The wonderful staff from the Boston Public Health Commission (BPHC) will come to the South End Library next Friday, December 20, to answer any questions you might have about the Affordable Care Act as it will apply in Massachusetts. Not only that, the multilingual staff will help you enroll. For free, if necessary, or at a low cost, if you qualify. The public forum is free to all. For additional information, call the BPHC at 617 534-5050.
A Reminder to Donate a Little or a Lot to the Best Institution in Your Neighborhood: the South End Branch of the Boston Public Library
Fosel appeal 2
A few weeks ago, the Friends of the South End Library (FOSEL) sent out a mailing to local residents asking for financial support. Your response has been heart-warming and is much appreciated. Just in case you were not on the current list, and feel rejected or left behind, here is a copy of the appeal letter for you to ponder and respond to. The funds we collect from you will help FOSEL to pay for its programs as well as physical improvements in the library itself. These range far and wide, from the flowering perennial gardens around the trees on Tremont Street facing the library to the reupholstery and refurbishing of the branch's seating area and library counter. The programs include our authors' series, soon entering its fourth year, The South End Writes, which brings South End and not-so-South End luminaries to your library. Last summer, we drew on South End's local jazz-and-blues heritage to bring fabulous bands to Library Park; this will continue next summer. Thanks to FOSEL, the library is now fully handicapped accessible.
New improvement projects and programs are in the planning stage, awaiting additional funds to make them come true. This is where we turn to you. Please send your donation to the address listed on the letter to the left. Or use our PayPal account. All contributions are fully tax-deductible in the year they are made. All the money will come back to you in programs, events, and a refurbished and welcoming library and park. Every donation of $50 or more will entitle you to one of FOSEL's beautiful book bags. You can pick up the red or the green one with a receipt for your contribution at the branch. FOSEL thanks you for your continued generosity.
FOSEL Holds its Winter Public Meeting on Wednesday, December 4, at 6:30 PM at the South End Library: Bring Your Ideas and Suggestions
Local Realty Group Organizes Public-School Assignment Forum, Tuesday, November 12, with Proceeds to Benefit the South End Library
Do Your School Assignment Homework Forum, November 12
Raising funds for our local library branch is usually accomplished by an annual mail solicitation put together by the Friends of the South End Library (FOSEL), or by FOSEL making a special request from a generous donor here or there who loves libraries. As an unexpected and happy addition to this admittedly ho-hum fundraising arsenal, a local realty firm, the Steve Cohen Team of Keller Williams Realty, has now organized a community event in which panelists hope to explain a complicated new assignment system to public-school parents for a $10 admission ticket, the proceeds of which will benefit the South End branch library. In an informative article on school assignment in the Boston Globe this week, an education advocate was quoted as saying that it’s "not the easiest system to understand."
The November 12 event intends to help elementary-school parents wade through the new process that began this month for the coming school year of 2014. Topics are new tools being made available for school-choice research and what is being done to improve the quality of public-school education. Panelists include local education and government representatives like Mark Kenen, Executive Director of the MA Charter Public Schools Association; Bill Linehan, Boston City Councilor, Distirct 2; Lee McGuire, Chief Communications Officer, Boston Public Schools; Mary Tamer, Member, School Choice Advisory Committee; Ann Walsh, Chief of Staff for John Connolly; and Josh Weis, Hurley School & Boston Latin Parent, an expert on New Choice & Assignment Policy.
South End culinary lights, Myers & Chang, will provide refreshments. It starts at 5:30 PM at the South End's Ben Franklin Institute of Technology located 41 Berkeley Street. For further info and registration, click here.
T
Tortuous Road to a Better East Boston Library Leads to Sparkling New Facility that Offers Fewer Books (from 66,000 to 18,000) and Leaves Its WPA Murals of Sailing Ships Awaiting Restoration
BPL Trustee Paul LaCamera
It's probably safe to say that, if not for BPL Trustee Paul LaCamera, the beautiful new East Boston branch library opening November 2 on Bremen Street would never have been built. Just like a previous plan for a new East Boston library, completed at considerable expense in 2008 and aging quickly on a dusty library shelf, was not going to be built.
LaCamera, formerly the General Manager for WBUR, who grew up in East Boston, took a stand at a BPL trustee meeting in 2010 when he refused to agree to shutter one of the two East Boston branches before a new facility would replace it. In a last-ditch effort to get LaCamera's consent to close a total of four libraries --and a unanimous vote-- before an enraged audience watching the proceedings in Copley Library, Mayor Menino, in a phone call to BPL president Amy Ryan, promised he would include funds for a new East Boston Library in his next capital budget. But LaCamera still abstained. Immediately after the other BPL trustees agreed 5 to 1 to close the four branches, including East Boston's Orient Heights. However, they passed an additional amendment that the next new library would be built in East Boston. And...here it is.
The new East Boston Library, by Rawn Architects
The graceful $17.25 million new East Boston library was designed by the same firm, Rawn Architects, now working on the renovation of the Copley Library's Johnson building. The firm was the architect as well for libraries in Mattapan and downtown Cambridge, among other places. The East Boston branch has more than twice the space of the two libraries it replaces, Orient Heights and Meridian Street, but far fewer books, about 18,000 instead of 66,000, a bone of contention for neighborhood groups who assert that, in East Boston, expensive electronic devices are not likely to replace books for a largely poor community.
Ships Through the Ages East Boston Library Murals by Edward King
Another bone of contention are some 15 Works Progress Administration (WPA) murals of 19th-Century whalers and clippers, painted by Rockport artist Frederick Leonard King in the 1930s. They all used to hang in the now-closed Meridian branch but only four will be on display in the new library. The Ships Through the Ages Series requires major restoration to the estimated tune of $150,000, an amount the Friends of the East Boston Library hopes to raise, according to an excellent report on the subject earlier this fall on WBUR, linked here. Their goal is to hang all the paintings, restored, in the new branch one day, so the series will evoke the nautical past of the East Boston neighborhood, where once these very ships were built.
BPL Executives and Community Advisors Express Excitement about Johnson Building's Proposed New Design but Face Uncertainty over Incoming Mayor's Commitment to the Renovation Project
Mock-up of Johnson building's Boylston St redesigned entrance
The long-overdue Johnson building renovation effort seemed on a roll: Mayor Thomas Menino allocated more than $14 million in what turned out to be his final capital budget for a much-anticipated facelift to the Copley Library's cavernous Johnson building on Boylston Street. Real estate interests were salivating at the prospect of some of the library's street-level acreage being turned into retail space --as yet undetermined in focus but pledged to be 'compatible' with the library's mission. A prominent architectural firm, William Rawn Associates, was hired for the construction of Phase 2, to start in December. An engaged and lively group of local citizens, the Community Advisory Committee, met numerous times to come up with the best possible redesign to revive the moribund city block on Boylston Street where the library is located. This summer, the BPL and its trustees made a strong presentation before the Boston Landmarks Commission for permission to remove the granite chastity belt of plinths that now encircles the building on three sides, condemning the entire block and the library to a state of perpetual chill. All good and well. The question is, with Mayor Menino leaving office in a few months, what will the new mayor, John Connolly or Marty Walsh, think of it all?
Second Floor Johnson Building facing Boylston St, Children's Room on left; Teen Space on right
The governance structure of the BPL makes the mayor of Boston The Big Decider in the library universe. One of the side effects of this autocratic set-up is that the trustees do not have their own political or financial power base from which to defend the interests of the BPL as they diverge from the mayor's. He appoints the nine trustees, who serve at his pleasure; they are not vetted or approved by either the city council or another public entity. The trustees hire the BPL president, keeping a close eye on the mayor's wishes; five years into the job, the current president, Amy Ryan, is likely to face contract renewal. Finally, whatever residual financial autonomy the BPL once had was wiped out in 2008 when the roughly 200 library trust funds, totaling close to $60 million, were moved from the BPL president's control to the mayor's budget office, despite vehement protestations by then-BPL president Bernard Margolis. Therefore, in theory, the Johnson building project could grind to a halt for lack of support by the new mayor, or even his mere desire to want to review the entire project and its premise before moving forward or sideways.
Proposed Fiction Section, alongside Exeter St, with stairs leading to Mezzanine
That would be too bad, as became evident at the Community Advisory Committee's meeting on October 18, when Rawn Associates presented a mock-up proposal of a vibrant new Johnson building artfully connected to the McKim building with initial designs to become visually integrated with the street scape on Boylston Street. The nine quadrants that form the basic design of the Johnson building are opened up to light flowing in from the enormous windows on the first and second floors, with easily navigated and color-guided pathways to browsing areas, circulation, fiction sections and Bostonia collections, as well as 21st-century spaces for teenagers, children and tots on floor two. Sets of bathrooms on the second floor alone make the entire renovation worthwhile: no bathrooms exist there now. Many details remain to be worked out, among them what art work or fountain or installation to place in the center of Deferrari Hall, the enormous lobby behind the current Soviet-style lobby on Boylston Street that dwarfs the information desk in the center of it, where a forelorn staffer or two bravely dispense directions to bathroom and book.
The integrated street scape/library entrance on Boylston Street is still mostly a concept to be fully developed and finalized in subsequent phases of the renovation project. An immediate complication is the unfortunate location of the portable public restroom in front of the BPL, part of a large city contract that is said to bring revenue into city coffers as it injects tackiness into the library site. City representatives at the Friday meeting said it was the most popular street bathroom in Boston, exceeded in usage only by the one located in City Hall Plaza. "In that case, perhaps City Hall Plaza could use a second one next to it," was the tart response from Community Advisory Board member Meg Mainzer-Cohen, also the executive director of the Back Bay Neighborhood Association.
