Open a book and fly away!
 
 
 

History, hydrofracking and 21st-century electronics
coming up in January


January 21
The Children’s Crusade: The 8th Air Force
in World War II
Saturday at 11 a.m.
Fresh from first-hand interviews with war veterans and flush with rarely seen photographs of the air war in World War II, historian Cheryl Pula will present in word and pictures The Children’s Crusade: The Story of the 8th Air Force Men in World War II at the Oneida Public Library Saturday, January 21, at 11 a.m.

Pula will also be on hand to sign her latest book, a historical fiction entitled “The Children’s Crusade.” Her novel traces the lives of several American airmen stationed in England who flew B-17 bombers or Flying Fortresses in air raids over Germany. Pula based many of the story’s incidents on interviews with actual veterans of the 8th Army Air Force.

The novel is the first in a proposed series that will follow the same characters through the war years in Europe.

Pula, a native of New York Mills and the village’s historian, is the author of “Impossible Defence: The Battle of Rorke’s Drift” (2010) and a co-author of “With Courage and Honor: Oneida County’s Role in the Civil War” (2010). In 2006, Pula was named Oneida County Historian of the Year by the Oneida County Historians Association, and in 2011 she was given the Polish-American Historical Association’s Distinguished Service Award. Currently, she is the acting director of the New York Mills Public Library.

The program is free and open to the public.


January 21
Gasland: The Facts about Hydrofracking
Saturday at 1 p.m.
As New York State comes closer to permitting hydrofracking, Toshia Hance of the Sierra Club comes to the Oneida Public Library on Saturday, January 21, at 1 p.m. to present “’Gasland’: The Facts about Hydrofracking” to residents of a county likely to be adversely affected by this controversial method of drilling for natural gas.

Hance works on the Gas Task Force at the Sierra Club’s Atlantic Chapter. She has recently made several presentations on hydrofracking in Oneida County and is now doing the same in Madison County, where some municipalities are considering the advisability of a one-year moratorium on hydrofracking in the face of Governor Andrew Cuomo’s ambivalent stance on issuing gas well permits in New York’s Marcellus Shale.

Meanwhile, in Albany, the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation is still weighing the potential economic benefits from hydrofracking versus the environmental risks to the state’s water aquifers in the Marcellus Shale and beyond.

At the Oneida Library, Hance will show the documentary film “Gasland,” which recounts the cross-country search by filmmaker Josh Fox to find out the truth about hydrofracking and the industry that uses it. Following the film, she will discuss the scientific and economic facts that are currently known about hydrofracking and its environmental impact.

The program is free and open to the public.


January 24, 25 and 26
Computer Basics Workshop
Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 2 to 4 p.m.
Fritz Meeusen returns to Oneida Library with another edition of his introduction to computers, using Mid-York Library System’s 16 laptops. Class limited to 16. Pre-registration required.


January 25
The Smartphone Workshop
Wednesday at 4:30 p.m.
Got a new smartphone? Let Fritz Meeusen show you all its functions, whether for business or pleasure, and what apps are best for you.

Updated 17 January 2012

Back by popular demand
Oneida's Third Rail
with
John Taibi

February 4
Saturday at 1 p.m.

Since many railroad fans who wanted to hear his Oneida Railway presentation in January couldn't get in, railroad expert John Taibi returns to the OPL with a reprise of his show-and-tell presentation about the fabled Utica-to-Syracuse Third Rail that helped make Oneida a hub of rapid transit between 1907 and 1930.

Car No. 522 stops at the Lenox Ave. Depot of the Oneida Railway Company, part of the Third Rail system connecting Utica with Syracuse.

EBOOKS AWAIT!



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OPL Trustees meet Feb. 15
The Oneida Public Library Board of Trustees will next meet Wednesday, February 15, at 6:00 p.m. in the library's Local History Room. The public is invited to attend.

Web Catalog
Click here to request books, DVDs and periodicals on line at the Mid-York Library System’s catalog.

MYlibrary2go
Check out ebooks and audio books from the Mid-York Library System's online service, MYlibrary2go, simply by using your Mid-York library card at
midyork.lib.overdrive.com.

Database Resources
Check out the wide range of electronic databases available for free to Mid-York Library card holders: newspaper and magaine articles for general readers and for research in business, health and science as well as online encyclopedias for children and adults. Please note that the NOVELny databases will be changing effective July 1, 2010. The Gale General OneFile and Academic OneFile are replacing ProQuest Platinum. Gale Health Reference Center Academic is replacing the Health and Wellness Resource Center. See
Midyork Database Resources.

Madison County Law Library
The Sixth Judicial District of the New York State Unified Court System supports for the convenience of the public the Madison County Supreme Court Law Library at the OPL. Click on the blue heading.

The New Library Initiative
The news is out about the plans for a new library facility. Click here to check out the background and the FAQs about the exciting project.