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2024 Total Solar Eclipse

On April 8th, 2024, a total eclipse will pass over the South Pacific Ocean passing over Mexico, the United States and Canada. To commemorate the event we will have a glasses giveaway for safe viewing. The giveaway will be on Wednesday, April 3rd, from 3:00-5:00 PM while supplies last! We will also host a livestream of the total eclipse on Monday, April 8th, 2024 from 2:00-2:30 p.m. Register here!
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Categories: Events, Featured, Homepage, Homepage Teens, Library News, and Teens.

AARP Foundation Tax Aide 2024

AARP Tax-Aide program will again be offering free tax preparation at the White Plains Public Library from February 5 until April 15th with the exception of February 19th. We will also schedule appointments for Tuesday February 27th. THIS SERVICE WILL BE BY APPOINTMENT ONLY. The service will be available on Mondays and Wednesdays from 10:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. THE LAST APPOINTMENT WILL BE AT 2:00 p.m. Use this link Tax-Aide Appointment Scheduler to schedule an appointment online. NOTE: Some browsers have a problem opening the form. If you experience a problem, please use a different browser. To receive an
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Categories: Español, Featured, Homepage, and Library News.

20th Anniversary Poetry Slam

This year marks the milestone 20th Anniversary of the Library’s monthly Poetry Slam and to celebrate, the Library will host a special event in April. The Library invites the community to celebrate the Poetry Slam’s 20th Anniversary this National Poetry Month on Wednesday, April 3rd, from 6:00–9:00 p.m. with refreshments, featured performances from Rebecca P. Bruckenstein and Nina Belen Robins, and a Poetry Slam. Registration for those who wish to perform in the Slam start at 6:00 p.m. in the Museum Gallery. At 6:30 p.m. in the Auditorium, the two featured poets will perform, and the Slam will start shortly
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Categories: Events, Featured, Homepage, and Library News.

Future is Female Book Discussion

Be a part of the Future is Female book group led by Ellen O’Connell, White Plains resident and retired teacher. We will continue to meet on Zoom on Monday afternoons from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. Check our online calendar for the Zoom link. April 1 The Winemaker’s Wife by Kristen Hamel All available formats May 6 The Cloisters by Kathy Hay All available formats June 3 Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano All available formats Past events: September 11 A Long Petal of the Sea by Isabel Allende All available formats October 2 Stars in an Italian Sky by Jill Santopolo
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Categories: Authors & Books, Book Discussion, Events, Featured, Homepage, and Library News.

Lee Palmer Storytelling Celebration

The Library is excited to present its first annual Lee Palmer Storytelling Celebration – a two-day event consisting of a workshop for librarians and educators and a storytelling celebration for children and families. The Storytelling Workshop will take place on Friday, April 12th, at 1:00 p.m. in the Library’s Auditorium. This free workshop for adults, entitled “Off the Page: Storytelling Craft and Technique,” will be presented by storyteller Rachael Harrington. Refreshments will be available. This interactive workshop will equip you to bring favorite stories off the page to become oral storytelling experiences. Participants will explore story selection, methods of storyboarding,
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Categories: Director's Corner, Events, Featured, Homepage, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.

Short Story Discussion Series: Spring 2024

Join Librarian Barbara Wenglin to explore compelling selections from the rich anthology, New York Stories, ed. by Diana Tesdell, (Everyman’s Pocket Classics, 2011). These vibrant and varied works by acclaimed authors provide a colorful vision of “the city that never sleeps.” A copy of the book is on hold at the Hub/Reference Desk for reading in the Library with circulating copies available to borrow through the catalog. Zoom Register Here for full series and attend when you can. Newcomers welcome! Thursdays from 2:00 – 4:15 p.m. Women’s History Month Selections March 14 ~ “Theft” by Katherine Anne Porter (p.201) March
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Categories: Authors & Books, Book Discussion, Events, Featured, Homepage, and Library News.

