The View from My Desk

by Vera-Ellen Todd-Roberts

The view from my desk this month is one of changing seasons, the beautiful miniature tree beside our front entrance is displaying it’s lovely fall foliage. A harbinger of cooler weather to come. And cooler temperatures means for me ,a desire for warming foods and comfort foods. On Thursday, November 3 , Lyndsey Davidson of the Chatham-Kent Public Health Unit will be present at the Ridgetown Branch of the Chatham-Kent Public Library demonstrating and offering taste testing of soup recipes with an emphasis on beans and lentils and inclusion of readily available fall vegetables. The program begins at 6:00 p.m. and pre-registration is required, please telephone the branch at 519-674-3121 for more information.

Once again this year the Chatham-Kent Public Library is pleased to offer free one on one computer training and interesting computer workshops at our Library branches. Here in Ridgetown our computer trainers will be focusing on Mondays beginning on November 7. To book your appointment or for more information, please contact the Branch at 519-674-3121.

Drop by the Branch on Saturday, November 12 and give peace a chance by making an origami peace crane, let’s see how many we can make. This activity will be available during our open hours of 10:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m.

This will be a very exciting and busy month for us as we are offering such a wide variety of programs for young and old alike. On Thursday, November 17 will be celebrating the National Day of the Child with a special and unique Family Storyhour beginning at 6:45 p.m. Canada’s “National Child Day” is held on November 20th each year. National Child Day has been celebrated across Canada since 1993 to commemorate the United Nations’ adoption of two documents centered on children’s rights: the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of the Child on November 20, 1959, and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child on November 20, 1989. Our theme for this year’s celebrations is “Model the World” and we want to celebrate our diversity and our uniqueness , everyone is most welcome.

We will be hosting another National Film Board Free Movie Night on Thursday, November 24 beginning at 6:00 p.m. This month’s offering will be A Drummer’s Dream – Documentary (85 min) John Walker’s latest documentary features a rare and unique assembly of some of the greatest drummers in the world. Explosive talent, passion, humor and irresistible personality come together in a magical setting when 7 diverse drummers create a profound and unforgettable experience. Come and enjoy with us.

Friday , November 25 will be another Professional Development Day and we will be having fun with toys. Come and see what toys were like 100 years ago, homemade toys were very popular and store bought toys were special and held very dear. Come and try out some of these toys and learn how to make one yourself. The fun begins at 2:00 p.m. Pre-registration is required, please telephone the Branch for more information.

On Tuesday, November 29 we will be hosting a “Stitch in” with members of the Tulip Tree Needle Arts group. These talented individuals will be practicing one of their newly learned techniques, Hapsburg Lace. They will be in the branch during the afternoon, please drop by between 1:00 p.m.-3:00 p.m. , they will be helping us focus on one of our databases, Hobbies and Crafts Reference Centre, this database provides comprehensive full text content for many of the most popular hobbies, crafts and recreation activities today. Including full text for more than 740 magazines and books, as well as access to more than 720 videos and 140 hobby reports, this database offers detailed “how-to” instructions and creative ideas to meet the interests of virtually every hobby enthusiast. This database is updated daily and is available from home. We will have many craft books on display,in the fiction section we will be featuring our cosy mysteries, check out what we have to offer.

Our database of the month is our Teen Health and Wellness ,an e-Resource (also referred to as a database) provides access to electronic collections of information such as articles from newspapers, magazines, academic journals and e-books. They are searchable to help you find the information you need quickly. You can access e-Resources from any public computer at any library branch. Some e-Resources are only available for use in the library and some require staff assistance to login. Most of the databases available at the library can also be accessed remotely from home. To remotely access the e-Resources, you will need the 10 digit barcode located on your library card. Rosen Teen Health and Wellness provides teens and young adults, twelve through nineteen years of age, with curricular support and self-help on topics including diseases and conditions; drugs and alcohol; nutrition and fitness; mental and emotional health; sexuality and sexual health; bullying and internet safety; green living; family life, and more . This site is updated daily , has Canadian content and is available from home.

Please drop by and check out all of the above and so much more that we have to offer.