Due Dates Extended

All items due between March 9-31 have been extended to April 1 due to the library closing. All items currently on hold will remain available for 1 week after we reopen to give our patrons time to pick up. All library cards expiring in March have been extended to April 30th. Since fines will not be assessed during this period, we urge you to please hold on to your library materials until we reopen! We will be updating as we know more. Thank you for your patience.

Early closing today, March 12th

Perrot will be closing at NOON today, Thursday, March 12th. We will have further updates soon about our hours in the days to come. 

Children's Programs Cancelled through 3/20

Because Greenwich schools are closed starting today (3/12/2020) through the end of next week, ALL children's programs at Perrot have been CANCELLED through 3/20/2020. We should have more details next week about the status of the rest of the winter/spring program session.

Perrot will be open its regular hours for now, but we will update on our website and social media if that changes.

PLEASE do not come to the library if you are not feeling well.

Thank you for your understanding.

Program Cancellations at Perrot

Due to concerns about the spread of COVID-19 (Coronavirus), the First Selectman has advised all Town of Greenwich departments to postpone or cancel any large public meetings or events where crowds of people may congregate. Consequently, the following events have been cancelled: Book Discussion on Machines Like Me with Greenwich Pen Women on March 16th, the Luminism Program on March 18th, and our Sing WIth Me children's programs on March 26th, April 16th, and April 30th. A decision about the remainder of our children's programs will be made shortly. We apologize for the inconvenience. Please call or message us if you have any questions. Thank you.

Upcoming Event: Talk on Luminism with Peter Layne Arguimbau

CANCELLED
MAY BE RESCHEDULED AT A FUTURE TIME

Upcoming Event:

Luminism: The Last Movement of the Renaissance

with artist and gallery owner Peter Layne Arguimbau

Wednesday, March 18th, 2020, at 7:30 PM

Perrot Memorial Library

Join us in learning about luminism, a style of 19th-century American landscape painting that focused on light and atmosphere, with local artist and gallery owner Peter Layne Arguimbau. The term "luminism" was coined in 1954 by John Baur, director of the Whitney Museum of American Art, who noticed a unique quality of light in four painters of the Hudson River School: Martin Johnson Heade, Sanford Robinson Gifford, Fitz Henry Lane, and John Frederick Kennett. Arguimbau will trace the roots of the luminist movement across history, from Rembrandt and other Dutch masters to the 20th century. This lecture is part of Arguimbau's upcoming book, Finding Rembrandt's Lost Secret: The Origin of Renaissance Art. 

Upcoming Event: Book Discussion on Machines Like Me

CANCELLED

MAY BE RESCHEDULED AT A FUTURE TIME

Upcoming Event:
Book Discussion on Machines Like Me, by Ian McEwan
Facilitated by Diane Tunick Morello of Greenwich Pen Women
Monday, March 16th, 2020 at 7 PM
Perrot Memorial Library

Meet Adam. Out of the box he is an artificially intelligent man, bought for amusement by Charlie, a drifter, and used as a lure for Charlie's crush, Miranda, a liar. Adam grows from machine infancy to intellectual superiority as he ingests research, information, and theories of business, economies, and global history. What he does not understand--and what becomes the crux of his new life--are the emotional entanglements, irrational thinking, and ethical shortcuts that define human beings. As Charlie and Miranda begin to use Adam for their own purposes, we as readers wonder how human beings and humanoids will thrive. In Machines Like Me, author Ian McEwan (Atonement) weaves the noble views of Adam into the messy lives of Charlie and Miranda. To serve his purpose, the author plots out the tale on an alternative timeline in which Alan Turning--the computer genius who introduced artificial intelligence--did not commit suicide in 1954 and is instead alive in 1982 to witness what happens when humans by origin and humans by programming collide.

Copies of the book are available for checkout at the Circulation Desk. Seating for the event is limited!

