On May 21st the people of Unatego school district will be faced with an important vote at the Unatego High School between the hours of noon and nine. The vote will impact how both the Unadilla and Otego (Harris Memorial) libraries receive future funds considering State Educational Law 259. The vote will appear as a separate line item on the ballot, unaffected by the results of the school budget passing or failing. This law has been written and tested in the courts and has benefited other libraries in our region through its engagement with the public via the established democratic process.
Are You on Facebook?
After yesterday’s temporary outage on Facebook, you may be asking yourself that same question, but if you have a Facebook account, we want to STRONGLY encourage you to follow @HarrisLibrary. We have an active page there that includes videos, photos, and the most up-to-date happenings. New events and community news and the occasional meme are all shared there in short and easily readable bite-sized pieces. Want to know what’s happening @ YOUR library? Pop over and check it out! Want to double-check the hours? Look at the About section there. There is always something happening at our little but lively library–make sure you’re taking advantage of all the great things we have to offer!
New Perfect-for-Spring Paint and Sip!
Kathy Knox is at it again, bringing a charming design (perfect for the coming spring and summer) for curious painters (and sippers).
Butterflies and Blossoms is a great opportunity for even the timid painter! If you’ve ever wanted to try a paint and sip, or if you just need an excuse to relax and take a break from the daily grind, here’s your opportunity. You deserve to spend an afternoon indulging in the arts (and tasty beverages).
This library fundraiser is only $35 and sends you home with an acrylic painting you made yourself.
Closing 3pm Wednesday 2/27/19 Due To Snow
We apologize for the inconvenience, but the library will be closing promptly at 3pm today due to adverse weather conditions. All related activities are canceled.
Authors Who Write…as Other Authors
Pseudonyms are popular with authors and their publishers for many reasons: sometimes an author’s given name is too lengthy to fit neatly on a book cover, sometimes it’s spelled in a way that might trip readers up when they go to search for it, sometimes it’s hard to pronounce, or shared by someone much different than the author. There are nearly as many reasons for taking on a pseudonym as there are…well…pseudonyms!
Since modern marketing is big on branding, when an author makes a genre jump (going from fiction to nonfiction or from suspense to high fantasy, as examples) or a target audience change (from adult to children’s books), publishers like to differentiate what they’re selling so the public isn’t expecting the same sort of book the writer has written before. There are historical reasons to take a new name, too. Sometimes women wanted to write at a time (or on a topic) that was considered inappropriate for a woman to write (remember, ladies, there was a time when reading novels was enough of a charge to have you institutionalized…).
Here are some well known authors who have written under different names:
Benjamin Franklin………………………….Mrs. Silence Dogood, Anthony Afterwit, Caelia Shortface, Busy Body
Washington Irving…………………………..Jonathan Oldstyle, Diedrich Knickerbocker, Geoffrey Crayon
David Cornwell……………………………….John le Carre
Nora Roberts…………………………………..JD Robb
Stephen King…………………………………..Richard Bachman
Richard Matheson…………………………….Logan Swanson
Jackson Pearce………………………………….J. Nelle Patrick
Kara Taylor………………………………………Kara Thomas
JK Rowling………………………………………Robert Galbraith
CS Lewis………………………………………….Clive Hamilton, NW Clerk
Joyce Carol Oates……………………………..Rosamond Smith, Lauren Kelly, Rae Jolen Smith
Isaac Asimov…………………………………….Paul French
Agatha Christie………………………………….Mary Westmacott
Dean Koontz………………………………………Aaron Wolfe, Brian Coffey, David Axton, Deanna Dwyer, John Hill, KR Dwyer, Leigh Nichols, Anthony North, Owen West, Richard Paige
Anne Rice……………………………………………Howard Allen, Francis O’Brien, AN Roquelaure, Anne Rampling
Michael Crichton…………………………………..John Lange, Jeffrey Hudson, Michael Douglas
Jayne Ann Krentz…………………………………..Amanda Quick
JR Ward………………………………………………..Jessica Bird
Erika Mitchell (Leonard)………………………….EL James
Patricia Highsmith……………………………………Claire Morgan
Ulrich Leonard Tolle………………………………..Eckhart Tolle
Meg Cabot………………………………………………Jenny Carroll
Ray Bradbury………………………………………….Douglas Spaulding
Alice Mary Norton…………………………………….Andre Norton, Andrew North, Allen Weston
Madeleine Wickham………………………………….Sophie Kinsella
?………………………………………………………………Frederic Dannay and Manfred Bennington Lee………………………..Ellery Queen, Barnaby Ross
?……………………………………………………………..Elena Ferrante
Want to learn more? Click on any of Shannon’s sources!
Romance Authors Write Under Multiple Pseudonyms
8 Famous Authors Who Used Secret Pseudonyms
Authors Who Write Under Different Pen Names
New Hours and New Opportunities for February
Time seems to be flying at our little but lively library in upstate New York!
We’ve hosted our first Harry Potter-inspired event (complete with wand-making and magically-inspired snacks!), held a haunted house, movie nights, the Silver Tea (which some said was the best they’d ever attended), the Otego Tree Lighting (what a crowd!), we’ve formed a Writers Group, a Stitchers group (for people who knit and crochet), hosted recurring Game Nights, Story Times, Paint and Sip, gotten creative with the 3D printer, and started a weekly Coffee Klatsch where friends old and new can gather and chat. We’ve done Blackout Poetry, and soon, we’ll be hosting even more creative things that are fun and educational for all ages.
