May 17 - Communi-TEA!

Join us for a celebration of spring, a cup of tea and delicious sweets and savories. We encourage folks to bring an item of personal care to donate to our local food pantry. These are items not generally covered by SNAP funds and would be most welcome. Tea is from 3-4:30 in our Main Reading Room. All are welcome!

For more information contact the library at 354-2453 or check us out on social media and on our website.

April 30 - Thomaston Public Library Goes Live in MILS!

We are scheduled to go live with MILS, the new computer system and online catalog through Maine Infonet, on April 30! Make sure to come into the library on or after that day to get your new library card number to be able to reserve items online at mils.maine.edu, request interlibrary loans, and check the status of your patron account.

Check out our Migration page for FAQs and news about our transition to MILS.

May 14 - Let's Talk About It Book Club

The Let's Talk About It book group, facilitated by author and mentor Lee Heffner, will meet Tuesday, May 14, at 11 a.m. to finish the "The Civil War: Fiction" series with The Widow of the South by Robert Hicks.

From the publisher:

"Carnton Plantation, 1894: Carrie McGavock is an old woman who tends the graves of the almost 1,500 soldiers buried there. As she walks among the dead, an elderly man appears--the same soldier she met that fateful day long ago. Today, he asks if the cemetery has room for one more.

"Based on an extraordinary true story, this brilliant, meticulously researched novel flashes back to 1864 and the afternoon of the Civil War. While the fierce fighting rages on Carrie's land, her plantation turns into a Confederate army hospital; four generals lie dead on her back porch; the pile of amputated limbs rises as tall as the smoke house. But when a wounded soldier named Zachariah Cashwell arrives at her house, he awakens feelings she had thought long dead--and inspires a passion as powerful and unforgettable as the war that consumes a nation."

These discussions are always thought-provoking and lively, and we welcome anyone to join for one book or the whole series! Light refreshments are served.

Next month, we will begin a new series: "Where Am I? The Individual and the Community" which will explore a variety of community structures and the effects they have on individuals, beginning with reading and discussing Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe on June 11. Copies will be available to borrow at the library. For more information, please contact the library at (207) 354-2453.

May 20 - Resilience: The Biology of Stress & the Science of Hope

We are proud to host the showing of Resilience: The Biology of Stress and the Science of Hope, a one-hour documentary that delves into the science of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and the birth of a new movement to treat and prevent toxic stress. One of the leading causes of everything from heart disease and cancer to substance abuse and depression, extremely stressful experiences in childhood can alter brain development and have lifelong effects on health and behavior.

But, as experts and practitioners profiled in Resilience are proving, what’s predictable is preventable. Physicians, educators, social workers and communities are daring to talk about the effects of abuse and neglect, domestic violence, divorce, parent in jail, and substance abusing parents. Using cutting edge science, they are helping the next generation break the cycles of adversity and disease.

Film will be shown at 5 pm, and discussion led by Patrick Walsh of Midcoast Resilience Project will follow. Light refreshments will be served.  For more information please contact Patrick Walsh at 338-2200, resilience@brmaine.org or the library at 354-2453.