The library is currently open Monday through Friday from 10:00am-5:30pm and Saturday 9:30am-12:30pm. The Children's Room and Archives are open by appointment. Please call for details: 207-582-3312.

Looking For Something To Do?

TV/MOVIES

Crackle

Crackle is a free to use video entertainment network featuring full-length movies, TV shows, and original programming. Crackle is available on Roku, Amazon Devices, Google Play Store, Apple App Store, video game consoles, or online at: www.crackle.com

FilmRise

Filmrise offers a great selection of movie and TV entertainment. Enjoy hit shots, popular movies, riveting documentaries, kids shows, world cinema and more. Pluto is available on Roku, Amazon Devices, Google Play Store, Apple App Store, YouTube, video game consoles, or online at: www.filmrise.com

HappyKids.tv

HappyKids.tv provides safe entertainment for children ages 1-10. Kids can watch non-stop rhymes, music, popular shows, stories, and movies. HappyKids.tv is available on: Roku, Amazon Devices, Google Play Store, Apple App Store, video game consoles or online at: https://happykids.tv/

Hoopla

Hoopla is a web and mobile library media streaming platform for TV, movies, music, magazines, audio books, comics, and e-book. Hoopla allows Gardiner Public Library patrons to download or stream media content. Hoopla is available on Roku, Amazon Devices, Google Play Store, Apple App Store, video game consoles, or online at: https://www.hoopladigital.com/

PBS KIDS

PBS Kids features more than 1,000 videos from over a dozen top PBS KID TV series, including Curious George, The Cat in the Hat Knows A Lot About That, Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood, Dinosaur, Train, Sesame Street and more! PBS KIDS is available on: Roku, Amazon Devices, Google Play Store, Apple App Store, video game consoles or online at: https://pbskids.org/

(The also website offers Apps, Albums, E-books, and more.)

Pluto TV

Pluto TV offers 250+ live TV channels & 1000s of movies on-demand. Enjoy news, sports, lifestyle, reality shows, movies, documentaries, and much more. Pluto is available on Roku, Amazon Devices, Google Play Store, Apple App Store, video game consoles, or online at: www.pluto.tv

Tubi

Tubi is a free to use video entertainment network featuring the largest free library of popular movies and TV Shows. Tubi is available on: Roku, Amazon Devices, Google Play Store, Apple App Store, video game consoles or online at: www.tubitv.com

EDUCATIONAL

batteryPOP: 

batteryPOP features the best fun, kid safe educational videos for math, science, health, animals, reading, computers, and more! batteryPOP is available on: Roku, Amazon Devices, Google Play Store, Apple App Store, or online at: https://www.batterypop.com

The British Museum – Virtual Tour (https://www.britishmuseum.org/)

The British Museum, in the Bloomsbury area of London, United Kingdom, is a public institution dedicated to human history, art and culture. Its permanent collection of some eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. Visit their touring page here: https://britishmuseum.withgoogle.com/

The Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden – Daily Videos (http://cincinnatizoo.org/)

The mission and vision of the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden is dedicated to creating adventure, conveying knowledge, conserving nature, and serving the community. The Zoo is currently holding daily Home Safaris on their Facebook page. Visit their page here: https://www.facebook.com/cincinnatizoo/

Georgia Aquarium – Animal Cams (https://www.georgiaaquarium.org/)

The Georgia Aquarium is a public aquarium in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Georgia Aquarium is home to hundreds of species. The aquarium currently has webcams set up in 9 different animal areas including Beluga Whales, Sea Otters, Penguins, and more! Visit their cams here: https://www.georgiaaquarium.org/webcam/beluga-whale-webcam/

The Houston Zoo – Animal Cams (https://www.houstonzoo.org/)

The Houston Zoo is a 55-acre zoological park located within Hermann Park in Houston, Texas. The Zoo prides itself on connecting communities with animals to inspire action to save wildlife. The zoo currently has webcams set up in 6 different animal areas including chimps, giraffes, elephants, and more! Visit their cams here: https://www.houstonzoo.org/explore/webcams/ or visit their Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/houstonzoo/

The Louvre – Virtual Tour (https://www.louvre.fr/en)

The Louvre, or the Louvre Museum, is the world’s largest art museum and a historic monument in Paris, France. The museum currently has virtual tours of 4 famous exhibits. Visit their touring page here: www.louvre.fr/en/visites-en-ligne#tabs

The Metropolitan Museum of Art – Virtual Tour (https://www.metmuseum.org/)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially “the Met”, is the largest art museum in the United States. “Viewers can experience the magic of standing in an empty gallery after-hours, witnessing a bustling space in time-lapse, or floating high above The Met Cloisters for a bird’s-eye view.” Visit their touring page here: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/online-features/met-360-project

