Library Renewal 2021

Thanks to our amazing and generous community, we have achieved our $100,000 fundraising goal for the Library Renewal Project!  

Heartfelt thanks go out to the PeachPit Foundation, to the Cumello, Eames, Howe, and Mueller families, and to our incredible community of businesses and individuals who stepped up to support this project. We could not have done this without each and every one of you. 

With the matching funds in place, the Connecticut State Bond Commission gave final approval this week to a $147,000 grant to complete this project. We would like to thank Laura Francis and all of the town and state officials who worked with us to make this happen.

French Conversation Group

Calling all French speakers! Expand your speaking skills by practicing the language in a welcoming atmosphere. Open to all levels of speakers. Facilitated by native French speaker Simone Howe. Meets monthly on the first Thursday of the month on Zoom. Regular participants will receive a link to the Zoom meeting. If this is your first time please email lredfield@durhamlibrary.org to receive the Zoom link for the online meeting. See you there!

Next meeting Thursday, August 5 from 5:00 – 6:30 p.m.

Generous Gift Supports Children’s Services at the Durham Public Library

The Durham Public Library is pleased to announce that they have received a generous donation which has been used for the purchase new furniture, shelving, and preschool playthings in the Children’s Department.

Charles Cumello of Durham, who is President and CEO of Essex Financial, has been a longtime supporter of library programming for children and teens and this recent donation has allowed the Library to improve the function and appearance of the Children’s Room. Display shelving has been added to the ends of shelves to increase the space to display books, and the learning table in the toddler area has been replaced by a child-sized table and chairs. Lastly, the Library was able to purchase educational toys for the toddler play area. Library Director Christine Michaud states, “This donation has allowed us to make updates to the Children’s Department that will engage readers and encourage active learning.”

“The library appreciates the generosity of this gift and recognizes the impact it will have over the long term,” Michaud stated. “We want the Children’s Room to be a cheerful, interactive space for kids to explore and discover new ideas and stories. Gifts like this one are enormously helpful as we work to promote literacy and literature and strengthen our community.”

Summer reading is in full swing! A current schedule of programs at the Durham Public Library can be found on the Library website: https://durhamlibrary.org/.

Digitize Your Old Photos & Slides

Do you have boxes of old photographs lying around? Have you ever wanted to preserve them for the future or share them online? The library can help. We have a Canoscan 9000F Marc II flatbed scanner available for public use. The following materials can be scanned and converted to .jpg images.

  • Photo prints (including Polaroids)
  • 35mm and 110 photo negatives
  • 35mm, 110, 126 and 127 slides

The scanner is available by appointment only. There is no fee to use the equipment, but you must bring a USB flash drive (thumb drive) to save your photos to. If you do not have a thumb drive you may purchase one at the library. We estimate that between 100 and 200 images can be scanned in a one hour appointment, so bring your best shots.

For additional information or to schedule an appointment, call Christine at 860-349-9544 ext. 4.