The next Community Advisory Committee meeting, open to the public, will be held January 15, at 9 AM, in the Commonwealth Salon of the BPL. This meeting will focus on the exterior, landscaping and partnership spaces. For more information on the Johnson building project, click here.
Mayoral Candidates Connolly and Walsh Both Support New Downtown/Chinatown Branch, High Standards for BPL Trustees, Expanded Hours and Stabilizing BPL Funding
Rep. Marty Walsh
Both mayoral candidates, Rep. Marty Walsh and At-large City Councillor John Connolly, have re-affirmed their commitment to a vibrant Boston Public Library system which they most recently displayed in the 2010 fight to keep Mayor Menino from closing up to ten branches. While each differs from the other in approach and expansiveness on the questions raised, Connolly and Walsh equally support re-building a new downtown library to replace the Chinatown library closed more than five decades ago; setting standards of library expertise and relevant experience for the BPL trustees who govern the public library; expanding branch library hours; and finding ways to stabilize funding for the BPL. Below are the questions posed by FOSEL and the answers of each John Connolly and Marty Walsh underneath, in bold italics.
LIBRARY HOURS: the 25 branch libraries, which service the vast majority of 625,00 Bostonians, are closed most evenings, evenings, Sundays and, in summer, Saturdays as well. The Copley Library, however, within walking distance of the 20,000 residents of the Back Bay, is open four nights a week, Saturdays and, except in the summer, Sundays. In other words, most of Boston’s residents and their families whose taxes pay for the BPL, can’t use their local library when they are off work. As mayor, will you make sure all libraries in the system are open nights and weekends to reflect the specific need for local access?
At-large City Councillor John Connolly
WALSH: The Boston Public Library is a cornerstone of my vision for the future of Boston, in the sense that it represents access, information, and the potential for lifelong learning and community building. The library represents the best of Boston’s history and its recognition of the value of education at all levels. I would support expanded hours to ensure that more people can use the library at their convenience. I also believe that this will allow the library to consider flex-time for its staff, which I believe will support a workforce that needs flexibility for child care and other needs. I would take into account public surveys and the library’s own statistics about use to ensure that staff and other resources are allocated to best use.
CONNOLLY: While I recognize that we have to manage our resources carefully, I would love to see libraries open seven days a week. I think the key is for libraries to be centers of learning and community that are well connected to other institutions so that we can ensure their vitality for generations to come. Today, when a smartphone can put a world of information at our fingertips in a way that would have been unimaginable even a few years ago, it's vital that we re-imagine the role of our libraries. With all of that readily available information comes a powerful opportunity for libraries to help people make sense of it. Libraries can be places where people not only consume content, but create it; where people not only gain knowledge, but apply it. I see libraries as community institutions of the utmost importance. I want to have a community learning model in every neighborhood, where we're connecting our libraries with our schools and community centers. I know that one of the principles outlined in Compass, the BPL’s 2012 strategic plan, calls for libraries to be centers of knowledge through enhanced collaboration with schools, institutions, and the private sector, and I think that’s how we need to think about the future of libraries. My vision is that libraries thrive through connections to other institutions.
*****
LIBRARY GOVERNANCE: there are no required standards of professional library expertise or library advocacy to be appointed to the nine-member BPL board of trustees. There are no term limits. There is no requirement to show up at public meetings (and some trustees seldom do). There is no public vetting process for library trustees, nor a public confirmation process to make sure the public gets the best library advocates possible to meet the library’s needs. Board seats do not reflect specific library interests, either, as is the case elsewhere: for example, the interests of branch libraries differ from those of the Copley Library; young adults have different needs than seniors; book acquisition specialists have different concerns than book or art conservators. As mayor, would you set standards for library trustees and their performance, and consider appointing those who would be qualified advocates for specific library and neighborhood concerns?
WALSH: I would strongly support a revision of standards for the BPL Board of Trustees. Accountability and transparency are key in all areas of policy for my administration. Just as I intend to seek the most highly qualified Superintendent of Schools and Chief of Police, I feel that every city department should be guided and led by people who have experience in the field, are aware of best practices, and have a vision of how to improve and support the departments they are in charge of.
CONNOLLY: I want diverse trustees who represent the whole city, who believe passionately in the future of the BPL, and who are committed to fulfilling their trustee role to the best of their ability. I will work with you to make sure we have a process for identifying and selecting the best candidates we can find.
*****
LIBRARY CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS: Which local libraries get renovated, or where new ones are built, is governed by mysterious forces. There is no transparent long-term capital plan, nor is a specific public process in place, by which libraries are upgraded equitably, or new ones built where needed, or handicapped-accessibility ensured. As mayor, will you institute a transparent and fair capital plan to upgrade all BPL libraries equitably where needed, or build new ones, as part of a public process?
WALSH: The foundation of a Walsh Administration will be ethics and transparency, including financial disclosure. Just as many schools are in need of capital improvement, the library branches in our neighborhoods, which support after-school learning and programming, need to be maintained at the highest standards with access to up-to-date technology, and safe and healthy buildings. Long-term capital improvements in both areas are critical needs, and ones that we would address as part of a comprehensive review of city property.
CONNOLLY: A capital plan for the libraries, developed with community engagement, would help us to prioritize the most critical projects and ensure that all neighborhoods have access to high quality facilities. In general, careful community planning should play a greater role in the future of our city. For example, I have long advocated for a comprehensive facilities plan for the Boston Public Schools.
*****
BUILDING NEW LIBRARIES: Downtown Crossing is increasing its residential footprint. It is also a transportation hub where many young adults from all over the city hang out with little to do. As such, they can become easy targets for unfair and unnecessary criminalization by law enforcement. Nearby Chinatown, moreover, lost its library decades ago. As mayor, would you consider building an architecturally exciting downtown library with an outstanding young-adult department and a strong Asian profile that also replaces the long-lost Chinatown branch?
WALSH: Yes. A revitalized downtown area is where we see the most potential for growth as people return to living in the city in the next decades. Providing the kinds of resources which support families and empty-nesters who live here would definitely include library services. In addition, Marty feels that each library branch has the possibility of reflecting the richness of its neighborhood and its cultural diversity. The Walsh Administration will support and support all Bostonians.
CONNOLLY: I have long supported a new library for Chinatown, and as mayor I will work to get one built. In the meantime, however, we need a solution that helps meet the community’s immediate needs. I support funding a fulltime librarian to keep a reading room open in Chinatown until a permanent downtown library can be opened.
*****
THE BPL FOUNDATION: the BPL fundraising arm was created to repair the McKim building almost two decades ago, and will target its future campaign on the long-overdue Johnson Building renovation. It does not focus on branch libraries, however, or their local Friends groups’ capital-improvement issues. But branches could use the Foundation’s help. The East Boston library, for example, has14 iconic WPA paintings that will cost $150,000 to restore before they can be installed in the new East Boston library. Their tiny Friends group is left on its own to raise the funds for it.As mayor, would you direct the BPL Foundation to expand its mission and assist local Friends groups who want to preserve cultural and historic landmarks of importance to their neighborhood libraries?
WALSH: Yes. The Boston Public Library is comprised of many parts, and its neighborhood branches are a key component of library services. Just as I intend to bring municipal services to “little city halls” throughout Boston’s neighborhoods, library services are not confined to the main branch at Copley. The Library and the City should be proud that the first branch library in the country was opened in East Boston in 1870, and we are about to open a new branch in that neighborhood. Many of the branch buildings have architectural or historical significance, and should be restored. Others are in need of considerable repair and should be upgraded or replaced. The BPL Foundation should leverage support for the library to be part of this vision of the Library’s future, and I would direct them to do so.
CONNOLLY: It is critically important to support our neighborhood libraries, so this proposal make sense to me. But in order not to turn this into a zerosum game, as mayor I will reach out to private and philanthropic partners to ask for their support in expanding the resources available to the Foundation.
*****
LIBRARY TRUST FUNDS: these are meant to enrich the public library beyond capital and operational allocations from the city’s General Fund, not to substitute for it. But in the case of the disputed Kirstein Business branch closing in 2009, two Kirstein trust funds that paid for the maintenance of that building and its collection, are now used to offset operational expenses at the Copley Library. How? Trustees approved moving the business collection out of the Kirstein’s own beautiful building and into the dank basement of the Copley Library. The emptied Kirstein library building, located on prime real estate downtown, moreover, is used by the city for office space, at no obvious benefit to the BPL. As mayor, how will you ensure that library trust funds are used for library enrichment only, not to offset operational or General Fund expenses?
WALSH: Generous individuals who wish to support the library should feel confident that their legacy will be safely and respectfully administered by the library. While it is possible that original intentions can become no longer viable, all efforts should be exhausted prior to breaking a trust. I feel that if Library Trustees have been carefully vetted and the process is public and transparent, there would be much less likelihood of such a process being a cause for misunderstanding and anger. Further, the Library should consider social entrepreneurship and increased fundraising efforts to offset the decrease in state and federal funding that many non-profit organizations are facing in the current fiscal climate. As Mayor, I intend to review all city property and resources to ensure the best allocation of resources throughout all the departments.
