480 Middlesex Avenue Metuchen NJ 08840-1457 732-632-8526

Friends of the Metuchen Library

President’s MessageDear Friends:

Walking to the library, I was delighted to see a bright new coat of paint on its windows and doors. William Wordsworth’s heart might have leapt when he beheld a rainbow in the sky, but for me, nothing makes my heart leap like architectural restoration. Rainbows are atmospheric mirages requiring only sunlight and suspended water droplets, whereas paint requires bid specs and budgeting. !e Library’s Board of Trustees is restoring this aging building, not to its former glory, but to modern standards. !e paint is easy to see. Harder to spot, but critical to a 21st century library, are things like repairs to wiring and lighting. It isn’t easy these days to "nd the funds, nor will the Library be able o#er full services during the renovation. !e children’s collection will be moved into the public meeting room, and much of it will be inaccessible until it is returned to its own space. Some programs will have to be cancelled or relocated, and some of the library’s regular patrons will lose their meeting rooms during the weeks of electrical work, painting, carpet laying, and shelf installation. !e thing to remember is that these small inconveniences will only last a short time, but the renewed spaces, and new resources, will be ours to enjoy for years to come.

~ Sondra Flite

How You Can HelpInitially built as a Works Progress Administration (WPA) project, the Metuchen Library is celebrating its

75th anniversary. !e Trustees of the Library have framed a plan, and the restoration of the children’s room has begun.

!e Friends have taken on the mission of augmenting these e#orts to create a public meeting space that has updated technology, and a children’s room that will help foster a lifelong pursuit of learning and literacy among our youngest patrons. !e Friends have undertaken a fundraising e#ort to support these enhancements. How can you help? Join the Friends! Already a member? !en send us your tax-deductible donations! !e Friends of the Metuchen Library is a 501(c)(3) nonpro"t organization.

2 Important AddressesWant to know what’s been going on? Check out our website at: www.fotml.org.Don’t forget you can follow us on Facebook.$Just type in Friends of the Metuchen Library at the top

where it says: Search. We promote the library’s programs and events, as well as share bits of this and that about music, art, poetry, and more. Don’t forget to click the “like” button to show your support.

Tweet TweetThat little bird is telling you to follow @MetuchLibFrend on twitter where we tweet the latest event

notices and updates.

throughout the year. Put that digital camera to good use and be our photojournalist!

coordinating things? Then we’re looking for you. We need two people to organize the Friend’s two annual bus trips. The former coordinator can provide you with the information to get you started. Without you, we will be unable to continue these popular trips.

accounting skills to assist our treasurer. Dot those i’s, cross those t’s, and help us balance our books. Interested? Email us at: friends.of.metuchen.library@gmail.com.

A Little Help for the Friends

We want to thank the friends and family members of Dr. Anthony Arlotto and William Brans"eld for donating memorial gi%s in their names.

If you would like to remember someone, please write “in memory of their name” on the memo line of your check made out to !e Friends of the Metuchen Library.

Spring is here, and the gardens surrounding the library are calling us to tidy them up. If you love gardening and have some

free time, please join us. We weed, plant, and prune, in short one-hour spurts (8:30-9:30AM). Call Bern at 732-494-7008 if you’d

like to get your hands dirty!

Spring Has Sprung!

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Volunteers are the heart of the Metuchen Library. Each individual who volunteers helps the Library in a speci"c manner. !is long list speaks for itself. We thank each of you for making the Friends of the

Metuchen Library a strong, active organization for the community.

4 Library HoursMonday-Thursday 10AM - 9PMFriday-Saturday 10AM - 5PM

Sunday 1PM - 5PMThrough Memorial Day

May 25th - May 27thWhen in doubt, check it out: Call us at 732-632-8526

Officers for 2013 President Sondra Flite Treasurer Alisa Schleif Recording Secretary Marilyn Silver Corresponding Secretary Rosemarie Schwarzman

Trustees:

Consultants:

By providing your, and/or your spouses, employer’s matching gi% form with your donation, you are

contribution for the same amount that you give, dollar for dollar. Simply provide the completed form with your gi%, and make at least the minimum contribution required by the program.

