May 1 – We pulled out our best graphic design and AI skills to create a visual map of our gardens so we could best prepare our garden designs. We cross-referenced with Burpee guides to be sure that whatever we plant will work well with its neighbors.
May 7 – Library Director Erin George asked the local Girl Scouts to create plant markers for our gardens and made plans with the library landscaper to put in the final garden bed in preparation for an end-of-the-month planting/ground-breaking!
May 8-10 – Research was done by several patrons and volunteers on fencing and other tools/things that would be needed for our gardens, like hoses, etc. Erin also researched the cost of plugs, bulbs, and plants that are already established versus seedlings already started in the conference room. Meanwhile, library children continued to keep an eye on seedlings to be sure they were watered and turned to and away from the sun as needed.
May 13 – Gay-Kimball kids had a blast planning gardens using seed catalogues and creating gardens all their own, learning more about the differences between pollinator gardens and other types of gardens.
April 17 – A regular patron volunteer removed the rocks from our cardboard and spread compost over it so that the cardboard could begin the process of decomposition. We will soon add a layer of mulch to complete the prep for our pollinator garden for now.
April 21 – Just in time for Earth Day, we held a special Storytime by inviting a special guest in to help us get seeds started for the gardens. Ruth, known to the library kids as “Nans” or “Nana,” came in to teach the kids about seeds. The kids planted sunflowers and transplanted tomatoes. These plants will continue to grow in pods in the library conference room over the next few weeks, and the children will take care of them during weekly Storytimes. The Girl Scouts, in the meantime, will also look after them. Nana left seeds, pods, potting soil, and more for other age groups to plant throughout the week, and librarians designated several tables in the conference room as spaces for our makeshift “greenhouse.”
April 22 – We had a teen volunteer come in to help us plant seeds in starter pods in our conference room for the following for our veggie garden: cauliflower, lettuce, eggplant, and peas! We were also able to help a patron with tomatoes she’d lost in an early frost by replacing them with our own starter tomatoes from the Storytime group; what community gardening is all about!
April 23 – We moved the two ten-foot container gardens outside and lined the back of the building with them. We filled the bottoms with cardboard and mulch and brought in two truckloads of soil to fill them.
Week Three
This week was all about planting more seedlings, keeping them watered, and the research. While we continued our learning in programming with books like “The Bad Seed” and “Growing Together,” we also looked toward tools like “Burpee Companion Guide” to plan our garden designs. We learned that some plants are poisonous to one another, while others complement each other, and came up with the following plans for our gardens:
The story of Gay-Kimball Library’s Community/Pollinator Garden Grant Projects through the Cheshire County Conservation District Conservation Opportunity Fund
Gay-Kimball Library
Community/Pollinator Garden Grant Project
Week One
April 8 – Erin George, Director of the Gay-Kimball Library, met with members of the Cheshire County Conservation District for a site visit to learn more about how to best proceed with the community/pollinator garden project. Experts advised on the best location for these gardens, how to go about killing the grass, when to start, and various resources that would be helpful along the way.
Later, we took before pictures…
April 9 – We met with the Girl Scouts and a member of the town Conservation Commission to discuss our project. The Girl Scouts will be contributing to the project by creating hummingbird feeders for our pollinator garden area. They will also help with some of the gardening. The Conservation Commission and our regular landscaper will be helping with trimming and is onboard with our plan for the project. He’s also walked the property and given feedback on site placement taking into account the recommendations of the Conservation District and all are in agreement on site placement.
April 10 – We began stripping cardboard of shipping tapes and cutting off any parts with inks or dyes, saving only clean cardboard to begin our process of cardboard mulching our pollinator garden. This was on the suggestion of the Cheshire County Conservation District.
April 11 – Erin talked to a local retired science professor to schedule a BioBlitz that will work well in conjunction with our community and pollinator garden projects. This event is scheduled for June of 2026 and will go hand-in-hand with our summer reading theme: Plant a Seed: Read.
