Thankful for the Library and Year-End Gift Giving
Library Champion,
The library will be closed this and next week until December 7th. Materials can be returned into our book drop at any time.
The Pennsylvania legislature passed and Governor Wolf signed the 2021 budget that gives libraries full funding! House Appropriations Chairman Stan Saylor is a strong supporter of public libraries and the role that they play in supporting communities and all ages particularly during these challenging times. He is a library champion, and has been pushing hard to support libraries for the last two years.
We have received word directly from Chairman Saylor that the second half of the state budget will be flat-funded for the public library subsidy, library access, and libraries for the blind and physically disabled! The State Library will have a 1.8% cut in their budget line as most state agencies are being asked to cut their general governmental operations numbers. Overall, I am thrilled to share this news that public libraries weren't cut in the budget!
Here is one book I am reading and some books I just ordered.
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The third rainbow girl: the long life of a double murder in Appalachia by Emma Copley Eisenberg (New Adult Nonfiction)
Fans of True Detective and prolonged mysteries set in small towns will enjoy The Third Rainbow Girl. Eisenberg tells two interwoven stories that span three decades in heavily forested Pocahontas County, West Virginia. The first—and by far the more interesting—story centers on the unsolved 1980 murders of two young women whose bodies turned up in a clearing after they were shot while hitchhiking to a festival known as the Rainbow Gathering. Alarming rumors quickly spread about local farmer Jacob Beard, who went to prison for the Rainbow Murders 13 years later. Then Charlie Rose and 60 Minutes II, having heard that serial killer Joseph Paul Franklin had confessed to the crimes, started poking around, and a judge granted a new trial for Beard, whom a jury found not guilty. Alleging police misconduct and malicious prosecution, Beard sued and was awarded nearly $2 million. Eisenberg learned of the murders while working for an anti-poverty program in the area after graduating from college, and she reconstructs the case with a brisk pace and a keen sensitivity to a Gordian knot of kinship and other ties that posed challenges for the police and suspects alike. The author’s compelling second story is, in effect, a memoir of her coming-of-age in Pocahontas County. Several themes link the true-crime and memoir sections—including how we distinguish lies from the truth—and a related set piece explores the stereotypes of Appalachians as either “noble and stalwart” mountaineers or “profligate” and “amusing” hillbillies. With access to Beard and other key figures, Eisenberg avoids both perils and offers a nuanced portrait of a crime and its decades long effects. -
New books that I ordered and have released: Murder of Innocence by James Patterson, No Time Like the Future: An Optimist Considers Mortality by Michael J. Fox, and A Promised Land by former U.S. president Barack Obama, which will likely be on the NYT best sellers list for a long time.
The new books show as "on order," so you can click Place Hold and be on the list to get it once its ready. Look those books up and more by browsing our online card catalog.
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Your support ensures that a library card is incredibly valuable and remains free.
Year-End Gift Giving
Currently, individuals who make cash contributions to publicly supported charities are permitted a charitable contribution deduction of up to 60% of their adjusted gross income (AGI). Contributions in excess of the 60% AGI limitation may be carried forward in each of the succeeding five years. The CARES Act suspends the AGI limitation for qualifying cash contributions and instead permits individual taxpayers to take a charitable contribution deduction for qualifying cash contributions made in 2020 to the extent such contributions do not exceed the taxpayer’s AGI. Any excess carries forward as a charitable contribution that is usable in the succeeding five years. Contributions to non-operating private foundations or donor-advised funds are not eligible for the 100% AGI limitation.
Regardless of the time of year, it is always a good time to donate to the library. Planned giving and recurring donations ensure your gift keeps on giving. During this season of thankfulness and cheer, remember or honor a loved one through a gift to the library.
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Your library misses you. We wish you and your family health and wellbeing during these (and all) times.
Vince
P.S.- You don't need to make an account or jump through any hoops to be a library champion. I wouldn't say this if it wasn't true. You can make this happen in less than a minute. Just click here.