Closed Labor Day weekend

The library will be closed Saturday, August 30 through Monday, September 1 for the Labor Day holiday weekend. 

Regular fall hours begin Tuesday, September 2:
Mon, Tue, & Wed  9am to 8:30pm
Thu & Fri               9am to 5:30pm
Sat                        9am to 5pm

And also remember, our Saturday movie matinees restart on Sept. 6 with a 2pm showing of Divergent. (PG-13) (2 hrs, 19 min.)

Fall Story Times

Story Times for 2014-15 are about to begin!  This year, there have been a few changes made to the program. The first session of story times will begin the week of September 8-12 and continue for 6 weeks instead of five.  The two "Toddler" groups are the only story times that require registration.  All 3-6 year old preschool groups are "drop-in" and you may choose which one you would like to attend each week.

Session I (September 8 - October 17):

    

Story Times for Toddlers (21-36 months) 
Thursdays or Fridays, 9:30-10:15am

Toddlers (ages 21-36 months) and their parents or caregivers are invited to attend a 45-minute program which includes stories, finger plays, songs, puppets, and crafts.  These Story Times are intended for toddler and parent/caregiver to share together (not for families).  Registration is required.
Registration (limited to Dover Public Library card holders) begins on Tuesday, September 2 and may be done in person or by phone. Sign-up begins at 9:00am (in person), and at 9:15am (by phone). Once a Story Time is filled (12 children with adults), we will add up to 5 names on the waiting list (children on the waiting lists will be signed up first for the following session).

Drop-in Preschool Story Times (3-6 year olds)
 Mondays, 1:30-2:15pm, Mondays, 7:00-7:45pm, or Tuesdays, 9:30-10:15am

Children ages 3-6 are invited to attend 45-minute programs which include stories, finger plays, songs and puppets.  Crafts and films are also offered several times each session.  Parents remain outside the story room.  No registration required (limited to Dover PublicLibrary card holders).

Drop-in Family Story Times
Wednesdays, 9:30-10:15am

Children of all ages are invited to attend a 45-minute program which includes stories, finger plays, songs and puppets, and crafts or films. Parents/caregivers remain with the children in the Lecture Hall for these groups. No registration required (limited to Dover Public Library card holders).

New Service!

Museum Pass Reservation System

Starting on Tuesday, September 9^th, Dover Public Library cardholders will be able to reserve any of the Library’s 16 museum passes online through our website!  This will be a great way for cardholders to see what we have to offer, and when a pass is available, without having to wait until the Library is open.  Links are provided to each institution’s website, so you can quickly see what is on exhibition for that day.   To reserve a pass you will need your Dover Public Library Card (in good standing: i.e. not owing us over $10), and your library PIN (which was originally set to the last 4 digits of your phone number).  Don’t worry if you are uncomfortable reserving online, you can always call us at 516-6050, or come in. We will gladly do it for you.  Passes will still be housed in the Children’s Room and at the Circulation Desk.

*Remember: your reservation is NOT your ticket into the museum.
You must visit the library in person to pick up the actual pass before you go!

Coming Soon

The Dover Public Library's Book Group will begin meeting again in September, after a summer hiatus.  The first meeting will be held on September 15 at 6:30pm to discuss The Beginner's Goodbye by Anne Tyler.  Copies of September's book are available for borrowing at the adult circulation desk.  Future dates and book titles are listed below, and I look forward to seeing familiar faces and hopefully some new friends.  All are welcome! 

Sept. 15: The Beginner’s Goodbye by Anne Tyler
October 20: Life A􀅌er Life by Kate Atkinson
November 17: Tell the Wolves I’m Home by Carol Ria Brunt
December 15: The Round House by Louise Erdrich
January 19: The House Girl by Tara Conklin
February 16: The Chaperone by Laura Moriarty
March 16: Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed
April 20: We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler

Free Reading

I just loaded up my iPad with free ebooks (2 week loan), from New Hampshire Downloadable Books, for vacation reading.  Have you taken advantage of this library service?  There is a wonderful selection of ebooks and audiobooks for adults, as well as kids!  All it takes is a valid library card from a member library. Visit the site at: http://nh.lib.overdrive.com.

