Category Archives: Adult

We have joined a consortium!

Scotch Plains Public Library has joined a library consortium called LMxAC!

What is LMxAC, and what does this mean for our community?

LMXAC stands for the Libraries of Middlesex Automation Consortium. It includes more than 36 different libraries throughout Middlesex, Monmouth and Union Counties.

You will now be able to request materials from more than 36 libraries with just your library card number and PIN!

Should I get the app?

Yes! Get the LMxPRESS PLUS app and simplify your life! With the app, you can:

  • Store a digital copy of your library card (and the cards of family members)
  • Easily search the catalog and place holds on items owned by LMxAC libraries and have them delivered to the Scotch Plains Public Library
  • View your account to see holds and checkouts
  • Get convenient access to our remote printing service!

Once you’ve downloaded the app, click the three lines to sign in with your library card number and PIN.

Let’s Read – Pride Month

Our book list comes from the Committee of the Rainbow Round Table of the American Library Association. For more information and for additional lists (and books for older children) please visit their website: https://glbtrt.ala.org/rainbowbooks/. We thank the librarians who have taken the time to select these titles each year.

Picture Books and Books for Lower Elementary Age

Calvin by JR and Vanessa Ford
Grandad’s Camper
by Harry Woodgate
Born Ready
by Jodie Patterson

Daddy & Dada by Ryan Brockington & Isaac Webster
Fred Gets Dressed by Peter Brown
The Little Library by Margaret McNamara

Chapter Books & Middle-Grade

The Anti-Book
by Raphael Simon
Cattywampus by Ash Van Otterloo
The Deepest Breath by Meg Grehan
Frankie & Bug by Gayle Forman
Meow or Never by Jazz Taylor
Too bright to See by Kyle Lukoff.

The Insiders by Mark Oshiro
Hazel Bly and the Deep Blue Sea by Ashley Herring Blake
Almost Flying by Jake Maia Arlow

Books for Teens

Zara Hossain is Here by Sabina Khan
This Poison Heart by Kalynn Bayron
Surrender Your Sons by Adam Sass
Each of Us a Desert
by Mark Oshiro
Blazewrath Games by Amparo Ortiz

Books for Adults

Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters
Sorrowland by Rivers Solomon
Stone Fruit by Lee Lai

Lambda Literary Awards 2022 Finalists

The Five Wounds
by Kirstin Valdez Quade
Rainbow Milk by Paul Mendez
Blue Skinned Gods by SJ Sindu

Lamda Literary Awards

U.S. Daily Newspapers

Proquest Major Dailies database is a great way to search for articles from The New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, and Chicago Tribune. Coverage spans from the 1980s to today.

Do you just want to read today’s papers

Do you just want to read today’s papers? Login, then return here to use these quick links to read articles in today’s edition of each individual paper:


These links are also found on our Magazine and Newspaper resources page.

NJ Makers Day: “Try This” Display

The statewide celebration of NJ Makers Day officially starts tomorrow, but we’ve enjoyed celebrating it all week. To help keep your creative energy going, we’ve put up a display of books that are full of activities you might want to try. Stop by the Adult Room to check out the display. We’d love to hear about your creative interests and how we can help fuel them!

Lichens

On March 21 we hosted a virtual talk by lichenologists Jessica Allen, Phd and James Lendemer, Phd. If you missed it, or want to revisit it, the recording is provided here from our YouTube channel.

Some further resources can be found below. Let me know if you find additional information of interest to lichen enthusiasts!

-Jennifer


Books

Urban Lichens: A Field Guide for Northeastern North America, by Jessica Allen and James Lendemer: this is a great introduction to the world of lichens and the varieties that can be found in our area. Pick it up and you’ll soon be identifying the major types and most familiar species of lichen.


Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds, and Shape Our Futures by Merlin Sheldrake – while primarily about fungi, this vividly written and entertaining book includes a chapter on lichens. (“The closer we get to lichens, the stranger they seem.”)


Articles & Papers

lichens photo by Margaret Roach

“Your Garden Isn’t Winding Down: It’s Still Lichen Season”: this New York Times article by Margaret Roach is a nice profile of Jessica and James and a good overview of lichens. If the website shows a paywall, you can read the text here.


Lichen Checklist

An Annotated Checklist of Lichens Reported from New York City Since 1968“: this is a paper published by Jessica Allen in the Memoirs of the Torrey Botanical Society (2020).



Gardens and Societies

  • Philadelphia Botanical Club – sponsors field trips to wild areas and gardens in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware and workshops on botanical topics.
  • Torrey Botanical Society – the oldest botanical society in the U.S. holds Zoom lectures for plant lovers and botanists.

