Adult Services

On Saturday, February 4, 2023 at 1:00 pm the library will be screening the film Paper & Glue for this year’s Camden Conference.

“For French visual artist JR, the world is his canvas. Taking on the moniker of a photograffeur (French for a photographer/graffiti artist), JR’s large-scale mural portraiture has adorned streets from Paris to Rio, and was memorably captured in his 2017 Academy Award®-nominated collaboration with French New Wave icon Agnes Varda, Faces Places.

With his follow up Paper and Glue, JR turns the camera on his own work, as he undertakes massive installation efforts on the US-Mexico border, inside the favelas of Rio de Janeiro, on the courtyard of a supermax prison, and more. In each location, JR captures images of residents of these unique communities and memorializes them in striking, massive, black-and-white photo installations, in the process turning some of the most provocative spaces of the world into eye-catching immersive art that challenges perspectives and unites communities.” —Cara Cusumano

If you have questions about the Camden Conference events, please contact Mike Carnes at 846-4763 or email mcarnes@yarmouthlibrary.org.

On Wednesday, February 15, at 7:00 pm the library will screening a film for this year’s Camden Conference: Sustenance

“Sustenance is a feature-length documentary about food’s journey around the world, exploring controversies revolving around food and its interconnectedness with justice, climate change, and sustainability.

Breaking bread during a reunion, a group of friends become curious about the sustainability of their eating regiments. They instigate a challenge and send the filmmaker on a quest to investigate the credibility and ethicality of their eating ideologies. The friends come from different backgrounds and live in Toronto, Canada; a multicultural megalopolis. What follows takes the filmmaker on a global odyssey, far beyond the borders of Canada. As she digs deeper she realizes the inconvenient truths not only about the environmental catastrophes caused by our dependence on mainstream food production methods, but also by the cataclysmic social justice impact of our eating habits in the global south. 

During her quest for Sustenance the filmmaker comes vis-à-vis the inevitability of our reliance on animal-source foods if we want to tackle the sustainability problem and live harmoniously with the other sojourners of our planet. She meets some of the most renowned contemporary food activists that elucidate this critical concept and provide their solutions; figures such as Lierre Keith, Allan Savory, Joel Salatin, Nora Gedgaudas, and Derrick Jensen. 

The documentary unfolds many popular myths on topics such as plant-based diets, healthy and nutritional foods, ethical eating, food politics, industrial agriculture, and how to attain a sustainable lifestyle. Sustenance focuses on an outspoken socio-political approach to discovering where our food really comes from and how it genuinely affects the health of other people, other species, and ultimately our planet. While the documentary’s content focuses on an informative yet shocking look at the history of food politics, the meditative cinematic journey around the world allows spectators to reconnect with nature and Earth’s sustenance.” – from https://sustenancemovie.com/

If you have questions about the Camden Conference events, please contact Mike Carnes at 846-4763 or email mcarnes@yarmouthlibrary.org.

Our participation in the Camden Conference closes with a Zoom lecture from Dr. Lori Sussman on Thursday, February 23 at 6:00 pm.

Her talk is entitled “How Mainers and Maine small businesses can stay aware of and fend off cyber threats from actors like Russia, North Korea, and Iran.” In the coming year, the United States and its allies will face an increasingly complex and interconnected global security environment marked by the growing specter of great power competition and conflict, while collective, transnational threats to all nations and actors compete for our attention and finite resources. Dr. Sussman will provide a glimpse of both nation-state and transnational criminal threats via cyber crime. She will discuss the growing threats that are increasing in number, scale, and sophistication. These cyber attacks fuel a virtual ecosystem that threatens to cause greater disruptions of critical services worldwide. These nation-states and cyber criminals are driven by their strategic interests, the promise of large profits, reliable safe havens to operate, and the decreasing technical barriers to entry for new actors.

