JJML’s 2nd Annual Community Fiesta

JJML’s 2nd Annual Community Fiesta

Uploaded from Flickr by jjmemlib

On Friday, October 23rd, 2009, at 5:00 p.m., John Jermain Memorial Library held our second annual community Fiesta. The celebration featured music, dance, and a potluck dinner coordinated by the students in our weekly English Conversation classes. The food–like our students–came from around the world, including dishes from Russia, Brazil, Latin America, Poland, Turkey and Morocco! See more photos by clicking on the picture or link at right. And for more information on our classes contact Martha Potter at 631.725.0049 x 33 or mtp@john jermain.org.

100 Years of Writers and Writing at John Jermain

Thursday Night Writes, a new series of evening programs, celebrates one hundred years of writers and writing at John Jermain. Beginning October 15th at 6:30 p.m., twenty East End authors will facilitate discussions on Thursday evenings throughout the Fall, Winter and Spring to celebrate the Library’s 100th Anniversary.  Local writers, aspiring writers and interested readers are invited to participate in these roundtable discussions. Books by the authors will be available for purchase.

A celebration of writing, and this library’s long-time commitment to authors, Thursday Night Writes is also a celebration of the generosity of this community:  All of the participating writers are from Eastern Long Island, most from Sag Harbor. they have generously volunteered their time to make this series possible. Advance registration is recommended.

Thursday Night Writes Schedule
The Ins and Outs of Publishing - Debora Dennis , Gina Ardito, Candace Gold	Oct. 15
Community Journalism – Bryan Boyhan	Oct. 22
Writing Historical Espionage Thrillers, Research to Prose – Alan Furst	Nov. 4
Where Do You Live? – Carol Williams	Nov. 12
The Research Process and Its Surprises - Priscilla Dunhill	Nov. 19
The Question of Truth – Zach Lazar Rescheduled to May 31 due to author’s book tour.	Dec. 3
The Great Depression and the Arts - Morris Dickstein	Dec. 10
American Playwriting: Metaphor and Symbolismin Modern Theater – Joe Pintauro	Dec. 17
Science Writing – Dava Sobel	Jan. 21
Needle in a Haystack: How to Find What You Want When You Want It – Catherine Creedon	Feb. 4
The Central Character – Susan Scarf Merrell	Feb. 25
The Imagined World – Joseph F. Hanna	March 4
What Inspires the Poet? - Susan Baran and Marc Cohen	March 11
“Beginning a Story…” – Jane Ciabattari	March 25
What Makes a Great Picture Book? - Kate McMullan	April 8
The Joys and Pitfalls of Publishing a Literary Magazine – Lou Ann Walker	April 22
A Cultural Gathering Place - Maryann Calendrille and Kathryn Szoka	April 29
The Long Trail of Research – Mac Griswold	May 6
Teen Writers*	May 16
The Question of Truth – Zach Lazar (rescheduled)	May 31
 
Special programs
Literary Walk	Oct. 25
O’Henry Monologue	Jan. 7
Great World Writing	Jan 14

<p>&nbsp;</p>
*Reading and reception by and for the participants of the Jeanette Sarkisian Wagner Writing Workshop for Teens. (We’ll write more about this workshop in a future post.)

Thank You Sag Harbor (Again!)

The results of the voting are in:

Budget vote, calling for a 4.9% increase: 225 yes; 29 no. (Last year’s totals: 173 yes; 33 no.) Thanks to our community for its overwhelming support.

In addition, two candidates ran for two open positions on the Board: Chris Leonard, incumbent, received 206 votes.  Michael Garabedian received 200 votes.  Congratulations and thanks to them both.

Catherine Creedon

Director

National Solar Tour on L.I., Oct. 3rd

The National Solar Tour, a FREE self-guided tour of 90 homes, businesses and other buildings with solar and other green building technologies is coming to Long Island on Saturday, October 3^rd from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

The Solar Tour is an excellent way to experience the practical advantages of solar energy. You can learn about the benefits of solar and other forms of renewable energy, watch electric meters run backwards, see the actual savings on utility bills, and talk to the people who own these systems.

The tour is organized locally by the not-for-profit Renewable Energy Long Island (RELI). It is free of charge but you must sign up for a free Visitors pass on the RELI website. Every Tour visitor will receive a free copy of RELI’s  brand-new 64-page LI GreenGuide.