The Library’s TTRPG Collection

Did you know the Library has a collection of tabletop roleplaying game (TTRPG) books you can borrow?  They are located just outside the Edge, our teen library (though anyone can check them out!).  Holds cannot be placed on the titles, but you can pick them up at the Library and borrow them for three weeks! Titles in the growing collection include (by game system – Will be updated as new titles are added. Links for unlinked items will be added as they become available.) What’s a TTRPG? A tabletop roleplaying game (TTRPG) is a system of rules so that a
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Categories: Authors & Books, Homepage, Homepage Teens, Library News, and Teens.

Book ‘Em 2023-2024

Join us for the return of Book ‘Em, our popular crime fiction book group. We will continue to meet on Zoom; check our online calendar for the link. Book ‘Em meets from 2:30-3:30 p.m. To request or check out a title, click on your preferred format. We hope to have more copies and formats available in the future. Some titles have yet to be published so we will add catalog links as they become available. Click here for a printable PDF of dates & titles. Book ‘Em 2023/2024 Schedule March 20, 2024 S.A. Cosby: Razorblade Tears Available Formats A Black father
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Categories: Authors & Books, Book Discussion, Director's Corner, Events, Featured, Homepage, and Library News.

Artist Juliana Lemin Display

A display by artist Juliana Lemin is on view in a case outside the entrance to the Edge, our space for teens. Juliana Lemin is a 15-year-old Sophomore at Edgemont HS. She expressed her creativity in art since she was very little. When Juliana was five, she started taking art lessons with a Russian art professor Elena Nenastina. Later she began to study with another artist and renowned art teacher, Leonid Shoshensky. Juliana uses various media including chalk pastel, oil on canvas, watercolors, and graphite pencil. She is a published artist. Her works were represented in “Celebrating Art” catalog for several years. In
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Categories: Featured, Homepage, Library News, and Teens.

Most Popular 2023 Checkouts

Below is a list of the 2023 top ten most popular fiction, nonfiction, films, children's books, and YA titles based on the number of times they've been checked out from our collection. We told you what our staff loved last year, well, here's what was most popular among your fellow Library patrons. I'm sure you'll notice a few trends – our patrons really love Colleen Hoover, memoirs, Karen M. McManus, Dog Man, and Disney! Fiction Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus (All available formats) Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano (All available formats) It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover (All
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Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage, Homepage Kids, Homepage Teens, Kids, Library News, and Teens.

Meet Erika Peiffer

Please join me in welcoming our newest staff member, Youth Services Librarian Erika Peiffer. What interested you in becoming a librarian? I was working in television news for about four years, but I had the desire to have more of a direct interaction with the community (and maybe a work schedule that did not require me coming in at 3 in the morning). I was always passionate about information and news literacy and a good friend who was working on their Master in Library Science (MLS) encouraged me to look into librarianship. After starting my MLS and changing gears working
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Categories: Director's Corner, Featured, Homepage, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.

2023 Staff Favorites

The White Plains Library Staff have assembled their picks for the year, featuring literary fiction, audiobooks, fantasy, music, and more. It's a wonderfully wide-ranging list, full of lots of surprises, and should help with your holiday shopping or just some entertainment for yourself. Enjoy! Below you'll find a list with links to the catalog as well as a blurb on why staff enjoyed it. Fiction Chain Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah All available formats From the opening page you are hooked, violently, by this book. In this dark, dystopian future, prisoners held within the privatized penal system fight to
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Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage, Homepage Kids, Homepage Teens, Kids, Library News, and Teens.

Artificial, yes. Intelligent? hmmm…

An overview of Artificial Intelligence (AI) from a high level and critical perspective. Using Image Creation powered by Bing/DALL-E 3, the featured image to the left was generated with AI ∙ November 1, 2023 at 2:51 PM. I found my first encounter with an AI chatbot, ChatGPT, rather interesting. Below are my two questions and ChatGPT's responses from that encounter. You might be interested to know that my second question was paraphrased from the 1942 movie, The Man who Came to Dinner. User Should artificial intelligence act as the ultimate arbiter in identifying something as misinformation? ChatGPT Artificial intelligence (AI)
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Categories: Featured, Homepage, Technology, and Uncategorized.

