Brooks Memorial Library

Michel Moyse on Art Rage for the iPad

by Brooks Memorial Library | Arts

Join Michel Moyse for an introductory talk on Art Rage for the iPad, on Wednesday, May 20, at 7 PM in the library’s meeting room. The library will provide three iPads with Art Rage loaded and there will be another one provided by Michel. This talk is free and open to the public.

Michel Moyse, artist, filmmaker and teacher, is Artistic Director and Co-Founder of the Center for Digital Art in Brattleboro, Vermont. Michel has an extensive background in film and experimental art. His multi-screen video artwork has been shown in the United States and abroad. Prior to his position as Artistic Director of CDA, Michel was Sound Editor in New York City for such directors as Woody Allen, Brian De Palma, Jonathan Demme, and Peter Yates. Michel has a Masters in Art Education from New York University.

Kitchen Tunks & Parlor Songs with Mark Greenberg

by Brooks Memorial Library | Entertainment

Please join Friends of Brooks Memorial Library for this special program, Kitchen Tunks & Parlor songs with Mark Greenberg, at 7 PM on Thursday, May 14. 

Since the 1980s, Greenberg has been interviewing and recording musicians throughout Vermont, tracing the development of the state’s vernacular music from its roots in Anglo-Celtic traditions through the influences of French-Canadian emigrants and the arrival of radio and other electronic technologies. 

Greenberg currently teaches courses in American music at UVM and taught American Studies and Humanities at Goddard College from 1991-2003.

On Exhibit at Brooks Library in May

by Brooks Memorial Library | Arts

ON EXHIBIT for the Month of May at Brooks Library

MAIN FLOOR: RAYE ARNAULT Close-up photographs presenting a unique perspective on things in the natural world.

2ND FLOOR CHILDREN: AMY HUNTINGTON Children’s book llustrator of “Grandma Drove the Garbage Truck”.

First Wednesday at Brooks Library: The Duel: Aaron Burr vs. Alexander Hamilton

by Brooks Memorial Library | History

Join us for First Wednesday on 6 May 2015, 7 pm – 9 pm for The Duel: Aaron Burr vs. Alexander Hamilton. Was it murder or suicide when the vice president of the United States killed the first secretary of the treasury in a duel? Willard Sterne Randall, award-winning biographer of Hamilton and five other Founding Fathers, tells this fascinating story.

Location Library Main Room. For more information contact Brooks Library by phone at 802-254-5290 ext 0, by email at info@brookslibraryvt.org, or on the web at brookslibraryvt.org. Brooks Memorial Library, 224 Main Street, Brattleboro, VT 05301. The event is free and open to the public. 

Revenge! A Reading and Discussion Series at Brooks Library

by Brooks Memorial Library | Books

Revenge! What are the causes of revenge? What are the consequences? Is taking revenge ever justified? Explore this most passionate and provocative of human desires through drama, short stories, and novels. Join Vermont Humanities Scholar and long-time Brooks facilitator Richard Wizansky for an evening of engaged discussion on this universal topic. This week! Andre Dubus, Selected Stories, April 15, at 7 PM. Up next! Russell Banks, The Sweet Hereafter on May 27, 7 PM. Books can be borrowed from the Brooks Library. Join us!

Friends of Brooks Memorial Library Spring Booksale

by Brooks Memorial Library | Books

Save the date for the Friends of Brooks Memorial Library Spring Booksale on Friday, April 10, 10 am to 6 pm and Saturday, April 11, 10 am to 2 pm. This year’s annual Friends of Library Big Booksale is coming early with Spring flowers.

Join your fellow community members and sift through the thousands of paperbacks, DVD’s, and audio books for the Big Spring Booksale, to raise funds for the support of the Friends of Brooks Memorial Library.

The books and other items are piling up for this important annual event. Remainders will be on sale during the month of April during regular library hours. 

First Wednesday: The National Security Agency: The Law, The Media, and the Legacy of Edward Snowden

by Brooks Memorial Library | Books

Retired National Security Agency executive Bill Sullivan will discuss how the NSA works and consider the implications of the leaks of NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden in a talk at Brooks Memorial Library in Brattleboro on April 1 at 7:00 pm.

His talk, “The National Security Agency: The Law, the Media, and the Legacy of Edward Snowden”, is part of the Vermont Humanities Council’s First Wednesdays lecture series and is free and open to the public. 

Sullivan will discuss the NSA’s foreign intelligence mission as well as its process, governance, and oversight, and examine media reports based on material provided by Edward Snowden.

First Wednesday Program at Brooks Library: Photography as Fine Art: Alfred Steiglitz and Camera Work

by Brooks Memorial Library | Arts

Photographer, gallerist, and magazine editor Alfred Stieglitz was a seminal figure in the history of twentieth-century photography.

Middlebury College professor Kirsten Hoving examines Stieglitz’s work and his advocacy for photography as a fine art, with special attention to his quarterly journal Camera Work. Wednesday March 4th, 7 pm – 9 pm. 

On Exhibit at Brooks Library in March

by Brooks Memorial Library | Arts

Lots of art at the Library this month! Mezzanine Wall & Main Floor: Student Art Month. The Arts Council of Windham County is inviting the community to join them in recognizing and honoring the many young people in Windham County who are involved in a wide range of the arts.

So, for the 34th consecutive year, they have set aside March as Student Art Month, a time to spotlight, through shows and events, the terrific kinds of work coming from our young people and the teachers and school programs which help these young artists to blossom. 

