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May 23 Newsletter

May 23 Newsletter

HPL Newsletter May 23

May 01, 2023

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What’s new at the library?

Forget-me-nots (Myosotis sylvatica) in bloom in the library butterfly garden

Photo credit: Aoife Douglas

April in the butterfly garden

Many signs of spring are appearing the library's butterfly garden! If you haven't visited the garden before, it's located behind the building, successfully hiding from the village deer...

Currently, daffodils are blooming, as well as tiny blue forget-me-nots. Peonies, irises, bee balm, and even black-eyed susans are beginning to emerge along with several ground cover plants.

Plans are currently in the works to certify the garden as a wildlife habitat by the National Wildlife Federation. We plan to complete this project by May 30th and hope to attract native pollinators and wildlife friends with new native plants, nesting sites, a toad house, and more!

The butterfly garden and library landscape will be maintained this year by our garden volunteer Elizabeth Douglas. Elizabeth holds a horticultural degree in landscape architectural studies and is a member of the NY State Nursery & Landscape Association. She blogs at https://thesimplelandscape.com.

If you haven’t seen it yet stop by and check out our new exhibit in the history museum. During WWII the women were called to serve in many ways, including buying war stamps and ration book, and planting victory gardens.

Upcoming Programs

Calendar of Events

Art Exhibit

Now Through May 20th

If you haven’t been in to see Jim Loveless’ art you still have time. This exhibit will be up until May 20th.

Friends of the Library

Have you started your Spring cleaning and are looking to get rid of last season’s purses? The Friends of the Public Library are now accepting donations for their 2nd annual Pursapalooza event!

The Friends will be accepting like new or gently used purses, wallets, wristlets and backpacks. You can place your donation in the bin located in the book nook at the Hamilton Public Library.

Mark your calendars! The event will be held at the Hamilton Inn on Sunday, November 5th from 2-5PM.

SciFi reads for May

All Systems Red by Martha Wells
Sea of Tranquility by Emily St John Mandel
Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
Winter’s Orbit by Everina Maxwell
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers
Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki
The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi

Recommend a Book

Read a really good book recently that you think other people should read as well? Let us know and we’ll share it in a future newsletter!

Request a Recommendation

Want a personalized recommendation? Fill out the form to let us know what kind of book you’re looking for!

Suggest an Item for purchase

Want to read, watch, or listen to something the library doesn’t own? Let us know and we will consider purchasing it for our collection.

New Books

From the Director

It’s that time of year again! No, not spring, it’s Library budget vote season!

While we can’t tell you what boxes to check, we can tell you a bit about our budget and where to go to cast your ballot!

Our budget is, in a word, complex. We receive funding from a variety of sources, including the Village of Hamilton (of which we are a department), the towns of Hamilton, Brookfield, Lebanon, and Madison, individual donations, the State of NY, Madison County, and much more.

While some of those revenues are in the hundreds of dollars, some are much more, and about half of our funding comes from a proposition to the ballot at the school’s annual election, which is where you come in! The vote for the library’s tax levy increase (as well as the school district’s budget and school board elections) will be held on Tuesday, May 16, in the bus garage at the Hamilton Central School from noon to 8 p.m.

Keep in mind that our budget is completely separate from the School District’s, we are simply able to use their vote so we do not have to ask residents to come vote on two separate days. Unfortunately, I cannot provide any answers to questions you may have regarding the school district’s budget, but if you have any questions about the library budget, please let me know! Our total operating expenses are about $320,000, and you can see the previous year’s budget on our website, which will be updated again after the vote.

This year we are asking for an increase of just 5% from this Tax Levy, bringing the total cost from $149,360 to $156,828. While this is still an increase, the percentage increase went down two whole percentage points between this year and last year. The Finance Committee of the Library Board of Trustees created a budget that not only cut back on an increase in taxes, but also did not cut deeply into our already existing programs and services. One thing that helped us balance our budget was the Friends of the Library committing to support our programs directly with an annual donation of $5,000. Thanks, Friends!

Thank you for reading and subscribing to our newsletter, and for your support with your patronage and votes.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact me directly at [email protected].