Photo courtesy of The Library of Congress

Ah, June. A great month for weddings, graduations, anniversary parties, family reunions, and other social gatherings. Events such as these often call for a colorful banner to herald the occasion. But printing a banner can be difficult and expensive. No worries. The Darien Library is here to help. Our hp designjet printer, located in our Small Office Home Office (SoHo) center on the Lower Level, can print out banners up to 24 inches wide and as long as you want. The preferred file formats are .pdf and .jpg. We charge $2/square foot for banner printing and offer 24-hour turnaround.

Have something in mind you'd like us to print for you? Just email Judy Sgammato at jsgammato@darienlibrary.org or call 203-669-5256. We'll be glad to lend a hand!

See you @ the Library!

Darien High School Class of 1954 Reunion

Darien High School Class of 1958 Reunion

Darien High School Class of 1959 Reunion

Darien High School Class of 1960 Reunion

Darien High School Class of 1962 Reunion

Darien High School Class of 1963 Reunion

Darien High School Class of 1966 Reunion

Darien High School Class of 1967 Reunion

Darien High School Class of 1971 Reunion

Darien High School Class of 1978 Reunion

Darien High School Class of 1981 Reunion

Darien High School Class of 1985 Reunion

Note: Bold type indicates that the website is hosted by the Darien Library.

If you belong to a Darien nonprofit community organization and would like to have your organization's website hosted by the Darien Library or listed here, you are invited to contact Darien Community Information Network, c/o Darien Library, 1441 Post Road, Darien, CT 06820, 203-655-1234, Email: webmaster@darienlibrary.org

Photo courtesy of flickr user jurvetson

With May comes an onslaught of events, from crafts fairs to carnivals, art exhibits to outdoor theatre. It’s so hard to keep track of everything that’s happening! No worries! The Darien Library has the answer. Our Community Calendar allows you to keep track of events for adults, teens, and children taking place in the Library, in Darien, and in lower Fairfield County. And because it's a Google Calendar, you can automatically save events to your own personal Google Calendar with just a few clicks. If you aren't familiar with the Community Calendar, we invite you to take a look. And if you have an event of interest to the Darien Community, please let us know. We would be happy to add your event to the Community Calendar. Send an email with the Who, What, When, and Where to Judy at jsgammato@darienlibrary.org or call her at 203-669-5256.

See you @ the Library!

Photo courtesy of flickr user Guillermo Esteves

With the growing popularity of eReaders, including Amazon's Kindle, Barnes and Noble's Nook, Sony's Reader, and Apple's iPad, to name a few, more and more of our members are looking for free sources of audiobooks and eBooks. If you're looking for the latest best-seller, these sites won't work for you, but if you're a student, researcher, or general reader looking for a classic piece of literature or, perhaps, a particular issue of Life Magazine from the year you were born, you're in luck. Enjoy!

•  AudioBooksForFree - Audiobooks only. Children's and classics. Filters available to narrow your search. Preloaded audiobooks, hard drives, CDs/DVDs available for purchase.
• Escholarship - Open-access scholarly publishing site from the University of California. Good for scholarly research. Downloads in pdf format.
• Google Books - Older issues of magazines, non-fiction (including health, self-help, and computers), and classics. Good for students. Log in to your Google account to create a personal bookshelf and to share your picks with friends.
• Internet Archive -Videos, music, books; classical literature. Includes a database of federal cases. Check out the WayBack Machine to explore archived web content.
• ManyBooks - Over 26,000 free ebooks, available for download in 25 different formats.
• Memoware - Eclectic mix. Good basic information on eBook formats.
• Online Books Page - University of Pennsylvania-sponsored site. Over 35,000 works in English. To be included, a work must meet 3 criteria: be legitimately available for free; be full-text; and be available in a stable, well-formatted standard format (html, pdf, plain text)
• Oxford Text Archive - Thousands of scholarly texts in over 25 languages.
• Project Gutenberg - E-books and audiobooks. Think classics--Austen, Dickens, Thackeray. Download entire CDs/DVDs. Digitized sheet music, too.
• Scribd -Social networking publishing site; original content.
• Wikibooks - free textbooks and cookbooks.

See you @ the Library!

Image courtesy of Flickr user blmurch.

Tick, tick, tick...April 15 is fast approaching and our number one question on the 2nd Floor is, "Tax forms?" Right behind that is, "Do you have extension forms?" The answer, of course, is yes! All tax forms, including state and federal extensions, are available in our Collaborative Reference Area on the 2nd Floor. We're here to help you beat the deadline!

