Cathleen Schine, a Modern Day Jane Austen to Speak at Scarsdale Library
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Author Cathleen Schine will speak at the Scarsdale Public Library on Saturday April 30th at 4 pm in an event sponsored by the Friends of the Library. Her best-selling novel, The Three Weissman’s of Westport is a local favorite in Scarsdale, set in a neighboring town and peppered with people you could know.
Dominique Browning, who reviewed the book for the NY Times, says, “Schine’s homage to Jane Austen has it all…A sparkling, crisp, clever, deft, hilarious, and deeply affecting new novel, her best yet.”
In the book, Betty Weissmann has just been dumped by her husband of forty-eight years. Exiled from her elegant New York apartment by her husband’s mistress, she and her two middle-aged daughters, Miranda and Annie, regroup in a run-down Westport, Connecticut, beach cottage. Impulsive Miranda is a literary agent entangled in a series of scandals, and the more pragmatic sister. Annie, is a library director who feels compelled to move in and watch over her capricious mother and sister.
Schine’s witty, wonderful novel “is simply full of pleasure: the pleasure of reading, the pleasure of Austen, and the pleasure that the
characters so rightly and humorously pursue… An absolute triumph” (The Cleveland Plain Dealer).
Schine’s newest novel, To the Birdhouse was published in February, 2011 and she also wrote The New Yorkers and The Love Letter. She has contributed to The New Yorker, The New York Review of Books, The New York Times Book Review, and The New York Times Magazine.
Free eBook and Audio book Downloads Available from the Library
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The Scarsdale Public Library now offers free downloadable eBooks and Audio books. The library is adding many new and popular titles exclusively for Scarsdale Library cardholders, through OverDrive Advantage, a digital distribution service.
Books, from bestsellers, popular fiction and non-fiction to classics, are available for downloading to variety of popular eReaders, including the Nook and Nook Color, Kobo, Sony Reader, Iphones, Ipads and portable devices and smartphones. Due to digital licensing limitations and incompatible formats, OverDrive titles currently cannot be downloaded to Kindles. Audio books can be downloaded to MP3 players, IPods, and other mobile devices. Titles are available for downloading to desktop PCs and Macs as well. The loan period is up to two weeks and the best news is that if you have a library card you can download the books at home.
“It has never been easier to borrow electronic books – at no cost – and use them on some of the most popular portable devices,” said Beth Bermel, library director. “While electronic books are available across the Westchester Library System, we have acquired additional copies of some of the newest books that can only be loaned to Scarsdale Library cardholders. We’re delighted to offer this new expanded service to our patrons.”
To download the materials, go to www.scarsdalelibrary.org, and click on the OverDrive Advantage link. Login and follow instructions to download required software or apps and you’re ready to select your titles. For more information, please call the Scarsdale Public Library Reference Desk at (914) 722-1300.
Walkable Westchester
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All homes in Westchester are within one mile of a park boundary or place to walk and spring is the perfect season for hiking. Jane and Walt Daniels, co-authors of Walkable Westchester: A Walking Guide to Westchester County, and Scarsdale resident Gloria Lewit encourage people of all ages to take advantage of one of Westchester’s great attractions. They will talk and answer questions about the how, when, and where for walking and answer questions at the Scarsdale Public Library on March 30th at 7:30 pm.
Walkable Westchester promotes walking, which is an inexpensive recreation and part of a healthy lifestyle. It is an incredibly comprehensive and unique resource guide for finding places in Westchester to walk, hike, and visit that covers about 180 parks and 600 miles of trails. The book describes a wide variety of walking opportunities on paved paths, woods roads, dirt roads, or narrow woodland trails in urban, suburban, rural, and natural settings. The book will be available for sale at the event, and all proceeds will go entirely to the NY/NJ Trail Conference to maintain and expand trails.
The presentation will take about an hour, and there will be time for questions and book signing. For more information about the book and the authors, click here. For more information on the event at the Library, call 914-722-1300.
Filmmaker to Preview To Kill A Mockingbird Documentary
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Filmmaker and author Mary McDonagh Murphy will offer a sneak peek of her documentary, "Hey, Boo: Harper Lee and To Kill a Mockingbird" at the Scarsdale Public Library, Monday, April 25, at 7:30 pm. The film, which includes interviews with Oprah Winfrey, Tom Brokaw and Anna Quindlen, explores the enduring power and appeal of Lee's first and only novel. Murphy's movie will be released in theaters in New York and Los Angeles on May 13.