Citizen Science

iNaturalist is an easy-to-use app that lets you upload a picture of any wild plant, animal–or lichen!. Your contributions can create research quality data for scientists who are working to better understand and protect nature. Every observation becomes part of a growing record of Earth’s biodiversity.

You can also view what others have seen in your area! Wondering if Smokey-eyed Boulder Lichen (Porpidia albocaerulescens) has been spotted in our area? Use the Explore option to find out! (Yes, it has!)

Here’s a great introduction to getting started with iNaturalist.

See our previous Citizen Science post for more projects!

NJ Makers Day: Plarn

What is plarn? It’s plastic yarn, often made from plastic bags, and it can be used in lots of ways. If you knit or crochet, you can make pot scrubbers, coasters, or reusable tote bags. Some people collect enough plarn to make sleeping mats for the homeless since they’re easy to clean and don’t get soggy. But you can also make decorations like pompoms, garlands, or flowers; and you can even braid plarn to make a jump rope.

At the Library, we receive several newspapers every day, each in their own plastic bags, but we don’t want those bags to end up in a landfill. They come in a variety of colors, and we’ve been saving them for plarn activities. You’re welcome to stop by the Adult Services desk and take some bags to try plarn out for yourself.

Making plarn is pretty simple to do. We’ve put together instructions on how to make it from newspaper bags, but if you have a collection of plastic shopping bags at home, you can find a great tutorial on our online resource Creativebug called Make Plarn for Earth Day.

NJ Makers Day: Visit to the Community Garden

Meet us at the Scotch Plains Community Garden on Saturday, March 26 at 10:30am for an in-person Makers Day event. Master Gardener Margaret Chowdhury will introduce us to what happens at the Community Garden, and then discuss the importance of pollinators, how to prepare the garden bed for planting and how to properly plant a seedling.

The Garden is located at 1451 Raritan Road (at the corner of Raritan and Terrill Roads). Registration for this program is recommended.

NJ Makers Day (Week) Peeps Diorama Challenge

Our celebration of New Jersey Makers Day (Week) is here! Window Star kits are at the Adult Services desk if you’d like to pick one up. There are a few displayed in the library as well for inspiration.

Another featured activity this week is the Bookish Peeps Diorama Challenge – recreate a scene from a book, but include at least one marshmallow Peep in your design. This is an all-ages challenge, but if you’d like a kit (Peeps and some craft supplies included), register here and pick it up at the Youth Services Desk.

Return your diorama by Saturday, March 26 – we can’t see what you’ll come up with!

Welcome to Makers Day (Week)!

Our first Makers Day project is this “Take & Make” Window Star

Make this beautiful transparent window star to celebrate the longer daylight hours!

Pick up your take-and-make kit at the Adult Services desk beginning on Monday, March 21 (while supplies last). The kits contain paper for making one star and the instructions for the star shown above. See below for some other variations you could try! All you need to supply is a glue stick.

Check our blog daily during the week of March 21-25 for more Maker fun and ideas!


These window stars are made with special transparent paper, often called ‘kite paper.’ If you have your own paper, here are the instructions included in our kits. You’ll need 8 squares–the one’s we’re supplying are six inches, but different sizes can work.

Take one square.
Fold it in half.

Fold it in half again.
Unfold it–now you have creases to guide you.
Fold each corner into the center.
Keep it positioned this side up as a diamond shape.
Fold one side into the center.
Apply a bit of glue to hold it there.
Do the same with the other side. Repeat these steps with the remaining 7 squares.

Start gluing the pieces together, one on top of the other–here the yellow is glued on top of the red.
Continue with the remaining pieces, making sure to have the folds facing up.
Tuck the final side under the first piece to complete the star.

Attach your star to a sunny window with small pieces of transparent tape, and enjoy!


Window Star Variations

These are almost endless ways to make window stars–here are a few you can try. Each also uses 8 squares.


Summer Reading Bingo: Flipster Magazines

If you haven’t tried digital magazines with Flipster yet, you might want to check it out. Our collection includes more than 80 titles covering a variety of topics: The Atlantic, Real Simple, Entertainment Weekly, Sports Illustrated, and the ever-popular Consumer Reports. You can screenshot or print the pages you want to save, and you won’t need to bundle them up for recycling day. Vacation tip: download a bunch of issues to your tablet for offline reading wherever you choose to relax this summer.

Remember, you can find the Bingo card on our Adult Summer Reading webpage, or on the Adult Services flyer display.