For more information, visit RELI’s National Solar Tour FAQs page.

Home Improvement Ask the Expert Call-In Day

The New York State Consumer Protection Board’s (CPB) is sponsoring a Home Improvement Ask the Expert Call-In Day for New Yorkers who are seeking to preserve the equity in their homes and protect their wallets.  It will take place on September 30, 2009 from 9AM until 2 PM. This free public service program is designed to empower New Yorkers with information and direction as they contemplate small or large home repair and/or improvement projects. New Yorkers with home improvement questions, concerns and problems may call the “Ask the Expert,” toll-free number, at 1-888-351-4648.

As the fall and winter seasons approach, home improvements and repairs are once again on the minds of New Yorkers, and so the CPB has created home improvement resources and worked toward stronger consumer protections to prevent scam victimization.

Last year, the CPB created its online “Ask the Expert” program to make it easier for people to obtain answers to home improvement questions.  Given its success, we are expanding the project to enable people who may be “Internet-shy” or who have questions which are too difficult or time-consuming to explain in an e-mail to speak to a “live” professional.

Thanks to the generosity of WMHT, the Capital Region’s public television station which is hosting the call bank, New Yorkers will be able to direct their inquiry  to home improvement professionals whose areas of expertise include, but are not limited to: kitchen and bath remodeling, plumbing, heating, A/C, sheet metal installation and servicing, construction management, site development, window/door installation, home building, energy-efficiency,   home improvement funding  for low-income consumers, and  improvements on historical buildings.

To bring this event to the people of the State of New York, the CPB is partnering with public and private entities including WMHT, the New York State Builders Association, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, the Division of Housing and Community Renewal, and the Preservation League of New York State.

Those who need information before then, may check the Ask the Expert page of the CPB’s website at www.nysconsumer.gov, or may e-mail their question to AskTheExpert@consumer.state.ny.us.

Building Updates September 2009

A new building update  has been posted on the building renovation and expnsion page of the blog. Click here to read it now.

(The update was on this page for a few days, but we thought it would be more appropriate to keep all the information about our building project in one place.)

2010 Operating Budget Vote & Trustee Election

The 2010 Operating Budget Vote and Trustee Election will take place on Tuesday, September 22, 2009 from 11:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. on the first floor of the John Jermain Memorial Library. This year voters will be asked to approve a $1,068,800 operating budget for the library. This represents and increase of 4.9%, or $48,570 over the previous year’s budget. Reasons for the increase include the rising cost of materials, including books, increases in salaries and benefits — notably, health insurance, rising utility and other operating expenses, new payroll taxes and cuts in State funding. Voters are reminded that this budget has nothing to do with the recently approved bond issue for the renovation and expansion of the library. This budget only includes monies for the library’s day to day expenses. For a more detailed look at the budget, click here or on the picture at right.

Click here to read JJML's 2010 Operating Budget Newsletter

Also on the ballot this year are two seats on the Library’s eight-person Board of Trustees. There are two candidates running for the seats: incumbent Christopher Leonard and Michael Garabedian. Long-time trustee and current Board President Diane Gaites has chosen not to run for reelection. Brief bios of the two candidates can be found at the end of this post.

For those who may have questions about the budget or for the trustee candidates, the Annual Budget Meeting of the Board of Trustees will be held on Wednesday, September 16, 2009 at 6:00 p.m. This is a public meeting at which the Trustees and Library Director Catherine Creedon will answer questions about the budget. It will be immediately followed by a Trustee Forum, in which the public may ask questions of the candidates.

All registered voters residing in the Sag Harbor School District are eligible to vote. Absentee ballot applications can be picked up at the library.

Candidate Bios

Christopher Leonard – Christopher Leonard grew up in Vermont and has been a resident of Sag Harbor for 39 years. He attended the University of Wisconsin and received his BA in Art History from New York University. He completed additional business education and is a practicing Certified Public Accountant. Chris served as Chairman of the Sag Harbor Village Board of Historic Preservation and Architectural Review and was a board member of Mashashimuet Park, the Park and Recreation Association of Sag Harbor, NY. Chris currently serves as the Board’s treasurer.