April 13 – We collected rocks from last year’s summer reading project – “Kimball the snake” and saved them for repurposing to hold down the cardboard we’ll use to kill the grass for our pollinator garden. We also assembled two eight-foot container gardens that will be used for the vegetable portion of our community garden. We finished cleaning off cardboard for tomorrow’s Storytime group, who will begin the process of killing grass through cardboard mulching. We also created signs to let the community know of the beginnings of our project. Lastly, we started this day-by-day record.
April 14 – We worked with 20-plus Storytime kids ages two to seven and their parents to lay cardboard down after our regular Pledge of Allegiance, reading of the book “Goodnight Veggies,” and a talk on the difference between fruits and vegetables, as well as a review on what pollinators are. The kids had a blast smashing cardboard and spraying it down as well as rethinking “Kimball” the rock snake into his new form as a “cardboard crusher” for our “coming soon” bee home. The kids are excited for next week, when we will meet with a special guest gardener to learn more about seeds, lay down compost and mulch, and work on Earth Day activities tied to our very own gardens!
LTC is an ALA initiative to help small and rural libraries increase the accessibility of facilities, services, and programs to better serve people with disabilities. The 300 funded proposals represent 46 U.S. states and the Northern Mariana Islands. Of the selected libraries, 73 percent serve communities with populations of 5,000 or fewer. 126 of the libraries also received funding in previous rounds of the grant initiative, bringing the total number of LTC: Accessible Small and Rural Communities grantees to 836. 16 libraries received funding in all four rounds of the initiative.
This grant will go a long way toward upgrades at Gay-Kimball Library that will help with accessibility for many patrons, according to Director Erin George. From expanding the large print and audio book sections to upgrading technology and offering new ways of getting materials to patrons with mobility challenges, the LTC grant will mean better access to library resources for all. “We are so excited to talk with our patrons about ways we can better serve them and help make the library easier to access,” George said.
Fifty libraries will receive grants of $20,000, and 250 libraries will receive grants of $10,000. In accordance with the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) definitions, eligibility was limited to communities with populations of less than 25,000 located at least five miles from an urbanized area.
Selected libraries have identified a primary audience they wish to serve (e.g., people with physical disabilities, learning disabilities or intellectual disabilities). Library staff will conduct community input-gathering sessions with the identified primary audience to discuss accessibility in the community and library to collaboratively identify existing resources, needs/gaps and priorities. The libraries will then use the funds to create services or improve their facilities, services or program offerings based on the needs identified by their audience.
Previously funded LTC projects have included installing chair lifts and hearing loops, hosting arts and crafts programs for community members living with Alzheimer’s and memory loss, creating accessible outdoor spaces like community gardens and playgrounds and mental health programs for high school students.
Since 2014, ALA has distributed LTC funding to foster community engagement skills among library workers and support need-driven projects. LTC: Accessible Small and Rural Communities is offered in partnership with the Association for Rural & Small Libraries (ARSL).
“The Association for Rural & Small Libraries (ARSL) sends our congratulations to all of the returning and first-time libraries awarded in this final round of LTC: Accessible Small and Rural Communities,” said ARSL Executive Director Kate Laughlin. “We are excited to have representation of small and rural libraries across all fifty states and the Northern Mariana Islands and look forward to seeing projects come to fruition!”
Libraries Transforming Communities is administered by the ALA Public Programs Office. The American Library Association is the largest non-partisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to America’s libraries. The ALA mission is to empower and advocate for all libraries and library workers to ensure equitable access to information for all. For 150 years, ALA has provided resources for information professionals to transform their communities through essential programs and services. For more information, visit www.ala.org.
