“Culture on Cloth” is a collection of wall hangings created by the women of Baker Lake, an Inuit village west of Hudson Bay in the Canadian territory of Nunavut. Using vibrant colors and patterns, the tapestries convey Inuit stories, beliefs, and traditions. The owner of the collection, Judith Burch, is eager to show the ingenuity of the Inuit artists, and offered the exhibit for display in the Camden Public Library. The collection has been exhibited all over the world, and will be on display in the Camden Public Library in May, the Skidompha Library in Damariscotta in June, and the Portland Public Library in July & August before going to the Smithsonian for display. (more…)
Arborist Doug Johnson will lead an Arbor Day Celebration in the Amphitheatre on May 20 at 1:00 pm. Following a brief ceremony and reading of Camden’s Arbor Day Proclamation by town manager Pat Finnigan, the program will celebrate Camden’s historic Library Parks and “significant” trees. This is the community’s eighteenth Arbor Day observance since the tradition was revived in 1995.
Fancy a cup of tea in the Reading Room of the Library? Join us and enjoy an elegant gathering from 3:00 pm on Sunday, May 20. Tickets are $40 for two people with guest speakers Debbie Chatfield and Library Trustee Leslie Curtis on the topic of Interior Design. The afternoon tea party will feature tea from Zoot’s while Dot’s Café in Lincolnville will be providing the yummy tea sandwiches and delicious cakes. Seating will be limited to 75 only, and there are very few tickets left! Tickets can be purchased at the Library and at the Library website: click here for tickets online. (more…)
The Camden Philosophical Society Reading Group’s next meeting is on Tuesday, May 22, from 4:00 to 6:00 pm. The meeting will feature one of the speakers for the next Philosophy at the Edge Conference, to be held July 28 on the topic “Thinking Technology: Crossing and Creating Boundaries.” The speaker is Mark Hanson of Duke University, and the reading is the chapter on “What’s Virtual about VR? ‘Reality as Body-Brain Achievement,” from New Philosophy for New Media. A copy of the chapter is available at the library desk for reading inside the library, or contact philosophyedge.com for more information. Come and join and for a lively discussion of this work.
May is Lyme Disease Awareness month, and the library will again host Lyme disease specialist Dr. Bea Szantyr, on Tuesday evening, May 22, at 6:30 pm. Dr. Szantyr’s “Tick Talk” is an informative look at ticks, the bacteria Borrelia burgdorferi which causes Lyme disease, the incidence of Lyme disease in Maine, the difficulties of medical diagnosis, and steps you can take to protect yourself and your family. (more…)
The Songwriters Sessions for 2012 continue on Thursday, May 24 at the Camden Public Library. The series is designed to encourage songwriters by giving supportive response to their work-in-progress and an opportunity to perform in public. This year the library has invited several well-known songwriters to create a “songwriting with the masters” series. The series culminates in a performance of the brand-new songs at the Library Coffeehouse in June. (more…)
The Camden Public Library’s Brown Bag Lunch series continues at noon on Friday, May 25, with “A Balanced Portfolio – How to Select Stocks to Suit Your Needs.” The May 25 presentation will be the final brown bag lunch in the seires and will be aimed at novice investors to plan investments and budgets. The series is supported by a grant from FINRA, the nation’s financial regulatory agency. The program will be presented by three members of the investment education group, Better Investing: Pat Jones, Lowrie Sargent, and Rosemary Weymouth. (more…)
Thank you all for your support and participation in the iPad3 raffle! Congratulations to winner Lena Bengtsson of Camden. (more…)
The library will be closed on Monday, May 28, for Memorial Day.