CONNOLLY: The closing of the Kirstein branch was a real disappointment for many residents who visited the library regularly. It’s important that we do our very best to honor the wishes of the trusts’ donors. Through sound budgeting and efficient management, we have got to make sure we have adequate funding for the BPL’s operations.
*****
STABILIZING LIBRARY FUNDING:Between 2008 and 2010 no one from the BPL or the city advocated for Boston’s library funding at the Legislature, so state funding declined. Trustees, moreover, who are appointed exclusively by the mayor, tend to not oppose mayoral proposals to cut the library budget, or fight for library budget increases, adding to the financial decline of the BPL. Would you support a dedicated tax for public libraries as part of the property tax, or come up with another fiscal instrument, to ensure a long-term strategy to stabilize and expand the BPL budget to meet the exponential growth in demand for library services and community space?
WALSH: Before considering additional taxes for the library, I would like to review the current budget of the library and ensure that it is operating in a fiscally responsible manner. Since ensuring a high quality education is key to my administration, I would not foresee considering cuts to library services. Just as I have pledged to provide universal pre-K education to all 4 year olds, I intend to make sure that libraries are open and available in all the neighborhoods to support this. While it is valuable to have lobbying services for the library, the people of Boston are the most powerful lobbyists themselves. When there was the threat of cuts to the library, they made their voices heard. I stood firm in the legislature to support the neighborhood branches, and I would do so even more firmly as Mayor. I would look forward to working with Library Administration and the Trustees to ensure a healthy and long-term plan for the expansion and success of the entire BPL system.
CONNOLLY: If we re-envision libraries as centers of knowledge and community linked to schools, colleges, and other institutions in our neighborhoods, then I believe we can ensure a strong future for the BPL. Recognizing that there are many important priorities competing for taxpayer dollars, I am committed to working with you on strategies for ensuring that libraries have adequate, stable, long-term funding in place.
Which of the Mayoral Candidates Will Give Bostonians the Best Public Library System: Candidate Rep. Marty Walsh Responds
Mayoral Candidate Rep. Marty Walsh
One of the two candidates for mayor of Boston, Rep. Marty Walsh, has responded quickly and fully to the seven public-library questions posed by FOSEL two days ago. Below are the original questions, with the answers provided by Joyce Linehan, policy director for the Walsh campaign, in bold italics. As soon as we hear from At-large Councillor John Connolly, we will post his comments, as well. And your questions will receive the same attention, too.
*****
LIBRARY HOURS: the 25 branch libraries, which service the vast majority of 625,000 Bostonians, are closed most evenings, Sundays and, in summer, Saturdays as well. The Copley Library, however, within walking distance of the 20,000 residents of the Back Bay, is open four nights a week, Saturdays and, except in the summer, Sundays. In other words, most of Boston’s residents and their families whose taxes pay for the BPL, can’t use their local library when they are off work. As mayor, will you make sure all libraries in the system are open nights and weekends to reflect the specific need for local access?
WALSH: The Boston Public Library is a cornerstone of my vision for the future of Boston, in the sense that it represents access, information, and the potential for lifelong learning and community building. The library represents the best of Boston’s history and its recognition of the value of education at all levels. I would support expanded hours to ensure that more people can use the library at their convenience. I also believe that this will allow the library to consider flex-time for its staff, which I believe will support a workforce that needs flexibility for child care and other needs. I would take into account public surveys and the library’s own statistics about use to ensure that staff and other resources are allocated to best use.
*****
LIBRARY GOVERNANCE: there are no required standards of professional library expertise or library advocacy to be appointed to the nine-member BPL board of trustees. There are no term limits. There is no requirement to show up at public meetings (and some trustees seldom do). There is no public vetting process for library trustees, nor a public confirmation process to make sure the public gets the best library advocates possible to meet the library’s needs. Board seats do not reflect specific library interests, either, as is the case elsewhere: for example, the interests of branch libraries differ from those of the Copley Library; young adults have different needs than seniors; book acquisition specialists have different concerns than book or art conservators.
As mayor, would you set standards for library trustees and their performance, and consider appointing those who would be qualified advocates for specific library and neighborhood concerns?
WALSH: I would strongly support a revision of standards for the BPL Board of Trustees. Accountability and transparency are key in all areas of policy for my administration. Just as I intend to seek the most highly qualified Superintendent of Schools and Chief of Police, I feel that every city department should be guided and led by people who have experience in the field, are aware of best practices, and have a vision of how to improve and support the departments they are in charge of.
*****
LIBRARY CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS: Which local libraries get renovated, or where new ones are built, is governed by mysterious forces. There is no transparent long-term capital plan, nor is a specific public process in place, by which libraries are upgraded equitably, or new ones built where needed, or handicapped-accessibility ensured. As mayor, will you institute a transparent and fair capital plan to upgrade all BPL libraries equitably where needed, or build new ones, as part of a public process?
WALSH: The foundation of a Walsh Administration will be ethics and transparency, including financial disclosure. Just as many schools are in need of capital improvement, the library branches in our neighborhoods, which support after-school learning and programming, need to be maintained at the highest standards with access to up-to-date technology, and safe and healthy buildings. Long-term capital improvements in both areas are critical needs, and ones that we would address as part of a comprehensive review of city property.
*****
BUILDING NEW LIBRARIES: Downtown Crossing is increasing its residential footprint. It is also a transportation hub where many young adults from all over the city hang out with little to do. As such, they can become easy targets for unfair and unnecessary criminalization by law enforcement. Nearby Chinatown, moreover, lost its library decades ago. As mayor, would you consider building an architecturally exciting downtown library with an outstanding young-adult department and a strong Asian profile that also replaces the long-lost Chinatown branch?
WALSH: Yes. A revitalized downtown area is where we see the most potential for growth as people return to living in the city in the next decades. Providing the kinds of resources which support families and empty-nesters who live here would definitely include library services. In addition, Marty feels that each library branch has the possibility of reflecting the richness of its neighborhood and its cultural diversity. The Walsh Administration will support and support all Bostonians.
*****
THE BPL FOUNDATION: the BPL fundraising arm was created to repair the McKim building almost two decades ago, and will target its future campaign on the long-overdue Johnson Building renovation. It does not focus on branch libraries, however, or their local Friends groups’ capital-improvement issues. But branches could use the Foundation’s help. The East Boston library, for example, has14 iconic WPA paintings that will cost $150,000 to restore before they can be installed in the new East Boston library. Their tiny Friends group is left on its own to raise the funds for it. As mayor, would you direct the BPL Foundation to expand its mission and assist local Friends groups who want to preserve cultural and historic landmarks of importance to their neighborhood libraries?
WALSH: Yes. The Boston Public Library is comprised of many parts, and its neighborhood branches are a key component of library services. Just as I intend to bring municipal services to “little city halls” throughout Boston’s neighborhoods, library services are not confined to the main branch at Copley. The Library and the City should be proud that the first branch library in the country was opened in East Boston in 1870, and we are about to open a new branch in that neighborhood. Many of the branch buildings have architectural or historical significance, and should be restored. Others are in need of considerable repair and should be upgraded or replaced. The BPL Foundation should leverage support for the library to be part of this vision of the Library’s future, and I would direct them to do so.
*****
LIBRARY TRUST FUNDS: these are meant to enrich the public library beyond capital and operational allocations from the city’s General Fund, not to substitute for it. But in the case of the disputed Kirstein Business branch closing in 2009, two Kirstein trust funds that paid for the maintenance of that building and its collection, are now used to offset operational expenses at the Copley Library. How? Trustees approved moving the business collection out of the Kirstein’s own beautiful building and into the dank basement of the Copley Library. The emptied Kirstein library building, located on prime real estate downtown, moreover, is used by the city for office space, at no obvious benefit to the BPL. As mayor, how will you ensure that library trust funds are used for library enrichment only, not to offset operational or General Fund expenses?
WALSH: Generous individuals who wish to support the library should feel confident that their legacy will be safely and respectfully administered by the library. While it is possible that original intentions can become no longer viable, all efforts should be exhausted prior to breaking a trust. I feel that if Library Trustees have been carefully vetted and the process is public and transparent, there would be much less likelihood of such a process being a cause for misunderstanding and anger. Further, the Library should consider social entrepreneurship and increased fundraising efforts to offset the decrease in state and federal funding that many non-profit organizations are facing in the current fiscal climate. As Mayor, I intend to review all city property and resources to ensure the best allocation of resources throughout all the departments.
*****
STABILIZING LIBRARY FUNDING:Between 2008 and 2010 no one from the BPL or the city advocated for Boston’s library funding at the Legislature, so state funding declined. Trustees, moreover, who are appointed exclusively by the mayor, tend to not oppose mayoral proposals to cut the library budget, or fight for library budget increases, adding to the financial decline of the BPL. Would you support a dedicated tax for public libraries as part of the property tax, or come up with another fiscal instrument, to ensure a long-term strategy to stabilize and expand the BPL budget to meet the exponential growth in demand for library services and community space?
WALSH: Before considering additional taxes for the library, I would like to review the current budget of the library and ensure that it is operating in a fiscally responsible manner. Since ensuring a high quality education is key to my administration, I would not foresee considering cuts to library services. Just as I have pledged to provide universal pre-K education to all 4 year olds, I intend to make sure that libraries are open and available in all the neighborhoods to support this. While it is valuable to have lobbying services for the library, the people of Boston are the most powerful lobbyists themselves. When there was the threat of cuts to the library, they made their voices heard. I stood firm in the legislature to support the neighborhood branches, and I would do so even more firmly as Mayor. I would look forward to working with Library Administration and the Trustees to ensure a healthy and long-term plan for the expansion and success of the entire BPL system.
