
Mark your calendars and get ready to attend the Riverway Storytelling Festival, April 19-25!
The Grafton Community Library will be sponsoring a free performance at Grafton Elementary School on Monday, April 19th at 6:30 PM.
Hold the Mayo! Songs & Stories About the Stuff We Eat features storyteller Mary Murphy and the musical duo “Tales & Tunes”.
*Click here* to see the complete list of upcoming events.
Posted in EVENTS, NEWS
February 27, 2010 - 8:08 pm
The Ethel Simmons Memorial Award is presented annually by the Grafton Community Library and the Grafton Historical Society in memory of Ethel N. Simmons, a native of Grafton and, for many years a Grafton teacher, librarian and town historian.
High school seniors attending public or private school (including home school), who are residents of Grafton and will be graduating in June are invited to apply for the $500 award.
Traditionally, the award goes to the applicant who submits the best essay on some aspect of Grafton history.
The deadline for 2010 will be announced in March.
Posted in SCHOLARSHIP
February 23, 2010 - 10:10 pm

With 12 inches of snow on the ground and more on the way, Storytime has been postponed to Wed., March 3rd at 11:00 AM.
The February Book Discussion Group has been cancelled, and the discussion of the book entitled “The Girls” will take place on Wed., March 31st at 1:00 PM.
Posted in BOOK DISCUSSION GROUP, STORYTIME
February 16, 2010 - 9:57 am
The Monthly Book Discussion Group meets on Wed., Feb. 24th at 1:00 PM.
Stop by the library to pick up a copy of The Girls by Lori Lansens.
Posted in BOOK DISCUSSION GROUP
February 15, 2010 - 11:09 pm
February 15, 2010 - 10:06 am

Take advantage of a reading incentive program offered by the Albany River Rats! Kids (age 12 and under) can win a free ticket to a River Rats hockey game.
Read 300 minutes between Feb. 15th and April 1st. Fill out the logsheet and mail it in to the River Rats. Attend the River Rats hockey game on Library Night: April 2, at 7:00 PM. Enjoy the thrill of a live hockey game, and have fun watching Rowdy on the ice entertaining the fans!
Posted in KIDS
January 12, 2010 - 9:14 pm

Library volunteer Jan MacDonald readies new Picture Book with CD & Plush Toy sets for check-out.
The library purchased these popular sets with generous funding received from Stewart’s Shops.
Posted in NEWS
January 9, 2010 - 11:17 pm

Please join us on
Sunday, Jan. 10 at 4:00 PM
for a Book Release Party for
Am I Really Thirteen? written by
Grafton resident Kelsey O’Dell,
a ninth grader at the Berlin Junior Senior High School.
Posted in NEWS
January 7, 2010 - 3:29 am
NEW @ Stephentown Memorial Library

Posted in NEWS
January 1, 2010 - 12:15 pm
January 1, 2010 - 12:10 pm
December 26, 2009 - 3:18 pm
The Holiday Raffle Basket was won by Grafton resident Jo-Ann Crandall, pictured here wearing a huge smile as she picked up her prize. Board member Leanna Sweet drew the winning ticket on December 21st, with Board member Sandy von Schilgen and Director Carolyn Durnin looking on.
Posted in FUND RAISING, NEWS
December 13, 2009 - 11:15 am
The Grafton Community Library is one of 29 pubic libraries that comprise the Upper Hudson Library System. With a Grafton library card, you can visit and borrow items at any public library in Albany or Rensselaer County, and return the items to the library most convenient to you.
CLICK HERE TO SEE A MAP OF UHLS MEMBER LIBRARIES:

Posted in UPPER HUDSON LIBRARY SYSTEM
November 19, 2009 - 7:15 pm
The Library will raffle a holiday gift basket to benefit the Library. The winning ticket will be drawn on Saturday, December 19, at the Library. Tickets prices are one dollar each or six tickets for five dollars.
Give the basket as a gift, keep it as a treat for yourself or use the goodies as individual gifts. The basket is brimming with a variety of books to please everyone on your gift list, including titles by popular authors Mary Higgins Clark, James Patterson, Nora Roberts and Barbara Kingsolver. Bestseller The Jane Austen Book Club is included as well as Flags of Our Fathers. For the animal lover, the tales of Dewey the library cat, and of Marley the rambunctious Labrador retriever are included. There is also a garden mystery and more.
To accompany your reading, brew a cup of the Green Mountain coffee, mug included, or indulge in some chocolates. Additional items in the basket include hand-rolled beeswax candles, a music CD, movie DVD, book sox, a Burt’s Bees essentials kit, mini gingerbread kit and party napkins.
Stop in at the Library at 2455 NY Route 2 to take a peek in the basket and purchase your raffle tickets during regular hours.
Posted in FUND RAISING, NEWS
November 17, 2009 - 4:33 pm
November 16, 2009 - 9:05 pm

This month’s Book Discussion will be held
one week early due to Thanksgiving.
Join us on Wednesday, November 18th
at 1:00 PM to discuss
The Monkey Bridge by Lin Cao.
Posted in BOOK DISCUSSION GROUP, PROGRAMS
November 10, 2009 - 10:15 am

