Grants and Gratitude – Thank you to the generous organizations and patrons who support our Library!


2024 GRANTS AND GRATITUDE

American Library Association (ALA) Libraries Transforming Communities (LTC): Accessible Small and Rural Communities Round #2 Grant $10,000 to cover the costs of the sidewalk expansion/improvement project

Stewart’s Holiday Match Grant – We recently received a very generous grant from the Stewart’s Holiday Match Program! Stewart’s Shops collects and matches donations from their shops from Thanksgiving until Christmas. Half of the grants are funded by the community members, and then Stewart’s doubles every donation! We will use this grant to help fund our children’s literacy outreach efforts, by providing a Birthday Book to every child at Bolton Central School in PreK-6th grade, as well as holiday books to the children of the Bolton After School Program, as well as other outreach programs.

To learn more about this wonderful program, visit their website at: https://www.stewartsshops.com/community-giving/

Read With Jenna Book Club – The Bolton Free Library was recently selected to receive 3 cases of #ReadWithJenna books from Jenna’s Book Club on the Today Show, and we are so grateful!!!! This generous gift of fabulous, bestselling books will be a wonderful addition to our shelves. We’re currently creating a special display to highlight the books!


Do you need to print a document?

Thanks to the generosity of a 2023 NOROWAL Community Contribution grant, the Bolton Free Library was able to purchase this high speed color copier. Come by the Library and let us help you with your printing needs!

COME SEE OUR NEW SIDEWALKS!

We are delighted to announce the completion of our sidewalk project!

Jesse Howard / JMB Enterprises did a great job, from demolishing the old sidewalks to putting in our new, wider, more accessible sidewalks, to include a new section of walkway connecting our front entrance area to the side ramp.

This project was partially funded by a very generous grant from the American Library Association for the Libraries Transforming Communities: Accessible Small and Rural Communities initiative

Libraries Transforming Communities: Accessible Small and Rural Communities is an initiative of the American Library Association (ALA) in collaboration with the Association for Rural and Small libraries (ARSL).

2023 GRANTS AND GRATITUDE

American Library Association (ALA) Libraries Transforming Communities (LTC): Accessible Small and Rural Communities Grant $10,000 to improve the accessibility of the Library sidewalks to the ramp

Charles R. Wood Foundation – $2,500 to support our children’s literacy efforts

Cloudsplitter Foundation  $937   For a new, improved Library Sound System and $500 for Mission Support

LARAC Arts Education Grant $1,170 for a 3 part Painting Series on Georgia O’Keeffe

NOROWAL Community Contribution $2,500 for a new color copier and additional sidewalk costs

Stewart’s Shops $500 in support of the 2023 Meet The Author Series

Stewarts Holiday Match Grant $450 Books and materials for children’s literacy

Price Chopper Golub Foundation $500 Support for Summer 2023 Meet The Author program series

Adirondack Action Pollinator Project  Pollinator Kits were distributed for Pollinator Week June 19-25, 2023

American Library Association and Carnegie Mellon Foundation We were selected to receive a BookList Reader grant from the American Library Association and Mellon Foundation. This consists of one year of monthly copies of Booklist Reader for our patrons and a Library subscription to Booklist Reader that will allow us to share digitally through our website. This subscription started in June 2023.

Southern Adirondack Library System  Construction Challenge Grant  for Air Duct clean and Duct Relocation in the amount of $4,820.   

NYSED Grant $8,324 for an outside backup generator.


2022 GRANTS AND GRATITUDE

THANK YOU!  THANK YOU!  THANK YOU!

The Bolton Free Library would like to extend our gratitude to the generous organizations – as well as individual donors – who have supported the Library in 2022.  Without your contributions, the Library would not be able to offer the many services, programs, and events that we do – and we are steadily adding new programs and events each year!  As a small public Library in continuous operation at this location since 1906,  we are faced with the combined challenges of maintaining our physical location while updating our services to meet the growing and changing needs of our community.  
  
The grants and donations we received in 2022 have enabled us to continue our mission of meeting the informational, educational, cultural and general needs of the community by offering the following in 2022:

1.  The Library supports the Bolton After School Program on Thursdays with storytime, plus other activities and classes.
2.  The Library provided each child at Bolton Central School in grades K-5 with a “Birthday Book”*.
3.  The Library also provided each child in the Bolton After School Program with two beautiful hardcover books* as a holiday gift.
4.  The Library hosted three popular Meet The Author events outdoors on the front lawn.
5.  A beautiful new circulation desk was installed, creating an Americans with Disabilities Act ADA compliant checkout area, improving patron traffic flow, and allowing greater organization of the Library’s daily operations.
6.  The installation of new windows, doors and insulation, in addition to the upkeep and improvements of the 100+ year old Library’s foundation and siding, all which have reduced energy costs and kept the Library a beautiful and welcoming structure.

*All books were purchased from Northshire Bookstore in Saratoga Springs, our closest local bookstore.

2022 Grants

Adirondack Foundation  $1,500   Increasing Children’s Literacy Bolton Central School Birthday Books
Charles R. Wood Foundation  $3,000 for the Bolton Free Library Community Outreach
NOROWAL Community Contribution  $4,000 Generator Backup Project
NYSED Library Development  $19,885   New Windows, Doors & Insulation
SALS Challenge Grant  $5,000  New Circulation Desk
Stewart’s Foundation  $500   Holiday Books for Bolton After School Program Children
Warren County Community Conservation  $1,000 to plant a native garden on the north side of the Library

The Annual Book Sale

Read below for information about 2024 donations.



