Did you know that Durham has an electric car charging station? The charging station is located in the rear of the parking lot at the Durham Public Library at 7 Maple Avenue and can accommodate two cars at a time

Electric vehicle owners can activate the charger by tapping their “ChargePoint” card on the charger’s screen. Once activated, the driver plugs in and can recharge their car’s battery while they use the library, walk to the Post Office, or stroll Main Street. If the car’s battery is quite full, “topping up” the charge may take just minutes. A full charge for low battery can take a few hours. To finish the transaction, the driver taps their card on the charger again, and will be charged for electricity used.

The charger is administered by the ChargePoint company. Chargepoint has supplied a phone number on the charger in case of questions or issues with the charger. If a driver does not have a ChargePoint card, they can call the phone number and ChargePoint will then remotely activate the charger and will send the driver a card for future use. Visit www.chargepoint.com for more info.

The ChargePoint website has a charging station locator map to help drivers find car chargers locally and across the country. If anyone has questions about the car charger, please contact ChargePoint at the number listed on the charging station.

The charging station is an initiative of Sustainable Durham and installation was funded by a State of Connecticut Bright Ideas Grant. Durham is proud to join surrounding towns in making this clean energy technology available to CT drivers!

Looking for something fun to do in your own backyard this summer? Check out our new lawn games! We have eight new games that you can take home for a week to play in your backyard, in a park, or wherever the fun may take you!

The Lawn Games collection consists of:

• Bocce
• Cornhole
• Croquet
• Giant Jenga
• Ladder Golf
• Lawn Bowling
• Ring Toss
• Wooden Dice

To put a hold on one of the games, go to our catalog and search the name of the game you are looking for and “lawn games Durham”, or call or stop by the library!

The lawn games are made possible through the generosity of the Peach Pit Foundation and the Community Foundation of Middlesex County.

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.

Need some quiet time? Want to get some work done? Our building may be closed, but the wifi in our parking lot is always open. No need to get out of the car and no password necessary.

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/.

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.

We can help!

Click on one of the links below and tell us a little bit about what you like (and hate!) to read. We’ll email you a list of five books chosen just for you.

Children (Grades 1-6): http://goo.gl/forms/In9QHjzBoJ

Teens (Grades 7-12): http://goo.gl/forms/fM7yGG2TJu

Adults: http://goo.gl/forms/n68mgiJ48f