Celebrate St. Patrick's Day with Us 💚

News, Information, and Fun Things to Do

from the

Middleborough Public Library

Library Lines

March 2, 2022

TONIGHT!

"Cape Cod Storm Stories" with

Author Don Wilding

Storyteller and author Don Wilding will present, "Cape Cod Storm Stories" at 6:30 p.m. tonight.

Registration is required, and this program is fully booked so if you have a reservation and cannot attend, please let us know so we can offer your seat to someone on the waiting list.

Call the Library at 508/946-2470 or email Reference/Adult Services Librarian Libby Fox .

Thanks to the Friends of the Middleboro Public Library for making this program possible.

Celebrate St. Patrick's Day at the Library with Celtic Musician Jeff Snow

Celebrate St. Patrick's Day at the Library, Thurs., March 17 at 6:30 p.m., with Jeff Snow and his presentation of "The Softer Side of Celtic."

Registration is required, and this program is fully booked so if you have a reservation and cannot attend, please let us know so we can offer your seat to someone on the waiting list.

Call the Library at 508/946-2470 or email Reference/Adult Services Librarian Libby Fox .

This program is supported by a grant from the Middleborough Cultural Council, a local agency, which is supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency.

"Tech Time" Technology Help is Here

Do you need help with your eReader, tablet or basic computer tasks?

Sign up today for a 25-minute, one-on-one training session to work on exactly what you need help with. Call the Library at 508/946-2470 to register.

Assistant Director and tech guru John Walsh can:

Help you get started or troubleshoot downloadable eBooks, audiobooks, music and movies.

Provide individual assistance with basic computer questions like setting up an email account, starting a job search, or using Microsoft Word.

Teach you how to better use your personal tablet.

Tech Time will be offered Tuesdays by appointment only, from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. There's a limit of two appointments per patron, per month.

To help us help you, please make sure to bring the following to your appointment: your device(s); user name and password for each device and any accounts (such as Amazon); power and data cables; your mobile phone (if you have one) for account recovery purposes; removable media (USB storage devices, CDs / DVDs, memory cards, etc.); and instruction booklets.

Please note: This is a technology teaching service. We cannot troubleshoot or help with malfunctioning computers and devices. Patrons may bring in their own devices for their session, but library staff are not responsible for their equipment.

Tiny Tots Returns on Wednesdays

Tiny Tots returns Wed., March 9 at 10:30 a.m. and runs every Wednesday after that throughout March. Join us for a story, songs and rhymes that build early literacy skills.

We meet outdoors at the park near Peirce Playground just down the street from the Library. Social distancing is encouraged. In the case of inclement weather, Tiny Tots will move indoors with limited capacity and online using Zoom. Please bring a blanket or seat when meeting outdoors.

This program is geared toward babies and kids up to 3 years old, and their caregiver(s). Siblings are always welcome. To sign up for program updates and the inclement weather list for the Zoom link, please call the Library at 508/946-2470.

Woof! Read with Miss Marilyn's Spaniels

They're back! Sign your child up for a 20-minute slot with Ms. Marilyn and her credentialed family therapy pets including a meet-and-greet and reading time. Children can practice and improve their reading skills in a relaxed and non-judgmental atmosphere.

Please note the day change: sessions begin again on Wednesdays, starting March 9, from 4:00-6:00 p.m. through March 30.

Call 508/946-2470 or stop by the Library to sign up. Please only sign up for two sessions at first in order to allow others a chance to participate. This program will meet in the large meeting room and registration is required.

World of Science with Ms. Carol

This month's STEAM program with Ms. Carol of Self Help Inc.'s Coordinated Family and Community Engagement will take place on Mon., March 14 at 10:30 a.m. It's designed for families with children ages 3-5 years, and children will participate in activities related to the topic through art, songs, experiments, literacy connections and movement.

CFCE will follow the CDC, state and local board of health's COVID guidelines to keep everyone safe and healthy. So, please keep in mind that this gathering may be small in numbers, have masks available, and may be held indoors or outdoors, depending on the guidelines.

Drop In for a Fun Lego Afternoon

Stop by the Large Meeting Room downstairs at 4:00 p.m. on Tues., March 8 for Lego Afternoon.

Create a Lego masterpiece using the Library's bricks. Space is on a first-come, first-served basis. One table per family or group, and social distancing is encouraged.

