Schuylerville Public Library News

2024 was a very exciting year at the Library! We began to plan in earnest for a long-overdue building expansion. The expansion would double the space the library currently has, creating space for a large multi-purpose room seating about 80 people, more meeting spaces for the public to reserve, additional restrooms, a dedicated children’s room and a teen room, as well as many other upgrades. The current 1968 building was constructed to serve 1400 people and the library now serves over 10,000 residents in the same cramped space. The Advocates for SPL have kicked off their capital campaign to offset the amount the library will need to ask of tax payers and they’ve already raised nearly one quarter of their goal, $50,000 of the $200,000 goal we set! This is thanks to our generous community donors, as well as the Golub Foundation and the Alfred Z Solomon Trust. We are very heartened to see the outpouring of support so far. The school district residents will be asked to vote on the building proposition in mid-2025. If approved, it is anticipated that ground-breaking would be in the summer of 2026 and completion sometime around the end of 2027.

We had a very busy year hosting many of our community members at events and connecting them to resources. Summer, our busiest season here, brought over 13,000 people through our doors and we had an astounding 156,508 minutes of reading logged in our summer reading challenges. Last summer, we enjoyed a classical Indian concert, Hill Country Cloggers, traditional Asian dance, a comic workshop with author Ira Marcks, Chickens from Around the World, and many other presenters. Some of our most popular programs of the year are Repair Café, Counting Down to Kindergarten, Cookbook Club, D&D, and our Free Summer Meals. The April Solar Eclipse brought over 300 people into the library to receive their free viewing glasses. Our Farm-2-Library program has helped to serve tens of thousands of pounds of healthy free produce to our area. We continue to serve our neighbors in many different ways!

I am looking forward to an even busier and more productive new year in 2025. As always, please reach out to me with your suggestions and questions. Have a happy and healthy New Year!

Caitlin

In November, a generous member of our community donated $500 to the building expansion fund with the promise of another $500 donation if we received 25 individual donations before Santa visited the Library on the 21st of December.

Unsurprisingly, our wonderful community exceeded the goal of 25 donations and raised $2186 in just a few weeks.

Thank you for your continued generosity. With your help we are getting closer and closer to our goal of creating a space that is a better fit for our community.

As many of you have already heard, the library is looking to expand our physical space to better serve our community. Financial and community support is needed in order to make our dream of a better-sized facility a reality. The photo below is a rendering of what the completed expansion would look like. The blueprint to the left details what features and spaces our library will include after finishing the renovation.

There will be a public vote in 2025 for the community to decide if they are ready for the Library to move forward with this expansion. Additionally, the Advocates for the Schuylerville Public Library will be fundraising for the project with a financial goal of $200,000.

With 56 years since our last capital campaign and major expansion, we understand how significant this change is. When it was completed in 1968, our current building was built to serve just over 1,400 residents. After transitioning from a Village Library to a School District Library in 2013, we now provide service to just over 10,000 residents. Our goal has been and continues to be to serve our community to the best of our ability, and our greatest limitation to that at present is our physical space.

• Close early at 4pm on December 31st for New Year's Eve
• Closed on January 1st for New Year's Day
• Closed on January 20th for Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Please stop by the library on January 11th between 12pm-2pm for this life saving training!

NARCAN (or in its generic form, Naloxone) is a life saving drug that reverses the life threatening effects of opioid overdose. Learning how to administer NARCAN can and has saved lives.

Join Stacie Robbins, a Family Support Outreach Navigator with Healing Springs, to learn more about NARCAN, when to use it, and how to administer it. Training takes less than 10 minutes and participants can go home with a FREE NARCAN kit.

Healing Springs Recovery Community and Outreach Center is a sanctuary for individuals in Saratoga County seeking recovery and support from substance abuse. They are a program of the Prevention Council of Saratoga County. If you would like to learn more about their work, please visit https://preventioncouncil.org/healing-springs/

On January 27th from 6-7pm, kids, teens, and their adults are invited to our first ever cookbook club for youths! In this program, youths are invited to prepare a dish at home and bring it to share with the rest of our participants. Every month will be a different theme. Our cooks can choose from the many cookbooks in the SALS library system, or find recipes online. We will meet up once a month to share our foods with each other and discuss our favorites and how they were made! Registration is required for this event. Ages 8+ welcome.

Please be aware that there will be a variety of foods present for these gatherings, and so participants should be mindful of allergies. All food brought into the library should be clearly labeled with the ingredients, and any individuals who has allergies should be considerate which what foods they partake in.

