Belmont Literary & Historical Society Free Library

• Bowen: And now, Draco, without you, what do we do? Where do we turn?
• Draco: To the stars, Bowen. To the stars.

Ever tried to find out who your second cousin is? Or your third great aunt once removed? It can be confusing to find your family connections without a diagram. That is what this is. If you are looking to work on a family genealogy project, this could help some of those questions.

Library Board Meeting February 15th at 3:30 PM

Office of the NYS Comptroller, Alex Hipolito, will be visiting the library on Tuesday February 6th from 2 pm to 4 pm to talk about the unclaimed fund of New York State in the Allegany County area. All interested parties are welcome to come and talk to him at the Belmont Literary and Historical Society Free Library during his visit.

Looking to get involved in expanding your mind in science? Try out Brilliant.org! This site is a scientific learning site that dives into a wide variety of scientific studies in a fun and easy to understand way. Give it a shot.

Note: To set up an account you will need an email.

https://brilliant.org/

A Letter of Thanks and Recognition:

            Those of you in our community who frequent our library may have noticed a bit of a busy activity around our building this summer. Allow me to tell you what has been happening here at the Belmont Literary and Historical Society Free Library.

We had the honor of having Brandon Cline (Cline Masonry), Jake Grisewood (Happy Hill Enterprise LLC.), and Alva Robbins all work on the care and repair of our historic library. We now, thanks to their skills and labor, have repaired brickwork, a new accessibility ramp, and painted the windows and other accents of the library building.

For over a hundred years, our library has stood as a center of community and learning. With the help of Mr. Cline, Mr. Grisewood, Mr. Robbins, and their crews of laborers, hopefully our library will stand for a hundred more.

We at the library would also like to take this time to thank another of our community who is vital in the upkeep of our historic building: Nate Jefferds. Mr. Jefferds is responsible for the cleaning, maintaining, and functioning of our clock tower. Our clock is a relic of older times, fully powered by gears and gravity; it is a marvel of engineering. In fact, there is a clock like ours in the Smithsonian Museum; however, their clock is broken. Our clock tower bell tolls on the hour thanks to Mr. Jefferds care.

I would also like to mention one more person on this list of thanks. Carrie Jefferds, and up until last year, had been director of our library for eighteen years. She retired and has set off in pursuit of another career. Without her guidance, I would not have been able to take over so smoothly as the new director.

We would also like to recognize the hard work of our volunteers, Annie Tucker, Nancy Howbridge, and Wendy and Don Skinner (pictures and framing).

To all these many talented and wise people, on behalf of the library, thank you.

            Sincerely,

                        Curtis Decker, Director

Belmont Literary and Historical Society Free Library

Stories come to us in all manner of ways. One of the growing formats for literature is online graphic novels. “Scurry” is a story following a colony of mice that live in a house; however, something odd has happened. The humans are gone. Food low and tensions high, some mice set out into the wilds to see if there is anything to be found in the city on the other side.

Reminiscent of “Watership Down” and “Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH,” this is a beautifully drawn graphic novel that is full of thrills and surprises.

I would rate this as a teen and up story for mild dark elements, animal predation, and atmospheric tension.

The first page of the story is linked below.

https://www.scurrycomic.com/scurry-comic/2016/1/17/comic-01-00

I can remember when I was a kid NOT having the internet. Life seemed a more peaceful place back then. Yet, the internet is here and not going away, so we must learn and adapt. One of the hardest things to do is self evaluation in the face of this evolving technology.

Kurzgesagt YouTube video series, “In a Nutshell,” is good at presenting information in a condensed and easy to follow format. This particular video talks about how your brain and the internet, specifically the social media aspect, clash and interact. I found it thought provoking and a timely topic for discussion. I hope you find it interesting and helpful.

Curtis Decker, Director of the Belmont Free Library

YouTube video Kurzgesagt in a nutshell, “The Internet is Worse Than Ever – Now What?”

(Image of the Dungeons and Dragons logo)

Welcome to 2024, Year of the Dragon! Inspired by this year I thought we would open with a Dungeons and Dragons starter kit. Ever wanted to play DnD but felt unsure where to begin? Try out these helpful links. (You can also check these links out on our library Facebook page).

Character Sheet:
chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://media.wizards.com/2022/dnd/downloads/DnD_5E_CharacterSheet_FormFillable.pdf

DnD Official Website:
https://dnd.wizards.com/resources/character-sheets

Fifth Edition Player Handbook
https://orkerhulen.dk/onewebmedia/DnD%205e%20Players%20Handbook%20%28BnW%20OCR%29.pdf