The library’s winter basket raffle is going on now until 1 p.m. Jan. 22.

Winners will be called. If you win, you’ll have a week to pick up your basket.

Some of the baskets being prepared are baby baskets, “knit your own socks” basket, a winter cozy basket, “going to grandma’s house,” COVID-19 basket, book stacks, soup and relax plus many more.

Baskets are on display on the tables inside the front door.

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The adult winter reading program runs now until March 6.

It is open to anyone 18 years or older. You can register on the website, whitehallpl.org, or pick up a paper copy of the reading log. Just write the author and title of each book you read.

Ask us about making you a book list from the Novelist Plus database. Call for more information.

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The winter wonder brown bag book sale fundraiser is going on now. We’re selling brown bags full of new or gently used books.

The exact books will be a surprise, but each bag contains five to 10 books. Each bag is marked with a theme, such as mysteries, romance, James Patterson, Debbie Macomber, Civil War, kids’ books, young adult, cooking and large print. There is also a “blind date” surprise bag.

New bags and subjects are added each week.

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Here is the library’s winter wish list. We need disinfecting wipes, disposable masks, hand sanitizer, copier paper, resealable plastic bags (especially quart and gallon sizes), clear stand-up sign holders and gift cards (especially Walmart, Giant and Redner’s).

Thank you to all who helped us in 2020. We will move on to 2021 and continue to do our best to keep staff and patrons safe.

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All of our kids’ and family programs have been canceled or postponed until March 31.

Check our website for online storytime, done on Zoom.

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Check out the January newsletter on our website, or pick one up at the front circulation desk.

Thank you to Whitehall Township for giving us a whole page in the latest township newsletter for winter 2021. Check out page 6 for awesome information about the library.

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We have a lot of patrons and students working and studying from home. You need a purple LCLC card to use our free databases.

Go to our website and click on Research and Learn to see a list of databases you may use.

If you do not have your PIN number, call us and we will reset with the last four digits of the bar code.

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The current library hours are 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Mondays and Wednesdays, 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays and 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Fridays. We will do curbside pickup only 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturdays. The library will be closed to patrons Saturdays and Sundays.

The library is following the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Office of Commonwealth Libraries guidelines to protect our staff and patrons during this pandemic.

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All library items must be returned into the yellow book drops in the library parking lot. We empty the drop boxes a few times each day, but all items are placed in quarantine for a week before we can check them in.

Fines are waived until March 31.

Fines will be charged on items due before March 12, 2020.

Damaged and lost items will still be charged to the patrons’ accounts.

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We are sorry for the inconvenience. Thank you for your support. We are doing our part to keep the staff and patrons healthy.

If you have questions or need help with a database, I can help. I check my emails daily at vahey.p@whitehallpl.org.