September Newsletter from the Yarmouth Town Libraries

From the Director

Here we are at the start of another school year. It is also reporting season in libraries throughout the land, as we summarize facts and figures for the fiscal year that ended June 30 about programs, staffing, collection and circulation statistics, and more, for the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners. The MBLC, in turn, report statewide data to Washington. These reports affect library funding and certification every year. My thanks to our hard-working staff who crunch numbers every day, every week, and every month, to ensure we’re moving in the right direction. For the foreseeable future, we are requiring that you wear a mask when you visit the library and that you try to keep your visits to ½ hour. It is our way of keeping staff and library visitors who are more vulnerable safe and healthy. The Children's area in each location is by appointment only. We appreciate everyone’s cooperation.

-Jane Cain
Library Director

September is Library Card
Sign-up Month!

As the new school year begins, the Yarmouth Town Libraries Youth Services Department invites you to start the year off right by getting a library card. It’s quick and easy. All children can reap the benefits of becoming lifelong learners, with access to all the libraries in the CLAMS network. Stop by during our regular hours to register for a card and receive a welcome packet. Each new registration in September will be entered into a random drawing to be eligible for a prize.

Guess how many new Library Cards are issued this year for Yarmouth Town Libraries. Enter your guess at South Yarmouth Library or West Yarmouth Library by September 25 to be eligible for a prize. The closest number wins! To celebrate everyone getting a library card, we are having a Pizza Party on Saturday, September 25 from 12:00-1:30 p.m. at South Yarmouth Library in our new gazebo!

Library Fun Facts!

Your CLAMS card gives you access to 38 libraries in the Cape Cod and the Islands network.
Yarmouth Town Libraries offer discounted passes to museums and other venues. Visit our website for details and links to each location. https://www.yarmouthlibraries.org/museum-passes/
You can get a Boston Public Library eCard to have access to all of their online resources. Follow this link for how to register: https://www.bpl.org/ecard/
Libraries Transform Communities. Follow this link to find out more: http://ilovelibraries.org/librariestransform/

Help Spread the Word

The American Library Association is promoting community engagement by offering window displays for families, individuals, businesses and civic groups. You can show support for libraries by posting a sign in your home or place of business. Please request your window sign from Yarmouth Town Libraries to help us spread the word that “Libraries Transform”. Follow I Love Libraries on Facebook and Twitter and the hashtag #LibraryCardSignUpMonth to join the celebration on social media.

How many signs can you find? Join in on the scavenger hunt. Take a picture and send it and your name to 774-209-2958 to be entered in the contest.

Outdoor Storytime

Outdoor Storytime at West Yarmouth Library on the lawn begins Thursday, September 9. Join us for stories, songs and movement every Thursday, weather permitting, at 5:00 p.m. for ages 3 to 8 years old and their parents and caregivers. Please bring a blanket or lawn chair for your comfort. No registration is required.

Outdoor Baby Storytime

Outdoor Baby Storytime at West Yarmouth Library on the lawn begins Friday, September 10. Join us for stories, songs and rhymes every Friday, weather permitting, at 11:00 a.m. for infants to 3 years old and their parents and caregivers. Please bring a blanket or lawn chair for your comfort. Registration is not required.

The Yarmouth Town Libraries
will be closed on
Monday, September 6,
for Labor Day.

The Cape Regional Eleven-Town Coordinated Family Community Engagement [CFCE] and the Yarmouth Town Libraries present:

The Kissing Hand StoryWalk^®at
the West Yarmouth Library on the lawn
A book about transitions for children going to preschool or entering Kindergarten! Each family will take home a copy of this book, while supplies last. This activity is free, self-guided, and we will be following social distancing guidelines. Please email wilsonm@dy-regional.k12.ma.us for more information. Registration is not required. This project is supported by a grant from the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care administered by Cape Cod Children’s Place.

The StoryWalk® project was created by Anne Ferguson of Montpelier, VT and developed in collaboration with the Vermont Bicycle & Pedestrian Coalition and the Kellogg-Hubbard Library.

Thomas Flynn
Bikeman

Wednesday, September 15, 7:00 p.m. on Zoom
Award-winning television producer and writer Thomas Flynn was in Lower Manhattan on Tuesday, September 11, 2001, when the Twin Towers fell. He arrived at Ground Zero on his bicycle and journaled about the event for hours. Flynn then turned these memories into an epic poem, entitled Bikeman – and this year is the 20th anniversary of that history-changing day. Join us for this deeply moving recollection by former CBS News journalist Thomas Flynn, who lives part-time on the Cape. Sign up on our Library website, www.yarmouthlibraries.org under Happenings/Calendar of Events – and we’ll send you an email with the Zoom link on the day before the event. Tell all your friends and neighbors.

In case you’re wondering, we resumed our pre-pandemic hours over the summer. Sunday hours (noon – 4:00 p.m.) at the South Yarmouth Library will resume on Sunday, September 12. Saturday hours at West Yarmouth Library will wrap up on September 25.

South Yarmouth Library
Monday & Wednesday: 10:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m.
Tuesday, Thursday & Friday: 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Saturday: 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Sunday (September-May): noon – 4:00 p.m.

