The Library will be closing at 3:00 PM on Fridays for the remainder of October; our hours on all other days will remain the same. We apologize for any inconvenience.
Yearly Archives: 2024
What is a cryptid? It’s a mysterious creature that has been claimed (but never proven) to exist, like Bigfoot or the Loch Ness Monster.
Join Patrick Scalisi and Valerie Ruby-Omen, the author and illustrator of Connecticut Cryptids: A Field Guide to the Weird and Wonderful Creatures of the Nutmeg State, for a presentation on Connecticut’s cryptids – including a special look at our local Bethany cryptid, the Downs Road Monster. The presentation will take place in the Library’s Community Room on Saturday, October 12, starting at 3:00 PM.
For more information about the book and its creators (as well as special bonus stories!) you can visit the Connecticut Cryptids website at www.ctcryptids.com.
Be sure to look for us at the 2024 Bethany Harvest Festival! The Friends of the Library will be hosting a bake sale, there will be a raffle to win a Halloween gift basket, and if you don’t already have a library card, we’ll have everything you need to sign up for one!
The Festival takes place at the Old Bethany Airport (695 Amity Road) on Sunday, October 6, and lasts from 11:00 AM – 4:00 PM.
Have you seen our new book displays? To reflect Library Card Sign-Up Month’s Transformers theme, we’re showing off books that prominently feature vehicles of all kinds, from submarines to spaceships – and a few about robots, as well. Stop by to learn about our many modes of transportation, read about characters on road trips and cruises, or get inside the mechanical mind of a machine!
As promised, we have collected some of the many photos taken during the 5th Annual Public Art Exhibit into a short video commemorating the event! Thank you again to everyone who helped to make this year’s Public Art Exhibit our biggest success so far. This video will remain available to view on the Library’s YouTube channel as well as the Arts@Clark! page on our website, under Previous Events.
We hope to see you again next year!
Clark Memorial Library’s hours of operation will be changing starting this week!
Our new hours are as follows:
Tuesdays – 10:30 AM – 7:00 PM
Wednesdays – 10:30 AM – 7:00 PM
Thursdays – 10:30 AM – 7:00 PM
Fridays – 10:30 AM – 5:00 PM
Saturdays – 10:30 AM – 5:00 PM
Thank you to everyone who took part in our Adult Summer Reading Raffle!
The complete Butterfly Tree, which showcases our adult patrons’ favorite books from their childhoods, will temporarily be on display upstairs in the magazine area. It includes books and series for the full range of young readers, from picture books to full-length novels and everything in between. The full list of submissions is below; whether you’re reminiscing or looking for a new favorite, there’s sure to be something for you!
Adult Summer Reading Submissions:
A Little Princess – Frances Hodgson Burnett
A Series of Unfortunate Events (Series) – Lemony Snicket
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn – Betty Smith
A Wizard of Earthsea – Ursula K. Le Guin
A Wrinkle in Time – Madeleine L’Engle
Anne of Green Gables – L. M. Montgomery
Appointment with a Stranger – Jean Thesman
“B” is for Betsy – Carolyn Haywood
Berenstain Bears (Series) – Stan and Jan Berenstain
Black Beauty – Anna Sewell
Blueberries for Sal – Robert McCloskey
Danny the Champion of the World – Roald Dahl
Fancy Nancy and the Mermaid Ballet – Jane O’Connor
Fantastic Mr. Fox – Roald Dahl
From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler – E. L. Konigsburg
Go, Dog. Go! – P. D. Eastman
Gooseberry Park – Cynthia Rylant
Harriet the Spy – Louise Fitzhugh
Judy Bloom (Author)
Julie of the Wolves – Jean Craighead George
Knight’s Castle – Edward Eager
Little Critter (Series) – Mercer Mayer
Little House on the Prairie (Series) – Laura Ingalls Wilder
Little Women – Louisa May Alcott
Madeline – Ludwig Bemelmans
Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel – Virginia Lee Burton
Miss Nelson is Missing! – Harry Allard
Misty of Chincoteague – Marguerite Henry
Nancy Drew (Series) – Carolyn Keene
Pinkalicious – Victoria Kann
Popcorn – Frank Asch
Rosebud – Ed Emberly
The Babysitters Club (Series) – Ann M. Martin
The Contented Little Pussycat – Frances Ruth Keller
The Giving Tree – Shel Silverstein
The Hobbit – J. R. R. Tolkien
The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe – C. S. Lewis
The Little Engine That Could – Watty Piper
The Little Prince – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
The Little Red Hen – Folk Tale
The Little White Horse – Elizabeth Goudge
The Secret Garden – Frances Hodgson Burnett
The Secret Language – Ursula Nordstrom
The Secret of the Caves (Hardy Boys) – Franklin W. Dixon
The Story of Doctor Dolittle – Hugh Lofting
The Swiss Family Robinson – Johann David Wyss
The Velveteen Rabbit – Margery Williams
The Westing Game – Ellen Raskin
The Yearling – Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
Uglies – Scott Westerfield
Where the Sidewalk Ends – Shel Silverstein
White Fang – Jack London
Libraries – more than meets the eye… roll out with a library card.
September is Library Card Sign-Up Month!
Library Card Sign-Up Month is a national campaign to emphasize the importance of library cards to a child’s education and to combat illiteracy. The campaign first started in 1987 as a response to then Secretary of Education, William Bennett, who stated: “Let’s have a campaign … Every child should obtain a library card and use it.” The American Library Association (ALA) teamed up with the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science (NCLIS) to start the campaign, and sent a telegram to Secretary Bennett saying, “We accept your challenge.”
If you don’t already have a library card, stop by and fill out an application form! You can also download one from our website to fill out in advance, then bring it in along with a current Bethany address. It’s quick and easy, and you’ll gain access to many free resources at Clark Memorial Library – as well as countless more through the LION consortium and the borrowIT CT library resource sharing program.
The Library will be closed Saturday, September 7th, for seasonal cleanup and organization. Make sure to pick up your books by September 6th!
An artist reception will be held on August 24th, 3:00 – 4:30 PM for the local artist featured in our Arts@Clark! exhibits for August and September, Kim Ahrens. Her work will be shown in the Community Room and the downstairs display cabinets from Saturday, August 3rd, until Thursday, October 3rd.
Kim is a Bethany resident whose favorite subjects include landscapes, chickens and other animals, and flowers, mostly painted in watercolor or acrylic. She paints almost daily in her studio, and hopes her creativity is an inspiration to all who see her work.
Stop in during Library hours to take a look!