Posts by Kristen, Adult Librarian

Homework Help and Resume Assistance

Homework Help and Resume Assistance

Are you looking for a tutor for your child? Do you need help preparing for college entrance exams? Maybe you need assistance writing a resume or looking for a new job? With Tutor.com you can get expert assistance with all of the above and much more at no cost to you with your White Plains library card. Here are just a few of the resources available through Tutor.com: Connect with a live tutor on a variety of subjects from 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. Submit a paper for review – tutors will get back to you in 12 hours. Drop
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February 14, 2023 2:46 pm | by | No Comments
Categories: Evergreen, Featured, Homepage, Homepage Kids, Homepage Teens, Kids, Library News, and Teens.
Tags: homework help, job search help, library resources, resume help, tutor.com, tutoring, and tutors.

Celebrate Black History Month

Celebrate Black History Month

From novels to genealogy workshops, dance performances to films, and storytimes to memoirs, we've got scores of ways to help you celebrate Black History Month. For a list of recommended reads for children, see Raquel's dazzling list of nonfiction picks here. Events Black History Month StoryWalk February is Black History Month. Come view the Library’s StoryWalk featuring Molly, By Golly!: The Legend of Molly Williams, America’s First Female Firefighter by Dianne Ochiltree, illustrated by Kathleen Kemly. In addition to the StoryWalk, there will be some photos related to the history of firefighting in White Plains on display. The StoryWalk will
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February 1, 2023 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books and Library News.
Tags: Black art, Black History, black history month, library events, Observances and Celebrations, staff picks, and staff recommendations.

AARP Foundation Tax-Aide

AARP Foundation Tax-Aide

Volunteers from AARP will prepare taxes free of charge on select dates beginning February 1st through April 17th. Appointments are required. Just one appointment is needed. To make an appointment, call 914-348-3467 or email 500177589@aarpfoundation.org (please note: if you call and leave a message, when the call is returned the number will not say AARP so please pay attention to the above number and answer the call). At your scheduled appointment time, please bring the following: 1. Copy of last year's federal and state tax return 2. W-2 forms showing income from your employer 3. 1099-R forms showing pension or
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January 24, 2023 10:25 am | by | 9 Comments
Categories: Events, Featured, Homepage, and Library News.
Tags: AARP Foundation Tax Aide, AARP Tax Aide, tax help, tax prep, and tax preparation.

Lunchtime Meditation 2023

Lunchtime Meditation 2023

Our popular Lunchtime Meditation series returns to Zoom this January. This wellness program includes brief beginning instruction followed by meditation. No experience is needed. A variety of guest instructors will lead the program from 12:00–12:45 p.m. on the following Wednesdays: January 25: Sharon Lewis February 1: Seth Segall February 8: Daniel Lauter February 15: Sharon March 1: Seth March 8: Andrea Deierlein March 15: Russ Michel March 22: Sharon March 29: Dan Cayer April 12: Seth April 19: Andrea April 26: Sharon May 3: Andrea May 10: Seth May 17: Sharon May 24: Dan June 7: Seth June 14: Andrea
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January 18, 2023 9:36 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Events, Featured, Homepage, and Library News.
Tags: lunchtime meditation, lunchtime meditation at the library, Meditation, meditation classes in White Plains, mindfulness, Wellness, wellness classes in white plains, Wellness programs, and Wellness Wednesdays.

Most Popular 2022 Checkouts

Most Popular 2022 Checkouts

Below is a list of the 2022 top five 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, Dog Man, and Disney! Fiction The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles (Library Collection / Libby) It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover (Library Collection / Libby) Verity by Colleen Hoover (Library Collection / Libby)
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January 17, 2023 1:58 pm | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage, and Library News.
Tags: book recommendations, books, end of year lists, film, patron favorites, top checkouts, and tv.

Short Story Discussion: January 2023

Short Story Discussion: January 2023

Join White Plains Librarian Barbara Wenglin via Zoom to explore compelling selections from the rich anthology, Stories of Fatherhood, edited by Diana Secker Tesdell (Everyman’s Pocket Classics, c2014), along with discussion of a related film. If you haven’t registered yet for fall series, use Zoom Registration Link for January sessions. Program is supported by the Friends of the Library. All are welcome, including newcomers Stories of Fatherhood A copy of the book is on hold at the Hub Desk for reading in the Library along with circulating copies available to borrow through the catalog. Thursdays from 2:00 – 4:15 p.m.
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January 12, 2023 2:23 pm | by | 3 Comments
Categories: Library News.
Tags: Barbara Wenglin, book groups in Westchester, book groups in White Plains, Short stories, short story book discussion series, and short story discussion groups.