Which of the Mayoral Candidates Will Give Bostonians the Best Public Library System? Seven Public-Library Questions for the Mayoral Candidates: What Are Yours?
Boston is fortunate to have two contenders in the mayoral race who denounced the branch library closings proposed by Mayor Menino in 2010.
Mayoral Candidate John Connolly
John Connolly spoke out against the proposal to shutter up to a third of the BPL’s branches when he was at-large city councillor. And Marty Walsh, as state representative of the 13th District, was part of the Boston delegation that threatened to cut millions in state funding to the BPL should any branch libraries be closed. And none were closed. However, the BPL is still a weak system, battered by decades of neglect, opaque decision-making, under-funding, and a leadership structure that is largely dependent on the good graces of the mayor of Boston. So here are seven questions for John Connolly and Marty Walsh, the answers to which may help you decide who could be the BPL’s knight in shining armor and give Bostonians the stellar library system they deserve.
LIBRARY HOURS: the 25 branch libraries, which service the vast majority of 625,000 Bostonians, are closed most evenings, Sundays and, in summer, Saturdays as well. The Copley Library, however, within walking distance of the 20,000 residents of the Back Bay, is open four nights a week, Saturdays and, except in the summer, Sundays. In other words, most of Boston's residents and their families whose taxes pay for the BPL, can't use their local library when they are off work. As mayor, will you make sure all libraries in the system are open nights and weekends to reflect the specific need for local access?
Mayoral Candidate Marty Walsh
LIBRARY GOVERNANCE: BPL trustees can approve budgets, hire or fire BPL presidents, close libraries or keep them open. Yet, there are no required standards of professional library expertise or library advocacy to be appointed to the nine-member BPL board of trustees. There are no term limits. There is no requirement to show up at public meetings (and some trustees seldom do). There is no public vetting process for library trustees, nor a public confirmation process to make sure the library gets the best advocates possible to meet the public's needs. Board seats do not reflect specific library interests, either, as is the case elsewhere: for example, the interests of branch libraries differ from those of the Copley Library; young adults have different needs than seniors; book acquisition specialists have different concerns than book or art conservators. As mayor, would you set standards for library trustees and their performance, and consider appointing those who would be qualified advocates for specific library and neighborhood concerns?
LIBRARY CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS: Which local libraries get renovated, or where new ones are built, is governed by mysterious forces. There is no transparent long-term capital plan, nor is a specific public process in place, by which libraries are upgraded equitably, or new ones built where needed, or handicapped-accessibility ensured. As mayor, will you institute a transparent and fair capital plan to upgrade all BPL libraries equitably where needed, or build new ones, as part of a public process?
BUILDING NEW LIBRARIES: Downtown Crossing is increasing its residential footprint. It is also a transportation hub where many young adults from all over the city hang out with little to do. As such, they can become easy targets for unfair and unneccesary criminalization by law enforcement. Nearby Chinatown, moreover, lost its library decades ago. As mayor, would you consider building an architecturally exciting downtown library with an outstanding young-adult department and a strong Asian profile that also replaces the long-lost Chinatown branch?
THE BPL FOUNDATION
: the BPL fundraising arm was created to repair the McKim building almost two decades ago, and will target its future campaign on the long-overdue Johnson Building renovation. It does not focus on branch libraries, however, or their local Friends groups' capital-improvement issues. But branches could use the Foundation's help. The East Boston Meridian library branch, for example, has 14 iconic WPA paintings that will cost $150,000 to restore before they can be installed in the new East Boston library. Their tiny Friends group is left on its own to raise the funds for it.
As mayor, would you direct the BPL Foundation to expand its mission and assist local Friends groups who want to preserve cultural and historic landmarks of importance to their neighborhood libraries?
LIBRARY TRUST FUNDS: these are meant to enrich the public library beyond capital and operational allocations from the city's General Fund, not to substitute for it. But in the case of the disputed Kirstein Business branch closing in 2009, two Kirstein trust funds that paid for the maintenance of that building and its collection, are now used to offset operational expenses at the Copley Library. How? Trustees approved moving the business collection out of the Kirstein's own beautiful building and into the dank basement of the Copley Library. The emptied Kirstein library building, located on prime real estate downtown, moreover, is used by the city for office space, at no obvious benefit to the BPL. As mayor, how will you ensure that library trust funds are used for library enrichment only, not to offset operational or General Fund expenses?
STABILIZING LIBRARY FUNDING:Between 2008 and 2010 no one from the BPL or the city advocated for Boston's library funding at the Legislature, so state funding declined. Trustees, moreover, who are appointed exclusively by the mayor, tend to not oppose mayoral proposals to cut the library budget, or fight for library budget increases, which further destabilizes the financial picture at the BPL. Would you support a dedicated tax for public libraries as part of the property tax, or come up with another fiscal instrument, to ensure a long-term strategy to stabilize and expand the BPL budget to meet the exponential growth in demand for library services and community space?
BPL Trustees Vote to Accept More Than Half a Million in Gifts to Library System, Including a $6,700 Donation by FOSEL to Make the SE Branch Fully Handicapped Accessible
At their most recent public meeting at the Adams Street Library in Dorchester, the BPL trustees voted to accept $503, 078.96 worth of donations during the 2013 fiscal year from different sources, including the MA Library Commissioners' Board ($147,350), Harvard University ($5,900), library patrons and many library Friends groups. Among them was a gift of $6,700 raised by FOSEL to make the South End branch fully handicapped accessible. FOSEL's was the next-to-largest gift to the BPL in the fiscal year, exceeded only by a donation from the Citywide Friends of the BPL for more than $28,000 for a variety of goals, including museum passes and audio-visual equipment.
Head librarian Anne Smart and FOSEL board member Glyn Polson at newly refurbished library counter; library clerk Deborah Madrey is behind the counter.
The official gifts to the BPL are only part of the story of local contributions to neighborhood libraries, suggesting a fertile source for fundraising should the BPL Foundation suddenly wake up and decide to partner withbranch libraries on matters of concern to neighborhood patrons. For example, a previous FOSEL board member paid more than $7,000 to have the library's oak tables restored several years ago, something that was never entered in the BPL's Gifts Received book. FOSEL also installed and maintains plantings in the tree pits around the library to the tune of thousands of dollars. FOSEL had the rugs cleaned. We refurbished the very popular seating area for yet more thousands. We purchased a lectern, book displays and computer tables, among other items. (We have asked the BPL several times to replace the broken pavement in front of the library, thus far without results. We also requested the five oaks in Library Park be trimmed, as their dead limbs and branches present a danger to park users. So far, no results.)
Most recently, FOSEL paid for a complete refurbishing of the South End branch's library counter. The wooden surface not only looked old and worn but also caused splinters in the hands of the staff when checking books in and out. The red vinyl upholstery facing the patrons was faded and torn, with the foam backing hanging out. Thanks to the excellent work of local contractor Jack Crane and long-time South End upholsterer John Egan, the counters are gleaming and smooth, the upholstery beautifully installed, and the staff is thrilled. FOSEL spent about $3,000 for the project, funds raised from you, our neighbors and supporters. A special thanks to long-time library volunteer Virginia Eskin, who brought the deteriorated counter to our attention and pushed us to get it done.
Finally: a Self-Checkout Machine Will Come to the South End Library Soon, to Be Combined with Patrons' Shelves for "Holds"
Self-checkout for Kids in the Minneapolis-Hennepin County Library System
Self-checkout machines will be coming to the BPL's branches at last, and to the South End branch specifically, within the next few months. "We'd hoped to have one installed by July," reported Christine Schonhart, BPL's Director of Branch Library Services, "but the bidding process stalled because the machine that was offered didn't work with our new Integrated Library System." Schonhart hopes a compatible self-checkout can be installed this fall, and to combine it with a 'self-hold' shelf where patrons can pick up the materials they ordered on-line. Among other advantages, a 'self-hold' area increases patrons' personal privacy about what materials they check out. The news about the acquisition of self-service equipment is part of the BPL's recent Branch Facilities Review, which focuses on the extent to which the branches are equipped to provide library services.
Why it took so long for the BPL to get up to speed with self-service technology can be attributed, in part, to the cost of the machines and the persistent under-funding of the public library system in Boston. Many other cities endowed their libraries with self-checkouts years ago, freeing up staff to do more high-octane tasks. The arrival of Amy Ryan as president of the BPL in 2008 may have pushed the issue to the fore since her previous employer, the Minneapolis-Hennepin County Library system, had self-checkouts in all its locations, including pint-sized versions in the Children's Departments, where the littlest generation learned self-checkout as they learned to pull favorite books off the shelf.
Two BPL trustees, current chair Jeff Rudman, and former trustee A. Raymond Tye --who passed away in 2010,-- generously paid for the first few BPL self-checkout machines from their personal funds a couple of years ago. These self-checkout machines are located in the Johnson building's entrance hall, sometimes hard to notice in the cavernous space that makes up that part of the downtown library, a problem that will hopefully be remedied soon with BPL plans to renovate the Johnson Building. At the time, the trustees were told each machine would cost about $25,000 but the price tag ranges anywhere from $20,000 to more than one million dollars, according to industry information. This YouTube video link explains how to use them.
