from the archive


Author: Kim Dorman

Kim serves as the Community Engagement Coordinator for the Princeton Public Library.

PEFF: 16th year, 16 films


We’re looking forward to the Princeton Environmental Film Festival, coming up this year April 1-10. The 16th annual festival features 16 films that explore environmental sustainability from a variety of […]


Welcoming community


Sept. 10-19 marks Welcoming Week, an initiative begun by Welcoming America, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that leads a movement of inclusive communities becoming more prosperous by ensuring everyone belongs. In […]


Engage Princeton


Mary Oliver’s “The Summer Day,” ends with the question, “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your wild and precious life?” The library wants to empower you […]

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Community partner: The Princeton Festival


To extend our community outreach, the library partners with many of the municipal, non-profit, and business organizations that make Princeton such an extraordinary town. This month, The Princeton Festival is […]

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Community partner: Labyrinth Books


To extend our community outreach, the library partners with many of the municipal, non-profit, and business organizations that make Princeton such an extraordinary town. This month, Labyrinth Books is in […]

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Community partner: Sustainable Princeton


To extend our community outreach, the library partners with many of the municipal, non-profit, and business organizations that make Princeton such an extraordinary town. This month, Sustainable Princeton is in the spotlight. […]

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Get fit at the library


"Recent studies have shown that challenging your brain, by spurring the brain to create new patterns, is an important factor in helping to keep your brain active and healthy as you age. Lifelong learning is a health club for our minds, bodies and spirits. Using this health club every day helps ensure that life will be richer, more stimulating and more fulfilling.”(BeWell@Stanford)


We’ve got answers


In addition to fielding questions about great reads, library staff members try to be ready for anything. Sometimes people just want to test our knowledge, but more often than not customers are looking to the library to answer or verify something that has them either baffled or idly curious. In a time where there is an overwhelming amount of information available the library can help people ferret out what is true and relevant. A lot of questions are ones that you might expect:
"Can you suggest an author I might like to try?"


#GOT Game of Thrones?


A common question at the welcome desk is, "I'm looking for something to read, is there anything you would recommend? It's actually a question we love to answer, but how do we do come by the suggestions? One way is crowdsourcing!

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Mushrooms are extraordinary


One of my favorite parts of sitting behind the Information Desk is the regular opportunity I get to practice my sleuthing skills.Sometimes people have a quick question that can be answered with a few taps on the keyboard but there are also times when in-depth mystery solving is required.
That being said I am sometimes presented with opportunities to practice my sleuthing skills when I am away from the Reference Desk.

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Free birds, a.k.a. Vegetarian Thanksgiving


I often hear people talking about that one Thanksgiving guest who is “a vegetarian," and the question surfaces, “What can I serve him?”  If you think about it, though, after the roast beast, most of the other dishes are actually vegetarian and vegan, because after all, it is a celebration of the harvest, and of families, and friends coming together. The roast beast is ‘kind of’ extra.


You’re uncommonly beautiful


In photographer Karen Walrond’s talk for TEDxHouston  she shared her rules for photography and life: “Look for the Light.” Her rallying cry is, “I’m wildly convinced you’re uncommonly beautiful,” and often when people come into the library, I am reminded of that: every last one of you is a shining prism of your life and experiences and that is a thing of wonder and beauty. And guess what – we have something here for you.

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An honor and a privilege


This month, at the invitation of former President Leonel Fernandez, Princeton Environmental Film Festival Director Susan Conlon and I  participated in the Dominican Republic Environmental Film Festival (DREFF). We were part of a panel discussion called "Environmental Film: An Effective Tool for Eco Education" that included key players from environmental film festivals around the world.

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Summer reading goes social


This year there are so many ways that you can participate in our summer reading program for adults (and win prizes)!  You can enter by filling out a raffle ticket at one of our Groundbreaking programs happening all summer long, e-mail a written review, upload a picture of you and your book to Instagram and tag it with #PPLreads13 so we can find it, or


Women’s history month events


On March 8, 1908, 15,000 working women garment workers marched on New York City’s Lower East Side to demand better hours and pay, an act that many point to as the birth of International Women’s Day (though that particular date was not set until 1913). In 1978, Sonoma County decided to expand International Women’s Day to Women’s History Week. The idea spread and, by 1987, Congress expanded the celebration to one month, declaring March Women’s History Month.


Flirting with a change of diet


Vegan. Despite my own vegan flirtations the word sounds almost militant to my ears. As if this change of diet should be accompanied by a manifesto, too drastic to do 'just 'cause'. Not so. There are many delicious and healthful foods that are 'vegan' and it's worth checking out our wide range of cookbooks just to see all the interesting options available. Whether you are looking for something new or contemplating a change of diet, there are a lot of ways we can help.

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