Snow Date is Monday, April 6th, 2020

Upcoming Event: Sheri Koones on her new book, Downsize: Living Large in a Small House

Upcoming Event: 

Sheri Koones on her new book, Downsize: Living Large in a Small House

Wednesday, March 4th, 2020 at 7:30 PM

Perrot Memorial Library

Perrot welcomes back best-selling author and Greenwich resident Sheri Koones with a talk about her newest book. Downsize: Living Large in a Small House shows how small houses can be comfortable, practical, energy-efficient, and beautiful. Koones is an expert on small houses, energy efficiency, and prefabrication, whose previous books include Prefabulous, Prefabulous Small Houses, Prefabulous + Sustainable, Prefabulous + Almost Off the Grid, and Prefabulous World.

Take Your Child to the Library Day

Stop by for Take Your Child to the Library Day, this Saturday, February 1st, 2020. We'll have stickers to give out, bookmarks to color, and a raffle to enter!

Upcoming Event: Author Talk with Christine Coulson

Upcoming Event: Author Talk with Christine Coulson

Wednesday, February 26th, 2020, at 7:30 PM

Join Perrot in celebrating the 150th anniversary of the Metropolitan Museum of Art! Christine Coulson will discuss her new novel, METROPOLITAN STORIES, with Page Knox, adjunct professor of art history at Columbia University, and a lecturer and educator at the Met. Couslon's enchanting novel, inspired by her 25-year career at the Met, takes us behind the scenes in the museum with amusing and poignant vignettes that reveal larger-than-life characters, surreal situations,and the powerful voices of the art itself.

Top Circulating Titles at Perrot 2018-2019

Perrot Library salutes our colleagues at the New York Public Library on the occasion of their 125^th Anniversary https://125.nypl.org/125/topcheckouts

Here are the top circulating books, movies and music from Perrot’s collection last fiscal year (2018-2019). Cheers!

Top Circulating Adult Books: 
1. Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup, by John Carreyrou
2. Before We Were Yours, by Lisa Wingate
3. The Death of Mrs. Westaway, by Ruth Ware
4. There There, by Tommy Orange
5. Warlight, by Michael Ondaatje


Top Circulating Children's Books:
1.-5. A Big Guy Took My Ball! and other Elephant & Piggie books, by Mo Willems
6. Fly Guy and the Alienzz by Tedd Arnold
7. Dog Man: A Tale of Two Kitties, by Dav Pilkey
8. Dog Man: Unleashed, by Dav Pilkey
9. The Itchy Book!, by LeUyen Pham
10. Llama Llama Loves to Read, by Anna Dewdney


Top Circulating DVDs
1. Chappaquiddick
2. 7 Days in Entebbe
3. Mile 22
4. The Girl in the Spider’s Web
5. The Catcher Was a Spy

Top Circulating CDs
1. Diamonds, by Elton John
2. The Beatles. 1967-1970
3. Beatles for Sale
4. The Greatest Showman: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
5. Classic Stax

Upcoming Event: Author Talk with Mary Calvi

Upcoming Event: Author Talk with Mary Calvi on her book Dear George, Dear Mary

Wednesday, February 5th, 2020, at 7:30 PM

Perrot Memorial Library

In advance of Presidents Day, join Perrot in welcoming Mary Calvi, a television news anchor and winner of ten New York Emmy Awards, who will discuss her debut novel, Dear George, Dear Mary: A Novel of George Washington's First Love. Based on thousands of archived letters, eyewitness accounts, and journal entries, the novel explores the relationship between George Washington and Mary Eliza Philipse, his first love and the richest belle of colonial America. This never-before-told store, hidden away for centuries, reveals the unrequited love that helped to ignite a cause that became the American Revolution.

Children's Winter/Spring Program Lottery/Program Openings

Registration cards for our Winter/Spring 2020 children's programs were mailed back today! If you don't receive your card in the next few days, please call us (203-637-8802).

Also, we still have room in our 2s and 3s Together, Fun for 4s and 5s, Stuff & Nonsense (K/Grade 1) and Spotlight programs (Grades 2/3). Please call us if you are interested in signing up!