Did you know that the very first form of income tax was implemented in 1862, to support efforts during the Civil War? Our modern system was established almost 100 years ago, in 1913. Today, the government collects over $1 billion in taxes annually from over 300 million Americans. What does all this money buy? Highways and bridges, environmental research, consumer protections, border security, scientific and medical researh, defense here and abroad, police services, and education funding, among many other benefits.

Just in case you're so strapped for time that you can't stop by, click here for extension forms you can print right now: Federal and State. Many happy returns!

For the next four weeks, Fridays mean Finance at Darien Library, with a new series of drop-in technology classes taught by our Knowledge & Learning Services librarians. We’ll be providing hands-on instruction and plenty of time for Q&A. These sessions are free, open to the public, and take place from 12 to 1 PM at the reference area computers on the Second Floor. Registration is not required, so please join us!

On March 5, we’ll talk about the Ins and Outs of Income Tax Forms; our paper forms have been flying off the shelves and we’ll show you reproducible and online forms, as well as information about where to get fast, free, expert local tax help.

March 12 will cover the confusion around the credit information you’re entitled to by law…where is the ONE legitimate place to get this, absolutely free? On March 19, we’ll be talking about How to be a Confident Consumer online. How do you know a site is safe? What if it isn’t? We’ll tell you! Then, on March 26, join us to learn about Value Line, one of our most useful financial resources here at the Library.

Along with the classes, we’ll be posting resource guides, podcasts, and screencasts on the Darien Library website every week. There is so much going on in March at Darien Library, but you really can’t afford to miss Finance Fridays – see you there!

Photo from Flickr user stopnlook.

Photo: flickr user adamtbailey

Have questions?  We've got [mobile] answers!

You can now text us your questions from your mobile phone to: 203-665-8398

We're proud to offer this in addition to our phone, IM, E-mail, and our face-to-face reference services.  Are there any other ways we can answer your questions?  Let us know by leaving a comment.

Photo courtesy of flickr user phool4XC

The answer to this frequently asked question is "No." However, although the Darien Library does not have a fax machine per se, we do offer free outgoing fax service to our patrons. How, you ask? Through Fax.com. If you need to send a fax, just come down to the Power Library on the Library's Lower Level. The Help Desk staff will assist you.

In order to send a fax using Fax.com, you will need to have an electronic copy of the document to be faxed. You can bring your document in on a floppy, CD/DVD, or flash drive, or you can download it from your email account. If you have a printed document, we will help you scan it into the computer. Once this is done, we'll log you in to Fax.com and help you fill out the information for your fax and prepare a cover sheet, if needed. Once the fax has been sent, we can print out a confirmation for your records.

You can send faxes to any destination in the United States and Canada for free. Faxes sent outside of the United States and Canada are billed according to Fax.com's standard international price list on a per-minute basis in one-minute increments, and these charges are added to your Library account as a fine. If you need to send a fax to an international destination, check with the Help Desk staff first. We will look up the pricing for you.

More questions? No problem. Just call the Help Desk at 203-669-5238, and we'll do our best to answer them!

See you @ at the Library!

Enhanced-Vision Workstation

Job #1 for the Darien Library is providing excellent customer service to all of its patrons. Now, thanks to a generous contribution from The Darien Lions Club, we are able to extend a helping hand to those among our patrons who are vision-impaired. Located on the Library's second floor within easy reach from the elevator, our new Enhanced-Vision Workstation is well-equipped to meet a wide range of visual impairments.

The workstation consists of a Dell Optiplex 760 computer, a 24-inch monitor, a Topaz magnifier with hand and foot controls, stereo speakers, and a portable scanner. The Topaz magnifier allows the user to enlarge printed material for easy reading on the attached monitor. The Dell computer has a variety of specialized software installed, including ZoomText, which allows the user to magnify and/or highlight the information displayed on the monitor, and OpenBook, which can be used to scan and to read aloud printed material. Vision-impaired individuals can browse the Internet, check the Library's catalog and web site, read a book, watch movies, and more. The portable scanner provides access to more personal printed materials, such as bills and letters, all of which can be scanned in and magnified or read aloud. Headphones are provided for privacy.

If you or someone you know is vision-impaired and would like to use this special equipment, please call the Help Desk at 203-669-5238.