Otie Smith has lived in Liberty for 30-years. In 1967, when his daughter was born, “They wanted big dollars to take pictures of her. So I decided to buy a camera and take pictures myself.” His first camera was a Miranda from a designer in Japan, who later went on to design the popular lightweight camera Olympus 01. He still has an Olympus 01. Self-taught, he used to photograph weddings but moved on to taking mostly wildlife photos. Until about 4-years ago, he used solely film but has recently switched to digital photography. Both types are in this exhibit. He enjoys taking photos of the Maine coast, Mt. Katahdin, Acadia National Park, and many locations around the Liberty area. All of Otie’s 8.5 x 11-inch photographs displayed at the library are for sale. Framed are $30. Unframed are $20. Be sure to look through his album of 70 more photographs while you’re visiting.

Session added* – Mar. 27 – Being Mortal : Medicine and What Matters in the End by Atul Gawande. Contact Barbara Worcester if you want to join this discussion so we can order enough books.
*Please note this is not part of the series provided by the Maine Humanities Council. The library is doing this one independently.

Let’s Talk About It is a group for people who want to talk about books. The books and facilitator, John Zavodny, will be provided by the Maine Humanities Council in collaboration with the Maine State Library. We will meet Wednesdays for five sessions. All sessions will begin at 7:00pm at the library for approximately 90 minutes.

Exploring Human Boundaries: Literary Perspectives on Health Care Providers and Their Patients. A disease or a sick person? Health care professionals do not always focus on what is most important to the patient and the patient’s family. These classic 20th-century accounts of illness, death, and dying dramatically illuminate these complex issues.

• Sep. 26 – The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman
• Oct. 24 – The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
• Nov. 28 – The Plague by Albert Camus
• Jan. 23 – The Diving-Bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby
• Feb. 27 – W;t by Margaret Edson
• Mar. 27 – Being Mortal : Medicine and What Matters in the End by Atul Gawande 

For more information about the books and the program.

Books for those who signed-up are available. Stop by the library to pick them up. There are a few extra. If you want to participate in the book discussion, contact bworcester@liberty.lib.me.us.

It is that time of year to get those knitting needles clicking and those crochet hooks looping so we may again provide warm hands and heads around our community.  We are collecting children’s mittens (small sizes are most needed) for the Walker School and small sized mittens and hats for  WaldoCAP Headstart.  Our adult hats and cowls go to the Belfast Soup Kitchen and to the TRIAD program which distributes warm winter clothing to our senior citizens in need. There is free yarn for this project in the library along with a basket for the finished mittens, hats, and cowls.  We thank you so much for your continued support!

Simple 2-needle mittens: 3-4 yrs,  4-6 yrs, & 6-8 yrs.
A simple pattern for hats can be found here. Another Stockinette Watch cap pattern.

We also collect yarn and needles for Jen Gunderman who delivers these to organizations assisting New Mainers transitioning to life in Maine. They in turn make hats and mittens for other refugees who are in camps awaiting permission to be allowed into other countries to begin making new lives for themselves and their families.

Several knitters are getting together informally to knit and chat on Wednesday mornings at 10:00 at the library. Anyone is welcome to join them.