Upcoming Event: Book Discussion on City of Light, by Lauren Belfer

Upcoming Event:

Book Discussion on City of Light, by Lauren Belfer

Facilitated by Barbara Ehrentreu of Greenwich Pen Women

Monday, January 27th, 2020, at 7 PM (Snow Date is Monday, February 3rd, 2020)

The year is 1901. Buffalo, New York is poised for glory. With its booming industry and newly-electrified streets, Buffalo is a model for the century just beginning. 

Louisa Barrett has made this dazzling city her home. Headmistress of Buffalo's most prestigious school, Louisa is at ease in a world of men, protected by the titans of her city. But nothing prepares her for a startling discovery: evidence of a murder tied to the city's cathedral-like power plant at nearby Niagara Falls. This shocking crime-- followed by another mysterious death-- will ignite an explosive chain of events. For in this city of seething intrigue and dazzling progress, a battle rages among politicians, power brokers, and industrialists for control of Niagara. And one extraordinary woman in their midst must protect a dark secret that implicates them all. As Louisa struggles with her own problems and attempts to solve the mystery of the unusual murders and deaths, Buffalo is preparing for the Great Exposition and the visit of President McKinley and his wife, which will end in his assassination. 

Copies of the book are available for checkout at the Circulation Desk. Seating for the event is limited!

Children's Program Registration Is Going on Now!

Registration for Youth Services' Winter/Spring 2020 Program Session is going on now through Sunday, January 5th, 2020. [View the Winter/Spring program schedule]

• Our program registration is by lottery
• You must have an active library card in good standing to register
• Obtain a registration postcard for the program(s) of your choice from the Youth Services Desk
• Fill out ALL of the required information. Incomplete applications will not be considered
• Address the reverse of the card to yourself
• Affix a first-class stamp (55¢)
• Drop off your card at the Youth Services Desk by January 5th
• Registration cards will be mailed back to you within a week of the close of registration

Questions? Please give us a call at 203-637-8802!

Jetty McNamara

We are deeply saddened to announce the passing of Jetty McNamara, one of our longtime Reference Desk librarians. Our thoughts and love go out to Jetty's family at this difficult time.


Jesslyn "Jetty" O'Connell McNamara (1926-2019)

Jesslyn "Jetty" O'Connell McNamara died on Thursday, November 21st in Greenwich, Connecticut.

She was born July 22, 1926 to Col. Thomas and Mary Carroll O'Connell in Worcester, MA. Jetty graduated with honors from SUNY Purchase in 1985 and went on to receive an MA from Simmons College of Library Science in 1988.

For 25 years she was the reference librarian at Perrot Memorial Library in Old Greenwich and previously worked in Reference at the Greenwich Library, Cos Cob Library, and Byram Shubert Library.

Jetty served as board member of the Greenwich Symphony, The Women's Club of Greenwich, and The Southern Fairfield Alumni Association of Simmons College. She was a devoted Eucharist Minister at Saint Catherine of Sienna Roman Catholic Church. She was also a dedicated volunteer for the Greenwich Antique Society, the Greenwich Historical Society and the Bruce Museum.

Jesslyn was preceded in death by her husband James W., who died in 1984; by her sisters, Carol Dalton and Patricia O'Connell; and by her brothers Jeffrey, Brian, and Thomas.

She is survived by her children Ann Baffico, Kevin McNamara, and Polly Loughran; by her grandchildren Meggie, Austin, and Lily Smith, Connell and Patrick McNamara, and Meg and J.P. Loughran; and by her great-grandchildren Kiran and Liam Chatterjee. She will be dearly missed by them and by her many, many friends.

Donations may be made to Hill House and the Perrot Library.

A Funeral Mass will be held December 18 at 10:00 in the Chapel of St. Catherine of Siena & St. Agnes Church, Riverside, CT

-Obituary published in the Greenwich Time, December 7th, 2019