The Tolland Public Library Foundation and Greater Hartford SCORE’s Small Business Academy will hold a free talk Oct. 5 on how businesses can make the most of a Google listing.
Richard English, owner of Studio360.Pro in Barkhamsted, will present “Put Your Business On Google’s Map!” from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the Tolland Public Library at 21 Tolland Green in Tolland.
English is a web designer, an official Google Cities Partner and a Google Street View Trusted Photographer with more than 20 years of experience. The hands-on workshop will guide attendees in the process of claiming their Google business listing that appears on the right side of search results. It will also cover how to appear on Google Maps when people search for your business.
Businesses that have compete information online are twice as likely to be considered reputable by consumers.
Attendees should bring a Wi-Fi-enabled laptop and their Google user name and password. If they don’t have a Google account, they should create one ahead of the workshop.
The event is free, but registration is required. To register, call the library at 860-871-3620 or register at tolland.org/library.
The Foundation was founded in 1996 to provide grants to the Tolland library to augment what is provided by the town budget.
Greater Hartford SCORE was started in 1964 with the mission of matching the experience of seasoned business owners and managers with small business owners. Its Small Business Academy was organized in 2016 to provide workshops to those clients.

Richard English

Award-winning young adult author Caragh M. O’Brien will discuss, “The Keep of Ages,” the final book in her “Vault of Dreamers” trilogy, on Saturday, Sept. 23 at the Tolland Public Library.
O’Brien, a Mansfield resident and former English teacher at Tolland High School, will give the free talk at 1 p.m. to kick off the eighth year of the Tolland Public Library Foundation’s Eaton-Dimock-King Authors Series. O’Brien was the inaugural speaker when the series began in 2010.
“The Keep of Ages” brings together a daring heroine and an imaginative plot in a story that Kirkus Reviews has called “psychologically and philosophically rich.”
The tale follows Rosie Sinclair from the prestigious Forge School to a defunct horror theme park, Grisly Valley, as she tries to rescue her parents and stop the sinister Dean Berg.
Born in St. Paul, Minnesota, O’Brien graduated from Williams College and earned a master’s degree from Johns Hopkins University. Her young adult fiction has been honored by the YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults, the Amelia Bloomer Award and the Junior Library Guild.
The Foundation’s author series has also brought writers Dan Barry, Dawn Metcalf, Susan Campbell, Denis Horgan, Jeff Goldberg, P.W. Catanese, Cindy Rodriguez, Susan Schoenberger and Lucy Anne Hurston to town.
The talk is free, but registration is required. To register, call the Tolland Public Library at 860-871-3620 or sign up at tolland.org/library.

Caragh M. O’Brien

Children’s author and illustrator David Biedrzycki, whose books include the Ace Lacewing, Bug Detective, series and “Me and My Dragon,” will give an interactive talk at the Tolland Public Library on Thursday, May 25.
The free talk by Biedrzycki, who gives 70 talks at schools and libraries each year, is sponsored by the Tolland Public Library Foundation. It will be held from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. in Conference Room A at Tolland Town Hall at 21 Tolland Green.
Biedrzycki’s program is geared to inspire students in Kindergarten through fifth grade and is technology-based. He will show the children how he creates stories and art on the computer and sometimes revises a story up to 30 times before it is done.
Biedrzycki will show how he uses shapes to create a beetle and beetle family and will get the children involved by having them learn about colors, symmetry and horizontal and vertical placement. He will leave a jpg file of the created art for students and parents to print up later.
The event is free, but registration is required. To register, call the library at 860-871-3620 or visit tolland.org/library and use the online events calendar.

David Biedrzycki

Adults and high school students are invited to learn a fun, relaxing way to be creative at a free Zentangle Workshop on Thursday, May 11 in Tolland.
Zentangle is the art of drawing structured doodles, called tangles, in beautiful patterns. It is said to increase focus and creativity, provide artistic satisfaction and an increased sense of well-being.
The Tolland Public Library Foundation and the Tolland Public Library are sponsoring the event from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. in Conference Room A at Tolland Town Hall at 21 Tolland Green.
The workshop will be presented by Jamilah Zebarth, a certified Zentangle teacher based in central Connecticut.
Materials will be provided for participant use during the class. Registration is required. To register, call the Tolland Public Library at 860-871-3620 or use the online events calendar at tolland.org/library.
The library foundation expects to have a waiting list for the class, so please cancel your reservation if you can’t attend.