November is both National Novel Writing Month (also known as NaNoWriMo) and National Memoir Writing Month. In honor of these celebrations of creative and nonfiction writing, we’ve filled our displays with books about the writing process, authorship, and storytelling in general, as well as the tales of people both real and fictional who either write themselves or are involved in the publishing industry. Learn about a favorite author or discover a new one when you stop by the Library this month!
The Library will continue to close at 3:00 PM on Fridays until further notice; we hope to return to our usual hours as soon as possible, but do not have a date in place at the moment. We apologize again for any inconvenience the shortened hours causes.
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
Celebrate Halloween in the Makerspace!
With Halloween on the horizon, we’re offering a whole assortment of spooky crafts in the Makerspace! Visitors can create a stand-up paper witch, a beaded pipe cleaner pumpkin, a custom Halloween bookmark, or a paper ghost on a stick – or choose from a selection of holiday-themed coloring and activity sheets. There’s something for everyone!
The Library’s video streaming service, Kanopy, is celebrating the approach of Halloween with Fright Fest, a collection of themed watchlists featuring dozens of eerie tales and supernatural adventures! You can use your library card number to access these lists, as well as hundreds of other classic and indie films, TV shows, and documentaries. New media and curated watchlists are added on a regular basis. For a quick walkthrough of how to set up and use a Kanopy account, visit their Getting Started webpage; if you already have an account, just sign in and enjoy!
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.”
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.
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.