Murphy, a former producer for CBS News who lives in Ossining, is also the author of "Scout, Atticus and Boo: A Celebration of Fifty Years of To Kill a Mockingbird," published last year by HarperCollins, with a foreword by novelist Wally Lamb. Lee's novel won a Pulitzer Prize in 1961, has been a bestseller for 50 years, and was turned into an Academy Award-winning movie starring Gregory Peck. Lee has not given an interview since 1964, but Murphy’s reporting, research and rare interviews with the author’s older sister and best friends add new details to a remarkable story behind an astonishing phenomenon.
Earlier that day, Murphy will discuss both her book and movie with English classes at Scarsdale High School.
The event at the Scarsdale Library, 54 Olmsted Road, is free; books will be available for sale and signing. Details: www.marymurphy.net and www.scarsdalelibrary.org . 914-722-1300.
Scarsdale Historical Society Funds Digitization of Scarsdale Inquirer Archives
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The Scarsdale Historical Society and the Scarsdale Public Library have joined forces to begin the digitization of back issues of The Scarsdale Inquirer. A much needed funding grant of $25,000 by the Historical Society fills a financial gap in the library’s budget and provides the impetus to begin the digitization process of the Inquirer’s back issues.
Elizabeth Bermel, director of the Scarsdale Library, said, “We are extremely grateful for this funding grant from the Historical Society. We couldn’t have afforded to do it on our own. Under the current economic conditions, it is simply not possible for the library to fund this project through its own operating budget.”
“The library staff,” Bermel added, “has expressed great concern about the deterioration of these materials and the possibility of losing unique resources. The Historical Society’s donation puts us well on our way to not only preserving Scarsdale history, but making the information easier to use.” According to Adam Krajchir, current president of the Scarsdale Historical Society, “This grant to preserve history is one of several proposals the Society is studying in order to carefully marshal its resources for the benefit of the Village of Scarsdale and its residents.”
In the past, the back issues of the Inquirer, which contain information not available anywhere else, have been made accessible at no charge at the library in both print and microfilm. However, many of the back issues are in undeniably fragile condition, and need to be digitized in order to preserve these important Scarsdale historical documents.
“The newspapers are widely used today, especially by those researching past events in the Village of Scarsdale –students and teachers, historians, and even reporters of the Inquirer—as a valuable resource tool,” Bermel noted.
The Historical Society’s $25,000 funding grant will enable the library to commence the digitization process of back copies, starting with the oldest issues. It is anticipated that the Historical Society grant will enable the library to initially digitize the issues through 1936 plus preserve film that are deteriorating.
The library’s plan is to scan the copies of the publications into digital form and then make them available on the Internet at the library’s website, and also in digital form at the library. There will be no charge to the public for this service. Hudson Microimaging of Port Ewen, NY, has been selected by library officials to provide preservation digitization services for this project.
“Our older copies of the Inquirer are deteriorating, as are our older microfilm copies,” Bermel said. “With this grant, we can make these important original source materials more readily available to members of the community in searchable format. In the future, we hope to expand the program and cover more issues of the Inquirer since it is such a valuable resource to the community.”
Randy Guggenheimer, chair of the Historical Society’s digitization committee and a trustee, said, “We hope to continue working with the library on this project in the future. We see our involvement with the library as an integral part of our mission in the community. We’ve had this idea in the forefront of our strategic thinking for some time now. The idea was hatched under the leadership of Bill Doescher, then Society president and now chairman emeritus, and continues under current president Krajchir.”
In addition to Guggenheimer, Doescher and Krajchir, other Trustee members of the society’s digitalization committee include Eric Rothschild, Seth Kaller, and Linda Blair Doescher. Members of the library digitization committee include Sara Werder, Library Board president, Reference Librarians Ann-Marie Cutul, Bobbi Kokot and Dan Glauber, and Bermel.
According to Scarsdale’s Susan Douglass, a copyright and trademark lawyer who worked on this project with the Historical Society and the library on a pro bono basis, “The library is free to scan in digital form and make available on the Internet all issues in the public domain. Based on my research, it appears that back issues neither bore a copyright notice nor were registered. In my opinion, the library is free to copy and post in digital, searchable format on its website all issues prior to March 21, 1989. In addition, the library is free to scan and make available in digital format at the library a copy of all issues of the Inquirer to date, pursuant to Section 108 of the Copyright Act.”
“The collaboration on this important digitization project exemplifies the successful outcome possible when two Scarsdale village organizations work in concert as equal partners,” concluded Society Chairman Emeritus Doescher, a volunteer on many projects in the village for a number of years.
