline to send photos is 2/22. We’ll post a video of all entries on our YouTube channel on 2/26.
Virtual Storytime with Miss Joelle – Wed., 2/24 – Join Miss Joelle for a story and rhymes/songs that you can participate in at home! A new storytime video is posted every Wednesday. All videos are available on-demand to fit your schedule. The complete Virtual Storytime playlist can be found here: tinyurl.com/CPL-storytime
Craft & Chat – Thu. 2/25, 8:00pm – Join us with your project from home and enjoy company while you knit, crochet, quilt, color, or make other art or craft projects. Have a finished product you’d like to show? Feel free to share it! For adults. Email director@nullcastletonpubliclibrary.org for Zoom connection information.
Castleton/Schodack Community Window Art Project: Snowflakes! – Kits available through 2/27 – Community-wide window art project! Make a snowflake using our kit or what you have at home.
Cool Science at Home: Lava Lamps – Kits available through 2/27 – Make a lava lamp and learn about density & polarity!
Take & Make Crafts: Valentine Crafts – Kits available through 2/27 – Celebrate love & friendship with Valentine crafts!
Teen Time: Origami Kit – Kits available through 2/27 – For teens in 6th-12th grades. Learn how to make fun folded origami creations!
East Greenbush Community Library Programs
EAST GREENBUSH – Hours: Mon, 11-2pm for Returns only; Tue/Thu/Fri 11-6pm; Wed 11-7 pm; Sat 10-2pm; Building closed Sundays; Virtual library is always open! To minimize wait time, please limit the number of visitors to 1-2 family members per household. Information is subject to change, for updates call 518-477-7476 or visit eglibrary.org. Visitors are required to wear a mask, covering both mouth and nose, at all times when in the library or using our drive thru.
To learn more about programs or to register go to: https://events.eglibrary.org.
Happening Now (registration is required unless noted): Winter Reading Challenge for all ages (ends 3/5); Pen to Pandemic Short Story Contest* for local authors in Rensselaer County (submission deadline 3/15).
Upcoming Programs (registration is required unless noted):
2/15: Monday Night Book Chat, 7 pm on our Facebook page (no registration required)
2/19: Teen/Tween Virtual Pokemon Trivia (gr 6-12), 4 pm
2/22: Crafts & Conversation, 11 am
2/24: Adult Bingo, 7 pm
Visit kids blog “Check It Out with Charlie” at https://eglibrarykids.wordpress.com/. Readers Advisory Services https://eglibrary.org/adults/recommendations/ and Kids Book Bundles https://eglibrary.org/children/book-bundles/. Fill out the online form with your preferences, we’ll select books to match and put them on hold for you! You can also call 518-477-7476 for help.
Borrow Laptops and hotspots! Kids tablets, movies-on-the-go, and audiobooks from Playaway. No car stereo or DVD player required.
Free Webinars, Articles, Workshops & Resources with topics in technology (for beginners to advanced, go to https://bit.ly/egtechtalk), business, career skills, education, and more at https://eglibrary.org/popular-subjects/ee/.
Sand Lake Town Library Board Meeting & News
SAND LAKE – The Sand Lake Town Library Board will hold their monthly meeting virtually on Thursday, February 18 at 6:45pm on zoom.us. Agenda items include Advocacy Day, review of financial policies, a new sick leave policy, and a Pandemic Operations Plan. Connection information will be posted on the SLTLibrary website that day.
Sand Lake Town Library is participating in digital classes provided by our Upper Hudson Library System. On Thursday, February 25 you can join trainer Nate Heyer for an Introduction to Microsoft Excel, a beginner’s class on navigating Excel, learning to perform calculations and creating tables to sort data. Then on Saturday, February 27 at 1pm trainer Nate Heyer will help you Declutter Your Email Inbox. Not only will he show strategies to tame your inbox, but also to boost your productivity. See our website for details and the registration link (https://forms.gle/pqqgPqTniEgr2nDR9 ) for these and other classes provided to us by Upper Hudson Library System and trainer Nate Heyer.
The SLTL Book Club will meet on zoom on Wednesday, March 3 at 7pm to discuss Erik Larson’s book “The Splendid and the Vile” about Churchill and England during the blitz. Contact the library for details.
Thank you to Beatrice Wandler, Brian Bradley & Jacqueline Tremont, Russ Gettig, Ann Fonda Winnicki, Gerald Winn, Will & Cathy Welling, and everyone who contributed to the library’s fundraising campaign.
Short Story Cafe at The Troy Public Library
TROY – On Wednesdays, February 24th – April 7th at 6PM (no meeting March 31st), Short Story writer David Sylvester will lead a reading and discussion group at the Troy Public Library.
Local short-story writer Dave Sylvester hosts The Short Story Café, an informal discussion of the short story form that examines how writers handle structural elements such as plot, character and theme in their writing. Each week we will read and discuss two stories by well-known (and some lesser-known!) masters of the form.
Copies of the stories will be available in advance and should be read before the discussions. This program will be presented using Zoom. Joining the presentation will require the installation of the Zoom client on your computer (microphone and speakers required for audio, camera for video) or the Zoom app on your mobile device.
The first set of stories will be emailed to you one week prior to the first class and will be available at the information desk of the main library.
For more information and to register call the library at 518-274-7071 or online at www.thetroylibrary.org. The Troy Public Library is located at 100 Second Street, Troy, NY.
Adult Evening Book Group Meeting at The Troy Public Librar
TROY – The Troy Public Library’s Evening Book Group will be discussing Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City on Monday, March 1st at 6:30 PM.
Our monthly book group meets to discuss a wide range of book selections. New members are always welcomed. Monthly participation is not necessary, come for the books that interest you! This meeting will be conducted via Zoom.
This discussion is free and open to the public. Registration is required. To register call the library at 518-274-7071 or online at www.thetroylibrary.org Troy Public Library is located at 100 Second Street, Troy, NY.
Attention Local Authors! Enter Our Short Story Competition “Pen to Pandemic”
East Greenbush – At the East Greenbush Community Library, we love our local authors! In support of our home-grown talent, the Library, in partnership with the Town of East Greenbush and the Hart Cluett Museum, is hosting a short story competition. The theme is “Pen to Pandemic.” This work of fiction will be set in Rensselaer County during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Any genre is welcome. The word count must be between 1500 to 2000 words. The contest is open to adults 18+ who reside in Rensselaer County. Participants must provide a name for their story when registering for the contest. All stories must be previously unpublished, original stories. Registration begins online January 15th at https://eglibrary.org/pen-to-pandemic/. Submissions must be received by March 15, 2021 (.doc or .pdf format). See eglibrary.org for more information. For questions, contact Jody Squadere, Adult Services Librarian at 518-477-7476 ext, 107.
Stories will be judged anonymously by a joint committee. The judges are Roberta (Bobbie) Reno, East Greenbush Town Historian, Kathy T. Sheehan, County & City Historian at the Hart Cluett Museum, and Frankie Y. Bailey, Professor at the School of Criminal Justice at the University of Albany (SUNY) and published author. Fifty (50) entries will be accepted. One entry per person. Two winners will be chosen (one from each age group; 18-49 and 50+). Winners will be notified by May 1, 2021. The Library will host a public reading for the winners to read their stories and publish their work.