The Essex Library Association is proud to announce the award of a $2,500 grant from the Middlesex County Community Foundation, for the expansion of our collections of language learning materials for adults, young adults, and children. The range of resources to be acquired through this generous funding will include CD-ROM language learning programs, ESL study guides for Spanish and Chinese speakers, bilingual books and workbooks, medical phrase books, and circulating MP3 players for downloading language instruction audio books. The Library has seen a boom in requests for these materials, but budget constraints had prevented their acquisition. We anticipate that this collection will fill a long-term need for patrons from a broad cross-section of the community; from business and pleasure travelers, to the most disadvantaged among us who want to become more self-reliant, productive members of society through improved English-speaking skills. Our thanks go to the Middlesex County Community Foundation, for their continuing support of our goals, our organization, and our community.
The Middlesex County Community Foundation is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to improve the quality of life for the people of the County, now and in the future, by developing endowments, making grants that have impact and assisting donors in meeting their philanthropic objectives. Since its founding in 1997, the Community Foundation has provided over $1.5 million in grants to more than 200 organizations for the arts, cultural and heritage programs, educational activities, environmental improvements and for health and human services.
February Events:
Computer Basics
Fridays, Feb. 12th, 19th, 26th and March 5th, from 9-10 a.m.
Four classes for the absolute beginner that will get you started with email, the Internet, file saving, and attachments. Enrollment strictly limited, so please call and reserve a spot. You may bring your own laptop, or use one of our desktop computers.
Women In Media with Janet Peckinpaugh
Thursday, Feb. 11th, 7 p.m.
Join us for a thoughtful conversation with this smart, savvy survivor of the rough-and-tumble world of broadcast journalism as she discusses her life in the media, sexism in network newsrooms, and the impact of the shift in the news world from information to “info-tainment”.
Centerbrook Architects Lecture Series Continues With Professor Kent Bloomer, Yale School Of Architecture
“Why Not Ornament?”
Friday, February 12th at 7 p.m. at the Essex Town Hall
Kent Bloomer is the principal and founder of the Bloomer Studio, and has served as its chief designer since 1965. He is also a Professor of Architecture at Yale University. Bloomer has taught at Yale since 1966. He was an instructor at the Carnegie Mellon Institute of Technology from 1961 to 1966. In addition to his permanent teaching positions, Mr. Bloomer has lectured and served as a visiting critic at many universities, including UT-Austin, Harvard, McGill, and Columbia. He has also spoken to audiences at the British Psychoanalytic Society, the Portland Museum of Art, the Graham Foundation in Chicago, the London Architectural Association, and the American Craft Museum in New York City.
Mr. Bloomer's sculpture has been exhibited by numerous museums and galleries, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in California, the Wadsworth Athenaeum in Hartford, CT, and the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh. His work is included in the permanent collections of the Hirshhorn Gallery, Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., the Yale University Art Gallery in New Haven, and the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh. His large-scale projects have won statewide and national awards from the American Institute of Architects. Mr. Bloomer's most recent projects include a foliated trellis for the Ronald Reagan National Airport, Washington D.C. (architect: Cesar Pelli & Associates), large roof sculptures on the Harold Washington Library, Chicago (architect: Hammond, Beeby and Babka), an aluminum horse, wings, and trellis for The Great Platte River Road Archway Monument, Kearney, Nebraska (architect: Peter Dominick, Urban Design Group), and exterior metal panels for the new Nashville Public Library (architect: Robert A.M. Stern).
For a full schedule of the Centerbrook Lecture Series, click here.
Hope For Haiti with Jenifer Grant
Thursday, Feb. 18th, at 7 p.m.
Ms. Grant, an Essex resident, knows Haiti and its people well; when she was a child, her mother and stepfather, Larry and Gwen Mellon, built and staffed a medical complex, Hôpital Albert Schweitzer (HAS), in Deschapelles, Haiti. HAS provides medical care and community health and development programs for more than 300,000 impoverished people in the Artibonite Valley of central Haiti. Spared from damage in the recent quake, HAS has been treating an outpouring of displaced victims from Port Au Prince, despite shortages of supplies, food, and water.
The Human Genome with Dr. Shelley Des Estages
Thursday, Feb. 25th, at 7 p.m.
We hear a lot about the progress being made in cracking the DNA code, but what will it mean for how we treat, or even prevent, disease? This distinguished Pfizer genetic researcher will talk about recent advances in human genome mapping, and their potential for the future of medicine.
Essex And The Sea
Sunday, Feb. 28th, at 4 p.m. at the Essex Town Hall
Coast Guard Captain William Meese shares stories of adventures at sea, from catching bad guys to braving perfect storms, rescuing hapless boaters and protecting our coasts, with some tips for yachtmen on how NOT to need rescuing.
All Month:
Quilts by Nel Udo
Textile artist Nel Udo will display her handmade quilts.
On-Going Programs:
SCORE At The Library
Second and fourth Thursdays, 10 a.m.-1 p.m.
The Southeastern Connecticut chapter of SCORE® provides free and confidential advice on starting and growing small businesses. Counseling will take place at the Essex Library on the second and fourth Thursday of each month between 10:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. Appointments must be scheduled in advance, either by calling 860-388-9508, or downloading a request form.
Don Flynn, an Essex resident, along with Steve Workman and other chapter members will counsel business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs in Essex. According to Flynn, "At the initial meeting, the business owner describes his or her current situation and challenges the business may be facing to a team of counselors. Based on the specific areas of need, a SCORE counselor with experience in those areas is assigned to help guide the business owner in the completion of a business plan or other action steps".
Check Your Blood Pressure Service
The VNA offers a FREE blood pressure check on the 4th Thursday of every month from 1-2 p.m. in the 1889 Room at the Essex Library.
Out of work? Frustrated and overwhelmed? Need help getting started with
your search? Come to the Essex Job Club where you can learn how to write
or update your resume so that it will get noticed, improve your interviewing
skills, make networking contacts, and get the support you need to stay
motivated. Sheryl Serviss is leading an eight-week program on Fridays from 10:00 - 11:30 a.m. from
January 29th through March 19th at the Essex Library. This is FREE and ALL are welcome. Please contact Sheryl Serviss
at 860-304-8437 to register.
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Adopt A Book
Are you an avid fan of James Patterson, Janet Evanovich, Alexander McCall-Smith or another popular author? In return for a donation of $15 to the Essex Library, you can be the first person to check out the latest best-selling book of your choice. A personalized bookplate that honors you for your gift will be placed in the item you select as an additional way of saying thanks. A list of books that are available for adoption follows. Check back periodically as we will update this list on a regular basis:
Fiction
Caught by Harlan Coben
The Burning Land by Bernard Cornwell
U Is For Undertow by Sue Grafton
Ford County by John Grisham
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
Fantasy In Death by J.D. Robb
The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls
Kisser by Stuart Woods
Non-Fiction
Open by Andre Agassi
The Big Burn: Teddy Roosevelt and the Fire that Saved America
by Timothy Egan
Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer
What the Dog Saw by Malcolm Gladwell
Mennonite In A Little Black Dress by Rhoda Janzen
True Compass by Edward M Kennedy
The Murder of King Tut by James Patterson
Changing My Mind by Zadie Smith
Going Rogue by Sarah Palin
Please call the Library at 767-1560 for more information.