Dr. Lori Sussman, Ed.D., is an Assistant Professor of Technology and Cybersecurity at the University of Southern Maine. She was part of the fourth class at the United States Military Academy to admit women and is a West Point graduate. Dr. Sussman retired from the U.S. Army as a highly decorated colonel. Her military leadership experiences include 15th Regimental Signal Brigade Commander, 2nd Infantry Division Battalion Commander/CIO/G-6, Presidential Communications Officer, Joint Staff J-6 Executive Officer, and Assistant to the Army Chief of the Staff, among many demanding tactical assignments. Upon leaving service, Dr. Sussman spent time in large and small companies, most notably Cisco Systems and HPE. She is also an entrepreneur, having created several consulting businesses. In these varied roles, Dr. Sussman has managed a spectrum of highly complex organizations engaged in developing, integrating, deploying, and sustaining state-of-the-art technology and security solutions for clients. The Epsilon Pi Tau Technology Honor Society Awarded Dr. Sussman with the Warner Minilecture Award in 2020 and 2021 for her research about Cybersecurity Ambassadors. In 2021, Governor Mills named Dr. Sussman as one of eleven veteran aides-de-camp. Her research areas include cybersecurity education, cybersecurity training and awareness, gender equity in technology and cybersecurity, and technology and cybersecurity leadership.

Register for the Zoom link.

If you have questions about the Camden Conference events, please contact Mike Carnes at 846-4763 or email mcarnes@yarmouthlibrary.org.

Join us for our February READ Journaling Challenge, a great way to build a journaling habit and reflection your personal reading habits and preferences.

This month we will be using 8.5 x 5.5 inch papers to create a Reading Journal. There will be daily prompts to help you reflect on your own reading habits and hopefully diving into your reading preferences to find some new authors and titles.

If you are feeling especially bookish, instructions can also be provided on creating your own journal cover and how-tos for binding together the pages you create.

Participants are encouraged to use this challenge as a great way to build a journaling habit as well as a stronger reading habit..

Supplies and directions will be provided via email once your register (see the link below). The daily prompts will be available via email and on the Library’s Facebook page.

Sign up for daily prompts. Please contact Andi Jackson-Darling at 846-4763 or ajdarling@yarmouthlibrary.org for additional information.

The Merrill Film Society meets at the library, and occasionally other locations, to watch and discuss great films and the industry. Any and all are free to join in!

Movie Book Club
Tuesday, Feb. 14 @ 7 pm:  For this meeting we will be discussing Preston Sturges’s autobiography Sturges on Sturges, sometimes retitled as simply: Preston Sturges. If you are interested in a copy ask for Mike!

Film Screenings
Feb. 1 @ 7 pm, the rescheduled screening of The Great McGinty. Though he was a star screenwriter prior to this film, Sturges had not yet directed a movie. In order to break through, he sold the script for McGinty to Paramount for ten dollars with the demand that he be hired as director. Thus began his run of “written & directed by” credits, including classics such as Christmas in July and The Lady Eve. Join us for the screening then stay for a brief discussion after the film.

Feb. 8 @ 7 pm, screening at History Center: see Yarmouth Historical Society’s site for more details.

Feb. 22 @ 7 pm, screening at the library: Design For Living. This was Lubitsch’s first feature-length work released post-Trouble in Paradise. Design For Living is based on the Noel Coward play of the same name and features Fredric March, Miriam Hopkins, and Gary Cooper as the three points of a love triangle. The comedy kicks off when they decide to live together while avoiding any romantic entanglements. Please note: this film came out over forty years before Three’s Company aired on ABC!

Need help with a technology issues? MML librarians are here to save the day!

Contact the circulation desk to schedule a 15 minute appointment between 2 and 3:30 PM to learn how to live with all this ever changing technology just a little bit better.

Due to the close nature of tech help, mask are still required.

Join the Readers’ Circle for our Spring 2023 book club selections loosely theme “Books with a Curse:”

…a literal curse…

March 23 @ 7 PM & March 29 @ 1:30 PM

The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz

…the curse of memory loss…

April 27 @ 7 PM & May 3 @ 1:30 PM

Elizabeth is Missing by Emma Healey

…the curse of slavery…

May 25 @ 7 PM & May 31 @ 1:30 PM

Beloved by Toni Morrison

…the curse of family…

June 22 @ 7 PM & June 28 @ 1:30 PM

A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley

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