“Read, Connect, Discover” has long been our mission statement. Today we take another step toward connecting our members and the world with the launch of the new Camden Public Library App. Starting today, the App is available in your mobile device store for a free download. In addition to providing basic information like open hours and access to the catalog, the app also makes it easy to download ebooks and audio, renew materials, place a hold (for an iPad maybe?), check on upcoming events, and – coming soon – book self check-out with your mobile device! (more…)
The Ashwood-Waldorf School will host two movies at the library in May, “Consuming Kids” on Tuesday, May 1, and “Mother Nature’s Child” on Tuesday, May 29. The movie screenings are not part of the Camden Public Library’s hosted programming, but are listed here as a service to our readers. (more…)
How to spot the three biggest threats to Maine’s Landscapes and Forests. While you are enjoying the outdoors, look out for these pests! Invasive insects are threatening the trees of Maine. To help community members recognize these pests, and know what to do to assist Maine agencies in protecting our forests, the Camden Public Library is sponsoring a public presentation about the Asian longhorned beetle, the emerald ash borer, and the hemlock woolly adelgid. (more…)
The Mid Coast Actors’ Studio is a newly-formed community theater troupe which will perform Henrik Ibsen’s “Hedda Gabler” at the library on Friday and Saturday evenings, June 1 and 2, at 7:00 pm. The title role of Hedda Gabler will be performed by the library’s own Marie Merrifield. Merrifield is a noted thespian in community theater with a long list of accomplished and challenging roles. The library is co-sponsor of the Camden performances. (more…)
Mark your calendars! The next used book sale will be Saturday and Sunday, June 2 and 3, in the Picker Room. There will be hundreds of books of all categories. As usual the selection of FICTION books will be mountainous, but the gems of the sale will be the ART BOOKS. “It’s a virtual treasure trove, books about Dahlov, Manet, Rivera, Van Gogh, Monet, Ernst, Renoir and many more,” reports Don White, volunteer chair of the event. “In addition, if you’re planning a trip or even dreaming of one, the June sale will have some interesting travel books for sale.” The hours of the sale will be Saturday, 9:30 am until 4:30 pm, and Sunday 1:00 pm until 4:30 pm. (more…)
“German Prisoners of War in Maine: From Foe to Friend, A First Person Presentation” by Hank Lunn
In 1944, the U.S. Army Air Base in Houlton, Maine became the site of a Prisoner of War (POW) internment camp for German soldiers captured in North Africa and France. The POWs could not be forced to work, but could volunteer. Those who wanted to work helped the local farmers harvest peas, pick potatoes, and cut wood in the forest during winter after harvest time. The prisoners were paid a dollar a day in scrip that they could spend at their post exchange for toiletries, tobacco, chocolate, even beer. College course were also offered to those who wish to study. Hank Lunn was 13 at the time and recollects his formative experience with the POWs in a talk, “From Foe to Friend,” at the Camden Public Library on Tuesday evening, June 5, at 6:30 pm. (more…)
On Thursday, June 7 at 7:00 pm, the library will feature the new work of the Songwriter’s Sessions. The musicians have been working all winter writing and polishing the performance of their new work. The sessions have been led by veteran songwriters David Dodson and Jim James. The June Coffeehouse has become a much-anticipated annual event. Jim James will MC the evening; there is a suggested donation of $4. Call Ken Gross at the library at 236-3440 for more information. (more…)
The Camden Public Library has partnered with Mango Languages to offer free language classes to our library cardholders. Mango is an online language learning system that teaches real conversation skills for practical communication. Through fun and engaging interactive lessons, Mango makes learning a new language fast, easy, and incredibly effective. (more…)
Thanks to a grant from FINRA, the library is now able to offer Morningstar financial reports both in print and online. Click here to go to the library’s financial links page to log on to the Morningstar site. The new subscriptions to the print version of Value Line and Kiplinger’s newsletters will begin soon. The goal of the library in seeking the FINRA grant is to help create a financially literate community and to make online financial tools more accessible for library users. (more…)
CPL is now on Facebook! Check out our page for the latest news about events, new materials, and recommended reads. While you’re there be sure to follow the link to our staff Shelfari page to see what your librarians are reading, and see what we recommend in our weekly Staff Picks update. Click here to go to our Facebook page.
NEW! The library can now offer downloadable e-books as well as audio books! All you need is your library card number to download books from the Maine InfoNet Download Library! The e-books will work on both Macs and PCs, and on many reader devices, but they do not work as yet on Kindles or iPads. You will need to download the software first. When you visit the website, go to the “Getting Started” section and click on the Quick Start Guide. (more…)