The Library is closed until further notice

Due to Governor Sununu's Stay At Home directive, the Dover Public Library is closed and the Librarians are working from home Monday - Friday from 9-5pm.

If you have questions, give us a call at 603-516-6050 or email libraryquestions@dover.nh.gov.

If you have books or DVDs (or anything else) checked out, please keep them safely at your house until the building reopens.

There are no fines now, and fines won't start again until the building has been open for 3 weeks.
You cannot (and don't need to) renew your items. Just keep them at your house.

If you have something on hold, it will still be on hold for you when the building opens.

If your library card has expired, please give us a call at 603-516-6050 and we'll get it renewed for you.

Remember all of our digital resources are always available. You can still download books, magazines, movies, music and audiobooks.
https://www.dover.nh.gov/…/h…/use-the-library-from-home.html

The Library is Closed

Hello everyone! 

It’s your DPL librarians checking in. We may be closed to the public, but we’re still working hard for you behind the scenes.

We wanted to update you with a few changes we’re making to help ease the transition for everyone.

1) The city and American Library Association has recommended we no longer have physical contact with the public to prevent the spread of germs. We will no longer be bringing books to cars or checking out items.

2) If you currently have items on hold those items will remain on hold. When we open up again, we will call or send an email (based on your notification preferences) letting you know your item is ready to pick up again. You will have a week from that date to come get your item. If you decide to get your item online or purchase it instead, please let us know so we can take it off hold and pass it along to the next person.

3) We are asking people to hold onto their items for now. No fines will accrue. When we reopen, all items will automatically renew for at least 3 weeks (yes, even including fast reads and DVDs!) and you will have until that due date to return your items.

4) If your card needed to be renewed between January 1 and March 30, we have extended your renewal period until the end of June (if you received a renewal notice before March 19 please ignore it!)

5) We are currently working on removing fine limitations on our online services. Normally if you have a fine of $10 or more it would bar you from accessing our online resources. We feel that during this time everyone should be able to use these services whether or not they have a fine. We are having a little problem getting this set up (technology can be tricky!) so please be patient with us as we sort things out.

6) If you need a card, you can now apply online here: https://bit.ly/2WxWGky
We will email you your username and pin number. When we open, your physical library card will be at the front desk for you to pick up. Please remember to bring in a photo ID so we know who you are!

In the meantime, the library is fully staffed and prepared to take your calls or emails if you have any questions. Feel free to call us at (603) 516-6050 or email us at libraryquestions@dover.nh.gov. We understand this can be a scary and frustrating time for all, but we want you to know that we are here for you! We will continue to update our website and Facebook page as new things develop so keep an eye out.

The Library is Closed Until Further Notice

With today's news from the NIH that the COVID-19 virus may be able to live on plastic surfaces (like book covers) for up to three days, plus additional cautionary recommendations from the NH State Library and the American Library Association, we have made the difficult decision to terminate our "Book-hop" curbside delivery after Thursday, March 19 at 7pm. It's been an extremely popular service, but for the health and safety of our patrons and our staff, we must curtail direct contact with the public until further notice. 

Although we won't be able to hand you books and DVDs at the door anymore, the librarians of the DPL will be on duty inside the building, able and willing to help you by phone or email. Call 603-516-6050 with your questions or email us at libraryquestions@dover.nh.gov.

Please keep any items you've checked out at your homes. Do not return them in the bookdrops! Don't worry about the due dates; we're not charging fines so you may return them when we re-open. If you have items on hold, they will stay on hold and be available after we re-open. 

If your library card has expired or will expire soon, call us and we can give you an extension over the phone. If you want a library card, please fill out the application on our website and email it to us along with a picture of your driver's license. If you're a resident, but your driver's license doesn't have your new Dover address on it, call us and we can let you know what other materials you'll need to submit. Your new card number will be sent to you within 48 hours so that you may access all digital and online resources that we offer remotely.

Remember that all cardholders can access downloadable audiobooks, ebooks, magazines, movies, TV shows, and graphic novels to read/watch on your phone, tablet or PC. Check out our website for the how-tos and also check out our available databases. Again, we regret having to make this decision, but we must put the safety of our staff at the forefront of all our actions.

2020 Reading Challenge: About Indigenous People

Part of the goal of the 2020 Reading Challenge is to get you to not only try new books, but also step outside of your comfort zone. This includes reading books from cultures different than your own. We included books written by or about indigenous people because their voices are just as significant, but far too often not heard. Try one of these amazing stories today and explore a worldview outside your own!

