Aloha to Koha on Tuesday, June 4th

Posted on | May 23, 2013 | No Comments

We will be going live with a new automation system on Tuesday, June 4th, 2013. In order to migrate the data and be ready for opening on Tuesday, June 3rd, the library will be closed on Friday, May 31st and Saturday, June 1st. This change is necessary as our current system, InfoCentre, has seen no development since 2008, and will soon no longer be supported. The new system, Koha, is an open source system with a good track record and very positive reviews from the world-wide libraries that use it. This new software will improve access for borrowers to their accounts (including borrowing history, holds, wish lists, etc.) and to library materials of all kinds (including e-materials). Take a look at the online Koha OPAC that the NNH Library Cooperative is developing.

Cook Memorial Library has contracted with Bywater Solutions to support Koha for the Cooperative. Take a look at their tutorial videos and training handouts.

The Friends of Cook Memorial Library are strong supporters of this library automation initiative and have contributed considerably toward its cost.

Please come in for your new library card and patron ID number. Koha requires 14-digit patron numbers so we hope to have every patron changed over to the new numbers by May 15th.

Book it for Cook! Ordination Rock 5K Family Race on July 4th

Posted on | May 9, 2013 | No Comments

The Ordination Rock 5K Family Race on July 4th through Tamworth Village
starts at 8:30 am.
Race day Registration & number pick-up: 7:30-8:00 a.m. K.A. Brett School, Tamworth, NH
Click here for Registration Form
Spread the word! PDF of 5K Poster
Start: Ordination Rock – outside Tamworth Village up Cleveland Hill Road
Finish: K.A. Brett School
Course: A scenic run through quaint Tamworth Village to include Remick Country Doctor Museum & Farm (Binsack Trail), Captain Enoch Remick House, The Tamworth Historical Society, The Barnstormers Theatre, & Cook Memorial Library; winding over the Swift River, turn by Tamworth Veterans’ Memorial and a straight final run down Rte 113 to the School.
Safety: Medical aid provided courtesy of the Tamworth Rescue Squad. Course safety supervised by/courtesy of the Tamworth Police Department.
Water Stops: In front of the Tamworth Historical Society building & at the finish line.

This race benefits Cook Memorial Library.
Send by mail or drop off Registration Forms at: Cook Memorial Library, 5K Race, 93 Main St, Tamworth NH 03886
Any questions? Call 603-323-8510 or email: chris@tamworthlibrary.org. Suggested Donation of $15: checks must accompany registration and be made out to “Cook Memorial Library.” NO REFUNDS

Artist(s) of the Month(s): May & June

Posted on | May 7, 2013 | No Comments

Oil by Elaine Klement

Mabel Doyle and Elaine Klement are the Artist(s) of the Month(s) for May and June. They call themselves M&E Expressions. Mabel Doyle lives in Wakefield, NH and paints with oils and pastels. Elaine Klement lives in Center Conway, NH and works in oil, watercolor, and acrylics. During May, their art will be on display, and in June they will show their interpretations of some Masters, Impressionists, and other early art.
Come and view their paintings and learn more about these two women.

Found at Auction

Posted on | April 30, 2013 | No Comments

Photo, courtesy of John Maloof’s collection

We all love Antiques Roadshow and American Pickers. Here’s a story I stumbled upon which really fires the imagination.
Found at Auction: The Unseen Photographs of a Legend that Never Was
Vivian Maier was a nanny who took photos as a hobby. Read this extraordinary story of the chance discovery of her work. Amazon says,

A good street photographer must be possessed of many talents: an eye for detail, light, and composition; impeccable timing; a populist or humanitarian outlook; and a tireless ability to constantly shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot and never miss a moment. It is hard enough to find these qualities in trained photographers with the benefit of schooling and mentors and a community of fellow artists and aficionados supporting and rewarding their efforts. It is incredibly rare to find it in someone with no formal training and no network of peers. Yet Vivian Maier is all of these things, a professional nanny, who from the 1950s until the 1990s took over 100,000 photographs worldwide—from France to New York City to Chicago and dozens of other countries—and yet showed the results to no one. The photos are amazing both for the breadth of the work and for the high quality of the humorous, moving, beautiful, and raw images of all facets of city life in America’s post-war golden age. It wasn’t until local historian John Maloof purchased a box of Maier’s negatives from a Chicago auction house and began collecting and championing her marvelous work just a few years ago that any of it saw the light of day.