The Museum of Modern Art – Virtual Tour (https://www.moma.org/)

The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Manhattan, New York City. Founded in 1929 as an educational institution, The Museum of Modern Art is dedicated to being the foremost museum of modern art in the world. Visit their touring page here: https://artsandculture.google.com/exhibit/sophie-taeuber-arp/swKioHNhYqZoLw?hl=en

NASA – Virtual Tour (https://www.nasa.gov/)

NASA Glenn Research Center (https://www.nasa.gov/centers/glenn/home/index.html) is a NASA center, located in Cleveland, Ohio. The center designs game-changing technology for spaceflight that enables further exploration of the universe. Visit their touring page here: https://www.nasa.gov/glennvirtualtours

Langley Research Center (https://www.nasa.gov/langley) located in Hampton, Virginia is the oldest of NASA’s field centers. NASA’s Langley Research Center is working to make revolutionary improvements in aviation, conducting comprehensive studies of Earth’s atmosphere, and developing concepts and technologies needed for the journey to the Moon, Mars and solar system. Visit their touring page here: https://oh.larc.nasa.gov/oh/

The San Diego Zoo – Animal Cams (https://zoo.sandiegozoo.org/)

The San Diego Zoo is a zoo in Balboa Park, San Diego, California, is a non-profit wildlife sanctuary which is home to over 3,700 rare and endangered animals from over 650 species and subspecies, and over 700,000 exotic plants. The zoo currently has webcams set up in 11 different animal areas including tigers, polar bears, pandas, and more! Visit their cams here: https://kids.sandiegozoo.org/videos

The Shedd Aquarium – Daily Videos (https://www.sheddaquarium.org/)

Shedd Aquarium is an indoor public aquarium in Chicago, Illinois, The aquarium is currently holding daily animal videos on their Facebook page. Visit today to experience unbelievable animals from around the globe, including sea otters, dolphins, penguins and more! Visit their page here: https://www.facebook.com/sheddaquarium/

Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History – Virtual Tour (https://naturalhistory.si.edu/)

The National Museum of Natural History is a natural history museum administered by the Smithsonian Institution, located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. – The Smithsonian has created a room-by-room 360-degree view of the entire museum. Visit their touring page here: https://naturalhistory2.si.edu/vt3/NMNH/

The Smithsonian – Streaming App

The Smithsonian also offers streaming videos. Stream free award-winning entertainment from Smithsonian Channel and explore worlds of history, mystery, science, and pop culture. The Smithsonian streaming app is available on Roku, Amazon Devices, Google Play Store, Apple App Store, video game consoles, or online at: https://watch.smithsonianchannel.com/

Scholastic – Daily Projects

Children’s book publishers Scholastic has launched Learn at Home, a website offering daily enrichment projects for kids stuck at home, sorted by grade level. Some of the lessons for younger kids use Scholastic’s BookFlix service, but Scholastic has created a generic login and password (username: Learning20, password: Clifford) to unlock access. Visit this website at: https://classroommagazines.scholastic.com/support/learnathome.html

Ted Talks – Streaming App

Ted Talks streaming allows users to browse more than 2,000 Ted Talks from remarkable people, by topic, and mood, from tech and science, to the surprises of your own psychology. The Ted Talks streaming app is available on Roku, Amazon Devices, Google Play Store, Apple App Store, video game consoles, or online at: https://www.ted.com/

The Vatican Museums – Virtual Tour (http://www.museivaticani.va/content/museivaticani/en.html)

The Vatican Museums are the public art and sculpture museums in the Vatican City – Rome, Italy. The museum currently has 7 site tours including Sistine Chapel, St. Peter’s Basilica, and Raphael’s Room, Visit their virtual tour here: http://www.museivaticani.va/content/museivaticani/en/collezioni/musei/tour-virtuali-elenco.1.html

WeAreTeachers – Website

WeAreTeachers is a website that has tons of resources for learning at home. The website will point users in the direction of fun websites, games, app, and hands-on activities to assist and extend the distance learning for student’s K-5. Visit this website at: www.weareteachers.com/resources-learning-home   *The WeAreTeachers website also provides a great list of Children’s Authors doing online read-alouds & activities. You can view their list here: www.weareteachers.com/virtual-author-activities

 NEWS

ABC News – Streaming App

The ABC News app offers coverage of the most important news stories of the day, breaking news, live streams, and clips covering events at home and worldwide from Good Morning America, World News Tonight with David Muir, Nightline, 20/20, and This Week with George Stephanopoulos. ABC News App is available on Roku, Amazon Devices, Google Play Store, Apple App Store, video game consoles, or online at: https://abcnews.go.com/

