Any time is the right time to celebrate Black voices and their prolific role in American culture! We’re going to take the opportunity for a look back at all of the amazing authors BHML highlighted for Black History Month. Don’t see one of your favorite authors? Let us know by suggesting a purchase.

…And, here are a few lists of even more authors you can read: O Magazine, Penguin Random House, Essence, PBS, BET, Biography, Cosmopolitan, Huffington Post, Buzzfeed, Mental Floss, Good Housekeeping, Esquire, Book Riot, NBC News.

Happy Reading!

Ahh, Valentine’s Day, a day to express love.  Grab a blanket, grab a book, and enjoy the cerebral embrace of literature.

• Visit hoopla to listen to Romantic Stories while you lounge (from rom-com to erotica).
• Double down on Black History Month with a title from For the Love of Black History. 
• Queue up stories from Valentine’s Day for Little Listeners.
• Pop over to CloudLibrary for Romance e-books you can read on your preferred device.

Don’t love digital?
Check out this selection of titles where we cast a wider net on the theme!

Fiction

Non-Fiction

Happy Valentine’s Day from BHML <3

Welcome to the Library of Things!

In addition to books, DVDs and audiobooks, BHML now offers a cornucopia of “Things” for you to borrow–from laptops to Kindles to telescopes and games. You can check out any “Thing” the same way you check out a book.

Need a VHS player to watch an old tape? Want to borrow a Kindle for your trip instead of lugging 10 books? Have company coming and want a game on hand?  Grandkids need some entertainment?  BHML has got you covered!

Below is the beginning of BHML’s Library of Things. You will need your library card to request and pick up these “Things” and a few “Things” require you to sign a borrowing agreement. If you have a suggestions for some “Thing” you’d rather borrow than buy, let us know!

Tech

Explore

Learn & Play

Items from the Library of Things have varying check-out periods, so make sure to keep track of your item’s due date! And remember, all “Things” must be returned in person to BHML staff member–NO using the bookdrop!

Want to see more in our Library of Things? Email us with your suggestions: tech@bbhlibrary.org.

Not sure where you fall in line for the Covid-19 Vaccine?

Please note, this information is provided from by the State of Maine Governor’s Office. BHML cannot provide additional information about the vaccine not listed here or provided through the links below. Please consult your health care provider if you have additional questions or concerns regarding the Covid-19 Vaccine.

Covid-19 Vaccination in Maine

Vaccine Facts from the CDC

State of Maine Vaccine FAQ page

Maine Vaccine Updates

Covid-19 Vaccination Sites

The information below is current as of January 26, 2021 from the State of Maine Governor’s Office, visit https://www.maine.gov/covid19/vaccines for the most up-to-date information:

Maine residents age 70 and older are now eligible for vaccination against COVID-19 as part of Phase 1b.

If you are age 70 or over, you may hear directly from your health care provider about getting a vaccine, or you may contact the locations below for an appointment. All sites require an appointment.

Please note:

• Because Maine’s supply of vaccine is limited, appointments may not be immediately available and will be scheduled on a rolling basis.
• There is no charge for the COVID-19 vaccine, but you should be prepared to provide any insurance information and proof of eligibility at the vaccination site.

Phase 1a: December through January

• • Health Care Personnel Needed to Preserve Critical Health Care Services: This group includes Paid and unpaid personnel, including both clinicians and support staff, who physically work in hospitals, acute care settings, Emergency Medical Services, or home health on a regular basis and have direct contact with patients, or have the potential for direct or indirect exposure to patients or infectious materials. This includes outpatient clinicians and their staff who provide care to patients at risk of hospitalization such as providers in urgent care centers, medical practices providing acute care, dialysis centers, and oncology practices. This does not include administrative personnel.

• • Residents and Staff Of Long-Term Care Facilities

• • Other Patient-Facing Health Care Personnel: This group includes paid and unpaid personnel, including both clinicians and support staff, who physically work in other health care settings on a regular basis and have direct contact with patients, or have the potential for direct or indirect exposure to patients or infectious materials. Examples include personnel who work with aerosols, such as in dental fields; health care providers with prolonged contact with patients; practitioners in behavioral health, optometry, school nurses, and environmental services workers at health care practices. This does not include administrative personnel.

