New librarian getting to know Millerton area

MILLERTON — It’s been a busy last few weeks for Rhiannon Leo, the new director of the NorthEast-Millerton Library.

Not only is she trying to familiarize herself with the library’s catalogue, programs and staff, but there’s also a brand new community to get to know.

Leo is the first permanent library director since the death of Midge Quick several months ago. Quick held the position for nearly 15 years before falling ill. Since then the library has been managed by Roger Cohn, who was acting program director, but who has left that seat, at least temporarily. So for Leo there is lots of catching up to do.

And she fully acknowledged the big shoes she is stepping into, saying her position is about adjusting to the area’s needs.

“I want to get to know the community,†she said, sitting down at a table in the library just before opening one afternoon. Leo has only been on the job for 10 days but has already absorbed a lot in terms of where the library was headed as well as some of the program’s strong points. “I want to find out what we can do for them. We have a very good children’s programming director and the summer music program in the Annex is definitely something we want to see grow.â€

Leo comes from the Hudson Area Association Library, about an hour outside of Millerton, where she served as library manager for nearly five years. It was a larger operation in Hudson, but Leo said she found some similarities in the transition.

To Leo there are two different kinds of libraries: modern libraries that have been built for that purpose and older buildings that have been re-appropriated as libraries.

“Newer libraries seem to be kind of sterile,†she said, while still acknowledging that there were certain advantages. “But the older ones seem to have so much more of a life to them. Hudson did, and NorthEast-Millerton definitely does.â€

The new librarian acknowledged the balance that has to be struck between the traditional view of a library and the new breed of ever-changing technologies.

“A library really is a place for knowledge,†she said, “and we want people to get knowledge from books, computers, however they can.â€

She pointed out a service that many people might not be aware of: a digital e-book system that is available for free to anyone with an e-reader (except Kindles, sorry Amazon.com fans). Anyone with a library card can log on from home with an ID number and download a number of e-books and audio books.

“Libraries as a whole have to find a way to work for us,†she continued. “We can’t be afraid to try new things.â€

While getting to know the surrounding area and its library patrons, Leo is also keeping on top of the progress the library is making. The library is selling off its Annex pews at $40 a piece as it continues to convert that space into what is planned to be an expanded children’s area. But some of the bigger projects are years, if not decades, down the road, and Leo has plenty on her plate for now.

And being selected out of a pool of 25 applicants for the position means there are high expectations, library board President Diane Price affirmed.

“I think Rhiannon had a lot of dealings with children over in Hudson, and we’re certainly hoping to get more children into the library,†she said. “She’s got a lot of enthusiasm and great ideas. We’re looking forward to that coming with her.â€

“I’d just like to encourage people to come in and say hello, even if you haven’t been into the library before,†Leo added. “It’s all free, come and participate. Let us know how we can help and what programs you’d like to see. We’ll try to find a way to do it.â€

The NorthEast-Millerton Library is open Tuesday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., Friday from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Sunday from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. Call 518-789-3340 or log on at nemillertonlibrary.org.

Latest News

South Kent School’s unofficial March reunion

Elmarko Jackson was named a 2023 McDonald’s All American in his senior year at South Kent School. He helped lead the Cardinals to a New England Prep School Athletic Conference (NEPSAC) AAA title victory and was recruited to play at the University of Kansas. This March he will play point guard for the Jayhawks when they enter the tournament as a No. 4 seed against (13) Samford University.

Riley Klein

SOUTH KENT — March Madness will feature seven former South Kent Cardinals who now play on Division 1 NCAA teams.

The top-tier high school basketball program will be well represented with graduates from each of the past three years heading to “The Big Dance.”

Keep ReadingShow less
Hotchkiss grads dancing with Yale

Nick Townsend helped Yale win the Ivy League.

Screenshot from ESPN+ Broadcast

LAKEVILLE — Yale University advanced to the NCAA men’s basketball tournament after a buzzer-beater win over Brown University in the Ivy League championship game Sunday, March 17.

On Yale’s roster this year are two graduates of The Hotchkiss School: Nick Townsend, class of ‘22, and Jack Molloy, class of ‘21. Townsend wears No. 42 and Molloy wears No. 33.

Keep ReadingShow less
Handbells of St. Andrew’s to ring out Easter morning

Anne Everett and Bonnie Rosborough wait their turn to sound notes as bell ringers practicing to take part in the Easter morning service at St. Andrew’s Church.

Kathryn Boughton

KENT—There will be a joyful noise in St. Andrew’s Church Easter morning when a set of handbells donated to the church some 40 years ago are used for the first time by a choir currently rehearsing with music director Susan Guse.

Guse said that the church got the valuable three-octave set when Harlem Valley Psychiatric Center closed in the late 1980s and the bells were donated to the church. “The center used the bells for music therapy for younger patients. Our priest then was chaplain there and when the center closed, he brought the bells here,” she explained.

Keep ReadingShow less
Picasso’s American debut was a financial flop
Picasso’s American debut was a financial flop
Penguin Random House

‘Picasso’s War” by Foreign Affairs senior editor Hugh Eakin, who has written about the art world for publications like The New York Review of Books, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker and The New York Times, is not about Pablo Picasso’s time in Nazi-occupied Paris and being harassed by the Gestapo, nor about his 1937 oil painting “Guernica,” in response to the aerial bombing of civilians in the Basque town during the Spanish Civil War.

Instead, the Penguin Random House book’s subtitle makes a clearer statement of intent: “How Modern Art Came To America.” This war was not between military forces but a cultural war combating America’s distaste for the emerging modernism that had flourished in Europe in the early decades of the 20th century.

Keep ReadingShow less