A monthly guide to your community library, its programs and services Issue No. 263, March 2011 Library Budget Vote The Library Budget Vote & Trustee Election takes place Tuesday, April 12 at the library from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Join us March 16 for a Budget Hearing/ Board Meeting and on March 30 for a Budget Information Session and Meet the Candidates’ Night. There are seats open on the Port Wash- ington Public Library Board of Trust- ees. If you are interested in running for a seat on the board, your petition must be returned by March 14. See page 2 for additional budget in- formation. AARP Tax Help Get help with your tax return on Tues- days from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. through April 12. Limited appointments — call the Information Desk for availability. Tai Chi Improve your balance, stamina, coor- dination and well being with Tai Chi. Registration for a 4-session series begins March 3. FOL University . .is Sunday, March 20, featuring two university professors. Story inside. Photo: Martin Brooks Jimmy Vivino and Felix Cabrera Save the dates The Friends of the Library’s popular paperback swap returns April 2 from Felix Cabrera Band with Jimmy Vivino 1 to 4 p.m. Bring your adult, teen and children’s paperbacks. Please limit the number of books you donate to 20, but On Friday, March 25 at 7:30 Felix went out and bought a har- ett, Dr. John, Lonnie Mack, Marcia take as many as you’d like. p.m., singer, songwriter and blues monica. A Paul Butterfield and Mike Ball and many others. Felix was harmonica virtuoso Felix Cabrera Bloomfield performance got him also the inaugural act at Manny’s The Friends of the Library Annual will perform with Jimmy Vivino hooked on live music. Seeing B.B. Car Wash, the renowned New York Book & Author Luncheon takes place (Conan O’Brien and Fab Faux). King, Albert King, Otis Rush, James blues club. May 13 at the Clubhouse at Harbor Reviewer Frank-John Hadley Cotton and Muddy Waters furthered In the late ‘90s, Cabrera joined Links. Guest authors are Carlos Eire said in Downbeat Magazine: “Most his knowledge of the blues, and Can- Jimmy Vivino and the Black Ital- (Learning to Die in Miami: Confessions every word Cabrera sings sounds nonball Adderley, Charles Lloyd and ians. The band became a fixture of a Refugee Boy)and Meg Wolitzer (The part of an urgent, soul-searching Chico Hamilton brought him to jazz. in Manhattan clubs, and the Black Uncoupling). confessional . No one in the In 1974, Cabrera and Arthur Italians backed Felix on his second Northeast ushers a Chicago-style Neilson formed The A Train Blues CD, Cu-Bops, Cu-Blues. Members harmonica into lyricism with such Band, one of the first Chicago-style of the Black Italians became the ease.” blues bands in the New York met- Max Weinberg Seven on Late Night Cabrera was born in La Ha- ropolitan area. In the years that fol- with Conan O’Brien. After five years bana, Cuba, where he developed a lowed, Felix experimented with the with Vivino, Felix formed the Felix love of music at a young age — not diatonic harmonica in Cuban music Cabrera Band, which recorded Pres- just for the native sounds, but also and co-led The Internationals, which sure Cooker. for Bill Haley and Nat King Cole. mixed blues and classical overtones Felix Cabrera is delighted to He came to the United States, while opening for Big Joe Turner bring his band and his old friend where he listened to the radio and and James Cotton. Jimmy Vivino to the library stage for Join us on Sunday, March 13 for the started singing along to the likes of In 1984, the outfit Felix and the what promises to be an incredible 5th Annual Edition of the Liar Show, Ray Charles, Levi Stubbs and Eric Havanas opened for James Brown, night of music. hosted by Andy Christie. Liars old and Burdon. After hearing Bob Dylan’s Buddy Guy, Junior Wells, Bobby new will be telling tall tales. Interrogate “Like a Rolling Stone,” an enthralled Blue Bland, Jr. Walker, Wilson Pick- the cast, seek truth, win a t-shirt. Budget Vote April 12 A message from your library board of trustees Last October, we got the news that the Port Washington Public Library was ranked in the top 1 per- cent of libraries nationwide. For the second year in a row, we received Library Journal’s highest rating of 5 We’RE A 5-STAR LIBRARY stars. 