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Ronni Diamondstein

#CHAPP100 Chappaqua Library Turning 100

February 24, 2022 by The Inside Press

“Celebrating the Past, Inspiring the Future”

The Chappaqua Library is recognizing a major milestone in 2022 as it reaches its 100th year of service. will include activities throughout the year with a Community Centennial celebration on Saturday, June 4, 2022. 

The Chappaqua Library is the heart of a vibrant community where people of all ages, backgrounds and cultures engage in lifelong learning and discovery while actively participating in the life of the community. Its mission: to provide exceptional resources, programs, and services that promote the joy of lifelong learning and discovery and to offer a welcoming place for people to gather and share experiences.

“Over the past 100 years, the Chappaqua Library has enriched the community in meaningful ways, and thrived thanks to the overwhelming enthusiasm and financial support of the community. The Board looks forward to our dedicated staff continuing to provide innovative programs and outstanding service into the next 100 years,” says Ronni Diamondstein, Chappaqua Library Board President. 

Andrew Farber, Library Director says, “The Library has changed dramatically over the last one hundred years. We have strived to respond to our patrons’ needs. Our warm and welcoming staff work is looking ahead to the future and will continue to engage the community with diversity, inclusivity and innovative programs.”

The library welcomes everyone through its doors located in the heart of the community on South Greeley Avenue. In 100 years, the library grew from a space in Lou Kopp’s Coal and Feed Store, located across the tracks on King Street and near the current northbound entrance to the Saw Mill River Parkway, to its current beautiful facility.  Starting with only 2,683 volumes in its collection, the library now offers over 134,000 materials and has added digital content, streaming services, programs for patrons of all ages, and provides space for the community to study, read, and enjoy.  

The upcoming programming  will honor the library’s history and look ahead with book discussions, oral histories, and exhibits. Partnering with many community groups, children’s and family programs will also reflect on the library’s history and commitment to service. Look for garden plantings and a time capsule that will preserve community submissions!  The Chappaqua Library is excited to share its own story as well as the community’s.

2022 also marks the 50th anniversary of the Friends of the Chappaqua Library. In addition to the very popular Annual Book Sale, which will return in April, they will work with the library to commemorate their anniversary. As Katherine Whymark, President of the Friends of the Chappaqua Library, likes to say, “According to my Star Wars friend Yoda, always in motion the future is, and we must move towards and with the future. Thanks to all that have supported the Friends in the past, and thanks in advance to those looking to support us in the future. Never give up, never surrender!”

To learn more about upcoming events, visit chappaqualibrary.org/centennial.

News and Photo Courtesy of The Chappaqua Library

Filed Under: Cover Stories, Happenings Tagged With: #Chapp100, Andrew Farber, Centennial Celebration, Chappaqua History, Chappaqua library, Katherine Whymark, New Castle History, Ronni Diamondstein

A Visit Inside the Chappaqua Library’s Spacious New Teen & Children’s Rooms

August 17, 2021 by Grace Bennett

Cathy Paulsen, head of Young Adult Services, Chappaqua Library, and Katherine Whymark, president, Friends of the Chappaqua Library  Photo by Grace Bennett/Inside Press

“Kids come to the library to see other kids; they want to hang out, so we decided teens were going to have their own space,” related Cathy Paulsen on a recent tour of the new Teen Room, and the new Children’s Room, too. Paulson heads young adult services at the Chappaqua Library. A new Teen Room followed a strategic planning decision to meet the challenge of creating an optimal space for the pre-teens and teens who descend into library spaces after school. “There are groups of kids who come; many are middle schoolers from Bell who make heavy use of the library. I can have 200 kids here at times.”

Instrumental has been the support from Friends of the Chappaqua Library. According to Katherine Whymark, Friends’ President, “While the library was still not open to the public during the pandemic shutdown, the Teen Room approached the Friends in the fall of 2020 to complete the project with new technology… and, we said yes.” The now new and inviting space with comfortable seating comes “complete with smart boards hooked up so the kids can work on assignments,” said Paulsen.  

“The smart boards we funded have already been put to great use; one is wall mounted and permanent to the Teen space,” added Whymark. “The other is mobile and can be moved and used throughout the library, by all departments.

The new space continues to evolve and may include a café’ and even one novel item: sewing machines! “Kids are really into repurposing things,” said Paulsen. We can work with WLS (the Westchester Library System), and teach them how to sew.” 

