The Friends of Snow Library’s fall Lifetime Learning session closes with a last round of courses next week in the Craine Room. Topics include film, politics, history, photography, and the Great American Songbook. Some classes are new, some continuing, and many are offered via Zoom as well as in person.

Leigh and David Fisher wrap up their “Political Potpourri” film series with a screening of “Casablanca” from 1:30 to 4 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 14. The classic 1942 movie stars Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman and is set against a background of political intrigue in North Africa as World War II begins. A discussion follows the screening. . . .

The Friends of Snow Library's 2022 fall Lifetime Learning session continues with three new courses and five continuing ones. Week seven kicks off with a screening of "The Way We Were," starring Robert Redford and Barbra Streisand, at 1:30 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 7 as Leigh and David Fisher's Reel Time series (theme: "A Political Potpourri") resumes. On Tuesday, Nov. 8, entomologist Larry Dapsis introduces "Forensic Entomology: Who Dunnit?" at 10:30 a.m., and later that day, at 1:30 p.m. poli sci professor Russ Leng launches his two-part course titled "The Trial of Vladimir Putin and Russian-American Relations After the Ukraine War." …

Politics and government take center stage as Lifetime Learning brings back Barbara Comstock, political commentator on ABC, CNN and PBS, and Richard Finnegan, poli sci professor at Stonehill College, to lead classes on Congress and the Supreme Court in November.

Comstock, also president-elect of the bipartisan U.S. Association of Former Members of Congress, will talk about respect for the rule of law and the legislative process in her Zoom-only lecture titled "On the Brink of the Midterms" from 1:30 to 3 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 1. Finnegan will explore how two ideas of judicial interpretation - originalism and liberal interpretation - are creating "Our Torn Supreme Court" from 1:30 to 3 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 3. Finnegan's course continues on Nov. 10 and Nov. 17. . . .

Lifetime Learning continues the week of October 24 with a new film series presented by Leigh and David Fisher, a look at the life and art of Georgia O’Keefe, and a slide talk with photographer Dmitri Kasterine, who has captured portraits of leading 20th century figures such as Mick Jagger, David Hockney and Queen Elizabeth II, to name a few. . . .

Former Massachusetts Attorney General Scott Harshbarger asks, “Have Democracy and the Rule of Law Prevailed? Will the Midterm Elections Provide an Answer?” in a course next Tuesday, Oct. 18, from 1:30 to 3 p.m., as week four of Lifetime Learning gets underway. Also on the slate: Katherine Dowd Gulotta leads a discussion of the book “His Name is George: One Man’s Life & Struggle for Racial Justice,” from 1:30 to 3 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 19. . . .

A live interview with Broadway musical stars and a course on the Cape’s night sky top the list of new offerings from the Friends of Snow Library as their fall Lifetime Learning session continues.

On Tuesday, Oct. 11 from 10:30 a.m. to noon, Jung-Ho Pak, artistic director and conductor of the Cape Symphony, talks with three Broadway performers who will be featured in the Symphony’s “Bravo Broadway” show later next week. Dee Roscioli is best known for starring as the witch Elphaba in Wicked and as Cher in The Cher Show . Hugh Panaro starred as the Phantom in over 2,000 performances ofThe Phantom of the Opera. Scarlett Strallen starred as Gwendolyn on Broadway in Travesties and as Mary in Mary Poppins on Broadway and in London. Zoom only.

Later on Tuesday Harvard astronomy professor Dimitar D. Sasselov, presents “Cape Cod’s Night Sky.” In an afternoon lecture in the library’s Craine Room from 1:30 to 3 p.m., Sasselov will discuss how to spot planets, stars, constellations and more in various seasons over the Cape, which boasts one of the darkest skies on the Eastern Seaboard. In the early evening, he’ll set up a telescope and lead a star-gazing session on Orleans’ Skaket Beach from 5:30 to 7 p.m. . . .

The Friends of Snow Library's 2022 Fall Lifetime Learning session has begun. Look for continuing programs in film, literature and natural history in the coming week, along with a new course led by Joseph Marchio, “A Musical Odyssey Beginning in Ancient Times.” . . .

The Friends of Snow Library are holding a Fall Bulb Fundraiser through October 15. Click here to order flower bulbs and support Snow Library. Online orders will be delivered directly to your door (for a $6 shipping fee).

Money raised will be used to purchase periodicals, books and museum passes for Snow Library, and pay for children’s programs.

Since its inception, the American Library Association has been fighting censorship and working tirelessly to protect the First Amendment rights of all readers. Snow Library, following the ALA's lead, believes that everyone should have access to all information and that the public library's responsibility is to provide that access, not only by the materials it purchases but also by offering interlibrary loan and electronic access.

