Help make a difference through Food for Fines!!

The FEED NOVA SCOTIA website tells us that 19,722 people received food from a food bank in Nova Scotia in March 2015 – 31% were children.  One-quarter of those households receive the majority of their income from a disability or old-age pension.

During the month of February 2016, you can combine a visit to the library with a good deed for those who use food banks in your area.    

The Annapolis Valley Regional Library is once again offering a Food for Fines initiative from February 1-29.  Just give us a non-perishable item for the local food bank and we’ll forgive up to $3.00 in fines.  And the really good news is that there is no limit on the number of fines which can be forgiven!   Do you owe $8.50?  Three food items will take care of that.  Please note that Food For Fines applies to fines only, not other fees like lost books or printing costs. 

 (Please check expiry dates on items since we don’t want to pass unsafe goods on to the food bank.)     

 Wondering what types of items food banks especially need?

 - canned fruit and veggies, soups and stews
- peanut butter
- pasta
- canned sandwich meats
- healthy school snacks (like fruit cups)
- laundry and dish detergents, soap

 So, if you have library fines to pay off, or even if you don’t, stop by the library with a food bank item or two during February.  Through Food for Fines you can help make a difference for hungry families in your area.

Berwick Library Relocates to Pharmacy Location

Starting January 22^nd, you can do your errands at Wilson’s Pharmasave in Berwick – and include a stop at the library without leaving the building!  

The Annapolis Valley Regional Library is pleased that our Berwick branch is to become a temporary part of the Pharmasave family while the Town Hall building is being demolished and a new building constructed.   On January 22^nd, look for us on the south wall past Canada Post and Gekko Tech.   We’ll be welcoming current library users and inviting new ones to come and see what we have to offer.    Getting a library card and using our services is FREE and one of the best deals you’ll find anywhere!

With your library card, you can:

-         borrow  books , dvds, audiobooks, and magazines for FREE

-         download ebooks and audiobooks using our OverDrive subscription service for FREE

-         use our Zinio service to read magazines online for FREE

-         access Tutor.com for homework help, resume prep,  and career resources for FREE

-         visit databases such as Ancestry.com or Chilton’s auto repair manuals for FREE

-         access services for persons with print disabilities for FREE

  In this new location, we’ll provide our usual variety of materials, and public computers with Internet access including Wi-Fi.   We will continue with programs for all ages such as Talk Sing Read storytime, GirlPower, Coffee & Conversation and one-on-one technology tutorials (all for FREE!).  Please note that the Library will not be open January 19-21 while we relocate. 

Barbara and Shelly invite you to come and visit the Berwick Library at Wilson’s Pharmasave, 213 Commercial St. on January 22^nd or anytime thereafter.   Our usual open hours will apply.  Visit www.valleylibrary.ca for more information.

The Buzz! Youth Media Awards

Last year around this time, I was in a hotel room in Chicago, with 14 other intrepid librarians, making a pretty big decision. Being on the Caldecott Committee was a career dream for me, and it stood up to those dreams What an amazing experience - we were literally locked in a hotel room for several days, discussing the art in a big stack of picture books.  If you want to read more about that, head over to the ALSC blog. One of the most exciting things the committees get to do is call the winners. If you want to get an inside peek at that, watch THIS video on YouTube. UPDATE! Find this year's winners here!

So why am I writing about this again? Because today, January 11, 2016, the latest round of awards will be announced. At 9 AM our time, you can watch the announcements as they are made, live from Boston, RIGHT HERE! Now, this may not seem incredibly exciting to you, but believe me, it is incredibly exciting to many people. The conference center in Boston will be packed with thousands of librarians waiting to hear about the books that are chosen as the cream of the crop. And thousands more will be watching online. I know I will be.

Many people Tweet the awards. The hashtag #alayma is a great one to follow, and this Monday, the airwaves will be lit up with the titles of books for youth. Follow along! I'll be doing some of my own Tweeting at @annavalley .

I'm excited to find out the winners (can you tell?) . Watch along with me and see how many people love books!  -- Angela J Reynolds, Community Engagement Coordinator

A new library for Kentville

On Sunday, January 10, from 2-4 PM, we invite you to come to the current Kentville library to tell us what your hopes are for the new Kentville library. It has been a few years since the Friends of the Kentville Public Library dissolved—but before that, they had some great ideas and were working towards a new location for the Kentville library.

Since the bridge near the library will be reconstructed, the library MUST move. There are two locations being considered by the Town of Kentville and the Municipality of the County of Kings. Either location will mean a larger space for the Kentville branch, which is good news! 