Banned Books Photobooth

Banned Books Photobooth

Get caught reading a Banned Book in the Library's Lobby! Take a “mugshot” holding your favorite banned or challenged book with our “crime” sign in front of our backdrop. Post your selfie to social media using the hashtag #WPFreedomtoRead OR upload your photos to our website here. We'll add your “mugshots” to this page and our gallery as they come in. We'll also have a pop-up photobooth at upcoming #WPFreedomtoRead events where staff can take your photo. “Mugshot” Gallery:
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December 31, 2022 11:26 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Events, Featured, Homepage, and Library News.
Tags: #WPFreedomtoRead, banned books, Banned Books Photobooth, Banned Books Week, and library staff.

Grab & Go Kit: YearCompass Journal

Grab & Go Kit: YearCompass Journal

All kits have been taken. If you'd like to print out your own copy or complete a digital version, visit YearCompass here. Reflect on the past 12 months with YearCompass, a journaling activity looking back on the last year, and working on planning your year ahead. Grab & Go Kits including one printout booklet and a colored pen will be available on a table in the lobby starting Wednesday (12/14) afternoon. Supplies are limited and available first-come, first served.  
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December 14, 2022 10:00 am | by | 2 Comments
Categories: Library News.
Tags: journaling, new year's resolutions, and YearCompass.

2022 Staff Favorites

2022 Staff Favorites

The White Plains Library Staff have assembled their picks for the year, featuring mystery, audiobooks, fantasy, 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 or resource where they're available as well as a blurb on why staff enjoyed it. Fiction Murder at the Savoy by Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo. Library Catalog This is the sixth novel in the Martin Beck series, Beck being the go-to detective in Sweden's National Homicide Squad
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December 14, 2022 10:00 am | by | 6 Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage, and Local History.
Tags: staff favorites, staff picks, and staff recommendations.

Opening of Optimum Technology Room

Opening of Optimum Technology Room

This morning, the Library hosted a ribbon cutting for our new Optimum Technology Room, which uses Igloovision, software that provides an immersive experience. Imagine being in a room in which the walls serve as your computer display, effectively putting you inside a wrap-around 12k television. Or think of a room as a giant walk-in Virtual Reality (VR) headset, except one in which the immersive experience can be shared with one or more others. This is the concept behind the Igloo, an immersive workspace created by Igloovision. Any kind of digital content can be shown on the walls of an Igloo:
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November 16, 2022 11:08 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Director's Corner, Featured, Homepage, and Library News.
Tags: Altice, Optimum Technology Room, press release, technology, and white plains library.

Native American Heritage Month

Native American Heritage Month

Celebrate Native American Heritage Month this November by reading one of these selected titles written by Indigenous authors and about Indigenous people and history. Find our Libby list here. As Long as Grass Grows by Dina Gilio-Whitaker Library Collection: Print Libby: eBook The story of Native peoples resistance to environmental injustice and land incursions, and a call for environmentalists to learn from the Indigenous community's rich history of activism Through the unique lens of Indigenized environmental justice, Indigenous researcher and activist Dina Gilio-Whitaker explores the fraught history of treaty violations, struggles for food and water security, and protection of sacred
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November 13, 2022 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books.
Tags: Indigenous authors, Native American Heritage Month, Native American writers, Observances and Celebrations, staff picks, and staff recommendations.

#WPFreedomToRead Challenge

#WPFreedomToRead Challenge

“I'll be absolutely candid and honest, it's embarrassing that we are banning books in this country, in this culture, in this day and age.” – LeVar Burton As part of our year-long celebration of banned and challenged books, adults and teens are invited to join our #WPFreedomToRead Challenge. It's fun! It's easy! There are prizes! Yes, YOU could win a Kindle Paperwhite or other bookish prize! All you need to do is read banned or challenged books and log what you've read in READsquared. Each banned or challenged book you read and log earns you an entry in our prize
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November 11, 2022 1:51 pm | by | 2 Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Events, Featured, Homepage, and Library News.
Tags: #WPFreedomtoRead, banned books, reading challenge, and ReadSquared.

What Should I Read Next?

What Should I Read Next?

Overwhelmed by all the new books this fall? Then come and join us for Carol Fitzgerald's presentation, “What Should I Read Next?” A book lover event. Date: Thursday, November 10th Time: 6:30 p.m. No need to register. Here's the Zoom link. Get a heads-up on new books and refresh your reading list with books you might have missed with publishing insider Carol Fitzgerald. Back by popular demand, Carol will share news about the season’s buzzworthy titles and chat about what book groups have been enjoying. Carol Fitzgerald is the President of The Book Report Network—a group of internet sites on
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November 7, 2022 11:33 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Library News.
Tags: book discussion, book groups, book preview, carol fitzgerald, and What should i read next.

New in The Edge: October 2022

New in The Edge: October 2022

Nothing beats waking up to a crisp autumn breeze and the aroma of cider filling your room. There isn’t a more perfect time to curl up with a great book. Fall is officially here, and with it, a bounty of new books for you to browse! When you visit the Edge where you’ll find something for every kind of reader.–Alain Laforest Big Lies: From Socrates to Social Media by Mark Kurlansky Grades 7 and up Library Catalog “In this noteworthy guide to media literacy, Kurlansky (Bugs in Danger) details events occurring over the past 300 years to break down the
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October 1, 2022 4:39 pm | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Teens, Library News, and Teens.
Tags: book recommendations, new books, new in the Edge, staff picks, staff recommendations, YA Fiction, and YA literature.