CBSNews Live 24/7 – Streaming App

The CBS News app features CBSN, the 24/7 digital streaming news network from CBS News, as well as on demand video from CBS’s award-winning news programs such as CBS Evening News, CBS The Morning, 60 Minutes, 48 Hours, Sunday Morning, and Face the Nation. Find on Roku, Amazon Devices, Google Play Store, Apple App Store, video game consoles, or online at: https://www.cbsnews.com/mobile/

Haystacktv – Streaming App

Watch 200+ Local and World News TV channels suchs as CBS Interactive, Newsy, C|Net, and more. The perfect channel or screensaver for those that like to be in the know! The NewsON app is available on Roku, Amazon Devices, Google Play Store, Apple App Store, or online at: www.haystack.tv

NBCNews – Streaming App

Explore world-class video from NBC News and MSNBC. Get the latest clops about the most important news from shows such as Nightly News, TODAY, Meet the Press, Morning Joe, and The Rachel Maddow Show. The NBC App is available on Roku, Amazon Devices, Google Play Store, Apple App Store, video game consoles and online at: https://apps.nbcnews.com/mobile/

NewsON – Streaming App

Watch live, local newscasts from 200+ local news stations for free. Live news, previous newscasts (up to 48 hours), or news clips from your favorite stations. The NewsON app is available on Roku, Amazon Devices, Google Play Store, Apple App Store, or online at: https://newson.us

E-BOOKS/AUDIOBOOKS

Audible Stories

For as long as schools are closed, Audible is open. Kids (from little listeners to teens) everywhere can instantly stream an incredible collection of stories including titles across six different languages, that will help them continue dreaming, learning, and just being kids. All stories are free to stream on your desktop, laptop, phone, or tablet. Visit this website at: https://stories.audible.com/start-listen

  

CloudLibrary

The CloudLibrary is an easy-to-use digital lending service which hosts a collection of downloadable audiobooks and e-books supported by public, academic, and school libraries from around the state of Maine. The app is compatible with tablets, laptops, smart phones, Kobo eReaders, Nook Readers, Kindle Fires, and Desktops. The CloudLibrary App is available in Google Play Store, The Apple App Store, The Kindle App Store, or online at: https://www.yourcloudlibrary.com/

LibriVox

LibriVox is a group of worldwide volunteers who read and record public domain texts creating free public domain audiobooks for download from their website and other digital library hosting sites on the internet. Visit this website at: https://librivox.org/

ManyBooks

ManyBooks was established in 2004 with the vision to provide an extensive library of books in digital format for free on the Internet. Their library currently has 50,000+ ebooks in genres such as: Romance, Mystery & Thriller, Classic, Science Fiction, Action & Adventure, Biography, and many more! New books are uploaded daily! (ManyBooks has also become a platform where self-publishing authors have the opportunity to introduce their work to our community) Visit this website at: www.manybooks.net/

Open Library

Open Library is an online project (of Internet Archive, a nonprofit organization) intended to create “one web page for every book ever published”. Open Library currently provides online access to 1.7 million public domain books public domain and out-of-print books in PDF, ePub, Daisy, DjVu and ASCII text. Visit this website at: www.openlibrary.org/

Project Gutenberg

Project Gutenberg is a volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, to “encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks”. Users can borrow from a library of over 60,000 ebooks (mostly older literary works), and either download them or read them straight from the website. https://www.gutenberg.org/

Storyline Online

Storyline Online is a free literacy resource for home use. Storyline Online, streams imaginatively produced videos featuring celebrated actors reading children’s books alongside creatively produced illustrations. For each book, supplemental curriculum developed by a literacy specialist is provided, aiming to strengthen comprehension and verbal and written skills for English-language learners worldwide. You can access Storyline Online via their YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/user/StorylineOnline or Website: www.storylineonline.net

Big Changes!

Although they’ve been a long time in the making, some big changes at the Gardiner Public Library are finally NEWS!

At last, we are moving forward with renovations of the Community Archives Room.  The first and biggest sign you may have already noticed is the Archives is now commandeering, if you will, the Hazzard Reading Room on the main floor.  In late April, we rolled every last item up from the basement and set up shop in the reading room.  The quarters are a little compact, but things seem to be running smoothly.
Moved in! — Our Community Archives Room is temporarily in the Hazzard Reading Room.