The 2023 Book Sale

THANK YOU to our hard-working volunteers and the many generous book donors who helped make the Bolton Free Library 2023 Annual Book Sale a huge success! In spite of being rained out Saturday afternoon and evening, the Book Sale was a hit!

P.S. We will start accepting book donation for the next sale after September 1st.


Bolton Free Library In The Community

Bolton After School Program 2023 Holiday Book Program

We had the BEST time last week, giving books to the kiddos of the The Bolton After School Program ! The gift of books for this Literacy in the Community program was made possible by a generous grant from the Stewart’s Shops Holiday Match grant!

Bolton Landing Tree Lighting Ceremony

The weather was so bad the event was moved inside, but we still had a wonderful time! The Bolton Free Library gave away over 30 books to children of the community.

Up Yonda Farm’s Trunk or Treat 2023

October 2023 – We had so much fun last weekend at this wonderful annual event! We gave away over 300 children’s books, and a lot of candy as well.

Thank you so much to our generous volunteers and candy donors who make this fabulous community event so special

Birthday Book Cart at BCS

October 2023 – The Bolton Free Library recently gave out free birthday books to all the Pre-K through 6th grade students at Bolton Central School. The children were able to select their own books and Megan Baker, the Library Director, had a great time!

Story Laurie Summer Fun

July 2023 The Bolton Free Library and the Town of Bolton recently co-hosted the amazing Story Laurie for a mid-summer adventure Around the World in an Afternoon. Kids of all ages were delighted by Laurie’s musical, interactive storytelling.


Birthday Book Giveaway!

June 2023 The Bolton Free Library recently handed out Birthday Books to all the students at Bolton Central School, thanks to very generous grants from Charles R. Wood Foundation and Stewart’s Shops!

One of our missions is to put books in the hands of children to encourage a love of reading.


Holiday Fun

December 2022 The Bolton Free Library participated in the town festivities to celebrate the lighting of the town Christmas tree. We gave away holiday books and bears to over 60 children at this event, and had a wonderful time!


Halloween Fun at UpYonda Farm’s Trunk-or-Treat

October 2022 The Bolton Free Library had the BEST time at Upyonda Farms 2022 Annual Trunk-or-Treat! We gave out over 350 children’s books (and candy!!) to the children who attended this fantastic event.

A huge thank you to the many supporters who provided books and candy for this wonderful children’s event!

Fundraising at the Bolton Free Library


WOULD YOU LIKE TO HELP THE LIBRARY?  IT’S EASY!

There is an ongoing way to support your local library at no cost to you – if you bank with TD Bank, please ask them to sign you up for the Affinity Program for Bolton Free Library. TD Bank will make an annual contribution to the Bolton Free Library based on the activity of all participating members’ TD Bank accounts.

The Bolton Free Library Display Case

Come see our latest display!

The Bolton Free Library was recently selected to receive 3 cases of #ReadWithJenna books from Jenna’s Book Club on the Today Show, and we are so grateful!!!! This generous gift of fabulous, bestselling books will be a wonderful addition to our shelves. We’re currently creating a special display to highlight the books!

Programs, Events & Clubs






REGULAR PROGRAMS & EVENTS




CLUBS at the Bolton Free Library

Need a reason to get out of the house? Bring your favorite mug or travel cup and join us at the Bolton Free Library on the first Tuesday of each month!

Join us tomorrow morning! Bring your own mug, and we will provide the coffee and tea.

The baked goods are generously donated by the Bolton Landing Tops Market!

This is a great reason to get out of the house and chat with folks.

Come enjoy our comfortable chairs and a beautiful view of Lake George in our reading room while you relax!

April 2nd, May 7th.


Are you interested in joining our Fiber Arts Club? Give us a call at 518-644-2233 or just pop in!


Bolton Free Library Book Club

We meet the 3rd Tuesday of each month at 6:30pm here at the Library.

Below is schedule for the 2023-2024 Book Club. Everyone is welcome – and don’t worry if you haven’t read the book!


Digital Content Access

Download eBooks, Audiobooks, Magazines and more to your favorite device with the Libby app

Borrow ebooks, audiobooks, magazines, and more from your local library system for FREE! All you need is your library card.

Libby is the library reading app by OverDrive, loved by millions of readers worldwide.

Visit libbyapp.com to get started, or go to your App Store and search for the Libby app. The Libby App thumbnail looks like this:

Simply download the app to your phone or laptop, link your Library card (you can link multiple Library cards if you are a member of multiple Library systems), and start enjoying amazing digital content!

Questions? Call Megan or Sarah at 518-644-2233, or bring your device to the Library and we’ll help you get started!

Libby offers many unique features, as seen below.


And now library card holders have even more digital content to choose from!

OverDrive reciprocal lending with Mohawk Valley, Mid-Hudson and Upper Hudson Library Systems will go live on March 27th, 2023.  This program allows patrons to borrow select available content from any partner system’s OverDrive collection.  To access the available titles, patrons just need to add the other library systems to their accounts in the Libby app and log in with their library card.  Instructions for how to add a library can be found here for Libby, and are listed below.

Patrons can also access the partner systems’ collections via SALON by clicking on the Partner Libraries link when logged into their account.  The link is not currently visible in SALON, but should be on Monday, March 27th.