Books are considered banned if they have been recommended for removal from public libraries, school libraries, or school curriculum. To highlight Banned Books Week and to promote the freedom to read with unfettered access to information, Snow Library encourages you to read some of the titles listed here that have been banned at one time or another. The first ten titles are the latest books to be added to the "banned books" list. The rest were recommended for removal from some school or public libraries between 1900 and the present.

The 2022 Fall Lifetime Learning Session begins on Monday, September 26. There will be 26 courses on a variety of subjects, from James Joyce’s Ireland to the natural history of Cape Cod, American modernist art to the musicals of Cole Porter and Meredith Wilson.

Course descriptions and convenient on-line registration are available starting on Sept. 6 at www.friendsofsnowlibrary.org/lifetime-learning-program. Brochures and registration forms are also available at Snow Library (67 Main Street, Orleans) starting on Sept. 6. Paper registrations and donations can be mailed in or dropped off at the library.

Would you like to take out information on a sensitive topic while maintaining your privacy? Snow Library introduces its Confidential Corner. Selected resources on sensitive topics such as addiction, depression, divorce, substance abuse, suicide and teen pregnancy are now discreetly located on the mezzanine level. With the Confidential Corner, you can skip the checkout lines. Take them out when you want; bring them back when you want--no checkouts or due dates.

The Visual Arts Cooperative is a group of artists working in various media who join together in order to promote their work to the general public and to foster increased understanding – mainly among themselves, but also others – of the various aspects of creativity in the visual arts. Each year, the Visual Arts’ Cooperative produces several exhibitions of members’ work throughout Cape Cod.

See a display of their works in Snow Library’s Craine Gallery through the month of August. A reception to meet the artists will be held from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 13. All are welcome.

Staff from the Legal Services Center of Harvard Law School will provide advice and referral information to community members about civil legal issues at a free clinic from noon to 2 p.m. on Tuesday, July 26 . Some of the legal issues covered include housing law and tenants’ rights, disability rights, Social Security and public benefits such as SNAP, veterans benefits and military record corrections, divorce, custody and child support questions, LGBTA+ related concerns, tax issues, consumer loans and small claims court problems, and criminal record sealing or expungement.

This is both an in-person and a Zoom program, available at https://harvard.zoom.us/j/96701067778.

Meet local author Michael Pregot and learn about the "Sea Captains of Cape Cod" in a talk at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, May 4 in the Craine Room at Snow Library. Pregot's latest book explores the connection that each Cape Cod town has to the sea through its seafaring residents, providing a glimpse into heroic maritime adventures, entrepreneurial brilliance, and an appreciation of the resolve needed by captains to thrive. …

The 2022 Winter-Spring Lifetime Learning session, sponsored by the Friends of Snow Library concludes the week of April 24-28. Two one-class courses and four continuing courses close out this session and are available for registration now.

On Monday, April 25 at 1:30 p.m., Marc Strauss presents the final film in his Humphrey Bogart series. "The Desperate Hours" will be introduced, viewed and discussed. Zoom only. Not recorded.

Tuesday, April 26 brings history and political science professor Russ Leng and the second of two classes in his course "U.S. Foreign Policy" at 1:30 p.m. The class will consider "The Case of Afghanistan," with an in-depth look at the U.S. intervention in Afghanistan between the 1979 Soviet invasion and the 2001 American-led NATO invasion. Zoom only. Later on Tuesday, at 5 p.m., Steve and Jeff Bornemeier discuss the last in their series of four novels: "The Transit of Venus" by Shirley Hazzard. . . .

Come celebrate the opening of the Story Book Trail! On Wednesday, April 20, from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m., there will be a party in the library’s Craine Gallery to fete the ribbon-cutting for the trail, an exciting new feature of the Orleans landscape that pairs outdoor adventure with reading. The trail was created on conservation land through a partnership between the Orleans Conservation Trust, the Orleans Community Preservation Committee, AmeriCorps Cape Cod, and Snow Library. Join us for refreshments, a letterboxing craft, and more.

The ‘Women in Jazz’ webinar, led by flautist Galen Abdur-Razzaq, has been postponed. We hope to reschedule a new date soon.

Snow Library is pleased to announce the reopening of its Craine Gallery with an exhibit of artwork by students from Nauset Regional High School. The show will hang through April. Works from the school’s metalworking and jewelry classes will be displayed in the front lobby at the same time. An annual tradition, the students’ art exhibit was suspended in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID pandemic. Please join us in welcoming them back.

The Friends of Snow Library's winter-spring Lifetime Learning session continues the week of April 4-7 with four new courses and three continuing ones…

The Friends of Snow Library's 2022 winter-spring Lifetime Learning session continues the week of March 14 to 17 with a selection of new courses on art, music, literature and more.

On Monday Mary Ann Eaton, professor of studies in Irish and Celtic literature at University College, Cork, Ireland, continues her Irish film series with a screening of "Falling for a Dancer, Parts 1 & 2." Discussion follows the film. …