Library

General Programs

By Jackie Hemond | October 28, 2019

Friday, November 1: Barbara Coffin Holiday Art Show Reception and Sale at 6 to 9 p.m.

The library punch list grows shorter. That list of not-quite-finished items that typifies all significant building projects has happily lost some of its items; work continues on others. Electricians buried power cables for three new light posts to illuminate the concrete stairways leading down from the new south side door. That project, donated by the Library Foundation, then paused in early October awaiting delivery of the light posts themselves. The first half of the historical archives material, returned from storage in September, has been distributed on the new shelving of the Spencer Historical Room.

Director’s Corner

Somewhere Towards the End

By Jackie Hemond | October 28, 2019

The title of this column comes from Diana Athill’s book, a memoir she wrote at 89. She wrote with wry humor of her life and what it is like to grow old and face death.

Library Settles Into Its Old Home

By Lester Smith | October 1, 2019

The fresh new feel of the library, along with the expansive public space, continues to impress, and patrons are learning the new facilities and the new locations of old resources. New chairs and tables have been arriving, and small details, like two broken joints in the ramp handrails, are being corrected. One big surprise was the broken window discovered on July 20 as librarians arrived to set up for a Saturday morning magic show in the children’s room. One layer of one of the big new double-pane windows facing Main Street had shattered, evidently from an external impact; the inner pane was still in place. The show was shifted to the gallery, a new window was ordered, and all was back to normal several weeks later.

Director’s Corner

Dangerous Libraries

By Jackie Hemond | October 1, 2019

During Banned Books Week which occurs in September since 1982, librarians routinely prepare a list of books whose contents are considered by some to be so controversial that the books are banned from libraries, schools, communities, and even countries. It is scary when books, the repository of much of our knowledge and deemed by most to be fun, educational or classics, are deemed subversive and contaminating. Throughout the history of books, challenges to their contents have been frequent. But, interestingly, a book scare in the 19th and early 20th century was prompted not by content, but by another factor, a book’s physicality. At a time when public libraries were opening throughout the United States (the Kent Memorial Library opened in 1899), diseases were also rampant.