The BPL self-checkouts in the Johnson Building, too, are combined with a self-hold area where library users can pick up the library treasure they ordered. Self-checkout systems that enable patrons to pick up their own holds during regular library hours are among the most popular self-service offerings, according to a 2010 article on self-service options inLibrary Journal. The article also mentioned that shifting tasks to users freed up staff to do other responsibilities, including a chronic backup from growing circulation.
Library Pop Quiz: Which of Five Activities Took Place at the South End Branch Last Tuesday, July 9?
Written and reported by Ruth Rothstein, FOSEL board member
POP QUIZ!
Quick, take out a sheet of paper and number one through five. Which of these activities were taking place Tuesday night July 9 at the South End Library?
A Library Park crowd for Pat Loomis on July 9
1. A Jazz concert featuring a well-known local jazz band
2. A Shakespeare reading from an upcoming production of the Commonwealth Shakespeare Company
3. An Art Opening Reception of new paintings, old masters’ style
4. A meeting of local politicos strategizing for the upcoming city-wide elections that includes a once-in-two-decades mayoral race
5. All of the Above!
Did you get an A? Yes, all of these activities were taking place under one roof of the BPL’s South End branch Tuesday evening on Tremont Street, each one free and accessible to the public: the Pat Loomis jazz concert took place in the library’s park next door; Zen O’Connor’s art exhibit was on display on the first floor; Judith Klau’s talk about Two Gentlemen of Verona settled in the upstairs community room; and the politicos’ Ward 4 Democratic meeting featuring Rep. Byron Rushing and at-large City Council candidate Michelle Wu, among other luminaries, brainstormed in the Children’s Room.
“A plethora of riches,” said Helaine Simmons of East Springfield Street.
“Something for everyone,” Margie Cohen of West Brookline Street observed.
“Every corner, crack and cranny, there was something going on,“ cracked library regular John Jones of West Newton Street.
Whether your cultural tastes skew towards music, theater, art or politics, that night of July 9 the South End library offered residents a taste of all of these: and you didn’t have to leave the neighborhood. Once again, our local library proves itself an invaluable resource for all. As this month continues, on Tuesday, July 16th artist Zen O'Conor will give a gallery talk illuminating his work. The next FOSEL-sponsored jazz concert with Zeke Martin and Oracle is scheduled for 6:30 the evening of July 23rd. Don’t miss out, be sure to include the SE Library in your summer plans.
Tuesday Night, July 9, at the SE Library Means: Jazz with Pat Loomis in Library Park; an Artist Talk by Painter Zen O'Conor Inside; and Henna Tatoos with Nimmi Sehgal, if This Is Still Not Good Enuf
Tuesday July 9 by 6:30 PM the South End branch should be hopping: Pat Loomis and his band will kick of FOSEL's first steps into the summer-concert scene at Library Park, weather permitting. Check this web site for last-minute cancelations should the thunderstorm system roving over New England decide to hit on defenseless library patrons..
Zen Conor at his easel
Indoors, also at 6:30 PM, Scottish artist Zen O’Conor will open his show of oil paintings with a talk about his work. O'Conor, who lives in the Piano Craft Guild artist building, was trained in classic French and Flemish oil painting techniques and will show his work at the library during July. In August, he'll return to Scotland to teach at the Gallery of Realist Art.
Nimmi Seghal's Henna Tatoos
Finally, should neither music nor art exhibits catch your fancy, how about a henna tatoo from Nimmi Seghal? Check this link for details. Ms. Seghal has delivered tatoos at the branch previously and, should you miss her on Tuesday July 9, is scheduled to return to the South End Library on August 27 at 6:30 PM.
Both the jazz concert and the henna tatoo event have been sponsored by FOSEL, that means YOU, and many thanks for that. The art exhibit was organized by members of the Piano Factory, a group that supports local artists, with support of the staff of the South End Library. All events are free. For further questions, call the library staff at 617 536-8241.
LAST MINUTE ADDITION: South End resident and Shakespeare fan Judith Klau will talk about Two Gentlemen of Verona on Tuesday, July 9 at 6:30 PM in the upstairs conference room, which is wheelchair accessible. This play will be performed at the Boston Common until July 26 in a production by the Commonwealth Shakespeare Company.
BPL Leadership Tells Landmarks Commissioners its Johnson Building's Protected Design Stands in the Way of Delivering 21st-Century Library Services
BPL Central Library's building, encased by a chastity belt of granite plinths, creating an unwelcoming, defensive street image
The BPL campaign to dramatically revamp Copley Library's evil twin, otherwise known as the Johnson building, gathered significant steam last Tuesday when the Library's executives, trustees and hired architects pleaded with the Boston Landmarks Commission to not have the building's landmark designation stand in the way of critically needed changes. The cavernous 1972 addition to the beloved and mostly restored McKim Building of the Central Library in Copley Square has long been criticized for its unwelcoming, gloomy and hard-to-navigate space. The BPL recently requested public comments about the building; hundreds were received, mostly negative, some scathing, others thoughtful and expressing hope for a better library.
That hope may be rewarded or quashed by the 17-member Boston Landmarks Commission in whose hands rests the landmark status of the four areas of the Johnson building targeted for change. They include most of the 97 vertical plinths strapped around the site like a granite chastity belt; the Boylston Street lobby, visually maimed by both Soviet-style security apparatus and walls that prevent easy interior access to the McKim building; Deferrari Hall, located in the center where a lonely BPL reference desk librarian holds sway; as well as the entire Central Library block --including its landscaping, now squeezed between the plinths and the building-- where the one-million-square-foot structure designed by acclaimed late-modernist architect Philip Johnson is located on Boylston Street at Exeter.
"The Johnson building never worked," BPL president Amy Ryan told the Landmark commissioners. "It doesn’t engage the
visitor, it is not connected to the streetscape, it needs to improve navigation and create a space that is inviting. It should make itself into a true destination for people from Boston, the state and all over the world. There aren’t enough restrooms, there’s a lack of connection between the buildings, the lobby isn’t good. For a city of the this stature, we can do better. This is the moment to make the Boston library the best in the world."
William Rawn Associates, the architects working with the BPL to breathe new life into the Central Library, hopes to get approval for proposed changes that, while early in the design process, have already been received enthusiastically by the BPL which has held a handful of public meetings on the subject since late last year. The renovations include taking down the granite plinths on Boylston and Exeter streets --leaving the ones on Blagden Street-- so as to visually reconnect the interior of the library to the exterior life on the streets; replacing the Boylston-Street mullioned single-pane windows of the so-called Boston Room with high-performing clear glass without mullions; and removing the lobby's interior walls to open up the space for, among other improvements, easy access to the McKim building and newly designed book-browsing and exhibit areas. Initial digital designs of the reconfigured street-level space showed a bustling area transformed by clear signage, warm-colored materials, numerous informational meeting points and even a wavey ceiling.
Both the chairman of the Library Board, attorney Jeff Rudman, and trustee Rep. Byron Rushing, who as a South End legislator represents the largest Victorian landmark district in the country, made the case to the Landmark commissioners that the Library's mission, "Free to All," is undermined by the current design of the Johnson building. "There are two landmarks before you," Rudman told the commissioners. "One is the Johnson building; the other is the tradition of a democratic education as envisioned by the founders of the library. The Johnson building in its current state does not fulfill the intent of the library’s founders. It’s not welcoming. It says, ‘stay back.'” Rudman, who several years ago spearheaded Mayor Thomas Menino's unfortunate's efforts to close up to a third of the BPL's branches, eloquently completed last Tuesday's testimony by pointing out that in today's era of growing economic inequality, the library can be the 'first responder.' “I am asking you to join with us to fight inequality. It can’t be done if you won’t come in. Preserving the tradition of self-education is more important than plinths,” he suggested to the commissioners.
Johnson Building Improvement Project's Graphic Design of Hundreds of Public-Comments
For their part, the Landmark commissioners listened respectfully but expressed concerns about design elements that mattered 'should not be thrown away.' "Buildings are landmarked for a reason," one commissioner pointed out, adding that the plinths, for example, matched design elements of the McKim building. But Boston Architectural College president, Ted Landsmark, testified in response that a number of Philip Johnson's iconic buildings were subsequently modified for 'utilitarian and esthetic reasons,' including the Elmer Holms Bobst library at New York University. Commissioners also focused on the future of libraries in general, to which BPL president Ryan responded that both digitization and foot traffic had vastly increased in libraries everywhere. Replacing mullioned glass windows with glass walls that has no mullions brought some questions, and having functional and programmatic unity for the different elements of the proposed uses of space inside the library was another issue.
The Johnson Building Improvement Project has thus far benefited from full-throated political and budgetary supported by outgoing Mayor Menino. Also in play is the deep public-library expertise of the architectural firm of William Rawn (Cambridge Public Library, Mattapan, East Boston, and even the New York Public Library in the 1980s) as well as an engaged and well-connected eight-member Community Advisory Committee of downtown residents established under the BPL's strategic plan.
An important and controversial aspect of the project involves unresolved details surrounding the commercialization of some of the street-level publicly owned space in the Johnson building on Exeter and Boylston Streets. Lower-level areas around the Rabb Lecture Hall are also seen as possibilities for functions that could generate income for the BPL. So far, the word has been that any commercialization has to be "mission compatible" with the library's. The Children's Library, currently located at street level target for commercialization, will be more than doubled in size and move to the light-flooded second floor, with its own elevator access. An up-to-date teen space would be moved to that level, as well.
