Library news & updates
Happy Fiscal New Year! FY19 is behind us, and now I have to get used to using 2020 in my professional life and trying my best not to in my personal life. That's always a challenge until September or so. FY19 was good to us, though. Items were borrowed from our collection 50,060 times! That's 5.72 items lent per hour (26.7 per hour if you only count the hours we were open).

Our Summer Reading Program is off to a fantastic start! We had over 80 attendees at the butterfly show yesterday, a program that was co-sponsored by the Friends of the Library and the Douglas Sunshine Club. Next Wednesday, we will have the Boston Science Museum in the Municipal Center Gym leading hands-on rocket building workshops. We still have quite a few available slots in the 11:30 am session, so call the Library and sign your kids up!

If you have gotten tired of seeing that sign at the bottom of the stairs saying "The Loft is Currently Closed to the Public," it's gone! The Wallis Room is now usable and can be reserved for small group activities (at a reasonable volume). You have to fill out an application at the circulation desk the first time you or your group use the room, and sign in thereafter.

In other news:

-Auto-renewal is up and running. If you item renews automatically on its due date, please still return it when you are done. You may not be accruing fines, but someone might still be waiting...

-Our front and back doors are in need of some love. If anyone is looking for a volunteer community project and knows about exterior wood finishing, please get in touch!

Thanks for Reading,

Justin Snook

Oktoberfest Quilt-Off!

Oktoberfest is coming, and with it the Friends of the Library book sale and what we hope will become a new Oktoberfest tradition: a Quilt-Off. We have a lot of quilters in town, and this is a chance for you to show your stuff! Click here for details and the application. We're asking a $5 entry fee to go to the Friends of the Library. All quilts need to have been made in the past year by the entrant (no entering your great-aunt Edna's 80 year old heirloom) and dropped off at the Library with your application and entry fee between October 1-3. Letting us know your intent to enter soone would be greatly appreciated, though, so we can plan for displaying.

Winners will get ribbons and bragging rights!
Thank You Unibank and Walmart

The Friends of the Library were recently awarded generous grants from both Unibank and Walmart. One of the many programs that the Friends fund is our weekly yoga class on Thursday nights at 7 (every Thursday--come on down). These grants will keep yoga funded through the end of November.

So until October 17, yoga at the Library is sponsored by Unibank!

From October 24 to November 28, yoga at the Library is sponsored by Walmart!

We greatly appreciate the support of community businesses and the Friends of the Library.
Book Clubs

The Intrepid Readers next meet on August 13 a 6:30 pm. They are reading Thomas Jefferson Dreams of Sally Hemmings by Stephen O'Connor. They always have homemade refreshments and we make decaf coffee. You don't have to sign up or register--just come to the Library to pick up the book and show up on August 13 to talk about it.

The Greatest Book Club Ever will be breaking their summer hiatus on September 5 at 6:30 pm with Ken Follett's the Pillars of the Earth. This book is huge, so we already have copies in stock for you to come pick up and get a head start.

Actually, both of these books are pretty huge. It is good that the kids book clubs are taking a break right now or there wouldn't be room on our shelf. And speaking of kids book clubs, contact Deb if you are interested in book clubs for your kids once school starts. She is thinking of experimenting with some new formats because participation was dwindling in the Young Readers and the Book Bunch. It would be handy to know what parents are interested in beforehand as we start planning for the Fall.
Brought to you by the Friends of the Simon Fairfield Public Library.