Michael Garabedian – Michael Garabedian is the managing partner of Rayano & Garabedian, P.C., a general practice law firm with offices located in Sag Harbor and Central Islip, New York, specializing in litigation and transactional matters for domestic, closely-held corporations, partnerships and business professionals. He received his undergraduate degree from New York University in 1982, and his juris doctor (i.e., law degree) from Union University, Albany Law School, in 1985. Along with being admitted to practice law in all of the courts of the State of New York, Michael is admitted in the United States District Courts for the Eastern and Southern Districts of New York, as well as the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals. Michael is the President and Chairman of the Board for Hopscotch Adoptions, Inc., a not-for-profit international child-placement agency, licensed in New York and North Carolina. Hopscotch is dedicated to helping children in need of families, through humanitarian efforts and adoption into permanent, loving homes. Hopscotch was accredited by the Council on Accreditation as a Hague Accredited agency in February, 2008, and thus follows both U.S. and Hague Convention policies and regulations regarding international adoption.

Cornucopia

Thanks to all the libarary patrons and staff members who have shared the bounty from their gardens with the library staff. We are all most appreicative of the favor (and the flavor), and love having fine local vegetables and flowers to enjoy. Based on what’s passed through here so far, we’d say this has been an excellent year for local backyard gardeners. The accompanying photos show just a part of the continuing flow of edibles and flowers — those that where was available on a recent Monday afternoon. We always knew that working in a library was good for one’s mind, but we didn’t know until now that it could also be good for one’s body.

“I used to visit and revisit it a dozen times a day, and stand in deep contemplation over my vegetable progeny with a love that nobody could share or conceive of who had never taken part in the process of creation. It was one of the most bewitching sights in the world to observe a hill of beans thrusting aside the soil, or a rose of early peas just peeping forth sufficiently to trace a line of delicate green.” — Nathaniel Hawthorne

Join the Fun at One for the Books! 2009

Meet your neighbors and fellow book and food lovers on Saturday’s October 10th, October 17th or October 24th, and raise funds for John Jermain Memorial Library’s Capital Fund at the fourth annual dinner party extravaganza.

A One for the Books! Dinner Party from our third annual extravaganza in 2008.

Dinner hosts from all over the Sag Harbor area have each selected a Book. Choose your favorite from the lists on our website and dine with fellow book lovers. You never know who else will be there!

Reserve Now, Space is Limited! Visit our special One for the Books! 2009 web page to see the list of books and to order your tickets. Or, for more information, call 631.725.0049 x44, or e-mail johnjermainlibrary@gmail.com.

The cost of is only $100 per person, $80 of which is a tax deductible contribution to JJML’s capital fund. Your ticket also includes a full dinner and an opportunity to discuss a book you love (or not) with other enthusiastic readers.

Please RSVP by September 18, and indicate at least three book choices on the order form. Guests will be assigned to dinners in the order that reservations are received. Every effort will be made to accommodate your selection.

One for the Books! is a fundraiser for the John Jermain Memorial Library Capital Campaign.

Want to be a Library Trustee?

The John Jermain Memorial Library’s Board of Trustees is the institution’s governing body. All trustees are elected by the residents of the Sag Harbor school district, which encompasses the area the library serves. As a trustee you will have the opportunity to be an integral part of the library’s future as we begin the first major expansion of our physical plant since it was built in 1910. Excited? Good. But if you want to serve as a trustee, there are a few things you need to know.

There are two trustee seats up for election. Both seats are for a three year term beginning January 1, 2010 and ending December 31, 2012.

Candidates must meet the following requirements:

1. Be a U.S. Citizen
2. Be at least eighteen (18) years old
3. Be a John Jermain Memorial Library cardholder
4. Be a registered voter residing in the Sag Harbor Union Free School District
5. May not be an employee of the John Jermain Memorial Library or a member of an employee’s family. For purposes of eligibility for election, “family” refers to an employee’s spouse, significant other, child(ren), parents, siblings, stepchild(ren), grandchild(ren) or in-laws. Family members of current Trustees are also ineligible.

In addition, you must submit an official petition with at least 25 signatures of registered voters to the District Clerk of the Sag Harbor School District by 4:00 p.m. on Friday, August 21, 2009. Petition forms and instructions may be picked up at the District Clerk’s office at 200 Jermain Ave., Sag Harbor, beginning Monday, August 3rd between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m.

The election (and budget vote) will take place on Tuesday, September 22, 2009 from 11:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. at the library.

If you have questions about running for the Board of Trustees, please contact Library Director Catherine Creedon at 725-0049, extension 23.