Brown Bag Lunch at the River Garden: Technology That You Can Borrow From Brooks Library

by Brooks Memorial Library | Education

Bring your lunch and learn about tech toys you can borrow from Brooks Library! As part of the Strolling of the Heifers Brown Bag Lunch Series, Reference Librarian Jeanne Walsh and Library Director Jerry Carbone will talk about the technology that you can borrow from Brooks Memorial Library.

The library has pre-loaded Kindles, Nooks, and iPads and more. The library also has a LCD projector, Canon Digital camera, and portable screen, which were received as part of a Vermont Economic Development Project from the Vermont Department of Libraries. The policy and procedures needed to borrow these items will be reviewed at that time. 

At Brooks Library: Revenge – A Reading and Discussion Series

by Brooks Memorial Library | Books

Revenge– A Reading and Discussion Series on Wednesdays 7 pm – 8:30 pm. What are the causes of revenge? What are the consequences? Is taking revenge ever justified? Explore this most passionate and provocative of human desires through drama, short stories, and novels. Join Vermont Humanities Scholar and long-time Brooks facilitator Richard Wizansky for an evening of engaged discussion on this universal topic. First in the four-part series: Agamemnon. Books are available for checkout at the circulation desk.

The books, which will be available for checkout, are the following:
February 25, 7 PM: Aeschylus, Agamemnon
March 18, 7 PM: E.L. Doctorow, Welcome to Hard Times
April 15, 7 PM: Andre Dubus, Selected Stories
May 27, 7 PM: Russell Banks, The Sweet Hereafter

New! Tech Tips Program at Brooks LIbrary

by Brooks Memorial Library | Sci-Tech

Library technology: All Your Questions Answered! Join Reference Librarian Jeanne Walsh on the first Tuesday (4 PM to 6 PM) and first Friday (11 AM to 1 PM) of the month for one-on-one help on the various aspects of library technology, such as downloading e-books and e-audio; accessing your library account to place holds, renew your items, suggest new titles for the collection, make lists of your favorite titles to share with your fellow library users.

Get help with online tasks like filling out forms and emailing attachments.…and more. NO QUESTIONS ARE TOO SMALL OR TOO SILLY! Bring your devices if you have them: iPads, smartphones, laptops, etc.

On Exhibit at Brooks Library

by Brooks Memorial Library | Arts

ON EXHIBIT at Brooks Library in February:

MAIN FLOOR: Sequencing paintings by local artists and students River Gallery School of Art. The RGS is a vibrant hub for Brattleboro’s artistic community, with bright, spacious studios on Main Street overlooking the Whetstone Brook.

Founded in 1976, RGS offers classes, community workshops, and summer and school vacation programs for students of all ages.  Our core faculty members are all professional working artists, and teach a wide range of visual media including all types of painting, drawing, printmaking, and encaustics. RGS also partners with community organizations to offer classes to seniors and adults with physical and cognitive challenges

Handed Down from the Trade: A Story of a Slave-holding Past

by Brooks Memorial Library | History

Join independent scholar, David Mulholland, in his talk Handed Down from the Trade, Wednesday, February 18, 7:00 PM, in the library’s meeting room.

Imagine growing up in an America grasping with the horrors and social havoc of its slavery past that you personally despise. Then imagine discovering that your ancestors participated extensively in slavery, prospered from it, and influenced public policy to set people, states, and a nation on a path to spread slavery, to engage in a Civil War, and to undertake an arduous Civil Rights struggle.

First Wednesday: Plato’s Republic: Re-thinking His Utopian Ideal

by Brooks Memorial Library | Books

Philosophy scholar Susanne Claxton explores the key elements of the utopian republic envisioned by Plato and considers their adequacy.

Underwriter: Union Institute & University. Wednesday 4 February at 7 – 9 pm. Location Library Main Room.

For more information contact Brooks Library by phone at 802-254-5290 ext 0, by email at info@brookslibraryvt.org, or on the web at brookslibraryvt.org. Brooks Memorial Library, 224 Main Street, Brattleboro, VT 05301. The event is free and open to the public. 

Free Computers for Tax Filing at Brooks Library

by Brooks Memorial Library | Other

The Brooks Memorial Library at 224 Main Street in Brattleboro offers free sessions on its public access computers for filing taxes online.

Because the IRS and Vermont Department of Taxes have severely limited their distribution of paper tax forms through libraries, many citizens are turning to online filing, which has many benefits—including, in many cases, a quicker refund.

The library cooperates with the Windham County United Way and its partner agencies to provide access to www.myfreetaxes.com, where citizens with household incomes at or below $60,000 can file their taxes for free.

Revenge: A Reading and Discussion Series at Brooks Library

by Brooks Memorial Library | Books

Revenge: A Reading and Discussion Series at Brooks Library. What are the causes of revenge? What are the consequences? Is taking revenge ever justified? Explore this most passionate and provocative of human desires through drama, short stories, and novels.

Join Vermont Humanities Scholar and long-time Brooks facilitator Richard Wizansky for an evening of engaged discussion on this universal topic.

Authors Live@BML: Marc Songini and the Boston Mob

by Brooks Memorial Library | Books

Join independent scholar and Boston author Marc Songini for a book talk on his book, Boston Mob The Rise and Fall of the New England Mob and Its Most Notorious Killer, on Saturday, January 24, at 3 PM in the Library’s Meeting Room.

Author Marc Songini will discuss a true story of revenge, corruption, and power. Hear how Joe turned on the Mafia for killing off his gang; how Joe put away his former friends; then went on the run.