The Week in Library Land: March 7 to March 14
This, friends, is the hardest This Week in Library Land to write. It’s about the last week the world was still feeling somewhat normal (at least at the start of the week). As we planned our activities for the week, we were pretty excited. We were going to Providence (long overdue), we were speaking in Boston, we were going to meet with an executive at the Boston Public Library, I had a shift at Dover, and life seemed great. How quickly things changed!
But enough gloom and doom (by the way, my family and Adam’s are all doing OK), for as this week started the skies were blue and the future bright.
The Somerset Public Library
Our first stop of the week was at the Somerset Public Library. It was built in 1974, and has remained much as it was when it opened. That is, until Joanne Nichting came on board as the director. She was kind enough to show me around the library and talk about her plans. They are reconfiguring space, weeding the collection (seriously, who needs multiple copies of biographies of living people that were published 40 years ago?), and reimagining what they can do with what they have. It was pretty inspiring, and I hope that when life returns to normal their plans will continue.
After Somerset, we made our way to Providence. Along the way, Adam had a flat tire - oh no! - but that didn’t slow us down. I picked him up and we headed to East Side Pockets (Adam’s favorite falafel spot this side of Paris) for some totally delicious lunch. From there we hoofed it to the Providence Athenaeum. It was such a warm and beautiful day and as we cut across the Brown University campus - there were kids everywhere enjoying the sunshine. (Again, that feels like 40 years ago.)
The beautiful Providence Athenaeum.
A lot of people have told us how great the Athenaeum is and we’d been meaning to visit it for a while. When we finally arrived, it was cool - no doubt - but maybe we’re jaded? We’ve seen so many amazing libraries and this was right up there, but it wasn’t amazing - or beyond amazing. Adam loved the upper level reading desk alcoves and comfortable lower seating area. We weren’t wild about access issues with one bathroom in the lower level (and no elevator). It’s certainly worth a visit next time you’re in Providence!
On Tuesday, we headed to our old favorite - Woburn Public Library! We had agreed to meet there to do some prep for our planned talk at the Faneuil Branch of the Boston Public Library later that day. Before getting down to business, we stopped into the visit with Bonnie Roalson and Rebecca Meehan, the director and assistant director. We love meeting with them. Every time we do, we come away with new things to think about - and this visit was no exception.
They told us about “One City, One Library,” a program in Worcester that has opened four branch libraries in public schools around the city. The school libraries were closed some time ago (or at least pared back and without professional staffing). The OCOL sounded like a neat and innovative solution. We did some more research and you can read about it here, in a post we did back at the time.
Adam’s cameo in the Woburn hand washing PSA.
One last piece of what makes this library so special and fun … we packed up our stuff, and walked towards the water fountain on the main floor. Well, guess who is part of a public service announcement video - “Coronavirus (Covid-19) song by the Woburn Public Library.”
Later that evening, we made our way to the Faneuil Branch for our talk. It’s so strange to think about it now - that was the last time Adam and I met at a library; and given the fact that we often visit eight or ten a week, it’s shocking. We were there to talk about the Library Land Project and our impressions of the Faneuil Branch.
Speaking at the Faneuil Branch of the Boston Public Library.
We’re fans of the Faneuil Branch, and have been captivated by it since our first visit back in May of 2018. The Art Deco vibe of the place is a big part of what we love about the library - but we also love the mystery of a missing painting! It’s a mystery we’re hoping to solve before the branch is restored and reopened. Not going to say much more than that but we’re hopeful!
The talk went well (you can view it here on Facebook) and we really enjoyed ourselves - and a gathering at a local restaurant with Adam’s parents and girlfriend. So sad that was the last time Adam and I were together at a library!
The next day, Thursday, I went to work at Dover Town Library. It was a quiet shift. People were already thinking about COVID, but the reality of its impact hadn’t sunk in yet. My favorite part of that last day in the library was a potato chip tasting quiz. I worked with Angie Howes, the Young Adult Librarian, to carefully (and hygienically!) place single chips into individual plastic cups. We must have had 25 flavors! It was a silly and fun thing to do and the people doing it liked it a lot. I liked it, too, and drove home thinking about my good fortune and favorite chips.
Twenty varieties of potato chips waiting to be taste-tested!
Sigh, all of that was about to change.
Shortly after arriving home, I got word that the library would be closed the next day, so I wouldn’t need to go in. For how long, no one then knew. Such is life, I thought, things will surely be back to normal soon! Ugh.
Later that night, a second blow fell: I hadn’t been accepted into library school for my Master’s in Library Sciences pursuit! I never thought I’d be a shoe-in, but I also didn’t think I’d be rejected either. I arranged to speak with the program to understand what I’d done wrong. When we did connect, I heard that I hadn’t taken enough account of the “socio-historical” context of libraries in my essays or other writing. I was crestfallen.
The very last library of the very last week of pre-pandemic Library Land was a visit to the Millis Public Library to return some items.
………..
Now, almost two months have passed and the days and weeks have all blurred together - I think today may be “Blursday.” Adam and I are still doing a lot of awesome library-related activities and will continue to be sharing stories of what we see and learn. As a teaser, you will be interested to know that we are working on a MAJOR change to the whole project. More on that later.
Stay tuned and stay well! We miss you and libraries so much.