Staff Development Day
Many thanks to the team involved in the planning and execution of the annual September Staff Development Day. Special thanks to Trustees Heather Crocker and Jean Fei who were able to join us for the morning sessions before we split into a variety of afternoon wellness activities.
Highlights of the morning included
- Hearing from Saratoga County Clerk Craig Hayner about the many services which fall under the auspices of the County Clerk, including the Department of Motor Vehicles, the County Historian, and the registration, storage and accessibility of multiple types of public documents.
- A Narcan refresher training from representatives from the Saratoga County Department of Health.
- A presentation about Wilton Wildlife Preserve and Park.
- An informative presentation about early literacy “decodable” books by Children’s Librarian Kristine Schultz, that she first presented as her capstone project for the NYLA Leadership program.
SaratogaREADS!
The votes are in, and the 2027 SaratogaREADS! selection is The God of the Woods by Liz Moore. Librarians will soon be busy planning a winter’s-worth of discussions, programs, and events inspired by the book’s themes.
Saratoga Book Festival
According to a communication from the Friends of the Saratoga Springs Public Library, this year’s Saratoga Book Festival set records for attendance. The message continued:
“The weekend opened with a ticketed evening featuring Eric Idle at Universal Preservation Hall, and the energy from that night carried straight through to Sunday. The Night Market and KidZone were the largest we have ever hosted, with almost 100 local authors & vendors and almost 1,000 people in attendance. Across 25 sessions (panels, interviews, and workshops), readers got to sit with authors in real conversation, ask the questions they’d always wanted to ask, and leave with new favorite books! “
Positive Peace Conversation: The Free Flow of Information
A small but engaged group of community members joined my September 22 Positive Peace Conversation program about the Free Flow of Information. Members of the CNY Rotary Peace Team from Ithaca, Sidney, Verona, and Albany helped to facilitate discussions about sources of information, recognizing biases individuals bring to their understanding of news, and generational differences in information consumption habits. This program was presented to coincide with Saratoga Peace Week activities, in partnership with the Library and the Rotary Club of Saratoga Springs.
Respectfully submitted by A. Issac Pulver, Library Director