How to Fight Censorship & Book Bans

On Monday, April 24, the first national Right to Read Day was held. Organized by the American Library Association (ALA), and kicking off National Library Week, Right to Read Day was established as a call to action in response to the past few years of attacks on access to, and even the existence of, certain books – overwhelmingly those with BIPOC and LGBTQ+ characters, themes, and information (check out the top 13 challenged books of 2022 to see what I mean). While ALA’s Unite Against Book Bans, and other organizations, highlighted going to the library and checking out banned books
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Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage, Homepage Kids, Homepage Teens, and Library News.

Greenburgh Nature Center Pass Now Available

The White Plains Public Library is pleased to announce the addition of Greenburgh Nature Center in Scarsdale, NY to the Museum Pass Program. The Library pass provides free admission for two adults of the same household and all children under 18 to the Manor House, which is home to the Live Animal Museum, and its grounds. The Manor House is open Tuesday-Sunday, from 10am-4pm. There is a lot to see and discover within the walls of the historic Manor House. The first floor features animals and a greenhouse. Upstairs, visitors can come up close and hands-on with live animals from
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Categories: Featured, Homepage, and Library News.

Our Annual Report

In the past year, the Library has grown in every way imaginable while we continue to support our Strategic Plan. Our strategic goals infuse everything we do: promote equity, diversity and inclusion; expand community engagement; renew our infrastructure; improve sustainability; and learn from our experiences with COVID. We have acquired more content than ever, although you may not notice as much of it is digital. We’re circulating a range of items, from hotspots and laptops to museum passes. But more significantly, we’ve expanded our programs, with White Plains residents coming together to learn English, become citizens, discuss books, experience 360-degree
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Categories: Director's Corner, Featured, Homepage, and Library News.

Terry Kessler Schwarz: “Impressions” Exhibit

Terry Kessler Schwarz Impressions Art Solo Exhibit On display in the Museum Gallery from September 22nd through December 12 In her upcoming drawing and painting exhibition Impressions, Terry Kessler Schwarz will be presenting drawings and paintings of nature focusing on land, sky, water and city life. TERRY KESSLER SCHWARZ is a painter, calligrapher, illustrator, photographer and teacher.  She received her BFA from Syracuse University and MFA in printmaking/painting from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts.  She has also trained at Tyler School of Art (Temple University) in Italy, Rochester Institute of Technology, Parsons School
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Categories: Events, Featured, Gallery, and Homepage.

Iranian Women Speak

Caroline Reddy is a Children’s librarian at White Plains Public Library. Her work has appeared in Active Muse, Calliope, Clinch, CulturalDaily, Grey Sparrow, Starline, and Tupelo Quarterly Review among others.  In the fall of 2021, her poem “A Sacred Dance” was nominated for the Best of The Net prize by Active Muse. A native of Shiraz, Iran, Caroline’s work has also appeared in the anthology Iranian Women Speak (IHRAF)  to raise awareness for #ZanZendegiAzadi, #WomenLifeFreedom movement, in Iran. Her first manuscript Shake the Atmosphere to Reclaim an Empty Moment is forthcoming with Pierian Springs Press. For more information please click
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Categories: Authors & Books, Director's Corner, Featured, Homepage, and Library News.

White Plains After Hours for Grades 9-12

Friday, June 2nd marked the launch of a new citywide initiative aimed at offering dedicated spaces and events in the evening for White Plains residents in grades 9-12. The Library came together with various City departments and White Plains based organizations after local teens expressed an urgent need for a place to hangout in the evening. White Plains Teen After Hours is a collaboration between ArtsWestchester, the City of White Plains, El Centro Hispano, White Plains Recreation & Parks, the White Plains Youth Bureau, and the White Plains Public Library.   Below is our upcoming schedule. We have more events
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Categories: Events, Featured, Homepage, Homepage Teens, Library News, and Teens.