The Board has attended town and village meetings and rubbed elbows with great people who understand the importance of a library to a small town. A library is not just a depository for books–it is the heart of a healthy community.
We’re now firmly into grant-writing and workshop season and it’s keeping us hoppin’!
February is right around the corner and we have some other great things starting:
We’re adjusting our hours in February to meet community needs:
Mondays ………………………..12pm-5:30pm
Tuesdays ……………………………..10am-3pm
Wednesdays …………………………..1pm-7pm
Thursdays ……………………………..10am-3pm
Fridays ………………………………….CLOSED
Saturdays ………………………………9am-12pm
Sundays ………………………………..CLOSED
Also, February brings…
Mid-morning Movies for the young and the young at heart. Each month we’ll have a mid-morning movie for children and one for adults.
Movie Nights continue with ICE AGE (rated PG) on the 14th from 6-8pm, and CHARLOTTE’S WEB (rated G) on the 15th from 6-8pm (ages 5 and up only). $2 provides money for popcorn, juice, and fruit-infused water. Caregivers need to RSVP (607-988-6661) by 2/7, fill out emergency contact info, and return at 8pm to pick up children.
Stitchers continues every Monday from 1-2:30pm
Game Nights continue every other Wednesday (the 13th and the 27th) from 5:30pm-7pm
Library Board Meetings are the 3rd Wednesday of every month at 7pm unless announced otherwise
Story Times (Music & Motion, a book, and a craft) Thursdays at 10:30-11:30am
Coffee Klatch continues every Saturday morning from 9:30am-10:30am
World War II Book and Movie Club will now start in March and be on Saturdays- Sit down and chat about some amazing books and an astonishing time period while having a light lunch at the library. Contact Shannon at the library (607-988-6661) for more information.
Because You Asked: How You Can Help Your Library
As many of you know, Harris Memorial is a place with a rich history (and a historic building as its frame and foundation). This means a lot of upkeep needs to be done, and upkeep–and roof repairs–cost time, money, or most often both. So how is a little community like ours able to keep our beautiful library running like it should? Thanks in part to the efforts and donations of our volunteers and patrons.
Your efforts mean a lot to us. Here are a few ways you can keep helping.
Donate your gently used books, CDs, or DVDs to us. Items that we can put on our shelves to help diversify what we offer readers and viewers are integrated as quickly as time allows. Items that are duplicates or triplicates can be used for read-alongs or for book clubs. Items that may not be suitable for our shelves get new life as part of our annual used book and media sale at Otego Days in May.
Donate a copy of your favorite book to us. Contact Shannon is advance of buying a special copy of it for the library–we may already have it and might better benefit from a copy of your second-favorite book.
Donate your birthday to us on Facebook. It may sound crazy, but Facebook allows non-profit organizations like your library to receive donations through your Facebook presence (Shannon donated hers and raised $200 for the library). All you have to do is press a few keys to get the process started and Shannon is more than happy to help you get set up. Give her a call or come in and log on to one of our public computers.
Donate during NYGivesDay or #GivingTuesday. Yes, those are both real things! Even if you can’t give, you can help spread the word and encourage others to help in whatever way they can. It all helps and it all matters.
When shopping through Amazon, SMILE for us. Did you know that every time you shop on Amazon you can be making a tiny donation to your favorite non-profit (and we certainly qualify) if you log in first through their Smile page instead?
Let us know about opportunities for grants or fundraisers that we may have overlooked. We’re not too proud to listen to suggestions–especially if it helps our library serve our community better, and we believe strongly that there is always something great we can learn from each other!
Lighten your load! Drop your spare change into our Vortex container and watch the coins zip around in response to gravity. It’s great for us and fun for you!
Talk us up and come to events we host–the more the merrier! Suggest new activities that our locals might enjoy and benefit from! We want the Harris Memorial Library to be the heart of our amazing community and that requires people coming out to programs and events they want available in the future.
Offer your expertise or time. Have a skill or a hobby you can teach others? Offer a workshop, a talk, or a class! Tell us about your most recent trip, or something fascinating you learned locally! Encourage your attendees to leave donations for the library.
Volunteer! Do you love cleaning, or painting, or shelving books, or washing windows, or helping garden? Maybe you’re great at blogging about books, libraries and Otego–we can use that skill, too! We have volunteer opportunities for all of those things and more–just ask Shannon and she’ll get you set up to be a contributing part of our community.
A Little but Lively Library in the Heart of Upstate New York
Located in the village of Otego, New York, the Harris Memorial Library has a rich history in large part thanks to the lovely and adventurous Daisy or “Dasa” Harris who willed her Victorian-Italianate-style home to the village of Otego in the early 1970’s so long as it became, and remained, a library. Her house became known as the Harris Memorial House, and when it was realized that the small rooms were not conducive to a library’s organization, and that the weight of so many books and their shelves might collapse the historic structure, a modern addition was added to the back of the building to house the library.
We offer free computer and wi-fi access, a small collection of fiction, non-fiction and reference materials for all ages, knowledgeable and friendly staff, and access to the digital and physical collections of the collective libraries of The Four County Library System. Dasa envisioned a library in her home for her community and we are here to carry out her vision and meet the needs of our community.
We invite you to explore our history and bookshelves, learn about our inclusive and varied programs, and get involved with our library, our community, our home. Like us and follow us on Facebook to get the most up-to-date listing of activities and events. Support Public Literacy by supporting your local library.