Civil War expert Mark Depathy

Historian Dennis Picard

In 2015, patrons of the Tolland Public Library could read Newsweek online for free, meet award-winning authors, learn to play chess, research their family tree and even compete in a poetry slam thanks to $15,828 in grants from the Tolland Public Library Foundation.
The Foundation also hosted six talks on Tolland history as the town celebrated its 300^th anniversary and taught owners of small businesses how to market their products through social media.
It all made for an exciting year, just as the library embarked on an ambitious expansion into the former gym at the Hicks Memorial Building at 21 Tolland Green, Library Director Barbara Pettijohn said.
“Our library staff is grateful for the grants we received all year from the Tolland Public Library Foundation,” she said. “As our library grows in 2016, we look forward to partnering with the Foundation on more lively programs and important initiatives.”
Established in 1996, the Foundation receives donations to benefit the Tolland Public Library and to enhance library services beyond what the town budget provides.
Most of its funding is drawn from income from the Phoebe Dimock King and Elizabeth C. King Eaton Endowment. Eaton, a medical librarian in Texas who died in 2009, made a large bequest to the Foundation to honor herself and her mother, who had served on the Tolland library staff for many years.
Through a Foundation grant, residents started 2015 by getting “fiscally fit” though a free series of lectures on personal finance.
The fifth season of the Eaton-Dimock-King Authors Series brought debut novelist Karen Guzman, young adult author Cindy L. Rodriguez and author Jeff Goldberg, whose book chronicled the UConn-Tennessee women’s basketball rivalry, to Tolland.
In March, the Foundation sponsored its fourth annual poetry slam for students aged 12 to 18 from Tolland and surrounding towns. It will hold the next poetry slam March 10 at 6:30 p.m. in Conference Room A of town hall.
From April through October, the library celebrated the town’s 300^th anniversary with well-attended lectures that examined every 50 years of the town’s history. The series ended with a lively panel by three teachers, Ivy Morrison, James MacArthur and Carlton Cayward, who reminisced about “Growing Up and Teaching Tolland” from 1965 to 2015.
In the summer, grants from the Foundation and the UConn Chess Club allowed the library to offer chess lessons to Tolland students in grades 3 and up. The lessons are continuing throughout the current school year.
In the fall, the Foundation held another popular talk on “How to Pay for College” and purchased college and financial aid guides for the library.
The Foundation’s funding also provided library patrons and Tolland residents with useful databases, including Ancestry.com, the Job Now! employment database and TumbleBooks, an online animated collection of 540 books, puzzles and videos.
Another Foundation grant now allows library cardholders to read three magazines – Newsweek, US Weekly and Outside – for free from any computer or mobile device using the Flipster digital magazine subscription service.
Library patrons can read the magazines online at the library, from home or anywhere using a smartphone or tablet. Just visit tolland.org, click on the library page, follow it to “login to databases” and then login into Flipster using your library card bar code.
As the library is expanding, the Foundation is exploring what technology and materials to purchase that are not included in the project’s budget, Linda Byam, president of the Foundation’s board of directors, said. Under restrictions in Eaton’s bequest, the EDK Endowment income cannot be used to fund library salaries or investments in the library’s physical plant.
“Libraries have truly evolved into community hubs, and the Foundation was pleased to help make Tolland Public Library a destination in 2015,” she said. “It’s going to be a great partnership again in 2016.”

Thanks to a grant from the Tolland Public Library Foundation, library patrons can now read four magazines for free from any computer or mobile device using the Flipster digital magazine subscription service.
The Foundation has purchased four subscriptions to start: to Newsweek, US Weekly, Outside and Muse, an arts magazine for middle schoolers.
Library patrons can read the magazines online at the library, from home or anywhere using a smartphone or tablet. Just visit tolland.org, click on the library page, follow it to “login to databases” and then login into Flipster using your library card bar code.
Flipster can also be accessed by clicking here.
The Foundation may consider expanding the Flipster offerings in the future.
Tolland residents and library patrons should also be aware that the Foundation funds the popular Ancestry.com database for use at the library. It has also made the Auto Repair Reference Center, JobNow! and TumbleBooks databases available for use by library patrons from home or at the library.
Give Flipster or one of these databases a try today! For more information or assistance, call the Tolland Public Library at 860-871-3620.