7,407 libraries were surveyed, and of the 258 that received ratings from 3 to 5 stars, just 85 attained LIBRARY USAGE ANNUALLY the “Five Star” designation. The 25,106 areas rated were circulation, visits, Registered Library Users program attendance and public in- Library Visits 523,970 ternet terminal use. This recognition Materials in Collections 216,885 ties in with another of the library’s Materials Circulated 446,438 milestones. In the last fiscal year — 87,517 July 1, 2009 through June 30, 2010 Research Database Searches — we welcomed more than 520,000 Program Attendance 32,203 visitors. Community Use of Meeting Rooms 2,518 Both of these achievements il- 163,542 lustrate the Port Washington Public Website Visits Library’s commitment to reaching all segments of the community with a wide range of programs and services. The library is a hub for lifelong learning, and a gathering place for all ages, both in the building and virtually. Knowing that people gather in programs, various festivals, and our the library for a sense of community, classic book collection. we’ve recently redesigned several The budget we expect to pres- areas of the building to make room ent to the community on April 12 for collaborative work and study will have a 0.96 percent tax levy in- spaces. As technology and on-line crease. The budget will increase by resources expand, we’ve increased 0.58 percent. We are able to control our offerings to meet the changing the tax levy increase by consortium needs of our community. buying with other Nassau County We offer online access for libraries, by eliminating three full- language learning via Mango and time positions through attrition, Rosetta Stone. Recently, the num- and lowering utility costs through ber of compatible devices for our conservation and green initiatives. downloadable books has increased As we implement new pro- to include the Nook, the i-products grams and add to our growing ros- Robin Ziegelbaum’s Montauk Winter and the Sony Reader, among others. ter of services, we will do our best Researchers have access to reliable to keep you informed. Please know information accessible on our web- that we welcome your comments as site through the Nassau Library Sys- we continue on our journey. Robin Ziegelbaum: Photographs, tem’s Core Collection of databases. This cooperative service means that Save the dates. March 4 through April 30 we realize savings on subscription I hope that you will review costs and that we are better able to the budget in next month’s issue, Robin Ziegelbaum writes: portrait taking and event photogra- train our staff. and attend our Budget Hearing/ “Capturing an image, freezing a phy were part of my everyday life. Our commitment to quality re- Board Meeting on March 16 and moment, playing with light, seeing I intertwined taking pictures with mains constant as we strive to pres- our Budget Information Session the faces of children through my writing my column for The Port ent a responsible budget and provide and Meet the Candidates night on lens, or the changing landscape, Washington News and The Sentinel great value while maintaining collec- March 30. The Budget Vote and thrills me. My love of photography (“Port Washington Drift”), reveal- tions in all formats, programs for all Trustee Election takes place on began as a child and has never ing the pleasures that I find in cap- ages, and remote access 24/7. Tuesday, April 12, from 7 a.m. to waned. turing with a camera the moments The Board of Trustees and 9 p.m. Anyone may vote who is at “I am a graduate of Hofstra that matter, or would otherwise go library administration rely on two least 18 years old, a U.S. citizen, University, having earned a BS in unnoticed in our daily lives. Now solid organizations for funding that and a resident of the school district art education. I enjoy photography, I am rethinking the photograph. supplements your tax dollars. The for at least 30 days. Applications for drawing, etching and jewelry de- I am curious about the effects of Port Washington Library Founda- absentee ballots are available at the sign. From my first job working on different optics on the camera and tion has supported the Family Place library’s administration office Mon- print advertising at NBC to manag- I experiment with computer ma- program in the Children’s Room, day through Friday between 9 a.m. ing Fred Marcus Photography, the nipulation of my original pictures. career counseling, the “Books for and 5 p.m., at the Information Desk photo was always the focal point. Subjects are abstracted, color and Dessert” reading club for adults with in the Reading Room, or online at “Port Washington became composition become elements of intellectual disabilities and build- www.pwpl.org. the place for my husband Zelik design and a new rhythmic result ing upgrades. Our Friends of the and I to raise our three sons; it also emerges.” Library provides generous funding became the place for me to record Meet the artist at a recep- for all ages, including our on-line Robert Lee Aitken, board president all things Port.