It’s hard to believe winter’s finally behind us! As we spring into a new season, we look back on a productive winter at the Gay-Kimball Library. From a successful book sale and plenty of cozy reads and programming opportunities like Chess Club to a hot chocolate bar and tracking event, we made our share of memories! We also had great luck with yet another grant season! It’s almost overwhelming how generous our community has been in helping to support our small, rural library this year. We are so thankful!
In March, we were fortunate to receive a $2,000 Civic Life and Belonging grant from New Hampshire Humanities! This grant will go toward adult programming aimed at the importance of storytelling and how our unique stories unite us. Between ongoing workshops and community events, this grant will help make our community stronger just in time for the nation’s 250th celebration. Stay tuned for details on a special summer event coming to Troy as a result of this generous grant. New Hampshire Humanities’ Civic Life and Belonging Grants fund events that improve civic life by bringing together community members and supporting meaningful discussion and perspective sharing through a cultural or humanities lens.
New Hampshire Humanities connects people and ideas by funding and supporting statewide programs that inspire curiosity, foster civil dialogue, and explore big questions. Learn more at www.nhhumanities.org. This is all made possible by New Hampshire Humanities, with support from New Hampshire Charitable Foundation.
Plans are also now underway for how we will use our Science Across America grant to participate in the nation’s 2.5 Million Acts of Science program as part of our nation’s 250th celebration. If you have any ideas for science programming you would like to see brought to the library, please let us know! One of the programs we will bring to the library this summer will be a bio blitz, as well as a community garden.
We are currently looking to form a gardening group thanks to a $1500 grant from the Cheshire County Conservation District. Our Conservation Opportunity Fund Grant will allow us to create a Gay-Kimball Library Community Garden in time for this year’s summer reading Plant a Seed: Read theme. This project will be for all ages, with the gardening club meant for adults, and some educational projects planned for kids. The gardening will be for all, with families and anyone in town encouraged to participate in the community garden on an ongoing basis.
With spring here, garden plans are moving fast, and we have already been approved for a large bulk donation through the Free Seeds for Education program through the UNH Cooperative Extension Program. Please call, drop by, or message the library if you are interested in joining the gardening club! We would love all the help we can get and would especially welcome help from anyone with special skills in gardening, soil, farming, wildlife, and pollinators. The more help, the better!
While it’s still a bit off, our students at Troy Elementary School will get a special visit on May 14 from Author Marek Bennet, thanks to our Children’s Literacy Foundation Rural Libraries grant! NH-based cartoonist, musician, and educator Marek Bennett leads discovery-based Comics Workshops for all ages throughout New England and the world beyond. His comics work includes the graphic novel series, The Civil War Diary of Freeman Colby, as well as drawing, translating, & editing for The Most Costly Journey (2021) with the bilingual El Viaje Project. In September 2022, both books were featured at the National Book Festival in Washington DC. Marek is the recipient of the New Hampshire Governor’s Arts Award for Art Education. His website is: www.MarekBennett.com
As always, we are thankful for our patrons, who help make the library not only a resource but a community hub for so many in town. Give us a call if you have ideas on ways we can better serve Troy and its residents!
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Our Hours:
Tuesday – 10:00 am – 7 pm
Wednesday & Thursday – 2 pm – 7 pm
Saturday – 10 am – 2 pm
Do those hours not work for you? You can make use of our 24/7 Library Lockers!
Feeling lucky? We sure are! Winter brought the library a fantastic presentation on tracking by our very own Dan Bisaccio, a friendly Superbowl raffle won by the lucky Heather B, Cupid’s touch with a hot chocolate bar Valentine social, a generous, bulk no-water flower donation by a patron, and a week-long book sale. It also brought us a SCIENCE ACROSS AMERICA Grant that will mean library programming for all ages as part of the nation’s 250th celebration.