The Friends funding covered $15,000 of technology for the new Teen Room, including eight new chromebooks, three drawing pads and two Google Jamboards (identical to the tools used at the middle and high school).  

A new garden–located outside the room’s slider doors–drew teens planting seeds with help from staff and community garden volunteers. The kids help maintain the garden which produces potatoes, squash, flowers, cilantro, basil, parsley and more.

The Teen Room and its initiatives are just one aspect of funding from the Friends, a non-profit 501c3 group and fundraising arm of the library which generously approved over $60,000 for new furniture and technology tools for the renovated Chappaqua Library.

Wall-mounted Jamboard in new Teen Room and 4 of 8 Chromebooks for teens to use.

The Friends fundraise year-round to support initiatives for the library that are above and beyond the operating budget. The current construction has been going on since 2018, as part of the bond for all the Chappaqua School buildings. The Chappaqua Library building is a school district building, but it is run independently.

Chappaqua Library Children’s Room

Children’s Room Highlights

The Friends’ funding has included over $35,000 for the new Children’s Room, including the custom service desk, two built-in benches, and reupholstering two couches and a chair. According to Robbin Friedman, head of children’s services: “The children’s room staff are so delighted to sit at our beautiful new service desk in our light-filled room, thanks to the Friends. With refurbished couches and a brand-new window-seat bench, we look forward to seeing the community enjoy our new space as much as we do.”

A remaining $10,000 was allocated to new study room furniture, including a conference table, eight chairs, and a glass white board. The new study room is adjacent to the new Teen Room, and the furniture is in the process of being ordered. With more and more patrons wanting to sit outdoors, the Friends also funded four new outdoor tables and 16 new chairs, along with a rented tent for the courtyard during the summer. The gated courtyard is open to all library patrons, and access is available from the library gallery. 

The Daniel Silva Interview

The Friends were back to active fundraising with a first virtual author interview fundraiser. The event held July 20 featured The Cellist, Daniel Silva’s new spy novel. Ronni Diamondstein, Chappaqua Library Board President, interviewed Silva. “This opens the possibility of more virtual author fundraisers in the future, as well as hybrid events (blended virtual and in-person attendance),” said Whymark.

Looking Ahead

At press time, a pop-up book market was planned for the train parking lot in August.

The Friends Annual Book Sale is returning April 25, 2022, promising over 30 miles of used books to purchase!

The library is now open to the public Monday –Thursday, 10 a.m. – 7:30 p.m., Friday 10 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. and Saturdays 10 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. Come see all the new furniture and new spaces!

Filed Under: Cover Stories Tagged With: Cathy Paulsen, Chappaqua library, Children's Room, Friends of the Chappaqua Library, Katherine Whymark, Ronni Diamondstein, Teen Room

DANIEL SILVA in Chappaqua on July 20! Register and Save the Date

June 29, 2021 by Grace Bennett

Excitement Builds for Friends of Chappaqua Library First Time Virtual Fundraiser Featuring Internationally Renowned Author Daniel Silva on July 20

Chappaqua Library Board President Ronni Diamondstein to Moderate

Daniel Silva   Photo By Marco Grob

Chappaqua, NY–Whether you are a long-time avid reader of Daniel Silva’s wildly popular Gabriel Allon series, or new to this internationally renowned author’s New York Times best-selling titles, everyone is invited to register for and enjoy a Friends of the Chappaqua Library first time virtual fundraiser featuring an interview with Silva on July 20.

Chappaqua Library board president Ronni Diamondstein, a long-time journalist as well, will be moderating the event and interviewing Silva about his writing career and his latest title, The Cellist, a thriller with plot twists galore surrounding Russian money laundering and a secret plot to undermine Western democracy. 

“Silva’s books are amazingly popular; women all over the world have fallen in love with Gabriel Allon!” said Diamondstein, in a pre-event interview with the Inside Press. “It will be fascinating to speak with him about the writing process. He is prescient with a real knack for tying things to current events.”

The event also represents a wonderful opportunity for the Friends’ group to catch up on a shortfall of about $60,000 following the cancellation of three years of the Chappaqua Friends Annual Used Book Sales–the first year due to construction, and for two years, due to Covid, related Katherine Whymark, a Greeley grad who has headed the Friends since 2015. The bond had been approved for the school district, Whymark explained, and construction started for the new Children’s Room in the fall of 2018. The Children’s Room was moved to the theatre during construction. Meanwhile, The Friends Annual Used Book Sale will be resuming in April 2022 (exact dates still to be determined).

