Category: News

The Stonington Public Library has decided to remain closed until April 27th unless otherwise advised by the Maine State Library and Governor Mills. The library is still here for you but in a limited capacity. We will be offering no contact pickups and deliveries on Tuesdays and Fridays from 2:00 to 4:00 pm. If you would like to borrow a book you may go to our website under the tab Books and More to browse our catalog and place a hold. You can also email or call the library at stonington.public.library@gmail.com or 367-5926. We will bag up your books and place them on the porch for pick up or drop them off to your porch. We encourage you to keep the books until the library is fully operational again, fine free! If you feel more comfortable returning your materials please leave them in the book drop located in our front door. We have safety procedures in place in regards to book handling. 

The library also as free WiFi 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. No password necessary. Just chose Stonington Library Guest in your settings. If the weather permits you can sit on our porch or park your vehicle out front to receive this service.

If you have the ability to access books online we offer borrowing through the digital Maine library. There is a step by step how to video below. Again please call us with any questions you may have we are in the library from 2:00 to 4:00 pm Tuesday and Friday. 

 

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Here at the library we have been missing our regular Story Hour and Baby Rhyme Time. Fortunately lots of authors have been reading their children’s book online! If you type in any of your favorites a YouTube link is sure to pop up.

We are huge fans of Anica Mrose Rissi’s books and have had the pleasure of hosting her at the library a few times. Anica’s last two picture books The Teachers Pet illustrated by Zachariah OHora and Watch Out for Wolf! illustrated by Charles Santoso are some of our favorite picture books. Below is a link to YouTube of Anica reading her soon to be released children’s book “Love, Sophia on the Moon”! Pictures by Mika Song.

The Stonington  Public Library has been following the ever changing recommendations and information regarding  COVID-19. There is no hard and fast rule on what public libraries should do. This decision is made harder by the fact that we as libraries are here to service our communities, whatever the need shall be we are here for you with information, resources, or just a good book!  After much discussion with my assistant, board members, patrons, and other public resource entities, I as the librarian have decided to close the Stonington Public Library at 4:00 pm on Tuesday, March 17 for 2 weeks. We will tentatively reopen for book circulation on March 31, 10:00 am provided the recommendations for our situation do not change.

This was a very difficult decision to come to. I personally work very hard to encourage people to come to library as often as possible. We at the library realize that our patrons depend on having access to reading materials and reliable information. We will accommodate that need in 3 ways.

1. We are offering home delivery. Call the library at 367-5926, requests through our website at https://www.stoningtonlibrary.org/, or message our facebook page. Returns can be made in our drop box or just hold the books until we reopen. 
2. Reliable up to date links on our website regarding COVID-19 and other important information.
3. Online story times. I will be reading children’s stories from our collection and posting videos on our website every few days. I will also post literature based activities for children.

Please if you are in good health come to the library Tuesday, March 17th 10:00 to 4:00 to stock up on books.

Due to lots of sporting events happening this Saturday we have canceled story hour.

Don’t fret we have some exciting new story times coming your way!

Crowell To Share Healing Through Surimono at Stonington Library

Deer Isle resident Marnie Reed Crowell will explore the partnership between verbal and visual images at the Stonington Public Library on Saturday, Feb. 15, from Noon to 1 PM.

Crowell will share her fusion surimono collections in her presentation, “Verbal & Visual Images: 19th Century Japan and Today’s Internet.”

“Just as the body develops in response to increasing physical activity, the mind can redevelop in response to words and images of increasing complexity,” Crowell said.

Crowell is a naturalist, author and artist who suffered a traumatic brain injury while ice skating in 1999. She emerged from a coma unable to write, draw, or even make sense of printed words. But she managed to find her way back to art and poetry, starting with very simple images and words, gradually increasing their length, intricacy and subtlety.

“I believe that others who suffer from traumatic brain injury, chemo brain, PTSD, Post Lyme fog and the like can perhaps find their way back with pictured poems in stages from the very simple in the first collection to the sixth, completed at their own pace,” she said.

Crowell has a master’s degree in Biology, and she has taught in many kinds of classrooms including a one-room schoolhouse and Ogdensburg Correctional Facility. She has written books about farming, migratory birds, flycasting and poetry. Her poems have been commissioned to celebrate the opening of a church and the Penobscot Narrows bridge as well as appearing in Take Heart, an anthology of Maine poets and Poems From Here, Stuart Kestenbaum’s Maine Public Radio show.

All are welcome to attend this free event sponsored by the Stonington Public Library.

The Library is excited to host Paul Miller, Island Heritage Trust’s Executive Director and lifelong birder, he will discuss the local birds we can see during the winter. The event is planned for Tuesday, February 11th at 4:30 p.m. Many birds remain here through the winter. Some even migrate here from more northerly areas making Deer Isle their ‘south for the winter’. We’ll talk about the birds that we can see and enjoy during this challenging time of year. From backyard feeders to interesting ducks in coves, there are plenty of birds in and around Deer Isle during winter.

Maine Poet Laureate Stuart Kestenbaum will read his poetry at the Stonington Public Library. The public is invited to the free event on February 4th at 6:00 pm.

Kestenbaum is the author of five collections of poems, most recently How to Start Over and a collection of essays The View from Here (Brynmorgen Press). He has written and spoken widely on craft making and creativity, and his poems and writing have appeared in numerous small press publications and magazines.

Stuart Kestenbaum was the director of the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in Deer Isle, Maine for 27 years, where he established innovative programs combining craft and writing and craft and new technologies. He is an honorary fellow of the American Craft Council and a recipient of the Distinguished Educator’s Award from the James Renwick Alliance. He was appointed poet laureate of Maine in 2016.

The Opera House and Stonington Public Library are joining forces once again for a tea party. From 12:30 to 1:30 on Sunday, January 26, the Opera House will open their doors for an afternoon tea party before the 2:00 pm showing of the film Little Women. The tea party will feature mini sandwiches, sweets, and local tea. Along with a brief reading from the Louisa May Alcott Classic The event is by donation with the proceeds benefiting the update of the children’s area in the library.

The Library is closing at 2:30 today because of the snowy weather.

Stay safe everyone.