Thank You!

The Summer Reading Programs are over for another year and the Library would like to give a HUGE thank you to all of the local businesses and organizations that generously donated to the cause--we couldn't have done it without your help!

Adelle’s Coffee House
Ascent Indoor Climbing Gym
Café on the Corner
Domino’s Pizza
Dos Amigos
Federal Savings Bank
The Friends of the Dover Public Library
Hilltop Fun Center
Kendall Pond Pizza
LaFesta Brick & Brew
Measured Progress
Moe’s Sandwiches
Noggin Factory
Portland Sea Dogs
Rotary Club of Dover
Strafford Farms
Watercountry
Weeksie’s Pizza
The Works

Don't Miss an Event at the Dover Public Library

Did you know the Library has new event calendar software that makes it easier for you to keep track of our lectures, movies, book groups, story times, Lego Saturdays, etc. The software allows you to request a reminder of specified events 24 hours, 48 hours, 1 week, or 2 weeks prior to the event.  You can also "Tell a Friend" about a program you think they may be interested in.  Take a look at it and tell us what you think.

Saturday Matinees

We have just posted the Saturday Matinee schedule which will resume on Saturday, September 6 at 2pm. The first movie will be Divergent--rated PG13.
http://www.dover.lib.nh.us/movies.htm

Is "Kindle Unlimited" for you?

Amazon recently announced its new "Kindle Unlimited" plan: for $9.99 per month, you can have access to over 600,000 eBooks and 2,000 audiobooks. Wow! Sounds amazing! But let's look closer at this model:

For $120/year, you'd have to read at least 16 eBooks in those 12 months in order to break even. OK, fine. Many avid readers achieve that goal easily. (Reminder: your public library ebook downloads are always FREE. Yes, you may have to be on a waiting list for the popular title you want. And yes, the download process has more steps than simply pushing the "Buy" button on Amazon.)

Also keep in mind that this "glorified library card" (as HuffPost calls it) does not include any titles published by the so-called "Big 5" publishers: Simon & Schuster, Harpercollins, Penguin Random House, Macmillan, and Hachette. So that leaves most of your best-sellers and popular titles unavailable in Amazon's inventory. (Reminder: your public library does offer all publishers.) It's hard to estimate but I'd say at least 60% of the print titles we buy for our library are from these five publishers or one of their subsidiary imprints.

One article estimated that as much as 31% of Kindle Unlimited's large catalog are works by self-published authors. A critic of Kindle Unlimited has surmised that this new Amazon  service is just a way to monetize their aging backlist and self-published content. Now, indie authors are strongly endorsed in public libraries: many are good writers with loyal fan bases for their works, but a lot of self-published stuff online is truly just dreck: feeble plots, substandard sentences, terrible grammar and misspellings. (Reminder: your public library vets titles for quality and demand before purchasing.)

Coming clean here, your FREE public library card is not really free either. In Dover, the library is 1.2% of the city budget. So take 1.2% of your property tax bill and that's what you pay to support the public library...probably a bit less than $100/year for the average household. And thank you for your support, by the way!

Kindle Unlimited is offering a free 30-day trial to new subscribers, so go ahead and take a look. Search for the titles you really want to read and see if they're there. (Probably not.) Then search the DPL's catalog http://librarycatalog.dover.nh.gov/ and compare! Amazon will win on convenience and rapid delivery for sure, but your public library has the items you really want to read. We'd love to hear from Kindle Unlimited subscribers locally...tell us your impressions of the service and why you like it. I also hope that we'll hear, "...but of course we still come to the library."

Summer Reading Programs

665 Dover kids have signed-up for the Library's Reading Programs, but we would love to have more kids join the fun. You can sign-up throughout the program so we hope to see you soon!

Special Guest July 21...Meet Elsa from "Frozen"!

    During July, the Dover Public Library is showing free movie matinees in its Lecture Hall every Monday afternoon at 2pm. The schedule includes: “Meet the Robinsons” on July 14 and “Rio 2” on July 28 (both rated G). Admission is free and movie-goers may bring their own popcorn!