The BPL's application for approval to landmarked spaces will take up to five months. Regular updates will be available on both the BPL and the FOSEL web sites. Previous FOSEL coverage includes these links, one and two. The illustrated word posters were created by the BPL based on the many public comments received about the Johnson building.
The Boston Public Library Has Purchased More Than 2,400 Books on Grieving and Anxiety to Help Adults and Children Cope With the Trauma and Loss After the Marathon Bombings
Books on Grieving for Children
At a budget hearing before the Boston City Council earlier this month, BPL president Amy Ryan told the councilors that the library purchased more than 2,000 books on coping with anxiety, grieving and loss after the Marathon bombings. In addition, even though the main library at Copley Square was forced to close for a week due to its close proximity to the bombing site, all the 25 branches were open the next day. "They were crowded," reported Ryan. "People were busy checking in with one another. Libraries are community spaces." According to Catherine Willis, Chief of Technical and Digital Services at the BPL, a total of 2,410 books were ordered on the subject of loss and anxiety. The cost for the books would have been more than $30,000 but the vendor gave the BPL a 'sizeable' discount to bring the final amount down to around $15,000. The books have begun to arrive at libraries throughout the system, including the South End Library.
South End Library's children's librarian Margaret Gardner collected several links for library patrons, including:
1. Tips for parents and teachers on how to deal with children's fear of war and terrorism from the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP)
2. Talking to children about violence, also by NASP
3. Talking with kids about news, sponsored by PBS Parents
4. Times of Grief and Sadness, a list of 19 books for children from the BPL web site's Boston PL Kids Lists.
Gardner told FOSEL that kids and teens who have been at the South End branch since the bombings have expressed themselves through art, which she plans to continue to do. Two teens created "the dove of peace" in the front window facing Tremont Street the first week after the bombing, and another teen artist made the two doves of peace by the circulation counter, with hand prints and words from younger children.
Below is the full list of the BPL's books that are, or will soon be arriving at a library near you, and the number of copies available.
ADULT:
Aikman, Becky. Saturday night widows : the adventures of six friends remaking their lives
Albano, Anne Marie. You and your anxious child : free your child from fears and worries and create a joyful family life
Amend, Allison. A nearly perfect copy : a novel
Askew, Rilla. Kind of kin
Backhaus, Jeff. Hikikomori and the rental sister : a novel
Bacon, Armen. Griefland : an intimate portrait of love, loss, and unlikely friendship
Bateman, Tracey Victoria. The widow of Saunders Creek : a novel
Baudrillard, Jean The Spirit of Terrorism : And Other Essays
Beattie, Melody. The grief club : the secret to getting through all kinds of change
Bedford, Lisa. Survival mom : how to prepare your family for everyday disasters and worst-case scenarios
Berger, Susan A. The five ways we grieve : finding your personal path to healing after the loss of a loved one
Bessette, Alicia. A pinch of love
Bien, Thomas. The Buddha's Way of Happiness : healing sorrow, transforming negative emotion & finding well-being in the present moment
Blaustein, Margaret. Treating traumatic stress in children and adolescents : how to foster resilience through attachment, self-regulation, and competency
Brach, Tara. True refuge : finding peace and freedom in your own awakened heart
Brantley, Jeffrey. Calming your anxious mind : how mindfulness & compassion can free you from anxiety, fear, & panic
Brown, Erica, 1966- Happier endings : overcoming the fear of death
Bstan-Êdzin-rgya-mtsho, Dalai Lama XIV, 1935- The wisdom of compassion : stories of remarkable encounters and timeless insights
Burns, Donna M. When kids are grieving : addressing grief and loss in school
Chansky, Tamar Ellsas. Freeing your child from anxiety : powerful, practical strategies to overcome your child's fears, phobias, and worries
Chödrön, Pema. Comfortable with uncertainty : 108 teachings on cultivating fearlessness and compassion
Chödrön, Pema. The places that scare you : a guide to fearlessness in difficult times
Chödrön, Pema. When things fall apart : heart advice for difficult times
Chopra, Deepak. God : a story of Revelation
Cloyed, Deborah. The summer we came to life
Coetzee, J. M., 1940- Slow man
Cohen, Judith A. Treating trauma and traumatic grief in children and adolescents / A Clinician's Guide
Cohen, Leah Hager. The grief of others
Cooper, Gwen, 1971- Love saves the day : a novel
Cope, Pam. Jantsen's gift : a true story of grief, rescue, and grace
Dahlie, Michael. The best of youth : a novel
De Becker, Gavin. The gift of fear : survival signals that protect us from violence
De Feo, Ronald. Solo pass
Deits, Bob, 1933- Life after loss : a practical guide to renewing your life after experiencing major loss
Deraniyagala, Sonali. Wave
Didion, Joan. The year of magical thinking
Dreher, Rod. The little way of Ruthie Leming : a Southern girl, a small town, and the secret of a good life
Dunn, Bill. Through a season of grief : devotions for your journey from mourning to joy
Ellmann, Lucy, 1956- Mimi : a novel
Emerson, David, 1969- Overcoming trauma through yoga : reclaiming your body
Ericsson, Stephanie, 1953- Companion through the darkness : inner dialogues on grief
Evans, Richard Paul. The road to grace
Frankl, Viktor E. (Viktor Emil), 1905-1997. Man's search for meaning
Frazier, Ian. The cursing mommy's book of days
Friedman, Russell. Moving beyond loss : real answers to real questions from real people
Gaiman, Neil. Fragile things : short fictions and wonders
Gewirtz, Matthew D. The gift of grief : finding peace, transformation, and renewed life after great sorrow
Gil, Eliana Working with children to heal interpersonal trauma : the power of play
Gilbert, Kellie Coates. Mother of Pearl
Goldman, Linda, 1946- Great answers to difficult questions about death : what children need to know
Gonzales, Laurence, 1947- Surviving survival : the art and science of resilience
Gordon, Terry A. No storm lasts forever : transforming suffering into insight
Greenspan, Miriam. Healing through the dark emotions : the wisdom of grief, fear, and despair
Greenwood, T. (Tammy) The hungry season
Guthrie, Nancy O love that will not let me go : facing death with courageous confidence in God
Hall, Louisa, 1982- The carriage house : a novel
Hance, Jackie. I'll see you again : a memoir
Henkin, Joshua. The world without you
Hickman, Martha Whitmore, 1925- Healing after loss : daily meditations for working through grief
Higgins, Lisa Verge. The proper care and maintenance of friendship
Hinton, J. Lynne. Welcome back to Pie Town
Hodges, Samuel J Grieving with hope : finding comfort as you journey through loss
Holland, Debra. The essential guide to grief and grieving
Hunter, John, 1954- author. World peace and other 4th-grade achievements
Isaacs, Florence. My deepest sympathies : meaningful sentiments for condolence notes, plus a guide to eulogies
Jacobson, Don When God makes lemonade : true stories that amaze and encourage
James, John W. The grief recovery handbook : the action program for moving beyond death, divorce, and other losses including health career, and faith
James, John W. When children grieve : for adults to help children deal with death, divorce, pet loss, moving, and other losses
Kabat-Zinn, Jon. Wherever you go, there you are : mindfulness meditation in everyday life
Kimball, Michael, 1967- Big Ray : a novel
King, Claire, 1980- The Night Rainbow
Kinkade, Thomas, 1958-2012. A wandering heart
Klein, Daniel M. Nothing serious : a novel
Kolf, June Cerza. When will I stop hurting? : dealing with a recent death
Kornfield, Jack The Art Of Forgiveness, Lovingkindess, And Peace
Krueger, William Kent. Ordinary grace : a novel
Kübler-Ross, Elisabeth. On death and dying : what the dying have to teach doctors, nurses, clergy, and their own families
Kübler-Ross, Elisabeth. On grief and grieving : finding the meaning of grief through the five stages of loss
Kultgen, Chad, 1976- The average American marriage : a novel
Kumar, Sameet M. Grieving mindfully : a compassionate and spiritual guide to coping with loss
Kushner, Harold S. The book of Job : when bad things happened to a good person
Kushner, Harold S. When bad things happen to good people
Lankford, Adam, 1979- The myth of martyrdom : what really drives suicide bombers, rampage shooters, and other self-destructive killers
Latiolais, Michelle. Widow : stories
Lavigne, Michael. The wanting
Lee, Ashton. The Cherry Cola Book Club
Lee, Deborah. The compassionate-mind guide to recovering from trauma and PTSD : using compassion-focused therapy to overcome flashbacks, shame, guilt, and fear
Lee, Linda Francis. Emily and Einstein / A Novel of Second Chances
Levine, Peter A. Trauma-proofing your kids : a parents' guide for instilling confidence, joy and resilience
Levine, Peter A. Waking the tiger : healing trauma : the innate capacity to transform overwhelming experiences
Lewis, C. S. (Clive Staples), 1898-1963. A grief observed
Malchiodi, Cathy A. The art therapy sourcebook
Marasco, Ron. About grief : insights, setbacks, grace notes, taboos
Martin, John D. I can't stop crying : it's so hard when someone you love dies
Martinez, J. Michael (James Michael) Terrorist attacks on American soil : from the Civil War era to the present
Matta, Christy. The stress response : how dialectical behavior therapy can free you from needless anxiety, worry, anger, & other symptoms of stress
Miller, Serena, 1950- Hidden mercies : a novel
Milliken, Maureen. The afterlife survey : a Rabbi, a CEO, a dog walker, and others on the universal question - what comes next?