Fiction

There There by Tommy Orange

Follow twelve characters from Native communities: all traveling to the Big Oakland Powwow, all connected to one another in ways they may not yet realize.

The Round House by Louise Erdrich

When his mother, a tribal enrollment specialist living on a reservation in North Dakota, slips into an abyss of depression after being brutally attacked, fourteen-year-old Joe Coutz sets out with his three friends to find the person that destroyed his family.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

Budding cartoonist Junior leaves his troubled school on the Spokane Indian Reservation to attend an all-white farm town school where the only other Indian is the school mascot.

Disappearing Earth by Julia Phillips

The shattering disappearance of two young girls from Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula compounds the isolation and fears of a tight-woven community, connecting the lives of neighbors, witnesses, family members and a detective throughout an ensuing year of tension.

The Orenda by Joseph Boyden

As the French exploit long-standing conflicts between the Huron and the Iroquois to gain control of their respective territories, shifting alliances between all three groups irrevocably alter the landscape of North America and the lives of its indigenous people. 

Nonfiction

Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann

Presents a true account of the early 20th-century murders of dozens of wealthy Osage and law-enforcement officials, citing the contributions and missteps of a fledgling FBI that eventually uncovered one of the most chilling conspiracies in American history.

Heart Berries by Terese Marie Mailhot

A memoir chronicling Mailhot's struggle to balance the beauty of her Native heritage with the often desperate and chaotic reality of life on the reservation.

An American Sunrise: Poems by Joy Harjo

In the early 1800s, the Mvskoke people were forcibly removed from their original lands east of the Mississippi to Indian Territory, which is now part of Oklahoma. Two hundred years later, Joy Harjo returns to her family’s lands and opens a dialogue with history.

The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee by David Treuer

An anthropologist's chronicle of Native American life from the Wounded Knee massacre to the present traces the unprecedented resourcefulness and reinvention of distinct tribe cultures that assimilated into mainstream life to preserve Native identity.

The Other Slavery by Andres Resendez

Draws on new evidence to reveal the massive enslavement of tens of thousands of Native Americans from the 16th through the 19th centuries, describing how kidnapping and forced labor played a key role in the decimations of Indian populations across North America.

Want to participate in Dover Public Library's 2020 Reading Challenge? Download the form here!

“History of NH Folk Art” with Gerry Ward at Dover Library March 17

The Friends of the Dover Public Library are pleased to present an illustrated presentation by Gerry Ward on the History of New Hampshire Folk Art, on Tuesday, March 17 at 7pm in the library’s Lecture Hall.

Folk art incorporates types of artistic expression that lie outside the so-called fine arts. This art form incorporates a variety of objects, including portraits, watercolors and drawings, elegant calligraphy, landscapes, decoys, rugs and quilts, trade signs, wood carvings, powder horns and scrimshaw, fire buckets, fanciful carved and painted furniture, and other individualistic and idiosyncratic works of art that are not easily classified. Folk art objects illustrate the fundamental human urge to create art, regardless of formal training, and also to embellish artifacts of everyday life, allowing ordinary objects to provide visual pleasure and delight through color, patterning, and abstract forms.

Gerald W.R. Ward is the Katharine Lane Weems Senior Curator of American Decorative Arts and Sculpture Emeritus at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. He is the editor of the Portsmouth Marine Society Press and an adjunct professor at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design. In this program, he will focus on examples of folk art from across the Granite State, from the eighteenth century to the present.

He was the curator of the Portsmouth Historical Society's 2019 summer exhibition on New Hampshire folk art and author of the catalogue accompanying the show. Among his many publications is the introduction to American Folk Art from the Collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (2001).

The Piscataqua River Gundalow and the World in Which it Sailed 1650 – 1900

Join us Tuesday, March 10 at 7:00pm in the Lecture Hall for this fascinating talk.

Step back in time as you discover the rise and fall of the workhorse gundalow. Dane Drasher’s presentation uses pictures, words and his five-foot working model to help you understand how the vessel came to be and evolved over the span of 250 years. Learn about the daring skippers and surprisingly varied cargos that made their way through seacoast New Hampshire’s serpentine waterways.  Why was the gundalow so successful? What precipitated her downfall? Gain insight into how this humble vessel can teach traditional American values of ingenuity, tenacity and endurance.  By understanding and embracing the unique history of our gundalow you will gain a newfound sense of pride in your seacoast New Hampshire roots.

Dane Drasher is a retired businessman and former Air Force officer. His training through the UNH Marine Docent Program led him to his current position as a volunteer educator for The Gundalow Company where he creatively spreads the word about all things Gundalow to Historical Societies, Schools and other organizations.