Next Sunday, we want to hear your thoughts. What do you want the new library to feel like? What does your library mean to you?  How will you use the new library? Would you like to help fundraise for the new library? We are inviting all who love their library and who want to help make it awesome to stop by on January 10. We will host a “World Cafe” style event – we will have several tables, each with a different subject. Staff will facilitate the tables—we will ask you to provide input at each table. You can come for the whole 2 hours, or if you just want to drop in, you can do that as well. We want to hear from you! And if you can't make it on Sunday, you can COMMENT ONLINE. 

Day 12, 2015: OATMEAL, MAPLE, AND RAISIN COOKIES

Today’s cookies are thanks to Bernadette Burns, a patron of the Kingston Branch.  “An old fashion crispy, chewy treat.  My man Jerry Seinfeld is all over these.”  This recipe can be found in The Can’t Cook Book: 100 + Recipes for the Absolutely Terrified! by Jessica Seinfeld.

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 cup all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ baking soda
¼ tsp. kosher salt
¾ cup sugar
1 large egg
1 tbs. Maple syrup
1 ¼ cup old-fashioned rolled oats
½ cup golden raisins

    At least one hour beforehand, take the butter out of the refrigerator and let it come to room temperature.
    Heat the oven (with two oven racks toward the middle) to 350 degrees F.  Line 2 rimmed sheet pans with parchment paper.
    In a medium bowl, measure and whisk together the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt.

          In a large mixing bowl, combine the butter and sugar and beat with an electric mixer on medium-high speed (or by hand with a wooden spoon) until fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes, scraping down the sides with a silicone spatula as necessary. Stop the mixer; add the egg and the maple syrup then beat in.  Scrape down the sides.  With the mixer on low speed, use a large spoon to gradually add the flour mixture and mix until just incorporated.  Stir in the oats and raisins.

         Drop the dough in 1 tablespoon-size mounds 2 inches apart onto the prepared pans.  Bake, rotating the pans 180 degrees halfway through, until light golden brown, 12-15 minutes.  Let cool on the pan 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack

   Once cool, store in an airtight container for up to 4 days.

 

Day 11, 2015; COCONUT BARS

Today’s delights were made by Dorothy McDonald of the Annapolis Royal Branch.

The recipe I selected this year is from "The Gourmet Cookie Book: the single best recipes from each year, 1941-2009"
Never, ever having considered myself a gourmet cook, I chose the book anyway, curious to see what cookies made the cut. This recipe was created in response to a reader's appeal for "cookies made with coconut and sprinkled with powdered sugar that have cake-like bottoms and chewy tops." Imagine...it was so long ago she couldn't just Google it!! The recipe list from the issue where this cookie is found also includes Young Partridge with Grapes, Poached Marrow, Couscous and Goose liver Pies, so this 'no fuss' cookie must be good to have been included with such gourmet-sounding fare!

The reasons I chose this recipe are:
1) it was the cookie selected as the best in the year I was born
2) I like coconut, and
3) they are like me...flaky, soft and nutty :)

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, everybody!!
Coconut Bars Makes 2 dozen bars

Cream 1/2 cup softened butter. Add gradually 1/2 cup brown sugar and beat until smooth. Stir in 1 cup sifted flour and spread in the bottom of an 8-in square pan. Bake in a moderate oven for 20 minutes.
Beat 2 eggs and 1 cup light brown sugar until smooth. Stir in 1 tsp. vanilla, 1 cup chopped walnuts and 1/2 cup shredded coconut tossed with 2 Tbsp. flour and a pinch of salt. Spread this batter over the baked crust and continue to bake 20 min. longer. Cool, sprinkle with powdered sugar and cut into squares or bars.
The recipe suggested buttering the pan and lining it with 2 criss-crossed sheets of aluminum foil which are then buttered as well, but I didn't do this, just buttered the pan. I will use either the foil or parchment paper the next time as it would make them easier to cut.

THEY ARE TASTY!!

Don't forget-- you too can Enter to win a gift card. Show us YOUR cookies!




 

ENTRIES FROM OUR FRIENDS!

We have received two entries so far from our baking friends. Get in on the action and show us your cookies! You could win a gift card!

Daniel Duke made these Gingerbread Cookies from Company'sComing:  Cooking at Home. Daniel shared his cookies with his mailman and bus drivers.

Wyatt Boyd had loads of fun baking Chocolate Reindeer Cookies. The recipe is from Cookies for Christmas that he borrowed from the Middleton library.