• • Public Safety Personnel: This group includes public-facing personnel at fire departments, federal, state, and local law enforcement, and officers at correctional facilities. This group does not include administrative personnel.

• Critical COVID-19 Response Personnel:These individuals include people who manufacture, distribute, process, or report COVID-19 tests, whose work, if disrupted, would severely hamper the ability of Maine or the United States to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. More specifically, this includes people who work in-person directly on COVID-19 response at Maine CDC, which spearheads the State’s COVID-19 response, and private companies such as IDEXX, which supports Maine’s COVID-19 testing capabilities; Abbott Laboratories, which manufactures COVID-19 tests for use in Maine and across the nation; Puritan Medical Products, which manufacturers swabs for COVID-19 tests; and Jackson Laboratories, which is conducting whole genome sequencing to detect COVID-19 variants for Maine.

Phase 1b: February through April

• • People Aged 65 and Older: Given the limited number of vaccines, people aged 70 and older will be vaccinated first in Phase 1b. Maine will then move to residents aged 65 to 69.

• • Adults With High-Risk Medical Conditions: Individuals whose pre-existing health conditions put them at greater risk of hospitalization or death from COVID-19. The U.S. CDC has identified such conditions; which Maine health care experts and clinicians will review. Depending on the size of this group, individuals may be vaccinated in stages, for example, starting with older high-risk people or people with two or more pre-existing conditions.

• Critical Frontline Workers (to be determined): The U.S. CDC advisory committee has recommended that the following critical workers be considered frontline: food and agricultural workers, Postal Service workers, manufacturing workers, grocery store workers, public transit workers, those who work in the education sector (teachers, and support staff), and daycare workers. The State of Maine will review this list and make determinations as this phase approaches.

Phase 1c: May and June

• Other Critical Frontline Workers (to be determined): The U.S. CDC advisory committee has recommended that the following critical frontline workers be considered in Phase 1c: transportation and logistics, food service, shelter and housing (construction), finance, information technology and communication, energy, media, legal, public safety (engineers), water and wastewater. The State of Maine will review this list and make determinations as this phase approaches.

Phase 2: June and Beyond

• Persons aged 16-64, who were not already eligible in a prior phase.

We asked what you read and loved in 2020. You answered!

BHML may have been closed to in-person browsing most of the year, but that didn’t stop us from lending out thousands of titles to you. We even heard from many of our patrons that 2020 was an especially hardy reading year! Here is a list of some of the titles that BHML patrons enjoyed during 2020. Keep checking out our new books page to see some of the new titles we have to keep your reading habit going in 2021!

Our Souls at Night by Kent Haruf*

Carnegie’s Maid by Marie Benedict

Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy*

The Henna Artist by Alka Joshi

A Well-Behaved Woman by Therese Ann Fowler*

A Ladder to the Sky by John Boyne*

The Ragged Edge of Night by Olivia Hawker

Finding Dorothy bv Elizabeth Letts*

The Salt Path by Raynor Winn

Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand by Helen Simonson*

Why We Swim by Bonnie Tsui

This is How it Always Is by Laurie Frankel 

Untamed by Glennon Doyle*

Beach Read by Emily Henry

The Other Bennet Sister by Janice Hadlow

That Quail, Robert by Margaret A. Stanger

The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson*

The Dutch House by Ann Patchett*

Ring of Bright Water by Gavin Maxwell

The Girl You Left Behind by Jo Jo Moyes

The Offing by Benjamin Myers*

Deacon King Kong by James McBride*

This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger*

*Titles owned by BHML.

Calling all Boothbay Harbor Residents,

The Town of Boothbay Harbor is gathering information about internet connectivity in the area.

Please help the Town get a clearer picture of internet access by taking this quick survey:  https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/LRFTLDL 

Survey is completely painless! Answers are confidential.

