Nominate Carroll Gardens Library to win $10,000!!

Ok... yes... we may be a little frustrated that the library is scheduled to be closed for about a month this summer (it is posted that it will close at the end of business on June 7th and re-open on July 8th), but truly it provides so many community benefits that certainly it deserves to be nominated for a chance to receive the $10,000 award!

The short survey can be anonymous or you can give them your contact info. It takes about 3-5 minutes of our time and will be accepting nominations until July 1st.... but don't wait! Don't procrastinate! Click on the link below and nominate!

~NOMINATE MY LIBRARY~

Upcoming events at the Carroll Gardens Library

Thursday, June 7 2-4pm 

The Summer Reading Kick-off Party celebrates the start of Brooklyn Public Library's Summer Reading program with fun activities for the whole family.

Author Daniel Kalla

Tuesday, June 12 at 7pm

The CG Library Authors Series continues with Daniel Kalla reading from his new novel The Far Side of the Sky (June 5th, 2012, MacMillian/Tor-Forge) which focuses on a short but extraordinary period of Second World War history, when the cultures of Europe and Asia converged.

For more information visit the Friends of the Carroll Gardens Library blog or Brooklyn Public Library's events calendar.

Love Your Library Day is May 19

Love Your Library Day is coming to the Carroll Gardens Library on Saturday, May 19! It's the annual fundraiser of the Friends of the Carroll Gardens Library with a huge book sale and community celebration from 10AM - 4PM at the library at 396 Clinton Street at Union Street. In addition to the book sale, the group is celebrating our community with a line up of cool entertainment including readings by children's authors and local residents Josh Lewis, author of the "Super Chicken Nugget Boy" series and Lela Nargi, author of "The Honeybee Man", a finalist for the Cook prize for children's science writing; art activities with Curious Jane, and more!

Brooklyn Public Library t-shirts will be available for sale and they'll have another delicious bake sale - all to raise money for the library and raise awareness of how important libraries are to the community. FCGL holds monthly meetings and everyone is invited to share their ideas and energy. FCGL’s website is http://friendsofcglibrary.blogspot.com/ and FCGL can be found on Facebook at Facebook.com/FriendsofCarrollGardensLibrary and Twitter at Twitter.com/FriendCGLibrary.

Donate to Carroll Gardens Library for their May 19 Sale

Friends of Carroll Gardens Library is now accepting donations for their May 19 Love Your Library Day Book Sale and Community Celebration. 


Yes, you can donate:
New or used books
CDs, DVDs and records
Children's books, CDs, DVDs
Journals
Current textbooks


No thanks to: Damaged books without covers; tape cassettes or VHS videos; coloring books or activity books; magazines; outdated textbooks and computer manuals.

Donations will be collected through May 9 at only the following times: Saturdays 10:30 to 12 noon, Wednesdays 6 to 8 p.m., and Fridays 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Enter through the main doors on Clinton Street and bring your donations go downstairs through the auditorium or take the elevator on the Union Street side to the basement.

Friends of Carroll Gardens Libraries also needs volunteers to help accept donations, sort and organize books, and staff the sale. Sign up here!

Author Patrick Taylor Appearing at the Carroll Gardens Library Feb 29

 This just in from the Friends of the Carroll Gardens Library: 

February 29, Leap Day, is a rare date which occurs just once every four years. Rarer still is a Brooklyn appearance by New York Times bestselling author Patrick Taylor (the “Irish Country” series) – but that’s exactly what’s scheduled for Wednesday, February 29 at 7 p.m. when the author visits the Carroll Gardens branch of the Brooklyn Public Library for a discussion and signing of his novels. It will be the author’s exclusive New York appearance.

 “We are so excited that Patrick Taylor will be visiting not only the library, but Brooklyn for this event,” says Friends of the Carroll Gardens Library secretary and event organizer Diane Saarinen.  “We can only hope our ‘little village’ of Carroll Gardens is half as interesting as the Ballybucklebo that Taylor depicts in his colorful novels.”


Taylor , author of the bestselling An Irish Country Village, A Dublin Student Doctor and more, is also looking forward to the February 29 event: “Although I have visited New York often, I am really looking forward to my first visit to Brooklyn--even if Ebbets Field is gone and the Trolley Dodgers who hired Jackie Robinson in 1947 have long been in LA,” the author says. “And where better to go than a library in a borough that has 58 branches of its Public Library system? I hope what I have to say will be interesting and entertaining.”