“Things got really quiet from a fundraising standpoint,” lamented Whymark. “While in pandemic mode and still in lockdown, Joan Kuhn, director of programming for the Chappaqua Library, suggested a virtual fundraiser.” While in person author events are ultimately preferred, added Whymark, and expected to return this fall, if successful, the virtual option could prove useful in the future too, as needed, in the event of inclement weather, for example.

The Friends operates as a not-for-profit fundraising arm of the Chappaqua Library, providing funding for purchases outside the scope of what the budget might allow. Friends raise funds year-round for the library, and the funds are used for programs and furniture (most often). “We recently funded $58,000 of requested furniture and technology for the Children’s Room, Teen Room and outdoor courtyard,” said Whymark. “The money raised in this fundraiser will be used for 2022 book clubs run by the library.”

The Friends collaborated with Scattered Bookstore in Chappaqua to produce the event. For $32, you can pick up a signed book and attend the event. For $30, you can receive a signed book only–that’s for anyone who can’t make the event on 7/20, but would still like to purchase Silva’s signed book. A $5 option is available for anyone to watch and listen only without a book purchase. To register for the July 20 event, which begins at 7:30 p.m. (the event will not be recorded), please visit: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/daniel-silva-book-event-fundraiser-tickets-159917334051

Diamondstein, Whymark said, was given an advance copy of The Cellist so she could prepare her questions ahead of time. “Daniel Silva’s publicist wanted someone with journalism experience who was also very involved in the community,” she said, and Diamondstein as the head of the library board and a healthy list of publishing credits, easily fit the bill. Chappaqua Library Director Andrew Farber will welcome Silva to the Chappaqua Library as will Whymark who will also introduce Diamondstein as the moderator.

Diamondstein said those registering for the event and purchasing Silva’s new title are in for a treat. “His books are page turners in which the unexpected will happen,” she said. “And one is never disappointed with the outcome.”

Filed Under: Cover Stories Tagged With: Andrew Farber, Chappaqua library, Daniel Silva, Friends of the Chappaqua Library, Katherine Whymark, Ronni Diamondstein, Scattered Bookstore, The Cellist, Virtual Fundraiser

New Role for the Ever Versatile Ronni Diamondstein

February 18, 2021 by Megan Klein

Ronni Diamondstein and Maggie Mae  Photo by Carolyn Simpson

“It’s Cuomo time!” Ronni Diamondstein calls to her best friend and pet poodle. 

The sound of dog tags jingling signals the incoming arrival of Maggie Mae, the 13-year-old black and white parti toy poodle, who jumps up on the couch, snuggles up next to her mom and watches Governor Cuomo’s daily coronavirus briefings on the TV. 

The middle of March 2020 meant that quarantine was in full-swing and the only thing set in stone was Maggie Mae getting a treat at 11 a.m. right before Cuomo was about to start. 

If you know Diamondstein, then you know Maggie. The two of them have been inseparable ever since 2008, when the dynamic duo began. You’ve probably seen them in town on walks or maybe you’ve even seen Maggie painted on the Chappaqua Children’s Book Festival mural. 

Although they were seemingly attached at the hip before, if this pandemic has done anything, it has brought the two of them even closer together. 

“We got into new routines…Having another living creature in the house is comforting,” 

Diamondstein said. “She’s good company, she’s funny and she has very good self-esteem. I like when she walks in town; she has a good sense of herself. She’s a lot like me in that she likes her alone time but she also likes to see people. And she’s also very curious.”

Maggie is basically a town celebrity. She loves walking around town and checking in on her favorite merchants, ensuring that everyone and everything is just the way it should be. She must’ve gotten that from her mom, for Diamondstein puts a lot of effort into making this town even greater than before.

The philosophy “make where you are  better because you’re there” is one that Diamondstein has tried to follow her whole life. Whether it be in Chappaqua, White Plains or the Netherlands, she has strived to make an impact wherever her time is spent. 

It’s safe to say that mission has been accomplished over and over and over, starting every single morning on Facebook. 

Social media these days can be a source of unwanted negative energy or controversial content, leaving many of us with the urge to drop our phones at the bottom of a lake and never see them ever again. But if you become friends with Diamondstein on Facebook…you might change your mind!

She starts each morning by posting an inspirational quote as a way of communicating her thoughts and getting her friends to think about certain things. You know what they say, a quote from Ronni a day keeps the doctors away! 

The quote that inspired her way of life? 

“Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.”  – John F. Kennedy

And inspire her way of life it did, even early on, as Diamondstein won her high school senior award for excellence in service. But her passion for helping her community didn’t stop there. It just got started. 

After vacationing in the Netherlands, she ended up getting a job as a school librarian at an American international school where she started a gifted program. Working at one of those schools had always been a dream of hers. 

A few years later, she came back to the states and settled in Westchester, where she was a library media specialist in the White Plains schools for 20 years. Among other things, she has served as the Chairman of the Adult Education Committee at Temple Beth El, Board Member of the Chappaqua Children’s Book Festival, League of Women Voters of New Castle and the New Castle Community Media Center, creative behind the Maggie Mae Pup Reporter Column, member of the New Castle Council for Race and Equity and the Katonah Museum Artists’ Association, provider of beautiful nature photos for local exhibits and more. 

“And now, the most amazing thing that I am doing, because libraries have been my life’s work…In 2017 I was elected to the Chappaqua Library Board and as of October, I’ve been the acting President…” Diamondstein said. 

Since January, Diamondstein has served as the President of the Chappaqua Library Board for the ‘21 year. 

“I’m very humbled to have this responsibility. I’ve worked very hard as a board member, in looking at really taking my responsibility seriously…I’m very optimistic about how things will go.” 

She pitched the idea of having MSNBC political analyst and author Rick Tyler speak at the library, offering to do the interview herself since she is a seasoned journalist. The idea was well-received and in January, she interviewed Tyler over Zoom about his new book. 

“I told Joan Kuhn, the program director, that she’s made one of my dreams come true. I always wanted to do what Barbara Walters did, interview people like that on television…I’m really excited about it.” 

Throughout the last year, the library has seen some major changes with their renovations and of course, the pandemic. With curbside pickup, new online book discussions and even a website feature that allows you to chat with a librarian, the library “has done a great job of connecting with the community.” 

Eventually, Diamondstein is hopeful that more kids and teenagers will gravitate toward coming back to the library due to a brand new teen area with new technology similar to the kind that is provided at school. 

Being in the book biz, her favorite one is a children’s book about a dog. It’s called Dominic by William Steig and it’s one she thinks every adult should read, saying “it’s just really a story about life.” She gives it as a gift often, even giving one to President Clinton at one point. 

Throughout the pandemic, while reading is probably an activity that was done to combat quarantine, Diamondstein has been keeping busy doing other things as well. Whether it’s baking her Amazing Double Chocolate Brownies, speaking to at least two friends daily or doing Facetime Pilates, she “just [took] one day at a time.” 

“Peonies”, one of Ronni’s favorite flowers that she photographed at the NYBG was an entry in the Katonah Museum of Art Artists Association Member Show in November 2019.
Photo by Ronni Diamondstein
© 2019 Ronni Diamondstein, All Rights Reserved

The way Diamondstein saw it was, “You had to find joy every day during this pandemic in the little things.” 

Perhaps the most important little thing to happen over these last months? 

Maggie Mae’s Bark Mitzvah! Mazel Tovs are in order in the Diamondstein household because Maggie Mae officially became a young lady in October during Temple Beth El’s Noah’s Bark service. People hopped onto the Zoom call with their pets and Maggie got to celebrate with her friends and family which hopefully made up for the fact that “she has noticed that people, nobody pets her when [she] goes for walks anymore…” 

While Diamondstein is lucky to be able to celebrate the little moments during these times, she also recognizes that there are others who are struggling. This past June for her birthday, she raised over $3,000 for Feeding Westchester to support her concern of food insecurity problems that only grew with the pandemic. In the past she has also helped fundraising efforts for the Amy Marie Crabtree Foundation and the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. 

Although there are currently no longer daily Cuomo briefings for Maggie Mae to watch, at least there are three things we can still rely on: Diamondstein gets flowers every week from Whispering Pines in town, which remind her of her time in Holland, she has switched out the Brownie Starmite camera for her iPhone 11Pro but is still taking photos of flowers and she is still doing everything she can to make a mark where she lives. 

Which makes us wonder…what will she do next? 

Filed Under: Cover Stories Tagged With: Amy Marie Crabtree Foundation, Chappaqua Children’s Book Festival, Chappaqua library, Chappaqua Library Board, Crabtree's Kittle House, Cuomo Time, Governor Cuomo, Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, Maggie Mae Pup Reporter, Noah's Bark Service, Peonies, President Clinton, Ronni Diamondstein, Temple Beth El

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