     On Monday, July 21, the library will show Disney’s “Frozen” and, as an extra treat, will host a meet-and-greet, in-person visit with the movie’s heroine “Elsa” at 1pm. Elsa, Princess of Arendelle, will pose for pictures with families, give autographs, and entertain us with her famous song, “Let It Go” before the movie starts. Special thanks to Caroline Carter, Miss New Hampshire’s Outstanding Teen 2014, for bringing Elsa to the library!

      For more information, call the Children’s Room at 603-516-6052.

Summer Reading eBooks

Are you on the waiting list for one of the Dover High School summer reading books? Some of them are available from the New Hampshire Downloadable Books Consortium or Overdrive with only a short waiting list. If you have an eReader or tablet this is a great option. If you have questions about accessing Overdrive give us a call at 516-6050. Here are the titles that are available:

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer
Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
March by Geraldine Brooks
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hossein

Happy Independence Day!

The library will be closed Friday, July 4 and Saturday, July 5 for the Independence Day holiday. Have a safe and happy 4th everyone!

Best Book of 2014

Amazon has a section called Best Books of 2014 So Far. I finished a book today that inspired me to write my own Best Book of the Year So Far.

 Lucky Dog by Sarah Boston is the story of a veterinary oncologist who has cancer. You wouldn't think a memoir about someone battling cancer would be funny but Lucky Dog is. When Sarah first finds the lump on her neck she is suspicious, she spends all day feeling similar suspicious masses in dogs. She asks her husband who is also a vet to bring home the portable ultrasound machine from his practice so she get get a better look at her mass. About half the book is Sarah's struggle in the Canadian health care system to get diagnosed and receive care for her thyroid cancer and the issues that someone with cancer faces. The rest of the book is stories of the dogs with cancer she has treated, and their owners, as well as a few tart comments on how much more efficient and kind the care pets receive is compared to human patients. Sarah's stories of the wonderful dogs she has known are worthy of James Herriott. You will read about Riley, the blind Golden cross who saved her family from a fire, Jake who still managed to retrieve huge sticks after half his jaw was removed, and Mambo, the Yellow Lab who showed his owners that chemotherapy no longer made him nauseous by eating a entire carrot cake they had left out on the counter.

If someone you love that has cancer, you should read this book.
If you have pets, you should read this book.
If you are looking for an excellent memoir, you should read this book.

Monday Movies

Don't miss our FREE Monday Movies series during the 5 weeks of the Summer Reading Programs.  Movies will be shown in the Library Lecture Hall at 2pm.

Monday, June 30  

The Lego Movie, rated PG.

Monday, July 7

 The Little Rascals Save the Day, rated PG.

Monday, July 14

Meet the Robinsons, rated G.

Monday, July 21

 Frozen, rated PG.

Monday, July 28

Rio 2, rated G.

Movies are FREE and open
to the public.

Have fun at the Creation Station

For the 5 weeks of the Summer Reading Program, materials will be available for all children to make five different crafts (all day, every day) at the new “Creation Station” in the Children’s Room.  The schedule is as follows:
 

June 30 - July 3
Floating Jellyfish

July 7-12
Paper Plate Frog

July 14 - 19
Robot Puppet

July 21 - 26
Kazoo

July 28 - August 2                  
Mad Scientist Bag Puppet

Explore the Summer Sky!

Orion StarBlast 4.5-inch Astronomical Telescope

We are pleased to announce that the library now has a second Orion StarBlast 4.5-inch Astronomical Telescope available for borrowing!  The first telescope was received two years ago from the NH Astronomical Society’s “Library Telescope Program”and has been checked out and enjoyed by many!  The second telescope was donated this week by Ted Blank and Tina Gleisner in memory of Joanne Dodge, “a long-time Dover resident, great friend and enthusiastic amateur astronomer”.  Ted has also made sure that both of these telescopes are in perfect working order.  Thank you, Ted & Tina.  

These identical telescopes have been modified for ease of use by the public and are ready for adults to borrow (one-week loan period) from the Children’s Room.  Reserve one today and in the scientific spirit of this year’s Summer Reading Program, EXPLORE that summer sky and have a BLAST!