Vita volunteers are returning to the library this tax season to offer professional help with your taxes at no charge to you.
Call Kathy at (970) 553-9150 or email her at Kathy.taxhelp@gmail.com to schedule an appointment.
Tax forms are slowly arriving. You can pick up Colorado forms and booklets and IRS 1040 booklets at the library.
New tax guides are available to help you navigate the new rules imposed this tax season. All are available for checkout:
• “Home Business Tax Deductions: Keep What You Earn” (Nolo’s small business essentials).
• “Deduct it!: Lower Your Small Business Taxes.”
• “J.K. Lasser’s Your Income Tax 2025.”
• “Tax Savvy for Small Business.”
• “Working for Yourself.”
• “Every Airbnb Host’s Tax Guide.”
Library to be closed Feb. 5 for training
The library will be closed Feb. 5 for an all-staff training day.
Our digital library, including Cloud Library and Overdrive ebooks and many online learning products, is available 24/7 at pagosalibrary.org.
GED by appointment only
As we gear up for the grand opening of our new library space, we’re taking a break from regular GED hours. If you are working toward your general education degree or a high school equivalency exam, or if you could use a tutoring session to help you with your educational goals, give the library a call at (970) 264-2209 and we’ll connect you with our instructor.
Construction update
Electrical, plumbing and mechanical elements of the building are roughed in and exterior window installation is underway. You’ll see exterior doors soon, and drywall will begin right after the insulation is completed. Follow us on Facebook for periodic pictures of progress.
Colorado Parks Passes for checkout
It may seem like the wrong time of year to visit Colorado state parks, but with our mild winter, why not get outside and enjoy the parks’ off-season?
The Ruby Sisson Library has free Colorado Parks passes for checkout that include a backpack with nature guides, binoculars and fun activities. Reserve yours today.
New Tumblemath for kids
Ask AI if good readers are good at math, and here’s the answer you get: “Yes, good readers are often good at math because reading skills like comprehension, vocabulary, and logical reasoning are crucial for understanding word problems, mathematical language, and complex concepts, with strong early reading ability being a key predictor of later math success. Both subjects rely on creating mental images, using context, and persevering through challenges, and brain areas used for reading are also involved in math tasks like multiplication, showing a deep connection.”
That’s the idea behind the library’s brand new online offering for kids, Tumblemath. Kids can learn math concepts through fun picture books that tell the story of why math works.
Concepts range from basic addition all the way through geometry for older readers. You can find Tumblemath in our digital library on the alphabetical list or in the homework section.
Meet us out in the community
Now that we have much less space for our operations and no meeting rooms during construction, several of our regular activities and special events are happening in other locations.
Please check the listings in this column and on your library’s website, pagosalibrary.org, for location changes throughout the construction. If no other location is mentioned, the activity will stay at your library.
Activities calendars
Pick up monthly calendars at the library or check the website, https://www.pagosalibrary.org/events-calendar, so you don’t miss any of the free programs, events and activities available to you and your family.
Online author talks
Our free online author talks with New York Times bestselling authors continue in February with new authors.
Join us on Feb. 5 for “Swashbuckling Heroines and High Seas Adventures” with novelist Vanessa Riley. On Feb. 12, tune in for “Mojos, Mermaids, Medicine, and 400 Years of Black Women’s Magic” with Dr. Lindsey Stewart and, on Feb. 24, join us for “Smithson’s Gamble: The Incredible History Behind the World’s Largest Museum” with Smithsonian curator emeritus Tom Crouch. Watch live on Zoom or via a recording later this month.
For details and to register, go to https://libraryc.org/pagosalibrary/upcoming.
Conversational Spanish
The Conversational Spanish group continues on Mondays from 4 to 5 p.m. at St. Patrick’s Episcopal Church at 225 S. Pagosa Blvd. This is a great opportunity to practice your Spanish in a free, friendly group setting. No minimum skill level is needed.
Ruby’s Book Club
Join us for Ruby’s Book Club from 2 to 3 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 10, as we discuss “East of Eden” by John Steinbeck. Copies are available at your library.
This free book club for adults is held the second Tuesday of each month, alternating between fiction and nonfiction titles. Anyone is welcome to attend.
During construction, it takes place at the new Harman Park Transit Center, 83 Harman Park Drive, next to the Archuleta County Sheriff’s Office.
Family storytime
Wednesdays from 10 to 11 a.m., join a free educational hour of reading, singing and free play to build early literacy skills.
Elementary school tutoring
Free after-school for first through third grades takes place on Wednesdays from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. Registration is required because of limited space, so call your library now at (970) 264-2209 to enroll your child.
This invaluable tutoring involves one-on-one and small-group help for math, literacy, writing and spelling.
Note that because of construction at the library these sessions will take place at the elementary school.
Writers Guild
Thursdays from 9 to 11 a.m., Ruby’s Writers Guild welcomes writers looking for support, guidance, resources and camaraderie with other writers at this free gathering.
During construction the group will meet at the Pagosa Senior Center, 451 Hot Springs Blvd. Enter through the left side of the building.
Tech Time
Free in-person slots are available from 2 to 4 p.m. on Thursdays. Taylor helps with basic questions relating to computers, smartphones and tablets and also provides assistance in accessing the library’s online resources. No appointment is needed, but please bring your device’s charger and passwords with you.
English as a second language classes expand
Free in-person classes happen on Mondays from 10 a.m. to noon, Tuesdays from 3 to 5 p.m. and Thursdays, from 4 to 6 p.m. for students of all levels at St. Patrick’s Episcopal Church, 225 S. Pagosa Street. Please help us pass the word about these classes.
New and notable nonfiction
• “Beginner’s Step-by-Step Coding Course,” a visual introduction from DK.
• “Naturally Sustainable Style: Inspirational Ideas for Beautiful, Eco-Friendly Homes” by Selena Lake.
• “The Elements of Power: A Story of War, Technology, and the Dirtiest Supply Chain on Earth,” about the global battle for battery metals from journalist Nicholas Niarchos.
• “Parenting Anxiety: Breaking the Cycle of Worry and Raising Resilient Kids” by clinical psychologist Meredith Elkins.
• “After the Flood: Inside Bob Dylan’s Memory Palace,” a new biography of the singer/ songwriter from Robert Polito.
• “Arctic Traverse: A Thousand Mile Summer of Trekking the Brooks Range,” by Michael Engelhard, winner of the National Outdoor Book Award.
New and notable fiction
• “The Water Keeper” by Charles Martin, a thriller about a man who rescues victims of human trafficking along the Florida coast.
• “All the Little Houses” by May Cobb, soon to premiere on Netflix. Mean girls, mean moms, tiny town.
• “Milkman” by Anita Burns, a 2018 Booker Prize-winning novel set during the Troubles in Northern Ireland.
• “The Jilted Countess” by Loretta Ellsworth, a historical fiction novel inspired by a true story of a Hungarian countess who, after WWII, finds her American GI fiancé married to someone else in Minnesota and must find a new husband within two weeks to avoid deportation.
• “Between the Clouds and the River” by Dave Mason, a historical fiction novel that interweaves the stories of a German soldier in WWII and a young boy in 1960s North America whose lives become connected through the war’s aftermath.
• “One Ordinary Man” by Steve Vesce, a historically accurate novel about Harry L. Hopkins, a key figure who helped the U.S. through the Great Depression and World War II as a close advisor to President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
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