Karen E. Olson, a mystery and suspense writer from North Haven, will speak Feb. 4 in Tolland as part of the Tolland Public Library Foundation’s Eaton-Dimock-King Authors Series.
The free talk and book signing will take place at 7 p.m. in Conference Room A of Tolland Town Hall at 21 Tolland Green.
Olson will be discussing her latest suspense novel, “Hidden.” The book is a departure for Olson, author of the New Haven-based Annie Seymour mystery series and the Tattoo Shop Mysteries.
In “Hidden,” Nicole Jones is a fugitive who has been hiding for 15 years when her past finally catches up to her. The book is set on idyllic Block Island. “Hidden” will be followed by a sequel, “Shadowed,” and Olson is working on a third book in the series titled, “Betrayed.”
USA Today bestselling author Alison Gaylin calls “Hidden” an “edge-of-your-seat thriller with surprises at every turn.”
Olson is the winner of the Sara Ann Freed Memorial Award and a Shamus Award finalist.
Registration is required. To register, call the Tolland Public Library at 860-871-3620 or visit www.tolland.org/library.
Since 2010, the author series, funded by the Phoebe Dimock King and Elizabeth C. King Eaton Endowment, has brought writers Caragh O’Brien, Dan Barry, Denis Horgan, Susan Campbell, Cindy Rodriguez, Susan Schoenberger, Jeff Goldberg, Lucy Anne Hurston, Jane Haddam, Ken Davis and P.W. Catanese to town.

Author Karen E. Olson

Author David Drury

An appreciative crowd of 45 people from Tolland and many surrounding towns were thrilled to hear Rocky Hill author David J. Drury discuss his debut book, “Hartford in World War I,” on Jan. 7.

Drury’s free talk launched the sixth season of the popular Eaton-Dimock-King Author Series, which is sponsored by the Tolland Public Library Foundation. Here he is with some of his fans.

Next up in the series: young adult author Dawn Metcalf discusses her fourth book, “Insidious,” on Jan. 23 at 11 a.m. in Conference Room A of Tolland Town Hall, and on Feb. 4 at 7 p.m. in the same room, suspense writer Karen E. Olson of North Haven will speak and sell and sign copies of her book, “Hidden.”

For more information, call the Tolland Public Library at 860-871-3620.

Young adult author Dawn Metcalf

Dawn Metcalf, a Connecticut author of dark, quirky and sometimes humorous young adult fiction, will discuss her fourth book, “Insidious,” on Saturday, Jan. 23 as part of the Tolland Public Library Foundation’s popular Eaton-Dimock-King Authors Series.
Metcalf, whose book is the third in her series known as “The Twixt,” will speak and sell and sign her books at 11 a.m. in Conference Room A of Tolland Town Hall at 21 Tolland Green.
The young adult novel tells the tale of Joy Malone, her mysterious boyfriend, Indelible Ink, and his twin sister, Invisible Inq. In “Insidious,” Joy finds that true evil is quiet, patient and insidious as she goes on a dangerous mission to find a forgotten door between the Twixt and the human worlds. The story is filled with unseen enemies, treasonous magic and an unthinkable betrayal.
A Chicago native who now lives in northern Connecticut, Metcalf is the author of “Luminous,” a young adult paranormal fantasy, and “Indelible,” “Invisible” and now “Insidious” in the Twixt series. She says she likes to write about fairy tales, myths and sharp, pointy objects.
The talk is free and open to the public, but registration is required. To register, call the Tolland Public Library at 860-871-3620.
Library patrons can also register for this program and others by going to the Tolland Public Library’s home page at www.tolland.org/library and clicking on Online Library Events Calendar, located in the middle of the page. Scroll down to the date of the event, click on register and fill out the form. Those who register will be sent an email reminder before Jan. 23.
Since 2010, the author series, funded by the Phoebe Dimock King and Elizabeth C. King Eaton Endowment, has brought writers Caragh O’Brien, Dan Barry, Denis Horgan, Susan Campbell, Cindy Rodriguez, Susan Schoenberger, Jeff Goldberg, Lucy Anne Hurston, Jane Haddam, Ken Davis and P.W. Catanese to town.