Thank you!

Join millions of kids from around the world for Hour of Code!

During the week of December 7, log onto the Hour of Code website to learn coding basics and complete fun coding activities. Last year, over 100 million (!) students from more than 180 countries completed over a billion hours of coding!

The challenge is free to join and you can code anytime by visiting the Hour of Code website: hourofcode.com/us. Activities are geared for anyone aged pre-reader through high school. And trust us—these games are fun for adults, too! Some of our favorite activities are Minecraft: Education Edition, Chase the Pizza and Dance Party!

Plus, completing an hour of coding practice earns you a badge in the BHML Winter Reading Challenge. Find our more about the Winter Reading Challenge here: https://bbhlibrary.org/winter-reading-challenge/

Get ready to code!

Reading makes you cool. We mean warm!

START: 12/1/20
FINALE: 3/20/21

Read your way through the winter and earn chances to win prizes!

Online Beanstack Challenge
Kids and your grown-ups: sign up to accomplish Reading Challenges, earn Activity Badges, and Write Reviews, to earn tickets for raffle prizes. Register at https://bbhlibrary.beanstack.org/.

We’ll be cheering you on all winter with High-5 Prize Drawings on January 5, February 5, and March 5. With tickets you earn, you’ll have a chance to enter to win a Kindle Fire, plus a mug and a tin of cocoa goodness to keep you warm while you read on.

On March 20, we’ll announce two grand prize winners. Prize hint: Do you know just how comfy a bean bag chair is?

Need help getting started with Beanstack? Contact Bethany at 207-633-3112 or via email at tech@bbhlibrary.org.

Paper Challenge

Grown-ups and paper-lovers we’ve got a Winter Reading Challenge for you, too! Try out new book genres, and experience new authors using our guided challenge checklist. For each category read, you’ll earn a raffle ticket you can use towards High 5 prizes, or the grand prize.

High 5 drawings will be for gift cards from local businesses. Grand prize? A 6-month subscription to the Great Courses Online! Slightly ironic, yes…we’ll walk you through how to access it if you win and consider yourself “technologically challenged.”

Starting December 1, ask for a Paper Challenge when you pick up Curbside or Windowside.

‘Tis the season for precaution!

We’re going back to Curbside & Windowside Service Only through the Holidays.

Starting Thursday, November 19, enjoy the old great Curbside Service, minus the appointments. Or, try the new Windowside Service.

1. Place your holds online using your account at minerva.maine.edu, or call us at 207-633-3112.
2. We’ll notify you by phone or email (depending on your preference) when the items are ready to be picked up. 
3. We’ll hold the items for you for up to a week…Simply call us when you’re in the parking lot and we’ll bring out your items; or drop by during expanded Windowside Hours (Tuesday through Saturday 2:00 PM – 4:00 PM) to walk up and get your holds. 
4. Need to print? Call ahead and we’ll arrange to print your documents.

Why are we doing this?! Because we love you! We love each other! And we want to be proactive and see the other side of this pandemic as soon as possible.

Keep an eye on BHML for upcoming online programs, including a prize-laden Winter Reading Challenge!  BHML is here for you, and we’ll make it through this together!  

For a refresher on how to place holds online, and for handy-dandy digital browsing links, revisit this post:  Curbside Catalog Quick Links.

In the New Year,  we will review our plan based on the recommendations of Maine health officials.  We wish you safety and health this season.  See you outside!

November 17 at 8pm ET | 5pm PT on Facebook Live.

PBS Books will host a virtual conversation with renowned author Harold Holzer discussing his latest book The Presidents vs. the Press: The Endless Battle between the White House and the Media from the Founding Fathers to Fake News.

[Request the Book]

No matter your political affiliation, you’ll be intrigued to learn that the tension between the president and the press is as old as America’s republic.

In his new book, acclaimed scholar Harold Holzer explores the rise of the American presidency and the media that shaped it. From Washington to Trump, he chronicles the disputes and distrust between these core institutions that define our country, highlighting that the fabric of the nation is in fact built upon their confrontation.