Click on this link to open the April 2012 minutes

Click on this link to open the April 7, 2012, Special Board Meeting Minutes

Click on this link to open the March 20, 2012, Special Board Meeting Minutes

Click on this link to open the March 2012 minutes

Click on this link to open the February 2012 minutes

Click on this link to open the January 2012 minutes

Registration is required.  Please call or visit the library to register.

Directions to the Senior Center.  Turn onto State Farm Road at 4 Brothers.  Continue down State Farm Road until you come to Independence Way or Opportunity Way; turn right on either road and drive toward the town park.  There is a sign in front of the building and lots of parking.

Instructor Laurie watches Chris prepare her terra-cotta pot for a mini herb garden.

Linda and Sue concentrate on decorating pots to be filled with sage, rosemary and thyme.

 The workshop was held on Monday, April 23rd at the Library.  Look for other craft workshops for adults in the fall.  We plan to have more.

• Tuesday, May 15 – Photo Club at the Library / 6 p.m.  Take portraits and bring them to the meeting.  Newcomers are invited.
• Monday, May 21 – Book Club at the Library / 7 p.m. – No registration is necessary.  Book to be discussed is State of Wonder by Ann Patchett

for Kids:

• Saturday, May 19 -  Annual Doll Tea / 2 – 4 p.m.  Join us to make flower garlands and decorate cupcakes.  Have a picture of you and your doll or stuffed animal taken in the photo booth.  Listen to a tea time story.  Enjoy tea and cupcakes.  Please call or visit the library to register.

• Tuesday, June 5 -Father’s Day Craft Workshop at the Library / 5:30 – 6:30. p.m.  Call the Library to register.

Note especially the links at the top of the page, above the snapshots.  They connect you  to many of the pages you’re already familiar with such as “About Us”, with contact and background info about the library, and “About Valatie”, with information about the community we serve.  Of course “Home” always takes you back to the Home Page.  Also note the addition of a new sidebar on the right-hand side of the page.  Here you’ll find links to the system catalog, the online databases, and many other resources made available through our membership in the Mid-Hudson Library System.

As of this writing, a few items are still being transferred.  Fear not, we’ll be bringing them over in the very near future.  Meanwhile, if you have any questions or comments about the site, just click the “Leave a comment” link below.

The Valatie Free Library is pleased to announce the renovation and redesign of its recent acquisition, the red-painted, historic Steam Railroad Freight Barn located at 1036 Kinderhook Street (Route 9). While the project is currently in the initial creative stage, Building Designer, David Bienn has already begun work with the Library Director; the Library Board of Directors; and its Building Committee. 

The Board of Directors of the Valatie Free Library accepted proposals and interviewed a number of talented Columbia County and local architects before selecting the designer, David Bienn.  Mr. Bienn has long worked within the space restrictions of city dwellings and workspaces, which have informed his æsthetic; the designer is adept in the interpretation of common areas for multiple and harmonic use—essential in the function of a library, considered by many to be the cultural crown of a community in its encouragement of literacy and the appreciation of literature. The finished library “will be a sure source of pride and accomplishment, and serve as an educational anchor point for both kids and adults,” Bienn remarked during a recent meeting.

The designer said he looks forward “to working with the progressive community of Valatie and their supporters, to make a truly beautiful and functional facility with plugged-in access not just to books, but a to a whole range of broadening cultural experiences.”

David Bienn was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, and is a graduate of the School of Architecture at Tulane University. The designer’s inherent sense of style and proportion are a natural result of his coming of age in that elegant Southern city. Bienn is probably best known for retro-fitting historic buildings with contemporary and human-scale, functional designs. He designed the contemporary gallery, Res Nova in a former early-19th-century tobacco warehouse in the New Orleans warehouse district (the Heriard-Cimino Gallery is current tenant); during a several-year stint in New York City, he collaborated with the design of the Tribeca, Manhattan loft-studio of internationally-renowned sculptor Keith Sonnier. Bienn lived for nearly a decade in St. Petersburg, Russia, after glasnost and the fall of the Soviet Union, working extensively on the design and implementation of modular housing. Since 2005 Bienn has returned to the USA to help rebuild New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. He has been a visitor to Columbia County and Valatie / Kinderhook over the past several years, and appreciates the pace of life as well as the wonderful vistas of rolling farmland.

When you check out a Kindle book, you will see a “Get for Kindle” link that opens a new window at Amazon prompting you to to log into your Amazon account.  To create an Amazon Kindle account, provide your email address.  Once you have signed  in, you may select the Kindle device to which you want the ebook delivered.  If you have a newer generation Kindle, the ebook will be delivered via Wi-Fi.  If you have an older generation,  download the ebook to your computer and transfer via a USB cable to your Kindle.  If you need help with the process, go to Amazon.com and click on Help.  Then, in the Search Help box, type:  public library books for kindle and click on the first topic: public library books for kindle.  The information and instructions are clear and helpful.  If you need assistance, call us or bring your laptop in, and we will “walk” through the process with you.