What's Going On - January 2024

Click here to donate to the Institute Library's 2023-2024 Annual Appeal

From The Desk of the Executive Director

The radiators are gently hissing. Snow is coming. I’ll be making chicken soup. Connecticut is easing into Winter. And at the library, we offer a warm refuge from the cold. This is why the Annual Appeal drive, begun in November, is so important. Until we can get our new HVAC system installed, the weekly oil bills are hair-raising!

So, as a thank-you to those of you who have already donated, we are offering a modest evening of music, talk, and food – all provided by our wonderful Board of Directors, library volunteers and staff – free to anyone who has donated to the Annual Appeal. If you haven’t donated yet, for a mere $25 you can join us and celebrate as part of the community that keeps us together, no matter the weather.

Martha Lewis and Maxim Schmidt will be on board to talk about the Gallery Upstairs. Frank Cochran will have some soft jazz playing in the music room. And food and drink everywhere.

We will be sending out an electronic invitation next week. Until then, please save the date!

More good news to come.

Jan

An Important Note about Driving and Parking on Chapel Street:

The east bound side of Chapel Street (across from the Library) is closed to traffic for the nonce. Traffic detours around the block (along Church Street to Elm to Orange to Chapel), and there is no street parking on our block of Chapel. This detour is to accommodate the construction of two buildings currently under construction. The west bound side of Chapel remains open. We expect traffic and parking to be restored to something approaching normal in late winter/early spring 2024. Regardless: We are open! There are many parking garages, including two on State Street, one and a half blocks from the library. Please call us if you have any concerns.

Programs and Events

RING-A-DING-DING with us on January 24th: TICKETS HERE

We expect Ring-A-Ding-Ding to come off without a hitch on the 24th of January, but we are no fools and this isn't our first rodeo and we know weather can be unpredictable.

AS SUCH: the SNOW DATE for this event is

WEDNESDAY

JANUARY 31st.

Save the evening of

Wednesday, January 24th

for a

RING-A-DING-DING

Evening at

The Institute Library

6:00 'til 9:00 p.m.

We want to thank those of you who've donated to our Annual Appeal for a special evening here at 847 Chapel Street, and invite those of you who've not yet donated to buy

a ticket to this special event and

join us that evening. Tickets are $25 each, and ticket sales will go directly toward continued operating support for the Institute Library, including the Gallery Upstairs.

Haven't given to the Annual Appeal yet?

No guilt: buy a ticket to this special evening.

Ring-A-Ding-Ding will be an especially festive evening: We will all enjoy live music performed by a member of the

New Haven Symphony Orchestra,

talks and tours with Gallery curators

Martha Lewis & Maxim Schmidt

and

a few words from Library Board members about the history and future of our

beloved Institute Library.

All the while, you'll enjoy

fine comestibles and lovely potables.

NEWS FROM THE GALLERY UPSTAIRS:

MYSTERIOUS CIRCUMSTANCES WILL END ON JANUARY 24th

Don't let these images slip away from you unseen;

come visit the Gallery Upstairs soon!

DOWNTOWN BRIDGE:

The Oldest Established Permanent Floating Bridge Game at

847 Chapel Street

If you'd like to be added to the email list of players (because sometimes the schedule has to change), please reach out to

Eva Geertz: Eva@InstituteLibrary.org

The secret population of

closet bridge players

and aspiring bridge players

in our midst

now meet Second Mondays

(but there is talk of a second night maybe?)

The evenings start at 7:00 and run about 90 minutes. We've got several tables available, and decks of cards, and even score pads!

Folks who haven't played in years, folks who are just starting to learn to play,

and expert old hands -- all are welcome!

Hoping to see you here - we are organizing now for:

Monday, January 8 at 7:00 p.m.

(subject to change; please reach out to us for schedule confirmation)

Friday Happy Hour Jazz |

Fridays in October | 5:30-7:00 p.m.

January 5 -- Hank Mobley

January 12 -- The Best of “Almost Forgotten 50s Jazz, Part 2”

January 19 -- Wes Montgomery with notable others like Milt Jackson, Wynton Kelly and Johnny Griffin.

January 26 -- The Modern Jazz Quartet

Although always subject to change as to artistic spotlight , Friday HappyHour Jazz will continue a swinging tour of that great American art form, “LP Jazz”, meeting at 5:15 or so every Friday, in the third floor music room, to consider, contemplate and appreciate the wonders in the Collection.

Updates will be provided via the internal Jazz email list. Want to be added to that list? Let us know!

Please consider making a $5 donation when you come to Friday Happy Hour Jazz.

Friday Happy Hour Jazz is

presented with support from Jazz Haven

www.jazzhaven.org

Story Sharing

at

The Institute Library

Second Thursdays monthly from 7:00 - 9:00

Have you ever thought you had a story you wanted to tell? If you're a person on this earth, the odds are, probably yes. Everyone's got a story to tell, and this program might be how you start to tell it to the world.

Any questions about Story Sharing

should be directed to co-ordinator

Arnie Pritchard via email:

apritchard01@snet.net

The next Story Sharing evening will be Thursday, January 11th, 2024.

People share stories at any stage of development,

from maybe-this-is-a-story first tries

to polished pieces.

Maybe your story is about a personal experience; maybe it's a favorite folk tale, or a story you made up to tell your child, or a family legend. Maybe it's something else entirely! Those who wish it get feedback from the group. People may also come just to listen. The meetings are laid-back and mellow. Anyone may join the Story Sharing group at any time; no experience is required.

The Operations Manager's Offering:

The week of New Year's 2024 had me finishing up some reading I had finally gotten around to in late 2023. Your Operations Manager loves to read but is not very good on "keeping up," as it were, so is chronically behind the times. That said, she feels she's in good company on this count. The shelves here, as libraries do, remind us all, all the time, that things that are good to read need not be shiny and new, though those can certainly be a delight; the draw of an old forgotten title being discovered for the first time or re-read for the first time in decades is not a draw to be pooh-poohed.

Books old and new (-ish) that people here have been enjoying include the memoirs of Mary Rodgers, Shy; The Fraud by Zadie Smith; Dark Star by Lorna Moon; a bunch of titles by Rex Stout; The Bookbinder by Pip Williams; novels by Eleanor Catton; novels by Ira Levin; and a slew of Len Deighton titles. What's going on with Len Deighton? People keep asking about them. And cheers to the young person who's just discovered the joys of Judith Krantz!

What are you looking for on the shelves? Don't be shy: ask us, we'll be happy to lend you the book if we have it (unless it's a non-circ title!), but even if we don't have it we'll be incredibly nice and helpful about the whole thing. Email Eva@InstituteLibrary.org.

Because I am such a back-and-forth-bobbing-around-reading-and-re-reading kind of reader, it's taken me more than three years to finally read Deesha Philyaw's The Secret Lives of Church Ladies, but I'm here to tell you: this is probably the best collections of short stories I've read in I don't know how long. If you've not yet read this book, please consider picking it up? I found myself reading it slowly to make it last longer; I nodded at it while I read it. I was practically talking to it as I read. How many books inspire that kind of response in you?

Hours of Operation

Closed Sunday & Monday | Tuesday-Friday: 11:00-5:00 | Saturday: 12:00-2:00

Location

The Institute Library, 847 Chapel St, New Haven, CT 06510

(203) 562-4045