As America celebrates its 250-year anniversary, HHMI Tangled Bank Studios and STAR Net have launched a new campaign to help libraries highlight the history of scientific achievement in our country and the local connections to science in our communities. SCIENCE ACROSS AMERICA, the newest campaign from Spark of Science@ My Library, offered this grant to encourage libraries to showcase local scientific advances and scientists, engage our communities with focused Community Dialogues, and host educational and inspirational activities that shine a light on the past, present, and future of science in our lives. We are excited to move forward with this programming, particularly with this year’s reading programming theme of Plant a Seed.
In February, we also introduced Kanopy streaming to our services! Thanks to another recent grant from the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation, patrons with active library cards can stream free movies from the Kanopy app. How lucky is that?
Last month, we had record numbers with our popular Tuesday Storytime and many requests to start a Toddler Time at the library. If you are interested in a second Storytime day or a new Toddler Time program, please let us know. We have also had interest in a tween homeschooling program at Gay-Kimball. Please give us a call if this is something you might be interested in so we can learn more about your students’ particular needs.
Up next, we will host a Lucky Leprechaun Tea with Miss MaryLee on Tuesday, March 10 at 4 pm. This program is open to kids of all ages and free of charge. We encourage attendees to dress in green for this event. A craft and a story will be included along with Kimball the snake’s lucky charm spirit.
While it’s still a bit off, our students at Troy Elementary School will get a special visit on May 14 from Author Marek Bennet, thanks to our Children’s Literacy Foundation Rural Libraries grant! NH-based cartoonist, musician, and educator Marek Bennett leads discovery-based Comics Workshops for all ages throughout New England and the world beyond. His comics work includes the graphic novel series, The Civil War Diary of Freeman Colby, as well as drawing, translating, & editing for The Most Costly Journey (2021) with the bilingual El Viaje Project. In September 2022, both books were featured at the National Book Festival in Washington DC. Marek is the recipient of the New Hampshire Governor’s Arts Award for Art Education. His website is: www.MarekBennett.com
We are currently seeking patrons interested in joining a Friends of the Library group. The commitment for this group is regular meetings about once a month and a willingness to help out in ways YOU enjoy. If you are interested in this group, contact the library, and we’ll add you to the list! The formation of a Friends group is important to the library as it expands our ability to apply for more grants, something that is working well to keep our costs to the town minimal without hurting services to our patrons.
We are thrilled that we’ve had an uptick in groups using our conference room for a variety of purposes. As of the new year, we kindly request that groups complete new forms to ensure proper use of the space. Please check in with us if you haven’t filled out the new form yet so we can give you new information and reserve those spots for you. Groups who have already filled out the new form won’t need to do it again. As always, we are thankful for our patrons, who help make the library not only a resource but a community hub for so many in town. Give us a call if you have ideas on ways we can better serve Troy and its residents!
Cupid’s calling at Gay-Kimball! As we fall in love with books all over again, we’re happy to announce great news for the library and its patrons, thanks to the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation: Gay-Kimball Library recently received a two-year, $20,000 grant from the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation. The grant will help further the Gay-Kimball Library’s mission of providing education, resources, and support for its patrons in the town of Troy, NH.
The Gay-Kimball Library’s Mission is to meet the community’s recreational and Informational needs in a creative, professional, and welcoming manner. It offers diverse resources and provides a community meeting place for people of all ages.
The New Hampshire Charitable Foundation, New Hampshire’s statewide community foundation, is dedicated to making New Hampshire a more just, sustainable, and vibrant community where everyone can thrive. NHCF is the place where generosity meets the dedication and ingenuity of nonprofits and the potential of New Hampshire students. For six decades, thousands of people have entrusted their charitable resources to the Foundation, creating a perpetual source of philanthropic capital and making it possible for the Foundation to award more than $70 million in grants and scholarships every year.
In January, we had a fantastic tracking program at our library where patrons learned how to identify the wildlife visitors to their yards! We will now be fortunate enough to conduct our own mini tracking studies at home thanks to Dan Bisaccio!