Retired? Some corporations will match gi%s made by retirees. !e entire amount of dues & gi%s will be matched.

For those of you who have provided the required forms with your donation, THANK YOU for making this e#ort. For a list of corporations with matching gi% programs, visit our web site www.fotml.org.

Employer Matching Gifts

We Regret . . .There will be no spring museum trip. Although our bus trips to museums were perennially

popular, we will not be able to offer future trips unless two volunteers step forward to organize them. We hope to find volunteers in time for the winter trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. If you are willing to direct this program, please email us at: friends.of.metuchen.library@gmail.com.

inside the building but also from the benches outside, as well as the parking lot.

Did You Know?

5Museum PassesThe Friends offer FREE passes to all Metuchen Library card holders, as well as, card holders from the

Libraries of Middlesex Automation Consortium. Passes are available to:

The Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Muse-um: http://www.intrepidmuseum.org

Library pass entitles free admission for six people total once per day Hours: M-F 10-5, Sat/Sun 10-6 Final entry one hour prior to closing

The Children’s Museum of Manhattan: http://www.cmom.org

Hours: Tues/Sun, 10–5 Closed: March 25 and April 1, 2013; Memorial Day: May 27, 2013; Labor Day: September 2, 2013

The Morris Museum located in Morristown: http://www.morrismuseum.org Library Pass entitles free admission for an entire family (up to 2 adults, 3 children). Hours: Weds, Fri, Sat: 11–5 Thur: 11–8 Sundays: 1–5 Closed to the public on Mondays, Tuesdays, and major holidays.

For more information: www.metuchennj.org/museum_passes.html or call the Library at: 732-632-8526This gift was made possible by your donations to the Friends of the Metuchen Library.

Book Discussion Group

Join us for a lively book discussion! !e group meets on the second Tuesday of each month, September through June, in the community room. Join them to discuss these books:

Mar. 12 Hare with the Amber Eyes, by Edmund De Waal Apr. 9 Steve Jobs, by Walter Isaacson May 14 In Lost Memory of Skin, by Russell BanksJune 11 Book Selection Night Some meetings may be relocated due to the restoration of the children’s room.

Join Us!!e Board of Trustees of the Friends of the Metuchen Library meets on the third Tuesday of every

month—except July and December—at 7:00PM in the downstairs meeting room at the library. All are welcome.

6 Spring Calendar of Young Adult EventsResume Writing Workshop Monday, March 25th, 2PM

High School students are invited to learn the important components of a good resume, and how to explore opportunities that build experience during the teen years. It’s never too early to think about how to present yourself on paper for special high school programs, interviews with prospective colleges, when applying for internships while you are at college, etc. Sample student resumes will be distributed and each participant will work in a small group to begin outlining his/her own resume. Metuchen residents only,

Free Practice ACT ExamWednesday, March 27th, 1:30PMPM

the Metuchen Public Library to o#er a FREE practice ACT exam for students in grades 9-11. Scores and

.

Poetry AloudSunday, April 14th, 1PM

Participate in a program based on the National Endowments of the Arts’ Poetry Out Loud. Interested high school students will recite two poems by heart and with dramatic &air, at this juried event. !e entire community is invited to attend. A prize will be awarded to the winner.

Sign-up Day for YA Summer Programs AND Scavenger HuntSaturday, June 1st, 10:30AM till noon

Programs brochure at the Library in May for details about our summer book clubs, babysitter certi"cation class, writer’s workshop, "lmmaking class, and more. Everyone who signs up and takes part in our Scavenger Hunt will receive a FREE paperback book of their choice from our wide selection.

