Sales at bookstores jumped 7 percent in September 2009 over the same period last year, according to the American Booksellers Association. The Tarrytown-based trade group reviewed the recent Census Bureau statistics to report this finding.

“September 2009 bookstore sales are estimated at $1,580 million, compared to sales of $1,476 million for the same period last year,” reported the newsletter Bookselling This Week.

Some stores have said the publication of Dan Brown’s newest book spiked sales—let’s see how Sarah Palin’s new tome tallies up.

This is in contrast to a discussion from NYU technology professor Clay Shirky on GRITtv with Laura Flanders where he virtually proclaims that bookstores are a thing of the past. About midway (at roughly 11.13 minutes) in his interview with Flanders, Shirky says we are “starting to see the bookstore going away.”

He was someone who predicted the serious decline of newspaper adversting and the huge popularity of Twitter. ….

Reading to dogs is a perfect way to encourage youngsters to read more and gain confidence in their skills, say librarians. To this end the Somers Library invites a dog and special trainer to come to the children’s room each week and spend some quality reading time with a child one-on-one.

Shown in the photo to the right is Colton McLaughlin, 6, of Somers reading to Romeo, a two-and-a-half year old Pembroke Welsh Corgi, Wednesday at the library in a cozy pillow-filled corner. Jeanne Burnis of the White Plains School of Animal Training in Hartsdale, watches and listens to the story as well.

“Dogs are non-judgemental,” Gurnis said. “Quite simply, the dog does not care if the child makes a mistake.”

Colton wasn’t making any mistakes and seemed to enjoy the whole experience.

“He was so nervous,” said his mother Melanie McLaughlin as it got underway.

He is accustomed to dogs, just not reading out loud, said his mom explaining that at home they have two Dalmatians and one Great Dane.

Colton took at least ten minutes to find a book he liked settling on “Biscuit FInds a Friend.” It is part of the My First I Can Read series and is about a puppy, his owner and what they do when they find a duck.

“Woof! What has Biscuit found?,” Colton read from the first page with his finger guiding him along.

(Photo by Barbara Livingston Nackman, 11/19/09)

How much do you love your library? With Gov. Patterson proposing second  cut  to library  aid that will affect every community, cutting Now’s the time to show just how much with challenges from our region’s library systems.

The Mid-Hudson Library System, which covers Putnam and four other northern counties, is promoting a “2009 Thanksgiving Challenge!” They are urging every library to find  at least one supporter in the community – a trustee, friend or avid patron – and get them “to write a letter to the editor of your local paper explaining why they are thankful for your library, the online catalog or delivery system in the next two weeks? ”
The Westchester Library System offers a quick library-use test that asks questions and calculates how much—in dollars—your local library is worth to you. For instance, if you borrow a hardcover book every month, then the library might be worth $312 a year based on a figure that a book sells for $26.

Yonkers native James Gavin, center, the author of three books including his latest, “Stormy Weather: The Life of Lena Horne”, stands with his former second grade teacher Sister. Theresa Luciano, and Msgr. Hugh Corrigan, before speaking to a group of students at his alma mater, St. Mary’s School in Yonkers, this past Thursday, reports photographer Mark Vergari.

The 1978 graduate spoke inside of the 161-year-old parish hall, and told the children to “find the things they love the most” and to follow their dreams and work hard at it.

Growing up, he said he loved to read, and during his school visit he encouraged the children to do the same and said that “books would open up the whole world.”

(Mark Vergari / The Journal News )

White Plains writer Lynne Lehrman Weiner knew Sigmund Freud as a child. In fact, she says that at 2 years old she recalls sitting on his lap, not sprawling on his couch. That was in 1928 when she and her family were living in Vienna. Her father,  Dr. Philip R. Lehrman, was a psychoanalyst and student of Freud’s from 1928 -29, which explains how this happened.

Lynne was so fascinated knowing of this experience that she made a documentary with film and pictures that her father shot of Freud and his family including his wife Anna. A writer and editor, Lynne also put together a book, “Sigmund Freud Through Lehrman’s Lens”  in 2000 to tell more of the story.

Weiner, who has lived in White Plains since  1962, has  won the 2009 Gradiva Award from  the National Association for the Advancement of Psychoanalysis. (The original publisher was Psychosozial Verlag in Germany with editions in English.)

