New Year's Eve & Day

Hastings Public Library will close at 3:00 PM on New Year's Eve and be closed all day on New Year's Day.

We will open again Friday January 2nd, 2009.

IT Fun

Here's a few fun IT ideas and links. I hope to bringing these to you every so often. Feel free to suggest your own IT Fun ideas too.

Edit Photos Online with Photoshop Express https://www.photoshop.com/express/landing.html It far from perfect, but it is fun play with.

http://sharethis.com/ "ShareThis" believes that sharing should be for everyone. It is becoming increasingly difficult to keep up with the growing number of web sites and social web communities. ShareThis lets you instantly access all of your profiles, blogs, friends, and contacts for easy sharing and updating. "Share This" thinks users should be in control of their online world.

So there are a couple of ideas for IT Fun. Let us know what you think by leaving your comments. Whether it's something we've blogged here or an idea you've got, we want to hear from you.

Closed Christmas Eve and Christmas Day

Hastings Public Library will be closed

both Christmas eve and Christmas day.

Library Raises Awareness about Bottled Water

During Sustainability Month in October library visitors might have noticed empty water bottles cropping up all over the library. We collected 118 in all. We were raising awareness about the waste brought about by pumping, packaging, and transporting bottled water to faraway places where perfectly healthy tap water is accessible. 30 million plastic water bottles (made from oil) are thrown away every day. The question lingers--is it time for an expanded bottle bill to place deposits on water bottles? You decide. But for those who missed our brochure here are some facts:

2 liters of water go into manufacturing every liter of bottled water.

The energy used each year making the bottles for bottled water in the U.S. is equivalent to more than 17 million barrels of oil.

If water and soft drink bottlers had used 10% recycled materials in their plastic bottles in 2004, they would have saved 72 million gallons of gasoline.

Dennis Muchmore, Michigan United Conservation Clubs Executive Director says, “Although our citizens now return 97 percent of the 5 and a half- billion bottles and cans for which they pay a deposit, they recycle only 20 percent of the bottled water containers because no deposit is required. Eighty percent of those empty containers end up in landfills or critical wildlife habitats. It’s a terrible waste.”

Art Hop

People saw the functional pottery of potter Christyl Burnett of Red Clay Pottery. She also demonstrated the art of throwing on the potter's wheel.

Local photographer Rose Hendershot of Photographic Memories took portraits with Santa by Fireplace

Immediately after the Tree Lighting Ceremony in front of Hastings City Hall, the Thornapple Wind Band was moved into The Library for a performance
Dan Googins showed examples of his photographic art. Picture This Photography

Alexander Clawson an aerosol artist using spray paint and other tools to create his art form. He loves watching the art on the trains going by with all the graffiti on them. He also enjoys buildings with murals.

Follow Up From This Morning's Seminar w/ Ehlers & Berra




Louis Berra, the Housing and Urban Development department field officer, discussed the Neighborhood Stabilization Act.

Click on the logos for links to FHA HUD help

Hope for Home Owners (H4H) program

US Rep. Ehlers to visit on Thursday 10 a.m.

U.S. Rep. Vernon Ehlers, R-Grand Rapids, is expected to visit Hastings on Thursday December 4, 2008 to discuss the federal bailout bill.

Ehlers is scheduled to be in the Hastings Library, 227 State St., at 10 a.m. Thursday with several other speakers, including Louis Berra, the Housing and Urban Development department field officer, who is expected to discuss the Neighborhood Stabilization Act.

Will be held in the community room upstairs.