NhaÌÌ‚t H?anh, ThiÌch Anger : wisdom for cooling the flames
NhaÌÌ‚t H?anh, ThiÌch. Fear : essential wisdom for getting through the storm
Nugent, Benjamin. Good kids : a novel
Odell, Jonathan, 1951- The healing : a novel
Orange, Cynthia. Shock waves : a practical guide to living with a loved one's PTSD
Paisley, Michelle Yoga for a Broken Heart : A Spiritual Guide to Healing from Break-Up, Loss, Death or Divorce
Peretti, Frank E. Illusion : a novel
Podrug, Junius. The disaster survival bible
Punnett, Ian, 1960- How to pray when you're pissed at God / Or Anyone Else for That Matter
Quick, Matthew, 1973- The silver linings playbook
Rando, Therese A. How to go on living when someone you love dies
Raney, Deborah. After all
Rapp, Emily. The still point of the turning world
Rathkey, Julia Wilcox. What children need when they grieve : the four essentials : routine, love, honesty, and security
Ratner, Austin. In the land of the living : a novel
Ritchie, Cinthia. Dolls behaving badly : a novel
Rogers, Michael Allen, 1949- What happens after I die?
Rothbaum, Barbara Olasov. Reclaiming your life from a traumatic experience : workbook
Rothschild, Babette. Trauma essentials : the go-to guide
Rupp, Joyce. My soul feels lean : poems of loss and restoration
Scheunemann, Frauke. Puppy love
Schonfeld, David J., 1959- The grieving student : a teacher's guide
Schrank, Ben. Love is a canoe
Schuster, Marc, 1973- The grievers
Simons, Paullina, 1963- Children of liberty
Smith, Haywood, 1949- Out of warranty
Smolinski, Jill. Objects of my affection
Sorensen, Julia. Overcoming loss : activities and stories to help transform children's grief and loss
Spencer, Elizabeth DuPont, 1966- The anxiety cure for kids : a guide for parents
Spencer, Katherine, 1955- The Way Home : Thomas Kinkade's Angel Island
Stahl, Bob. Calming the rush of panic : a mindfulness-based stress reduction guide to freeing yourself from panic attacks & living a vital life
Stavlund, Mike. A force of will : the reshaping of faith in a year of grief
Stearns, Ann Kaiser. Living through personal crisis
Stern, Robin. Project rebirth : survival and the strength of the human spirit from 9/11 survivors
Stewart, Carla. Broken wings : a novel
Stothard, Anna. The pink hotel
Sussman, Ellen, 1954- The Paradise Guest House : a novel
Tappouni, Therese Amrhein The Gifts of Grief : Finding Light in the Darkness of Loss
Thoene, Bodie, 1951- When Jesus wept
Tipping, Colin C Radical forgiveness : a revolutionary five-stage process to : heal relationships, let go of anger and blame, find peace in any situation
Tirch, Dennis D., 1968- The compassionate-mind guide to overcoming anxiety : using compassion-focused therapy to calm worry, panic, and fear
Trout, Nick. The patron saint of lost dogs
Welshons, John E. Awakening from grief : finding the way back to joy
West, Spencer, 1981- Standing tall : my journey
Westberg, Granger E Good Grief
Westfall, John. Getting past what you'll never get over : help for dealing with life's hurts
Whitson, Stephanie Grace. The message on the quilt
Wilde, Samantha. I'll take what she has : a novel
Wilder, Thornton, 1897-1975. The bridge of San Luis Rey
Williams, Mark. Mindfulness : an eight-week plan for finding peace in a frantic world
Williams, Mary Beth. The PTSD workbook / Simple, Effective Techniques for Overcoming Traumatic Stress Symptoms
Wiseman, John "Lofty" SAS Urban Survival Handbook : How to Protect Yourself Against Terrorism, Natural Disasters, Fires, Home Invasions, and Everyday Health and Safety Hazards
Wolf, Elaine. Danny's mom : a novel
Wolfelt, Alan D. The Mourner's Book of Faith : 30 Days of Enlightenment
Wolfelt, Alan D., Ph.D. The Mourner's Book of Courage : 30 Days of Encouragemen
Wolfelt, Alan. Healing your grieving heart : 100 practical ideas
Wolfelt, Alan. The wilderness of grief : finding your way
Wong, David, 1975 Jan. 10- This book is full of spiders : seriously, dude, don't touch it
Yancey, Philip Where Is God When It Hurts?
Yancey, Philip. Disappointment with God : three questions no one asks aloud
Yang, Jeffrey Time of grief : mourning poems
Chicken soup for the soul : grieving and recovery : 101 inspirational and comforting stories about surviving the loss of a loved one
Life after trauma : a workbook for healing
Poems of mourning
Alcorn, Randy C. Heaven for kids
CHILD/TEEN
Aliki Feelings
Annunziata, Jane Sometimes I'm scared
Applegate, Katherine. The one and only Ivan
Arnold, Elana K. Sacred
Bergren, Lisa Tawn. God gave us heaven
Blos, Joan W. A gathering of days : a novel
Bodeen, S. A. (Stephanie A.), 1965- The raft
Brody, Jessica. Unremembered
Brown, Laurene Krasny. When dinosaurs die : a guide to understanding deat
Bunting, Eve, 1928- Rudi's pond
Burpo, Todd. Heaven is for real for kids
Buscaglia, Leo F. The fall of Freddie the leaf : a story of life for all ages
Cassidy, Sara. Windfall
Coker, Rachel. Interrupted : a life beyond words
Cook, Julia Grief is Like a Snowflake
Cormier, Robert. After the first death
Crist, James J. What to do when you're scared & worried : a guide for kids
Crowe, Carole. Waiting for dolphins
Emberley, Ed. Glad monster, sad monster : a book about feelings
Eubanks, Sonja Death and dying
Fitzgerald, Helen. The grieving teen : a guide for teenagers and their friends
Fritts, Mary Bahr, 1946- If Nathan were here
Geithner, Carole. If only
Goldman, Linda, 1946- Children also grieve : talking about death and healing
Gootman, Marilyn E., 1944- When a friend dies : a book for teens about grieving & healing
Graff, Lisa (Lisa Colleen), 1981- Umbrella summer
Guanci, Anne Marie. David and the worry beast : helping children cope with anxiety
Hainsworth, Emily. Through to you
Hanson, Warren. The next place
Heegaard, Marge When Someone Very Special Dies : Children Can Learn to Cope With Grief
Heegaard, Marge When Something Terrible Happens : Children Learn to Cope With Grief
Holmes, Margaret M., 1944 A terrible thing happened
Huebner, Dawn. What to do when you worry too much : a kid's guide to overcoming anxiety
Kaplow, Julie B., 1974- Samantha Jane's missing smile : a story about coping with the loss of a parent
Klise, Kate. Little Rabbit and the Night Mare
LaFleur, Suzanne M. Love, Aubrey
Laybourne, Emmy. Monument 14
Lewis, Beverly, 1949- What is God like?
Lewis, Stewart. You have seven messages
Loewen, Nancy, 1964- Saying good-bye to Uncle Joe : what to expect when someone you love dies
Loth, Sebastian. Remembering Crystal
Lowry, Lois. A summer to die
Martin, Ann M., 1955- Welcome to Camden Falls
Mayfield, Sue. Living with bereavement
Meiners, Cheri J., 1957- When I feel afraid
Mellonie, Bryan. Lifetimes : the beautiful way to explain death to children
Mills, Joyce C., 1944- Gentle Willow : a story for children about dying
Myers, Edward, 1950- Teens, loss, and grief : the ultimate teen guide
O'Brien, Anne Sibley. A path of stars
Palmer, Pat, 1928- I wish I could hold your hand-- : a child's guide to grief and loss
Payne, Lauren Murphy, 1956- Just because I am : a child's book of affirmation
Penn, Audrey, 1947- The kissing hand
Penn, Audrey, 1947- Chester Raccoon and the acorn full of memories
Pennypacker, Sara, 1951- Stuart goes to school
Posesorski, Sherie. Shadow boxing
Rock, Lois, 1953- When good-bye is forever
Romain, Trevor. What on earth do you do when someone dies?
Romain, Trevor. Stress can really get on your nerves!
Rosen, Michael, 1946- Michael Rosen's sad book
Seuss, Dr. My many colored days
Shaw, Susan, 1951- One of the survivors
Spelman, Cornelia. When I miss you
Tangvald, Christine Harder, 1941- Someone I love died
Vail, Rachel. Sometimes I'm Bombaloo
Varley, Susan. Badger's parting gifts
Verdick, Elizabeth. How to take the grrrr out of anger
Vigna, Judith. Saying goodbye to Daddy
Violi, Jen. Putting makeup on dead people
Wagenbach, Debbie. The grouchies
Wild, Margaret, 1948- Harry & Hopper
Wilhelm, Hans, 1945- I'll always love you
Winsch, Jane Loretta. After the funeral
Wolfelt, Alan. Healing your grieving heart for teens : 100 practical ideas
Wolff, Ferida, 1946- Is a worry worrying you?