A Visit With the Authors, John Hulme and Michael WexlerMonday, June 24th, 7:30PM

!e Seems, a fun fantasy series. To learn more about the authors and their books, visit: www.theseems.com.

!ank you, Friends, for providing refreshments and prizes for our upcoming events, and for making it

~ Kathy Liss, YA Librarian

Do you love to straighten things up? When you’re at a book store, do you "nd yourself rearranging the books, returning them to their proper alphabetical by author order? If you answered yes to either question,

Compulsive Tidier?

7An Afternoon With Andrew McCarthy

!e Friends of the Metuchen Library were delighted to host New Jersey’s own travel writer and actor, Andrew McCarthy. Remembered for his "rst career acting on the stage and screen, where he appeared in The Spiderwick Chronicles, !e Joy Luck Club, Mulholland Falls, Pretty in Pink, St. Elmo’s Fire, and other "lms, he is now editor-at-large at the National Geographic Traveler. He has written for !e New York Times, !e Atlantic, !e Wall Street Journal, Slate, Travel+Leisure, Afar, Men’s Journal, Bon Appetit, and National Geographic Adventureand the North American Travel Journalists Association. He has received three citations for notable work in the Best American Travel Writing series.

McCarthy spoke to a crowd of over two hundred in the new social hall of the First Presbyterian Church of Metuchen, about his well-received memoir, !e Longest Way Home. He discussed the meaning of travel in his life, the balance he needed to "nd between family and solitude, and the ways travel can open us to greater tolerance, bravery, and self-understanding—values re&ected in the Friends of the Library’s love and support of lifelong learning.

Special !anks to our Corporate Sponsors:!e Friends of the Metuchen Library would not have been able to bring a speaker of this caliber to

Metuchen without the support of the business community. We are deeply grateful to our sponsors. !e proceeds from this presentation will augment our gi%s to enhance the modernization of the children’s collection and public meeting space currently under way.

Optique Unique, the Eyeglass Store406 Main Street, Metuchen NJ

732-321-2020Monday–Wednesday, Friday 10-6

!ursday 10-8; Saturday 9-4Sat. (Summer) 9-1

Mara"ki Fair Trade20 New Street, Metuchen NJ

732-902-6300 Monday 10-5, Tuesday–Friday10-7

Saturday 10-5

Metuchen Travel428 Main Street, Metuchen NJ

732-548-2100Monday-Friday 10-5, Extended hours in the evenings by

appointment. Saturdays by appointment only

Friendly’s Restaurant550 Middlesex Avenue, Metuchen NJ

732-549-4790Sunday-!ursday 8AM-10PMFriday-Saturday 8AM-11PM

La Rosa’s Pizza335 Lake Avenue, Metuchen NJ

732-549-6505Monday-Saturday 11-10

Sunday 1-9

YMCA of Metuchen, Woodbridge, Edison and South Amboy

483 Middlesex Avenue, Metuchen NJ732-516-9200

www.ymcaofmewsa.org

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Layout/Editing/Design by MaryChris Bradley, The Book Team

Bits and Pieces

The Friends can arrange to deliver library books to patrons who are unable to get there on their own. If you know someone who needs this service, please email us at: friends.of.metuchen.library@gmail.com

Don’t forget, we are a 501(c)(3) nonprofit charitable organization so your dues and contributions are tax

CongratulationsCongrats to Michelle Clancy, who won a family membership—worth $625—to the Metuchen-Edison

Mark Your Calendar - Friends Board MeetingTuesday, April 16, 7:00PM

We’d Also Like to Mention National Library Week is April 14-20. Be sure all the readers in your home have library cards, and check with the

sta# to con"rm that everyone’s personal information, including address, phone number, email, and PIN are correct.

Please encourage neighbors who are not cardholders, to stop by and sign up. Applicants must show proof of residence; like a driver’s license or a utility bill. Any child old enough to sign his own name may also apply for a library card.

!e most important thing you can do to support your library is to use it!