The Songs and Rhymes program
with Mary Pierson
will be held on
Thursday, November 12th at 4:00 PM.
Posted in NEWS
October 15, 2009 - 9:12 pm
The next Storytime
led by Mary Gagnon
will be held
on Wed., October 28th,
at 10:00 am.
Posted in KIDS, PROGRAMS, STORYTIME
October 15, 2009 - 8:53 pm
Please join us on
Wed. October 28th,
at 1:00 pm
as we discuss
Plum Wine
by Angela Davis-Gardner.
Multiple copies of the book
are available for loan
at the circulation desk.
Posted in BOOK DISCUSSION GROUP
October 13, 2009 - 8:42 pm

Reflections
By Estella Hovnanian
We could hardly wait! When we saw Alice Kautz, who lived on Simon’s Road, walking down the “State Road” in her sturdy oxfords, her hair pinned under her hat we knew it was time— two o’clock, time for the library to open. But it was Stephanie Hicks Craib with her long hair and high heels that made me realize the library could be glamorous and open another world; for my mother would tell me, “She’s from New York City.”
The Grafton Free Library was established in 1945 by the Grafton Community League and opened a few days after the explosion of the first atomic bomb. The League rented one half of the Methodist Church parsonage which was located behind the church and faced the South Road. According to Granville Hicks, members of the League, “provided bookcases and other furniture, accessioned books and learned from a representative of the state library how libraries were run.” (Part of the Truth, p.232) The other half of the house was occupied by Clint, Lois, and Elsie Wagar. The parsonage had been built with lumber brought up from the Hemlocks Church when it was torn down in 1877. In 1798 a Methodist Circuit Rider held meetings in this church a mile east of the Quackenkill. [click here to continue...]
(Reprinted from the Grafton Historical Society newsletter)
Posted in LIBRARY HISTORY
October 5, 2009 - 9:39 pm
Preschool SONGS and RHYMES
with Mary Pierson
will be held on
Thurdsay, October 8th at 4:00 PM.
Bring your best singing voices, and be prepared to request your favorite songs!
Posted in KIDS, PROGRAMS
September 18, 2009 - 12:20 pm
September 10, 2009 - 12:07 pm

The Monthly Book Discussion Group will meet on Wednesday, September 30th at 1 PM to discuss the book, “All Over but the Shoutin’” by Rick Bragg.
Stop by the library and pick up a copy!
Posted in BOOK DISCUSSION GROUP, PROGRAMS
August 29, 2009 - 8:02 pm
August 28, 2009 - 8:20 pm
August 28, 2009 - 10:02 am
August 27, 2009 - 9:49 pm
August 20, 2009 - 9:36 pm
August 14, 2009 - 10:31 am
August 13, 2009 - 11:09 am

Join us!
for our monthly
Book Discussion
on the last Wednesday of each month.
Wed.
August 26th
1:00 PM
Posted in BOOK DISCUSSION GROUP, PROGRAMS

Join us!
for our monthly
Book Discussion
on the last Wednesday of each month.
Wed.
July 29th
1:00 PM
Posted in BOOK DISCUSSION GROUP, PROGRAMS

If you’re reading the Twilight series this summer, TELL US and win a free t-shirt! Log your reading by clicking on the link to the Summer Reading Program website (scroll down this page). Middle and high school students click on “teens” to register.
Posted in SUMMER READING PROGRAM
The library is now a hotspot for wireless Internet! Bring your laptop computer and instantly connect to our broadband line.

Posted in NEWS

YOU CAN VISIT THE CLARK MUSEUM IN WILLIAMSTOWN, MA. **FOR FREE **
BY RESERVING THE LIBRARY’S ONE-DAY-LOAN MUSEUM PASS!
The pass is good for free admission for two adults; children are always free.
Posted in NEWS
Kids earn this awesome t-shirt
by reading for six weeks in our Summer Reading Program.
• 15 minutes a day (5 days a week) in the Family Reading category, or
• one book per week as an Independent Reader

Teens in grades 6-12

read one book per week
and the theme is “Express Yourself @ Your Library!”
Posted in SUMMER READING PROGRAM
This year’s Summer Reading THEME for kids is “Be Creative @ Your Library”.
Families are encouraged to participate in the six-week program, which offers reading incentives and weekly prizes.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW DETAILS OF THE PROGRAM (.pdf)
Posted in SUMMER READING PROGRAM
IMPORTANT SUMMER READING DATES:
BEGIN READING: June 29th
REGISTER AND PICK UP YOUR LOG SHEETS: July 6th
COLLECT YOUR FIRST PRIZE: July 13th
LAST DAY OF READING: August 16th
TURN IN YOUR SHEETS BY: August 18th
CELEBRATE AT THE ICE CREAM PARTY: Aug. 19th (Wed.)
Posted in SUMMER READING PROGRAM
December 28, 2008 - 10:48 pm

Access the library’s online catalog to request books and other materials from UHLS member libraries, and have them delivered to your local library, ready for pickup in two or three days.
Posted in NEWS