Seating is limited and those who wish to attend this exciting event must register for tickets at http://patricktaylorinbrooklyn.eventbrite.com/  A donation of $10 per person at the door is suggested. Signed books will be available for purchase. 


“An Evening with Patrick Taylor” Wednesday,  February 29, 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the Carroll Gardens Library, located at 396 Clinton Street, on the corner of Union Street, Brooklyn New York. Subways: F and G train to Carroll Street.


About the Friends of the Carroll Gardens Library: The Friends of the Carroll Gardens Library was chartered early in 2011 and hosts their book sale fundraiser each May, in addition to organizing dynamic programs at the library. Its goals are to support the library by helping to make the Carroll Gardens branch a hub of the community with programs for children, youth and adults all year round. Visit their website at http://friendsofcglibrary.blogspot.com, friend them on Facebook at http://facebook.com/FriendsofCarrollGardensLibrary and follow them on Twitter at http://twitter.com/FriendCGLibrary.

Summertime and the Reading is Easy!

Hey, neighbors! I'm Andrea and I've just joined the blogging team for The Word on Columbia Street. I've lived in the neighborhood almost six years and every year I fall more in love with our little section of Brooklyn. For my first post here's some news from our local public library, the Carroll Gardens branch of the Brooklyn Public Library on Union St and Clinton St. Tomorrow kicks off the library's Summer Reading program. Here are the details:

Come to the Summer Reading Kick-Off Party at the Carroll Gardens Library on Thursday, June 9 from 2pm-4pm (public schools are closed for Anniversary Day)! Celebrate the start of the Brooklyn Public Library's annual Summer Reading program with a free multicultural celebration with activities and treats. Hosted by BPL and the Friends of the Carroll Gardens Library. Go to our website for more details at friendsofcglibrary.blogspot.com and keep up with FCGL's activities at the library all summer at Facebook.com/FriendsofCarrollGardensLibrary.

Our public libraries need our help!

Message from one of our neighbors and readers:


"Like many of you, my family and I are frequent visitors to our neighborhood library -- in our case, the Carroll Gardens branch of the Brooklyn Public Library, on Union and Clinton Streets. We can't say enough good things about what a fantastic resource it is - for books and music and DVDs, for research materials, for free children's and family programs, and much much more. And in this tough economy, library use is at a record high -- the New York Public Library reports 17.5 million visitors over the past year -- as people take advantage of libraries' job search services, free Internet access, and classes teaching new skills.

But as you may know, the city's three library systems (Queens, Brooklyn, and NYPL) are facing a devastating 22% budget cut proposed by Mayor Bloomberg. According to Library Journal this would mean 943 employees laid off, a big cut in the materials budget, and a severe reduction in hours, including the elimination of weekend service at many branches. I've spoken to one of the children's librarians at the Carroll Gardens library, who said the branch faces staff layoffs and would reduce service to just 5 hours a day on weekdays.

More details of the proposed cuts here:
http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6656778.html

Here is how each library system would be affected, according to their websites:

Brooklyn Public Library:
- faces $17.5 million in budget cuts
- eliminate as many as 272 positions (1 out of every 4 full-time employees)
- reduce service to 5 days a week at most neighborhood libraries, with limited or no weekend hours
- buy 185,000 FEWER books, DVDs, and CDs

New York Public Library:
- faces $28.2 million in budget cuts
- no more six- and seven-day service (most would go down to 4 or 5)
- reduce average weekly hours from 52 to 32
- eliminate thousands of programs for children
- 3.4 million FEWER visits (680,000 from children/young people)
- 5 million FEWER circulated materials

Queens Library:
- has sustained $5.6 million in cuts and is facing $11.8 million more in cuts this year
- lose 6-day service, which they fought so hard to restore
- every library closed all weekend long
- some libraries with less than 5 days of service
- all programs and services (including after-school and ESOL programs) reduced
- fewer books, DVDs, and other library materials available

The City Council must approve the proposed budget cuts by June 30. If your local library is important to you, please consider going to ALL of the following links to make a donation and to send a message to your elected officials. Let them know we expect them to stand up for our libraries!

Brooklyn Public Library
Send a message: https://bpl.brooklynpubliclibrary.org/adv/helpus.aspx
Donate: http://brooklynpubliclibrary.org/support/shelves/

New York Public Library
Donate and/or send a message: http://www.nypl.org/donate/

Queens Library
Donate and/or send a message: http://www.savequeenslibrary.org/
"