Tompkins Square Library hosting the East Village Arts Festival on Dec. 13

The Tompkins Square Library branch on 10th Street between Avenue A and Avenue B is hosting an all-day Arts Festival on Dec. 13.

The day includes a variety of performances, workshops and displays by local artists from 11 a.m. to 7:45 p.m. You can find the full rundown here.

Here's one highlight:

5-5:45pm: 16mm Film Screening. We'll be screening two short 16mm films from the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts reserve film and video collection, both filmed on the Lower East Side, in our basement community room. The Heart of Loisaida (1979; 30 min.) Producers, directors: Bienvenida Matias and Marci Reaven. Shows efforts on New York's Lower East Side to revive abandoned buildings through the work and persistence of the local, predominantly Latino residents.

A la Guerra (1979; 10 min.) Producer, director: Thomas Sigel. Actor/poet Bimbo Rivas presents an ode to the struggle against assimilation being waged by the Puerto Rican community of New York's Lower East Side.

Today in books returned after 38 years

Via @tompkins_square_library:

This book was casually returned today — only 38 years late! 😄 The book, "The Woman in the White House" by Marianne Means, describes the contributions of 12 First Ladies.

The randomly placed piano in Tompkins Square Park is no longer randomly there

After 10 days and one snowstorm, the abandoned piano that someone dragged into (or pushed into) Tompkins Square Park was wheeled away earlier today from where it was stationed by the Park entrance on Avenue B and Ninth Street...a reader shared the above photo ...

EVG Missing Piano Correspondent Steven followed up later... spotting some possible piano fragments in the Park...





Later, Steven spotted this piano rack by the Tompkins Square Library branch on 10th Street between Avenue A and Avenue B... where the trail went cold...

Noted

And who delivered the medical school cadavers to the alumni dinner? Outside Tompkins Square Library on East 10th Street this morning...

You now have a few more hours to use the local libraries during the week

[EVG file photo of the Tompkins Square library branch]

The New York Public Library has expanded hours at branches throughout the city, with a focus on evenings, weekends and other periods of high demand, as we cut-and-paste from the news release.

How did they manage this?

A historic $43 million increase in operating funding to the city’s three library systems in Fiscal Year 2016 has allowed NYPL to add 293 more public service hours per week at branches across the system, bringing average weekly branch hours up from 46.6 hours to 50.

And here are the new hours for the branches around here...

• Hamilton Fish Park Library, 415 East Houston St. between Pitt and Columbia
Hours: Mon. and Weds. 10 a.m.-7 p.m.; Tues. and Thurs. 11 a.m. - 7 p.m.; Fri.-Sat. 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

• Ottendorfer Library, 135 Second Ave. between St. Mark's Place and East Ninth
Hours: Mon.-Thurs. 11 a.m.-7 p.m.; Fri.-Sat. 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

• Tompkins Square Library, 331 E. 10th St. between Avenue A and Avenue B
Hours: Mon.-Thurs. 11 a.m.-7 p.m.; Fri.-Sat. 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

None of these branches will have Sunday hours, however, like several other locations. (Still only one Library open on Sundays hereabouts.)

Also, the NYPL released the "Top Book Check Outs of 2015" by branch... so in case you were wondering...

Hamilton Fish Park - "Blue Exorcist" by Kazue Kato and John Werry

Ottendorfer - "The Girl on the Train" by Paula Hawkins

Tompkins Square - "The Paying Guests" by Sarah Waters

H/T DNAinfo

Reader report: Gas scare at the Tompkins Square Library

[Photo by EVG reader Daniel]

Late this afternoon the Tompkins Square library branch on East 10th Street was evacuated as a precautionary measure.

Word from some readers who happened to be there… workers were doing boiler repairs, and someone smelled gas.

The FDNY was quickly on the scene and gave the all clear. However, the library remained closed to patrons the rest of the day.

The branch is also serving as a reception center for displaced residents of last Thursday's explosion on Second Avenue and East Seventh Street.

H/T @JenniferKellow

Are the red-tailed hawks building a nest on the Tompkins Square Library?

[Photo from the other day in Tompkins Square Park by Bobby Williams]

As we noted earlier this week, red-tailed hawk parents Christo and Dora likely won't be able to build their nest on the Christodora House on Avenue B and East Ninth Street this year. So, they will need a new home for a nest.

To the EVG inbox this morning…

Sadly I don't have a photo, but I spotted a hawk, hopefully Christo or Dora, flying out of Tompkins with nesting materials in his talons. He was headed toward the library on East 10th between A and B and appeared to land in that general area. Maybe a new nest location on a building in the vicinity??

I guess we'll see!

Yes!

There's likely some kind of April Fool's Day gag potential with this photo

Like, Hey, The Tompkins Square Branch of the New York Public Library just got a liquor license! Or, The Owners of the 13th Step bought The Tompkins Square Branch of the New York Public Library! Or something better.

Not that we're recommending an April Fool's Day gag. They usually are pretty lame.

As for the photo… the driver simply pulled over for a moment to look at a map.

An appreciation: The Tompkins Square Branch of The New York Public Library

For no particular reason... too often we mourn instead of appreciate around here at EVG...

Talked with several people recently who had no idea the branch had a nice selection of DVDs...

I always just go in and take a chance at finding something. I always do. But you have to be a little flexible. You can also put a movie on hold via the library website and have your own little Qwikster Netflix.

Previously on EV Grieve:
An appreciation: Breakfast at Stage