Here is a description of her work from the Marsh Agency, a literary group:

Lynne Lehrman Weiner, the editor and Lehrman’s daughter, has provided a brief but elucidating biographical introduction and has persuaded some of the world’s leading scholars in the field to write essays on the period filling out the story with local colour.

That’s the Top Ten from Publishers Weekly magazine, the definitive chronicler of the publishing industry.

This week, the magazine came out with its PW Top 10 for 2009 and first on the pile for nonfiction is  Blake Bailey’s biography of John Cheever: “Cheever: a Life” (Knopf).

Cheever, a Pulitzer prize-winning short story writer and novelist, lived in Ossining from 1951 until his death in 1982, so this book has been very popular locally especially in Ossining. Cheever  set many of his stories in the suburbs of Westchester and Connecticut. And widow Mary Cheever still lives in Ossining and their son Benjamin Cheever, a very talented writer in his own right, lives nearby as well.

The magazine’s editor describe the book  as ” a delicious biography that could bring Cheever back into the literary firmament” and adds that “Bailey offers up juicy, appalling, hilarious and moving anecdotes with verve, sensitivity and perfect timing.”

In 2007, the Ossining Public Library named the reading room in its new building on Croton Avenue in Cheever’s honor.

Three libraries in our region got what they asked for. Voters in Patterson, Stony Point and Peekskill approved budget requests from their public library on Tuesday. Here are the final tallies:

Putnam: In Patterson, voters agreed to increase the annual contribution from the town to the Patterson Library by $80,293 to $514,293 annually. The vote was yes 1,082 and no 972.

Rockland: In Stony Point, voters agreed to set the annual contribution from the town to the  Rose Memorial Library at $255,000. The vote  was yes 1,204 and no 599.

Westchester: In Peekskill, voters agreed to increase the annual contribution of the City of Peekskill for the operating budget of the Field Library to be increased by $25,000 to a total of $700,000 annually. The vote was yes 1,216 and no 755.

Authors and activists zero in selections for Veteran’s Day at a reading next Friday.  “Poets and Writers on War and Peace,” features selections by award-winning poet and human rights activist D. Nurkse and poet Frances Richey.

The Slapering Hol Press Second Friday Café Reading Series at the Hudson Valley Writers’ Center will present this fourth annual Veteran’s Day Reading at 7:30 p.m. N0v. 13.

Nurkse will  read selections from his works, including  “The Border Kingdom” (Random House, 2008)  (to the left, cover art from Random House)

Richey will be reading selections from her book of poems The Warrior: A Mother’s Story of a Son at War (Viking, 2008) which was nominated for a Pushcart Award.

Also included are readings by selected community poets and writers including  Margaret Kogan, Philip M Carr-Harris, Christina Turczyn,  Mervyn Taylor,  Gloria Lazar,  Ruth D. Handel,  Natalie Safir,  Laura Vookles, Gillian Cummings,  Michael Carman,  Terry Dugan,  Andrew Acciar, ; Gretl Claggett and Andrea Alterman.

The reading is at The Hudson Valley Writers’ Center, 300 Riverside Drive, Sleepy Hollow.. For information call 914- 332 5953.  Admission is $5 ($3 for members) payable at the door. .  A Q&Aand book-signing and wine and cheese reception will follow the reading.  Host for the evening is Cindy Beer-Fouhy.

A United States Air Force Band performs this weekend at the Mahopac Public Library. Appearing will be the New England Winds quintet with  popular, Broadway, patriotic, jazz and folk music, as well as a traditional quintet repertoire.

It’s billed as a free family event; registration is requested. Program is at 2 p.m, this Saturday. Mahopac library is at 668 Route 6.

How much access should be allowed to what other people read, see and look at while in a public library? This is clearly not an easy question to answer even though it sounds simple.

If you think it is clear issue, just read the story and comments in today’s story about the Hendrick Hudson Free Library in Montrose.

State police say the library is not helping investigators look into into the possible viewing of child pornography by a patron.

Last month police seized a computer  from this community library after receiving a complaint from a librarian that a patron may have been using it to view illegal material.  The library  has said its board members are reviewing the matter to determine how to proceed under its guidelines and state law.

Librarians have long contended that the public’s right to have access to materials should be maintained. This extends to patrons’ privacy in accessing information,  whether it is personal medical information, business research or psychological questions.  It is when the issue of pornography comes up that the issue becomes muddy.

There’s lots more to write about this and we’d welcome some insights and opinions.  Comment here or e-mail me at bnackman@lohud.com