Our library also received a mini-grant from the Children’s Literacy Foundation (CLiF) that enabled us to purchase a puppet theater and puppet-making supplies for our children’s room. Our Storytime kids had fun using their imaginations to create their own puppets and meet Pete the Cat in puppet form! If you haven’t brought your kids to the library lately, now is the time to check out all the new books and resources in our children’s room!
In other positive news, and based on patron requests, we will be holding a week-long Winter Book Sale in the library’s conference room. The sale will begin on Friday, February 20 from 6 to 8 pm and run through 2 pm on Saturday, February 28. Load up all the books your heart desires in a bag for only $5!
We are currently seeking patrons interested in joining a Friends of the Library group. The commitment for this group is regular meetings about once a month and a willingness to help out in ways YOU enjoy. If you are interested in this group, contact the library, and we’ll add you to the list!
We’ve had an uptick in groups using our conference room for a variety of purposes. As of the new year, we kindly request that all groups complete new forms to ensure the proper use of the space. Please check in with us if you haven’t filled out the new form yet so that we can give you new information and reserve those spots for you. Groups who have already filled out the new form won’t need to do it again.
As always, we are thankful for our patrons, who help make the library not only a resource but a community hub for so many in town. Give us a call if you have ideas on ways we can better serve Troy and its residents!
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Our Hours:
Tuesday – 10:00 am – 7 pm
Wednesday & Thursday – 2 pm – 7 pm
Saturday – 10 am – 2 pm
Do those hours not work for you? You can make use of our 24/7 Library Lockers!
It’s hard to believe that the end of the year is already here! As the library reaches its happy ending for 2025, we look back with gratefulness for November’s events, including a new chess club, a popular Teddy Bear Tea event, the beginning of our Little Free Food Library, a condiment drive for Helping Hands, Flight Path educational programming, generous donations, and lots of laughs.
As always, our events are free and open to the public. This month, we are looking forward to the following dates:
WINTER ADULT AUTHOR VISIT: Join us at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Dec 6, for a reading, signing, and presentation by author Michael J Caduto. Caduto, author of Enchanted Night Before Christmas, hails from Vermont and will give a talk on a sweet holiday story he wrote about a family who understands the true meaning behind the holidays. This event is free and open to the public and will help put you in the mood for the holidays!
UGLY SWEATER PARTY: Saturday, Dec. 13 from 11 to 1. You bring the sweater, we’ll bring the bling! This event is great for any age and is sure to be a good time for all. A prize will go to the UGLIEST sweater, so don’t feel you have to be crafty to participate.
HOLIDAY TEA WITH MISS MARY LEE: Thursday, Dec. 18 at 4 pm. Holiday themed, wear your best holiday gear and bring a stuffie along to celebrate the season! This event is suitable for any age but geared at younger children. A snack and craft will be provided!
Moving into 2026, we are working to bring back our book club, start a newsletter, and collaborate with some special local resources like the Harris Center. Follow us on Facebook or check out our website to stay apprised of the latest happenings at Gay-Kimball Library! As always, we are so thankful for our patrons, who help to make the library not only a resource but a community hub for so many in town. Don’t hesitate to reach out to any of our staff if you have ideas on ways we can better serve Troy and its residents! We hope you have a fantastic holiday season.
Our Hours:
Tuesday – 10:00 am – 7 pm
Wednesday & Thursday – 2 pm – 7 pm
Saturday – 10 am – 2 pm
Do those hours not work for you? You can make use of our 24/7 Library Lockers!
Join us on Dec. 6 at 11 am for a reading from Author Michael J. Caduto!
