We are so pleased to be able to welcome you back to our village library. As a former teacher, I always loved autumn because it meant new beginnings. This year beginnings are more uncertain. Although we are still masking up and socially distancing, we are delighted that we can see at least part of your faces and your smiling eyes as you come inside or wave from the porch.

New Items: New items are arriving in bunches. I hope you will consult the lists of new items here in The Yardarm as well as those posted in the library. These lists are meant to alert you to what has been ordered. Book publishers have delayed many items because of COVID, and many DVD release dates have been pushed back because many films have not yet been released to the theaters. We will do our best to make the latest offerings available, and we want to hear from you if you know of an item you want us to purchase. As always, when YPL items are requested by YPL patrons, our patrons go to the front of any waiting list. I am completely delighted when I get to tell a patron that their item is waiting for them on its release date!

Chapter One Project: The YPL Chapter ONE Project is for adults as well as children. It is a virtual analogue of our "YPL Favorites" cart, but now, you can listen to the first part of a book to see if you would like to check it out. Please see the separate article in this issue for additional details.

Book Group: The book group has managed to keep going during the pandemic. We had three Zoom meetings in the spring after the library closed in March. Our "summer reading group" consisted of two socially distanced meetings, one in July and one in August, at which we talked about our summer reading recommendations. After the July meeting, we compiled a list of books recommended by the people who attended or who emailed titles. Please pick up a copy of the list or ask for one to be put out curbside for you. We always welcome new members, but you do not have to attend meetings to get a list of recommendations. You can also join a Zoom meeting just to listen...no speaking up required!

Our book for September is The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson. The author has a new book, Caste, published in August. Both are timely and beautifully written nonfiction about our shared history. Please join our virtual meeting the third Thursday in September. I would love to "see" you. Directions will be on our website or you can join our book group Constant Contact list. Just call or email for more information. Our October selection is The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich and November's is The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson. No meeting in December. Pick up a handout about the book group in the library or on the porch.

In October a book group favorite and local author, Jeannette de Beauvoir, will be returning virtually to the library for a special program involving the audience in writing a mystery. Look for more information on this event elsewhere in The Yardarm. It should be lots of fun!

Reading Room: Some Reading Room shelves have a new look. We have brought the Edward Gorey collection into the Reading Room, making it more visible and more accessible, and we hope you will sample some of the quirky work of one of Yarmouth Port's most famous residents. Borrow a book (some suitable for children) from the collection in order to get to experience Gorey's artistic sensibility and unique sense of humor. 

You can also check out passes for the Edward Gorey House museum, which is open until December, though weekends only in November and December. Check their website for current hours: edwardgoreyhouse.org

We have moved our little-used reference books into the regular nonfiction collection. The only items that do not circulate now are the Historic Collection in the Reading Room. You are welcome to use those special books in the building. We hope that those who are interested in genealogy will make use of ancestry.com, which you can find on the public computers, as well as other resources available both in the Reading Room and upstairs in the Genealogy Room.

Gale Reading Room: Finally, if you are looking for a quiet place to read, look out the window, or simply "smell the flowers," the Gale Reading Room located in the rear of the library is ready for you. It is a welcoming space for enjoying the library and browsing through our nonfiction section.

We welcome you back with pleasure and are eager to serve your library needs. Thanks to you, our dedicated band of volunteers, and our hardworking trustees, YPL is thriving!