The Week in Library Land: November 3 to November 9
There was a really nice mix of Library Land activities this week. Some visits, of course, but also an opening, an election day victory, a fancy tea, and an opportunity to share some of what we’ve learned with an audience in Scituate. Read on for all the details!
The striking Valente Library in Cambridge.
On Monday, we were in line for the opening on the Valente Branch Library in Cambridge. We have a full review of that visit and wow, do we like this new branch! Library Land Score: 4.64.
Yay, for Greenfield and the soon to be build new library!
Tuesday was a super exciting day. We didn’t visit any libraries, but in the evening we heard the wonderful news the Greenfield said YES to a new library. We had such a great visit there and were more than happy to lend our voice in support of the effort. It’s so nice when all of the pieces fall into place. We can’t wait to visit again for the groundbreaking and grand opening!
On Wednesday, we had a really special visit to the Boston Public Library. It’s obviously a place we visit regularly. On this occasion we met with Sal DeGeorge, the general manager for The Catered Affair’s operations at the library. We joined Sal for afternoon tea and to hear from him the story of the Map Room Tea Lounge. Our telling of that story is in the works, but until it appears, check out this great write up of our talk and tea that Adam posted to Facebook and Instagram:
It is a very special day in #LibraryLand when we get to take afternoon tea at the Boston Public Library. We've been to the Map Room Tea Lounge in the adjoining room a few times, but the opportunity to meet with Salvatore, the library's food and beverage director from The Catered Affair, and be waited on diligently by Linda was one to savour.
A tower of tea time treats!
The Courtyard Tea Room is a very popular place for relaxed, yet refined, tea. Under The Catered Affair’s management since 2009, the Afternoon Tea is the perfect complement to the Italianate courtyard and historic McKim building the room overlooks. Serving Wednesday through Sunday, the afternoon tea offers guests a premium selection of loose leaf teas and gourmet tea sandwiches, scones, and petit fours at a reasonable price compared to nearby hotels.
We had a great talk with Sal about the rooms, staffing, providing service, guests, and the connection to the library and patrons. Our visit wasn't only about drinking tea and eating tea sandwiches, we also had tea leaf readings with Shelli from Sunflower Reiki - was the future revealed? We didn't get any alcoholic beverages during this visit, but we always like the literary-themed tea cocktails. Skipping those, we even managed to get some work done in the Bates Hall reading room upstairs.
Learn more about The Courtyard Tea Room & Map Room Tea Lounge at Boston Public Library www.librarytea.com
On Thursday, we headed south to the amazing Scituate Town Library. We were on hand to speak at a “Coffee Talk” sponsored by the Scituate Education Foundation. The topic was one that’s near and dear to Adam and me: co-working in public libraries! The audience was great and we had a really fun time. We love working in libraries and we love talking about working in libraries so this was a really fun-filled session for us. Our comments were partially based on a post we did many months ago, but we added a new point to consider: choosing the right library. We really appreciated the opportunity to share our love of working in libraries and the opportunity to chat with the attendees and Jessi Finnie, the library’s director. Library Land Score: 4.64.
With Jessi Finnie at the Scituate Library.
Since we were in the neighborhood, we decided to squeeze in a couple of other local libraries. The first was the Ventress Memorial Library in Marshfield. This is kind of a crazy space. It used to be a grocery store and you can still kind of tell. It’s so interesting to see how different spaces are reused as libraries. We’ve seen libraries in what were once schools or private homes or churches but this was the first store. The town has tried to build support for a new library in the past (most recently in 2011), but was voted down. The current space is very full, but the staff is making the most of what they have and the library has a new YA section and a nice little makerspace as well. Library Land Score: 4.18.
The Ventress Memorial Library.
Also located in Marshfield is the Clift Rogers Free Library. This is a cute little gem of a library that’s community-based and not part of any library network. The hours are limited (just 17 hours a week) but it’s a well used place that one trustee describes as a “read for pleasure” library. There aren’t any study rooms ,but there are comfy chairs, a fireplace, and a neat kids area. There is also a consignment shop upstairs that contributes directly to library funding. Community libraries offer a different lens for viewing a town and the view from the Clift Rogers is a nice one indeed! Library Land Score: 3.14.
Not the typical library sign.
There was also a visit to the Morse Institute in Natick. It wasn’t a working visit but an attempt to schedule a room for an upcoming meeting. It was a little confusing and kind of frustrating. Natick now has “study rooms,” which can be booked online (awesome!) and “meeting rooms,” which need to be booked through a library administrator. Having two different systems for booking similar resources is less than ideal - especially when the policies associated with each are different. Color me perplexed. Library Land Score: 4.45.
The final library of the week was on Friday and it was a visit to the Medway Public Library. I’m about to move to Medway and thought it would be good to spend a little more time at the library. We first visited it back on New Year’s Eve day in 2018 and it’s a fine little town library. It has a good sized makerspace on the ground floor and a few study rooms (alas, with open tops). During this visit there were a lot of kids using the space, which is always nice to see. What I think I’ll love most about this library is that I’ll be able to walk to it! Can’t wait! Library Land Score: 4.18
That’s all for the week, but Library Land is a big place and there’s always more to come!