Title: Enchanted Night Before Christmas
Author: Michael J. Caduto
Illustrator: Igor Kovyar
Publisher: Pelican Publishing Company (An imprint of Arcadia Publishing)
ISBN: 9781455628506
Synopsis: The Sherman family does not have very much, but they take good care of one another and are generous to others, making gingerbread cookies as holiday gifts and carefully decorating them to look like friends and neighbors. Then, one Christmas Eve, after the family returns home from delivering their gifts, and everyone falls fast asleep, something magical stirs, born in a star of snow, that will change their holiday, and their lives, forever. Inspired by a real rural tradition from the foothills of the Green Mountains, Enchanted Night Before Christmas is a timeless fantasy that reminds us the most powerful gifts are the ones we give away. (Includes a scrumptious gingerbread spice cookie recipe from King Arthur Baking Company.)
Author Bio: Michael J. Caduto is the author of more than 20 books that have been published in numerous languages, have sold over 1.2 million copies worldwide, and have received numerous awards, including the NAPPA Gold Award, Reading is Fundamental (RIF) Multicultural Book Award, Aesop Prize, Skipping Stones Award, and Storytelling World Award. His children’s books include Earth Tales from Around the World, The Crimson Elf, Riparia’s River, In the Beginning,and A Child of God. Michael is also creator/co-author of the best-selling Keepers of the Earth series.
Illustrator Bio: Igor Kovyar started drawing at the age of five and went on to receive a classical education in painting and drawing at the St. Petersburg School of Arts. Igor now works as a freelance illustrator, drawing and painting for magazines, books, advertising, and private commissions. He has illustrated more than 30 children’s books, including The NeverEnd Friend, The Magic Clock, and Nothing Kingdom.
We have so much to be thankful for at the Gay-Kimball Library this month! Looking back, we had the pleasure of a visit from an incredibly curious and bright group of first graders, a successful time capsule burial, an author visit through CLiF, a Teddy Bear Tea with Miss MaryLee, and a spook-tacular Trunk or Treat Halloween! We were also blessed with our Flight Path kits, which mean birding resources and tools for the community. For example, patrons can now check out adult and children’s binoculars for three weeks at a time to enjoy these last weeks of outdoor color. Also coming soon will be a Flight Path screening of Wild Hope’s short films about birding, bird migration, and bird safety. Attendees will receive bird tape to help our local birds migrate safely. You’ll also get bird identification cards kindly donated to the library through our Spark of Science grant.
Thanks to the generosity of one of our favorite patrons, coming this month will be the start of a new chess group for pre-teen and teen kids after school. This group will meet on Wednesdays at 4, beginning Nov. 5. This friendly group (non-competitive) will learn all about the game of chess and have the opportunity to work with an adult volunteer who’s well-versed in the game. All skill levels are welcome, including those who have never played before. This is a great social event for kids looking for a positive way to spend time during those after-school hours. This program is best suited for children aged eight and up.
We are also looking forward to the following dates:
WINTER ADULT AUTHOR VISIT: Join us at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Dec 6, for a reading, signing, and presentation by author Michael J Caduto. Caduto, author of Enchanted Night Before Christmas, hails from Vermont and will give a talk on a sweet holiday story he wrote about a family who understands the true meaning behind the holidays. This event is free and open to the public and will help put you in the mood for the holidays!
TRACKING PRESENTATION: Save the date – Wednesday, Dec. 10 – for a presentation by Dan Bisaccio, a retired science professor, on the topic of wildlife tracking. Dan will teach us how to identify animals by their tracks and/or scat. You’ll be able to tell the difference between a deer and a rabbit visiting your yard. He’ll also go over how to make plaster casts of tracks you discover in snow or on raw ground. You’ll even learn a neat law enforcement trick on how police capture tracks in the snow. We will also hand out tracking materials from NH Fish and Game for those interested in tracking at home. This presentation is free of charge and open to anyone ages 13 and up. It will begin at 5:30 in the Ripley Room at Gay-Kimball Library. You don’t need to register to attend, and this event is open to the public, regardless of residency status.
As always, we are so thankful for our patrons, who help to make the library not only a resource but community hub for so many in town. Don’t hesitate to reach out to any of our staff if you have ideas on ways we can better serve Troy and its residents!
