Consumer Education from Mass AGO

 

Know your rights, and how to protect yourself! The Office of Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey offers online educational trainings to empower the residents of the Commonwealth and the people serving them. All programs are free, to register visit: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ag-healeys-winter-webinar-series-tickets-105859197710

• Consumer Rights - Wednesday, January 6th at 2:00 PM
• Landlord and Tenant Rights and Responsibilities - Monday, January 11th at 10:30 AM
• Workers' Rights - Wednesday, January 13th at 2:00 PM

Chromebooks & Hotspots Now Available to Borrow

The Vineyard Haven Public Library is now loaning out Chromebooks to patrons for one-week periods. Chromebooks are web-based laptops that enable you create documents using your own Google Suite/Gmail account. You can also browse the web without a Gmail account or access webmail through other Internet Service Providers. You will need to have an Internet connection in order to use a Chromebook, so if you don't have one, you may want to also borrow one of the library's Wifi hotspots.

Chromebook borrowers must be 18 years or older (or have a parent or guardian borrow on his or her behalf) with a library card in good standing and must sign a user agreement assuming responsibility for the device. If you are not familiar with Chromebooks, we would be happy to give you a brief lesson on the basics. For any questions or to place a hold on a Chromebook, please contact Ruth Konigsberg at 508-696-4211 x115 or rkonigsberg@clamsnet.org. 

Sign Up for a Holiday Movie Bundle!

 

Snow is coming and school will soon be letting out for winter break. There's no better time to curl up with some holiday movies and popcorn! Our children's librarians will be creating holiday movie bundles for kids and adults that include two to three movies, snacks and activities. Please fill out this form and Jennifer and Emily will make you a customized kit that you can pick up between Sunday 12/20 and Tuesday 12/22. Pickup will be contactless and items will be checked out to your library account. Please note, while we will try to honor specific movie requests, we cannot guarantee it! 

New Magazines Now Available on Overdrive!

 

 Just some of the magazines now available for free with a CLAMS card through Overdrive. 

    Some of the most expensive magazine subscriptions, such as the New York Review of Books, The Economist and the The New Yorker, are now available for free for CLAMS cardholders through Overdrive Magazines. Looking for a lighter read? Overdrive Magazines also has US Weekly, Star, and even the U.K.'s famous gossip-and-celebrity rag Hello! You can also find inspiration in cooking, craft, home decorating and photography magazines; or pursue special interests in sports, technology or hunting and fishing. You can even practice a language by borrowing international magazines, or dig deep on global subjects such as the Harvard Business Review Brasil in Portuguese. 

    You can browse Overdrive Magazines by clicking here. If you haven't created an Overdrive account, you will need to do so. Then log in using your library card number and the password (usually the last four digits of the card.) If you have any problems or questions, call us at 508-696-4211. 

The Best Books of 2020

Three notable books of 2020 that may have flown under your radar. 

It has been a big year of reading for many of us, as the pandemic has limited our movements and solitary activities have replaced social gatherings. We are more thankful than ever for the wealth of great books the year has brought, from The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett to Barack Obama’s long-awaited memoir A Promised Land, both of which have been chosen by critics and readers alike as two of the standouts of the year. Here, the Library has compiled some of the end-of-the-year lists of the best books of 2020. We will continue to update this list as the awards come in! For more reading recommendations, visit our Shelf Service page or call the library at 508-696-4211. You can place holds through the online catalog and and use curbside services for contactless pick up.  

Adult

The Boston Globe's 55 Best Books of 2020

Boston Public Library’s Favorite Staff Reads of 2020

Goodreads Choice Best Books of 2020

The Guardian’s Best Books of 2020

Library Journal’s Best Books of 2020

The New York Times 10 Best Books of 2020

The New York Times 100 Best Books of 2020

Times Critics’ Top Books of 2020

The New Yorker ’s Best Books We Read in 2020

New York Public Library Best Books of 2020

NPR’s Best Books of 2020

Publisher’s Weekly Best Books of 2020

TIME’s 100 Must-Read Books of 2020

Vineyard Gazette's Local Authors in 2020 

Young Adult

Goodreads Choice Best Young Adult Fiction 2020

Children

American Library Association’s Notable Children’s Books of 2020

New York Public Library's Best Books for Kids 2020

Publisher’s Weekly Best Children’s Books of 2020

The Washington Post’s Best Children’s Books of 2020

 

 

Core Collection: Alternative Classics

Our National Indigenous history month has just ended, but we'd like to share some relevant reading suggestions available from Vineyard Haven Library that are included in our new "Core Collection". Inspired by the Alternate Classics Core Collection developed by a team of staff at Denver Public Library, we've identified books in our library's collection to recommend to readers looking to explore wider perspectives.