West Yarmouth Library
Monday, Wednesday & Friday: 11:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Tuesday and Thursday: 3:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
Saturday – until 9/25: – 11:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Summer Reading Results

Our Youth Services Department enjoyed a whirlwind summer! Highlights include:

Tails and Tales Summer Reading Program had 101 children registered. They logged in their reading times to earn badges. Grand total of 30,553 minutes!
We hosted 27 Outdoor Programs at West Yarmouth Library on the lawn, Including Storytimes, Musical Discoveries, Field Day Fun, and special animal visitors. Total attendance 830.
Popup Art for 'tweens
Take and Make Kits expanded to include 'tweens and teens each week. We assembled and distributed 100 kits.
Take and Make Kits, for children 5 to 12 years old, continued their popularity through the summer. We assembled and distributed over 150 kits.

Many thanks to the South Yarmouth Association and West Yarmouth Library Association for supporting all of our summer programming and for providing the funds for materials.

Many thanks to our local businesses for providing prizes for the summer reading participants, including:
Cape Cod Creamery, Cape Cod Toy Chest, Ocean State Job Lot, Penguins Ice cream, and Pirates’ Cove.

Climate Preparedness Week 2021

September 24-30

This year the keynote speaker will be David Pogue, author of How to Prepare for Climate Change. Register online at: http://bit.ly/2WDS2nB .Massachusetts Library System members partner with Communities Responding to Extreme Weather (CREW) by offering programs during Climate Preparedness Week. Climate Preparedness Week prepares our communities for extreme weather events through educational events that increase emergency preparedness and the intersection of climate change and social justice. Climate Preparedness Week is held each year from Sept 24th - 30th.

Book Discussion Group on Zoom

Tuesday, September 28, 6:00 p.m.
Wednesday, September 29, 10:30 a.m.
Join us for either the evening or morning session this month as we discuss Anxious People by Fredrik Backman. Taken hostage by a failed bank robber while attending an open house, eight anxiety-prone strangers discover their unexpected common traits.

Copies of the book are available at both libraries. You can also read the book online or listen to the audiobook on Overdrive/Libby through CLAMS or another consortium in Massachusetts with your CLAMS card. Please email Chris Kaufmann at ckaufmann@clamsnet.org or call the library at 508-760-4820 to register to receive a Zoom link or with any questions and if you have had any problems with Zoom in the past, please call 508-760-4820 x1315 or email Chris to set up a troubleshooting session.

Tech Spotlight

Flipster App

Download the magazine app Flipster from your device's app store. Once downloaded, search for the Boston Public Library in the app and using your Boston Public Library eCard, enter the card number and PIN to get started. Don't have a BPL eCard? Get one today at www.bpl.org/ecard.

STAFF PICK
Notes from a Young Black Chef
by Kwame Onwuachi and
Joshua David Stein

This book looks back on the difficult path that one tough kid from the Bronx took to reach his goal: becoming a chef in charge of a fine-dining restaurant, Kith and Kin, an elite restaurant in Washington, D.C. Onwuachi has earned the respect of critics and a James Beard Award nomination for Rising Star Chef of the Year. It is a fascinating read that depicts the hard reality of this young man's rise in a world of "silent racism."

September Artist
Rae Rylander

"Living on the Cape I am inspired by all the beauty around me...the sky, the sea, the early morning dew on the grass or the spider web lying on a shrub in the garden. I try to capture some of the emotion of the scenery in my paintings. I find joy in painting and I am delighted when my art speaks to someone else and I can bring that joy into their realm." Be sure to see Rae Rylander's work at the South Yarmouth Library in September.

Recycling News

Yarmouth’s recycling committee, officially known as the Recycling and Solid Waste Advisory Committee or RASWAC, has been busy during the COVID pandemic. Two new initiatives have been undertaken.

The first is to limit the amount of polystyrene, better known as Styrofoam, in our environment. The committee is sponsoring a proposed bylaw to be heard and voted on at the Special Town Meeting in October. This bylaw would prohibit the use of polystyrene food containers, such as those used with take-out meals. Polystyrene, which cannot be recycled at the Disposal Area, not only trashes our environment, but also has potential health hazards. If food is reheated in these containers, styrene is released and styrene is a known cancer-causing substance. The Board of Health has voted unanimously to support this bylaw, as has the town’s health agent. With the number of take-out meals dramatically increasing during the pandemic, it is doubly important to pass this new bylaw now.

The second initiative concerns food waste. There are estimates that 40% of our trash consists of food that has been thrown away by restaurants and individuals. With encouragement from RASWAC, the management of the Disposal Area has contracted with a commercial composting company, Black Earth Composting, to pick up food waste at the Area. There are 3 bins located just beyond the clothing collection containers. Any food waste including meat, bones, and shellfish can be put into these bins. The only prohibition: NO plastic bags unless they are certified as biodegradable, such as BIOBAGS. So, fill up a container at home (keep it in the freezer if there is an odor issue) and bring it to the dump next time you bring your trash. You’ll be doing the Earth a favor!