John Maloof’s new book, Vivian Maier: Street Photographer collects the best of her incredible, unseen body of work. A new documentary film called ‘Finding Vivian Maier’ will be released in 2013.

May Film: Silver Linings Playbook on Tuesday, May 21st, 5 pm

Posted on | April 24, 2013 | 1 Comment

May Film: Silver Linings Playbook on Tuesday, May 21st, 5 pm

In lesser hands than director David O. Russell, Silver Linings Playbook could have been a typically cringe-inducing throwaway Hollywood rom-com. As it is, this unusual and deeply affecting story of crazy love is a bold observation about the joys and tragedy of life lived by deeply flawed characters facing triumph and adversity against a backdrop of painfully familiar family dysfunction. It’s also a tremendous achievement in formal structure, with a flair for storytelling that’s as moving as it is delightful. Bradley Cooper plays Pat, an until-recently undiagnosed bipolar person who’s just home from a lengthy stay in a mental institution and doing his darnedest to get his head and his life back on track. His concerned parents, vividly embodied by Robert De Niro and Jacki Weaver, have plenty of troubles of their own when they warily take him in and tiptoe around the eggshells of a psyche that still veers wildly from seeming self-control to scary bouts of mania. Pat has a plan to win back the unfaithful wife whose restraining order is still in force because of the violent episode that sent him away after he nearly killed her lover. Interjected into this wobbly family scenario is Tiffany, a friend of a friend who is embroiled in her own turmoil of mental instability following the recent death of her husband. Jennifer Lawrence is a charming revelation as Tiffany, flexing sensitive acting muscles that are as toned as her lithe form. She throws herself into the role of a depressed, promiscuous young woman who needs Pat in her life about as much as she needs another personal tornado to rip her apart. But the movie magically reveals that these two disturbed souls have a destiny that’s never really in doubt; although the whirlwind turns the movie takes to get them there are often breathtaking. Russell liberally adapted the movie from Matthew Quick’s 2008 novel, and he deftly imbues the story with a vibrant sense of place (suburban, blue-collar Philadelphia) and each character, no matter how tangential to Pat and Tiffany’s journey, with quirks and nuances that brilliantly reveal their essence. The subject of mental illness has rarely been portrayed with such honesty and candid respect. Constantly keeping us off guard, Silver Linings Playbook soars from darkness to a kind of screwball comedy that is as tender and touching as it is unpredictable. There are several tour-de-force moments that Russell constructs with the surest hand of direction, dialogue, and the talents of his cast. A key scene unfolds in a small living room where eight people are crammed together, each adding important pieces to the whole, and which thrums with a masterfully rhythmic pace. Another sequence follows the buildup to one of Pat’s manic outbursts with a dizzying and increasingly stressful manifestation of the madness careening around in his head. It seems hard to believe that a love story with real humor, real pain, and genuine resonance that gets from point A to point B–it begins with a lone figure mumbling to himself and ends with a jubilantly staged ballroom dance–can succeed with so few missteps. But Silver Linings Playbook turns it all into an absorbing reality wherein life stumbles heartwarmingly toward what real love is all about. –Ted Fry

Perennial Plant & Book Sale on Saturday, June 1st, 9 am to 1 pm

Posted on | April 20, 2013 | No Comments

At left are some of our trusty workers who make this sale happen.

The Perennial Plant & Book Sale will take place at the library on Saturday, June 1st, from 9 am to 1 pm. This event is co-sponsored by Altrusa and The Friends of Cook Memorial Library.