This program is generously supported by the Friends of the Middleborough Public Library.

Build A Leprechaun Trap

Drop in to the Large Meeting Room from 4:00 to 5:00 p.m. on Tues., March 15 for St. Patrick's Day activities. Using recycled materials, build your very own leprechaun trap to use at home.

All ages welcome. One family or group per table. Social distancing is encouraged.

Winter Library Olympic Reading Challenge

for Kids

Our Olympic-themed winter reading challenge for kids up to grade 6 continues through Fri., March 18. Sign up for Beanstack online from our website or use the free app for mobile devices.

Complete a scavenger hunt in the Children's Room to find the Olympic rings. When kids turn in their sheets at the desk they can choose a small prize.

The more kids read and complete activities, the greater their chance to win a gift card from their choice of either Target or Amazon.

Bronze: $20 gift card

Silver: $30 gift card

Gold: $50 gift card

"Book Blurbs" -- What We've Been Reading/Watching/Playing

Periodically, we bring you a brief Book Blurb from the staff about what we've been reading/watching/playing.

This week, two newly published (2022) books recently read and highly recommended by Library Technician Dianne Scott. Each book is its author's debut novel.

The Violin Conspiracy by Brendan Slocumb

Growing up Black in rural North Carolina, Ray McMillian’s life is already mapped out. If he’s lucky, he’ll get a job at the hospital cafeteria. If he’s extra lucky, he’ll earn more than minimum wage. But Ray has a gift and a dream—he’s determined to become a world-class professional violinist, and nothing will stand in his way.

When he discovers that his great-great-grandfather’s beat-up old fiddle is actually a priceless Stradivarius, all his dreams suddenly seem within reach. Together, Ray and his violin take the world by storm. But on the eve of the renowned and cutthroat Tchaikovsky Competition—the Olympics of classical music—the violin is stolen, a ransom note for five million dollars left in its place. Ray will have to piece together the clues to recover his treasured Strad ... before it’s too late.

In its starred review, Booklist wrote, " [A] galvanizing blend of thriller, coming-of-age drama, and probing portrait of racism. . . . we are drawn completely into this moving story of an unfettered love of music and a passionate commitment to performing it...This flawless debut will do for classical music what The Queen's Gambit did for chess.”

The Latinist by Mark Prins

Tessa Templeton has thrived at Oxford University under the tutelage and praise of esteemed classics professor Christopher Eccles. And now, his support is the one thing she can rely on: her job search has yielded nothing, and her devotion to her work has just cost her her boyfriend, Ben. Yet shortly before her thesis defense, Tessa learns that Chris has sabotaged her career―and realizes their relationship is not at all what she believed.

Driven by what he mistakes as love for Tessa, Chris has ensured that no other institution will offer her a position, keeping her at Oxford with him. His tactics grow more invasive as he determines to prove he has her best interests at heart. Meanwhile, Tessa scrambles to undo the damage―and in the process makes a startling discovery about an obscure second-century Latin poet that could launch her into academic stardom, finally freeing her from Chris’s influence.

Vanity Fair wrote in its review, "Prins’s confident, engrossing debut novel.... contains more than enough twists to keep you turning the page until the very end." And the Washington Post wrote, "Ingenious.... a superb literary suspense novel...like the classics that inspire it, [it's] an inventive wedding of the elegant and the barbaric."

For either book, click on the red linked title above to place a hold on a print copy in the SAILS catalog, or click on the book cover image to place a hold for the ebook or audiobook in OverDrive.

Did You Know?

You have access to the OverDrive collections of, not just the SAILS network, but seven other networks in Massachusetts? If you're looking for a book and see that it has a waiting list, try searching for it in each of the other networks, you might get lucky and find an available copy.

On a desktop or laptop:

Look at the top right of the screen for "Partner Libraries." Click on it and you'll see a drop-down list of libraries. Choose any network to search in and borrow from their collections with your SAILS card.

Searching in the Libby app on a mobile device:

Tap on the "hamburger" (the three little stacked lines in the middle of the icons running across the bottom of your screen--see Image A).

Then:

Scroll up until you see "Add a Library;" click on it. Search for a different network name (Image B), and open it.
Tap "Sign In With My Card."
Under "Partner Libraries," choose your home library from the list and sign in.