The 175 fiction and nonfiction titles in this collection are "great works from around the world that may not traditionally be thought of as classics... they are diverse and capture many different voices; they are enduring and important works of literature and narrative non-fiction that speak to the human condition, and are exemplary representations of a particular community, idea, or experience."

To view all titles in the collection with links to our catalog to place a request, visit https://www.vhlibrary.org/alternative.shtml
 

A Century of Dishonor: A Sketch of the United States Government's Dealings with Some of the Indian Tribes  By Jackson, Helen Hunt 9780806127262 Check Our Catalog First published in 1881 and reprinted in numerous editions since, Helen Hunt Jackson's A Century of Dishonor is a classic account of the U.S. government's flawed Indian policy and the unfair and cruel treatment afforded North American Indians by expansionist Americans. Jackson wrote the book as a polemic to "appeal to the hearts and conscience of the American people", who she hoped would demand …More

Ceremony  By Silko, Leslie Marmon; Introduction by McMurtry, Larry 9780143104919 Check Our Catalog "Demanding but confident and beautifully written" (Boston Globe), this is the story of a young Native American returning to his reservation after surviving the horrors of captivity as a prisoner of the Japanese during World War II. …More

Crazy Brave: A Memoir  By Harjo, Joy 9780393073461 Check Our Catalog Narrating the complexities of betrayal and love, "Crazy Brave" is a memoir about family and the breaking apart necessary to find a voice. Harjo's tale of a hardscrabble youth, young adulthood, and transformation into an award-winning poet and musician is haunting and unique. …More

Custer Died for Your Sins: Shadows from the Past and Portents for the Future  By Deloria, Vine 9780806121291 Check Our Catalog It seems that each generation will have to read and reread Vine Deloria's Manifesto for some time to come, before we absorb his special, ironic point of view and what he tells us, with a great deal of humor, about U.S. race relations, federal bureaucracies, Christian churches, and social scientists. This book continues to be required reading for all Americans, …More

House Made of Dawn (50th Anniversary Edition)  By Momaday, N. Scott 9780062909954 Check Our Catalog A special 50th anniversary edition of the magnificent Pulitzer Prize-winning classic from N. Scott Momaday, with a new preface by the author A young Native American, Abel has come home from war to find himself caught between two worlds. The first is the world of his grandfather's, wedding him to the rhythm of the seasons, the harsh beauty of the land, and the …More

An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States  By Dunbar-Ortiz, Roxanne 9780807057834 Check Our Catalog 2015 Recipient of the American Book Award The first history of the United States told from the perspective of indigenous peoples Today in the United States, there are more than five hundred federally recognized Indigenous nations comprising nearly three million people, descendants of the fifteen million Native people who once inhabited this land. The centuries-long genocidal program …More

Lakota Woman  By Crow Dog, Mary With Erdoes, Richard 9780802145420 Check Our Catalog This is the powerful autobiography of Mary Brave Bird, who grew up in the misery of a South Dakota reservation. Rebelling against the violence and hopelessness of reservation life, she joined the tribal pride movement in an effort to bring about much-needed changes.  …More

Love Medicine  By Erdrich, Louise 9780062206312 Check Our Catalog The first book in Erdrich's Native American tetralogy that includes The Beet Queen, Tracks, and The Bingo Palace is an authentic and emotionally powerful glimpse into the Native American experience--now resequenced and expanded to include never-before-published chapters. …More

My People the Sioux  By Standing Bear, Luther Introduction by Sneve, Virginia Driving Hawk 9780803293328 Check Our Catalog When it was first published in 1928, Luther Standing Bear's autobiographical account of his tribe and tribesmen was hailed by Van Wyck Brooks as "one of the most engaging and veracious we have ever had." It remains a landmark …More

There There: A novel  By Orange, Tommy 9780525520375 Check Our Catalog One of the 10 Best Books of the Year--The New York Times Book Review Winner of the Center For Fiction First Novel Prize One of the Best Books of the Year: The Washington Post, NPR, Time, O, The Oprah Magazine, San Francisco Chronicle, Entertainment Weekly, The Boston Globe, GQ, The Dallas Morning …More

To view all titles in the collection with links to our catalog to place a request, visit https://www.vhlibrary.org/alternative.shtml
 

Dufftown, Scotland Virtual Tour on December 8th!

 

1:30 pm Tuesday, December 8th 
Online: Arm Chair Travel Tour to Dufftown, Scotland

Join us online as Vicky Keough takes us on a tour of her hometown, Dufftown, Scotland. Dufftown is located on the River Fiddich and is near the remains of the Auchindoun Castle. Dufftown also hosts a Highland Games event every July (usually). It produces more malt whisky than any other town in Scotland -- in fact, a signpost on the way into Dufftown declares it the "Whisky Capital of the World".

To register or for more information, contact our Program Coordinator Anne McDonough at amcdonough@clamsnet.org.