 

Another sign you might have noticed is construction noise for a few days.  We’re pretty sure that the worst of it is already behind us.  You may rightly wonder just what was causing such a racket – so I’ll take this opportunity to fill a few details of just what’s happening down there.
Before the move & Before renovations
As, many of you know, GPL’s basement is home to a wonderful collection of local history materials and genealogical records. With microfilm of Gardiner newspapers going back to the early 1800s; photographs, postcards, maps and directories of Gardiner through the ages; and many compilations of family histories, it is Gardiner’s historical treasure trove. The Community Archives Room first opened in 1985 and, since then, has received wonderful patronage and support – both locally and from persons all over the US and abroad who have ties to Gardiner.  It has also seen its share of worries – most notably, the 1987 flood, which brought over 2 feet of water into the basement.  To manage that risk in the future, we now have everything stored on mobile carts and rolling shelves – the entire collection can be moved upstairs in well under an hour!
Moved Out!
 We keep all of our materials in acid-free archival boxes and folders, but the library and the room, itself, are really the biggest storage “box” for safe-keeping the collection.  With that in mind, we are installing an HVAC system to control the climate (both temperature and humidity) of the room, as well as new LED lighting that, unlike the old fluorescent fixtures, will not damage photos, books, or other light-sensitive materials.  The ceiling joists and support beams that carry the weight of the book stacks on the main floor have been reinforced (that was most of the noise you might have heard) and, finally, the walls and floors are being updated to materials that are more moisture resistant and less dust-producing.
The project represents the third and final stage in the 3-stage renovation of the interior of the GPL.  We are working with Syl Doughty, the talented architect who restored the main floor and children’s room to their original glory.  So, as delightful as it is to be up the Hazzard Room for a few months (with windows and a garden view!), it will be exciting to return to a wonderfully renovated and well-designed archive!
Ready for some changes: lighting, flooring, walls & climate control!

In the meantime, we apologize for any disruptions – but we hope that this brief hiccup will help to introduce more folks to our wonderful historic collections; and we know it will help to preserve our rich local history for generations to come!  Thank you for your patience and support!

What’s going on at the library?

Port City Sound: a Barbershop Quartet will join us here Tuesday, June 11, 2013 from 6:30 – 7:30 in the beautiful Hazzard Reading Room.  Port City Sound will enchant us with their robust and vibrant harmonies.  Members include lead singer Walt Dowling; tenor Fred Moore; baritone Jim Curtis and bass Jim Simpson.  Come and listen!
Our annual Summer Reading Programbegins in a couple of weeks.  Charlene Wagner, our Children’s Librarian, blogged about that a few weeks ago.  This year’s theme is “Dig Into Reading”.  Join us for Crafts on Tuesdays, and watch for other fun events to happen!  Don’t bury yourself in front of the television or computer – dig into a new author!
Visit the Young Adult area on the last Thursday of each month for “Snacks & Games for Teens”.  Enjoy a rousing game of “Apples to Apples”, “Scrabble” or even “Tic Tac Toe”!  We’ll provide water and something to munch, and the teens provide the enthusiasm.
Interested in a temporary tattoo?  Explore the art of henna on Tuesday, June 18th beginning at 6:00!  We’ll have 2 local henna enthusiasts here to fix you right up with a henna tattoo.  There will also be several different colors of fingernail polish available while you wait.  I’m not sure, but . . . I think there will probably be snacks as well!
Like many libraries around the country, we have 2 book discussion groups that meet here at the library.  One group reads a very eclectic and varied list of titles.  They usually meet the 3rdor 4th Tuesday of each month to discuss a book chosen the previous month.  The other group, fondly called the “RIP-pers”, meets the 1st Tuesday of each month.  This group “Readers Into Paranormal”, reads a variety of items, both fiction and non-fiction, but everything is at least a bit out of the main stream.  Each of these groups is open to new members, so join one soon. 
Something new we are trying here in Gardiner – loaning out book group sets.  The library purchases several copies of books for our discussion groups, and, once the discussion has happened, those books are available for borrowing as groups.  Each book group set contains between 3 and 8 books, and is available for you to borrow for your book group.  Check out the list here, and come on in for books for you and your friends.
Did you know you could use your Gardiner Public Library card at two other area libraries?  A few years ago, library directors of Gardiner, Waterville and Augusta formed a partnership.  Since so many of our library users live and work in different communities, it made sense to them that these 3 libraries begin a reciprocal borrowing agreement.  Here in Gardiner, we have visitors several times a month using their library cards from either Lithgow Public Library, or Waterville PublicLibrary.  We all know how wonderful our borrowing and lending is through the state wide Inter-Library Loan program – sometimes it is even more exciting to know you can borrow items from another library with your home town library card.  Try it the next time you are in Augusta or Waterville!
These are just a few of the exciting things happening in Gardiner.  Please check back often for other exciting events or check the library calendar!
Ann Russell, Technology Librarian