This coming week marks the beginning of the busy Summer Reading Program season. Starting tomorrow, June 29th chldren entering pre-school through 5th grade can register for the program.  Older children are also invited to participate and if they are reading longer books they should keep track of pages read.  Readers will receive credit for each book or audiobook they check out. Anytime 5 or more books are checked out during a visit, the child is eligible to choose a book to keep from our book box.  Also don’t forget to check out calendar for dates and times for all summer reading programming.

Also don’t forget that summer hours begin this week. We will be open on Saturdays from 9am-1pm and closed on Sundays during July & August.  We will also be closed on Saturday July 4th for the Independence Day holiday.

The Board of Trustees of the Library will hold a special meeting at the library on Thursday June 25th beginning at 6:15pm. The meeting, like all Board meetings is open to the public.

Canals and rivers have shaped Waterfordians’ experience throughout the community’s history. The Waterford Museum is sponsoring a walking tour of the Village of Waterford that will explore the history and architecture that was influenced in so many ways by the rivers and canals that surround the community. The tour will be lead by long time Waterford resident and heritage area specialist, Lucy Breyer.

The Museum is sponsoring the walk in conjunction with the Waterford Steamboat Meet on July 4^th. The walk is free of charge and participants are asked to meet at Button Park located at the south end of Third Street in the Village of Waterford (along the waterfront) at 9a.m. The tour will start shortly after 9am and will take about one hour.

The Waterford Historical Museum and Cultural Center is located in the 1830 Hugh White Homestead on Museum Lane in the Town of Waterford. The Museum offers various programs and exhibits year round. For more information about the Museum and its programs please contact the Museum at 238-0809 or check our website www.waterfordmuseum.com

During the summer months the library will be offering informal computer & Internet assistance on Monday evenings and Friday afternoons. These sessions are available by advance registration only, by either calling the library or sending an email to director@waterfordlibrary.net. Assistance will be offered in areas such as navigating the Internet, online job applications, registering an email account and other basic computer and Internet related questions.

The monthly meeting of the Board of the Friends of the Waterford Library will be held this evening at 7pm here in the library. Anyone interested in becoming involved with the Friends is welcome to attend.

Oprah has given you your reading assignment! And it’s available here. So give it a look and then check out catalog for availability of titles.  Happy summer reading!

You will have two opportunities this weekend to support the Friends of the Library. Today they will be holding a bake sale at the Waterford Visitors Center beginning at 9am. They will be there tomorrow as part of the Waterford Harbor Farmer’s Market, this time with a sale of gently used books. Proceeds from both sales will benefit the library by helping underwrite programs and other services.  The Friends of the Library meet monthly on the 3rd Thursday at 7pm at the library.

To each and all of you who came out yesterday to show your support of our library and voted in favor of our 2010 budget, may we extend our heartfelt thanks and appreciation.  It was unanimous in fact! Congratulations to library trustee Gail Merola on being re-elected to a second five year term. The staff and board of the library look forward to serving our customers in numerous ways in the coming months, so keep visiting and checking for all the latest and greatest.  And don’t hesitate to use this forum to connect and share with us how our library can be a bigger and better part of your lives.

And voting has begun on our 2010 Waterford Library Budget. All residents of the Waterford Half-Moon School District are eligible to vote on our budget and the election of library trustee Gail Merola.  Check the Troy Record for a nice article and more details. (thanks Danielle). Polls will be open until 8pm here at the library. Check back here for updates as the day unfolds.

In 3 days we will ask the residents of our service area, the Waterford Half-Moon School District, to vote on our 2010 Operating Budget.  The budget totals $282,631, of which $231,631 is raised by a library tax assessed to property owners.  That assessment is equal to $1.57 per $1,000 for Waterford residents and $.87 per $1,000 for Half-Moon residents.  The $231,631 figure represents a 1.29% increase over the 2009 budget, while the total budget is actually over a thousand dollars less than the 2009 budget.  The Board of Trustees worked hard to craft a budget that took into consideration the current recessionary pressures, while providing the necessary financial resources for the library.

The budget vote will take place here in the library from 12 Noon until 8pm.  Residents of the Waterford-Halfmoon Union Free School District are eligible to vote.  Copies of the budget are available via a link from our homepage, or by stopping into the library.  Questions about the budget should be directed to Library Director, Tim McDonough