The Library will be closed Tuesday, December 24th & Wednesday, December 25th for Christmas, so make sure to pick up your holiday reads ahead of time. We will open at 10:30 AM as usual on Thursday, December 26th. Happy Holidays!
Category Archives: Events
A Community Asset Since 1937
For 87 years, Clark Memorial Library has grown to meet the needs of the Bethany community. From the commitment of our original founders (like-minded citizens who felt it was important to have a library) to our current all-volunteer board and our dedicated staff, the Library has provided a welcoming environment for reading, socializing and cultural activities. The ongoing support of our patrons and benefactors allows us to continue to grow; as an Association Library, we are a non-profit that depends on the generosity of our community. Your donations are put to work immediately to support ongoing library services, from updating our physical collection and providing access to a range of digital resources to running our Makerspace, seasonal programming, and art displays!
Each year starting in fall, the Bethany Library Association raises funds to support ongoing library services in the Annual Drive. Download an Annual Drive Pledge Card to make a donation via check, or contribute via PayPal, debit, or credit card on our website. Names provided on Pledge Cards will appear in the Library’s gratitude report unless otherwise noted.
Clark Memorial Library is recognized as a non-profit 501(C)(3) and donors may deduct gifts and bequests to the Bethany Library Association as directed by the tax code.
A Historical Walk Through Bethany: 2nd Photo Scanning Day
December 10, 5:00 – 6:30 PM
The Library is hosting Photo Scanning Days in collaboration with the Bethany Historical Society to collect images for the upcoming “A Historical Walk Through Bethany” exhibit! Bethany residents are invited bring in photos that show everyday life in Bethany through the past decades. Members of the Historical Society in the downstairs Community Room will scan the photos to create digital copies for the exhibit and return the originals.
Photos can also be dropped off at the Library during our hours of operation, at the Town Clerk’s office, or at a Bethany Historical Society event; please bring them in an enclosed envelope labeled with your name and contact information so that they can be returned to you once they have been scanned.
For more information, contact Linda Wooster
at ljwooster@gmail.com or 203-393-1832.
See Santa & Mrs. Claus at the Library!
Save the date: the Bethany Lions Club will be bringing everyone’s favorite holiday elves to Clark Memorial Library on December 5th, from 4:30 – 6:30 PM. Visit with Santa and Mrs. Claus, and join members of the Lions Club and your local librarians at the makerspace table!
A Historical Walk Through Bethany: First Photo Scanning Day
November 23, 2:00 – 3:30 PM
The Library is hosting Photo Scanning Days in collaboration with the Bethany Historical Society to collect images for the upcoming “A Historical Walk Through Bethany” exhibit! Bethany residents are invited bring in photos that show everyday life in Bethany through the past decades. Members of the Historical Society in the downstairs Community Room will scan the photos to create digital copies for the exhibit and return the originals.
Photos can also be dropped off at the Library during our hours of operation, at the Town Clerk’s office, or at a Bethany Historical Society event; please bring them in an enclosed envelope labeled with your name and contact information so that they can be returned to you once they have been scanned.
For more information, contact Linda Wooster
at ljwooster@gmail.com or 203-393-1832.
Have You Tested Your Water Lately?
Even if your water tastes and smells fine, that doesn’t always mean it’s safe to drink…
UConn Extension is providing reduced-cost well testing for residents of Bethany and the surrounding areas. Normally $350 or more, tests will be provided for $200!
Please sign up by November 11th. If you miss the deadline to register, we will have sample kits to distribute at the event. Kits will need to be returned the day of or brought back to the UConn main campus at a later date.
Where: Clark Memorial Library, 538 Amity Road, Bethany, CT 06524
When: November 16th, 10:00 AM – 1:00 PM
Visit s.uconn.edu/bethany-well-testing to register
Contact alec.janis@uconn.edu with questions
Clark Memorial Library and the Bethany Historical Society are working together to create A Historical Walk Through Bethany, an exhibit highlighting the visual history of the town of Bethany through the years. The exhibit will feature photos shared by the community, which will be scanned, enlarged, matted, and arranged by decade in the Library’s Community Room, allowing visitors to “walk through” the everyday lives of Bethany residents.
A few photos have already been collected, and are on display across from the glass display cabinets outside the Community Room! Be sure to stop by and get a glimpse of how life in Bethany has changed over time.
The Library will be hosting Photo Scanning Days on November 23 and December 10 to collect images for the final exhibit. For more information about these events, and the exhibit as a whole, see the Library’s Calendar of Events.
An artist reception will be held on November 16th, 3:00 – 4:30 PM for the local artist featured in our Arts@Clark! exhibits for October and November, Roberta Scott. Her work will be shown in the Community Room and the downstairs display cabinets from Tuesday, October 8th, until Friday, December 6th.
Roberta is, in her own words, “a maker of fine art and not so fine art.”
She grew up in the Four Corners area of New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah, on and off the Navajo reservation and military bases. After high school, she went to work for the Forest Service, served 5 years in the Navy working as an aviation mechanic, and worked locally at Sikorsky Aircraft. She received a BFA in Sculpture at Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts, a college of the University of New Haven, and is currently a technical writer for Sikorsky, a mother, and a “fair weather artist.”
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.