September LibraryReads

September LibraryReads

Here are the books published this month that librarians across the country love. The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O'Farrell Library Collection: Print / Large Print Libby: eBook / Audiobook In 16th-century Italy, teen Lucrezia de Medici passes from her father's control to her husband's, with neither considering her a person with a right to her own life. O'Farrell's poetic writing pulls you into this tale based on the likely subject of Robert Browning's poem “My Last Duchess.” For fans of Geraldine Brooks, Isabel Allende, and Hillary Mantel.”—Diana Armstrong, Multnomah County Library, Portland, ORThe American Roommate Experiment by Elena Armas Library
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September 12, 2022 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage, and Library News.
Tags: book recommendations, librarian recommendations, Library Reads, LibraryReads, and staff picks.

Meet Karen Jackson

Meet Karen Jackson

Most library patrons will recognize Karen Jackson, who joined the Library 18 years ago. Besides many behind-the-scenes jobs, she was responsible for our periodicals collection and helped out at the Hub desk as well. We're very pleased that Karen is starting a new phase of her career with us as an adult services librarian. You mentioned that when you were getting your undergraduate degree, you had thought about becoming an accountant. What made you decide to become a librarian instead? I realized that what I really enjoyed was helping people, and that I could do more of that as a
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September 6, 2022 2:27 pm | by | 2 Comments
Categories: Director's Corner, Featured, and Library News.
Tags: Karen Jackson, library staff, Meet the Staff, and staff interview.

My Body as a Memory Exhibit

My Body as a Memory Exhibit

Caribbean Archive’s debut exhibit, My Body as a Memory, will be on display in the Library’s Gallery from September 8th through October 9th, with an opening reception and performance on September 8th from 6:00–8:45 p.m. My Body as a Memory features five artists of Caribbean/Latin Caribbean and African descent and surveys paintings, performance art, and video/film. My Body as a Memory will explore the theme of the traveling body across the Caribbean and the African diaspora. Our past, the present, as well as the future, cannot be avoided. Consequently, the body becomes an archival gift. Catching sight of this transition,
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September 6, 2022 1:10 pm | by | No Comments
Categories: Gallery and Library News.
Tags: art gallery, Caribbean Archive, exhibit, museum gallery, and Zainab Floyd.

Meet Erica Roberts

Meet Erica Roberts

Our newest librarian is Erica Roberts, a native of Maryland who recently graduated from the University of North Carolina’s School of Information and Library Science at Chapel Hill. What interested you in becoming a librarian? When I graduated college, I was sure I was going to end up working in the publishing industry. After a number of false starts, I ended up working at my local Barnes and Noble – and as much as I hated the sell-sell-sell focus of the job, I did really love interacting with customers and offering book recommendations. When a relative suggested I talk with
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September 5, 2022 5:09 pm | by | 1 Comment
Categories: Director's Corner, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.
Tags: Erica Roberts, library staff, Meet the Staff, and staff interview.

New Books in the Edge: September 2022

New Books in the Edge: September 2022

Fall weather is reading weather! Whether you're searching for avant-garde science-fiction, true stories of perseverance, or spooky tales, here are a few of titles coming to the Edge shelves this month.–Alain Laforest Three Kisses, One Midnight by Roshani Chokshi, Sandhya Menon, Evelyn Skye Grades 7 and up Library Catalog “The book is set during the Halloween season in Moon Ridge, a town with a mysterious legend tied to the holiday. This legend tells of a young lady who, once a century, haunts the area on Halloween night, granting romantic wishes. Familiar with the local lore, teens Onny, Ash, and True
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September 1, 2022 11:58 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Teens, Library News, and Teens.
Tags: new books, new in the Edge, staff picks, staff recommendations, YA Fiction, and YA literature.

Lunchtime Meditation

Lunchtime Meditation

Our popular Lunchtime Meditation series returns to Zoom this September. This wellness program includes brief beginning instruction followed by meditation. No experience is needed. A variety of guest instructors will lead the program from 12:00–12:45 p.m. on the following Wednesdays: September 7th: Seth Segall September 14th: Sharon Lewis September 21st: Dan Cayer September 28th: Andrea Deierlein October 5th: Seth Segall October 12th: Sharon Lewis October 19th: Sharon Lewis October 26th: Andrea Deierlein November 2nd: Seth Segall November 9th: Sharon Lewis November 16th: Andrea Deierlein December 7th: Seth Segall This program is made possible with support from the White Plains Library
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August 22, 2022 10:17 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Events, Featured, Homepage, and Library News.
Tags: lunchtime meditation, lunchtime meditation at the library, Meditation, meditation classes in White Plains, mindfulness, Wellness, wellness classes in white plains, Wellness programs, and Wellness Wednesdays.