Our tentative list of themes is as followed:

January - Gluten-free Gathering (prepared food that does not include gluten)
February - Around the World (cuisines from around the globe)
March - Meatless Monday (vegetarian dishes)
April - Eggcellent Eggs (culinary creations that contain eggs)
May - Comfort Foods, almost as comforting as mom's

Grateful Gatherings occur monthly as "conversations with purpose," offering a platform for community connection, invigorating reflection and conversation, and practical tools for living a meaningful and flourishing life. These gatherings welcome all individuals in search of inspiration, resources, and fellowship for living life with purpose and joy.

Facilitated by Susan Meyer, this Grateful Gathering community will meet virtually the third Sunday evening of the month, beginning on January 19th at 7pm, through Schuylerville Public Library. To participate, please register both through the library and via the Grateful Living website. You only need to register once through Grateful Living, to receive themed monthly resources for each session, available the last day of the month for the following’s month’s Gathering. The monthly materials will be discussed during our Gathering, so please be sure to familiarize yourself with them prior to the Gathering. Grateful Gatherings are not presented as lectures; they are participative and interactive.

Through ongoing engagement and dialogue, participants develop a vital sense of community, while deepening understanding of themselves and others. Benefits include: a greater sense of belonging; increased capacity for joy, hope, and awe; enhanced resilience; and an openness to life’s imperfections, possibilities, and mystery — all tangible contributions to a fulfilling life.

Grateful Gatherings are affiliated with the global nonprofit organization, Grateful Living, founded in 2000 by Brother David Steindl-Rast. They incorporate a mix of readings, poetry, videos, and music focused on specific themes for exploring your life in community with others. New groups begin with three foundational sessions focused on establishing a grateful living practice. Subsequent monthly themes cover a range of topics, such as: Discover Delight, Open to Mystery, Generate Joy, Get Creative, Welcome Imperfection, Be Present to Life, Reimagine Rest, Awaken to Awe, and Act with Courage.

Are you a beginner computer, smartphone, or tablet user? Or perhaps got a new device during the holidays this year? Library staff and volunteers are available to provide a one-on-one tutorial on the basics of navigating these devices in half-hour time slots.

Library staff cannot fix a malfunctioning computer/device or provide "tech support."

Registration required. Call the library or visit our digital calendar at svl.libcal.com to register. Use one of our computers or bring your device.

Book Club will begin again on January 22nd at 7pm. Our first book of the year is William Landay's Defending Jacob. Check out the graphic below for the rest of the year's picks!

If you would like to participate, come by the library and pick up a copy of the book, we have them on hold about a month before the meeting. Registration is not required. We hope to see you there!

Cookbook Club Our first meeting of the year will be on January 15th at 6:30pm and our theme is the recipes of Ina Garten. The library has many of her books available to check out for inspiration.

If you are not currently a part of cookbook club, but are interested in being on our mailing list, please fill out this form. You can also feel free to make a dish and come by!

Shorts and Stouts, our partnership book club with Bound by Fate Brewing will be meeting on January 16th at 5pm. Our story for January is "The Reach" by Stephen King which can be found as an attachment on the event page. Come join us for lively conversation, excellent beer, and delicious Laotian food at the Bound by Fate taproom!

It's a new month, with a new opportunity to learn a little bit about our staff. Each month we ask the SPL staff a question and post the response here in the newsletter. We'd love to hear your response to the question the next time you stop into the library! Since January is National Soup Month (who knew?) we asked the staff: "What is the best soup you've ever had?"

Caitlin: "Pappa al Pomodoro while at a vineyard in Chianti."

Julie: "The best soup I've ever had was Steak and Ale soup with mushrooms." picture to the right!

Holly: "I once had the most perfect butternut squash soup, and I've been chasing that rush ever since."

Emilly: "My favorite is French onion."

Jessica: "Homemade potato leek soup with crusty bread."

Beth: "I've had many great soups but one that stands out is a saffron-y fishball soup that my Aunt and Uncle served while I was visiting them in Sweden. I have since asked for the recipe and apparently it was just 'thrown together!'"

Brandi: "I love me a good Broccoli And Cheddar Cheese Soup in a Bread Bowl."

Mary Lou: "I have a WOW recipe for home made cream of chicken soup which is the best I have ever had. Checks all those boxes in wintertime: hearty, tasty, comfort food!"

Monday - Friday 10am-8pm

Saturday 10am-2pm

Email: svl-director@sals.edu
Website: https://schuylervillelibrary.sals.edu/
Location: 52 Ferry Street, Schuylerville, NY, USA
Phone: 518-695-6641
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SchuylervillePublicLibrary/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/schuylerville_library/