The Annual South End Library Book Sale to Be Held Saturday, May 18, from 10 AM to 1 PM at Library Park; Gently-used Book Drop Off Till Thursday Night at the Branch
SE library book sale
FOSEL volunteers have been sorting through the many books that were deposited at the South End branch for months: textbooks and encyclopedias will be chucked but children's books, cookbooks, collections of essays, short stories, novels, science and garden books will get the nod. They will be on display for perusal and sale at Library Park this coming Saturday, May 18 from 10 AM till 1 PM when rain clouds will disappear and a special-order bright and sunny day is supposed to be delivered. All proceeds will go directly to the library staff for programming use and supplies.
No early birds, please.
If you need a book bag for your purchases, FOSEL's beautiful and sturdy library bags made will be available for sale at $10. Check those book shelves in your home for any books you loved but no longer need: someone else will likely love them, too.
Tonight's Reading at the South End Library by Doug Bauer ("What Happens Next?: Matters of Life and Death") Has Been Cancelled Due to the Boston Marathon Bombings
Doug Bauer poster
Due to the bombings at yesterday's Boston Marathon, FOSEL's board and author Doug Bauer have cancelled tonight's scheduled reading from What Happens Next?: Matters of Life and Death.The board members extend their condolences to the loved ones of the victims and their empathy and sympathy to the many injured survivors, their families and their friends.
We treasure the vitality of this city, as do all our supporters. We will do all we can to restore and repair it with the passion we have for safe public spaces, civic life, books and films that help us understand the lives we live, art that makes us see the world better, and music to console and revive us. We thank the South End library staff in helping us accomplish these goals.
The next scheduled authors in The South End Writes series are:
Tuesday, April 30, 6:30 p.m.
wrote The Art Forger as a fictionalized suspense thriller based on the heartbreaking heist of 13 irreplacable paintings from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in 1990. The author of five other suspense novels, and the non-fiction The Big Squeeze, the South End resident teaches creative writing at Northeastern University.
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Tuesday, May 14, 6:30 p.m.
the spectacularly successful author who grew up in Dorchester and is ALSO a BPL trustee, published his latest novel, Live by Night, in 2012. Set in Boston in the 1920s, the New York Times’ reviewer called the book a “sentence-by-sentence pleasure.” Previous novels include, among others, Gone Baby Gone,Shutter Islandand Mystic River, all made into fabulous movies.
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Tuesday, May 21, 6:30 p.m.
The Dovekeepers, a historical novel describing the AD70 massacre at Masada from the point of view of four women at the fortress before it fell during the Jewish-Roman war, is the most recent of the nearly two dozen novels by Hoffman and just came out in paperback. To be introduced by Sue Miller.
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Tuesday, June 11, 6:30 p.m.
the local filmmaker whose mesmerizing documentary, Angelo Unwritten, has followed the life of a teenager adopted out of foster care when he was twelve, will return with an update of new material gathered since December 2011.
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Tuesday, June 18, 6:30 p.m.
will return to read from his current work-in-progress, retracing the steps of his father who, as a soldier, was sent to Europe during the Second World War.
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Visitors to BPL's Johnson Building Judge Library's Services and Physical Condition Harshly but Offer Many Suggestions for Planned Improvements
Get rid of mice
Two display panels describing the Johnson Building Improvement Project and asking for public comment seem to have hit a raw nerve last week. On Monday, paper-covered panels were filled with hundreds of observations and criticisms, handwritten and on post-it notes, mostly negative, but with many suggestions for improvements. On Wednesday, they were replaced with fresh sheets of paper which, by the end of the day, had covered half of the available space again.
Years of budget cutbacks to the public library system; a weak and disorganized constellation of BPL lobbyists at the local, state and federal level; and a poisonous relationship between the previous library president and the current mayor have left the 1970s addition to the McKim Building in a state of disrepair. And an easy target for the frustrated public which left the following messages: "Fix glitches in the on-line catalogue." "What happened to the arm chairs?" "Turn down the heat in the Johnson Building: it's always too hot." "More books, fewer computers." "Fix and clean the bathrooms." "A friendlier staff: I'm surprised when someone is helpful." "Better toilet paper." "Friendlier security guards." "An area where I can use my laptop when it's plugged in." "Add more local papers and archives to data base." "From the atrium, graphics to show where the call numbers are." "Be more informed and welcoming to visitors." "Staff none too friendly." "AP tutors." "Bring back newspapers." "Magazines that circulate please." "Bring back the reading room." "Scrap paper at catalogue tables." "Install bike racks at the entrance...lots of them." "Fix the sidewalk so it's not a tripping hazard." "Create an outdoor plaza with benches and planters." "Open the library to the street." "Get better books, not just bestsellers." "Bathrooms are disgusting." "More light." "A targeted quiet space." "A store to sell library books." "Pay fines on-line." "Hang a huge sparkling mobile in the central atrium." "Phone-charging stations." " More windows." "Take down the barriers." "Kiosk for entrepreneurs and local artists to promote, sell, give work and info." "Meeting space for small non-profits." "Boards like these should be up all the time." "Take down the barriers." "Resources for the homeless." "Bring back the periodicals room." "Clean, clean clean." "Keep the restaurant open Saturdays." "Keep the restaurant open until after lectures at night." A second-floor bathroom." "Coffee shop" "More selection in teen room." "Teen room should be hip." "Teen room should be easy to find." "Teen room should have computers." "Humanize." Have people who can alphabetize books." "Remove dirty carpet." "Have employees who want to be here: others would love their jobs." "Why do staff seem so unfriendly: are you treating them well?" "Get on the ball stocking shelves with terrific new writers." "More color." "Get the maps of Boston off the ground." "Make cards, souvenirs, bags, history of library books available." "Mice." "No multi-language signage but multi-language children's books: disgraceful." "More selection in teen room." "Teen room should be hip." "Teen room should be easy to find." "Teen room should have computers." "Humanize." Have people who can alphabetize books."
One of the two comment display panels
And then there was this one: "Boards like this should be up all the time."
The current effort to revamp the down-trodden Johnson Building into a modern, exciting, light-filled space that welcomes library users and visitors instead of aggravating them is led by an outside six-member local Community Advisory Committee, BPL staff headed by president Amy Ryan, and the architectural firm of Rawn Associates, designers of the Mattapan, East Boston and Cambridge Public Library, among other places. Part of the project includes the consideration of leasing some of the one-million-square-feet building to "library-mission-compatible commercial space." A consulting group, Byrne/McKinney, is working on that aspect.
The CAC meetings for the Johnson Improvement Project are open to the public. The next one will be held on Wednesday, May 8 at 8:30 AM in the Johnson Building's Lower Level Conference Room 5. Check the BPL web site under News and Events. Scroll down to Strategic Planning for further information and dates, OR go to the FOSEL web site under Community News, which carries several previous posts about this exciting but challenging project.
FOSEL's Sixth Annual Easter Egg Hunt Drew a Large Crowd with Many Volunteers, a City Council Candidate and Kids Young and Old on the First Mild Day after a Long Cold Snap..
Reported by Ann Lloyd
Warm sunshine, a tall bunny, and a hundred or so eager egg hunters made the Sixth Annual Easter Egg Hunt, Sunday, March 31, in Library Park another big success. Many thanks to all the volunteers who made it happen: the steadfast bunny, otherwise known as Jean-Jacques Dubreuil, who had to be sweltering inside that furry suit during the many photo ops requested by the crowd; the FOSEL folks who laboriously stuffed more than 1200 plastic eggs with chocolates and poems; Nathalie Dubreuil, who collated a new crop of poems; other library supporters like at-large city council candidate Suzanne Lee who hid countless eggs; and the many Friends who showed up at 9:30 AM to set up snack tables and blow up balloons. Thanks most of all to the South End neighbors for turning out and creating such a festive, friendly event.
Marcia Lloyd and Suzanne Lee with an egg huntress
People seemed to linger and chat long after eggs were snatched up and the delicious snacks --including the annual contribution of Liane Crawford's amazing cupcakes-- were eaten. The donation jar was generously filled and parents thanked the volunteers over and over. One dad said, “This is the most well-executed egg hunt we’ve been to.” Several parents expressed gratitude for the roped-off area for small children. The egg hunt is one of the most fun neighborhood things FOSEL does, and it seems to be more appreciated every year. Many thanks, too, to Area D4 for their assistance and to the wonderful staff of the South End Library for, among other things, their beautiful painting of the Easter bunny. Last but not least, big a big thank-you to Mary Owens for designing yet another poster for her beloved library.
Bunny Jean-Jacques Dubreuil greeting his delighted parents
Mike Lloyd took many pictures, some featured on this page. Others are now on display in the library’s window.
The Sixth Annual South End Library Easter Egg Hunt Will Start Sunday, March 31, at 11:00 a.m. (and End at 11:02 a.m. So Be On Time)
The Annual SE Library Easter Egg Hunt
Some 1,200 Easter eggs filled with chocolate eggs, knock-knock jokes and a new crop of children's poems will be laid out by the Easter Bunny early next Sunday, March 31st. The gates to Library Park will be closed until the countdown begins, 30 seconds before 11:00 a.m. Once they open, the guess is a few minutes are all that's needed to clear the field. That is, except for the tiny-tot area, where it may take a little longer. The Parks Department will clean beforehand (that's what a permit entitles us to) and an officer from Area D4 will help parents and children cross the street. There will be balloons, refreshments and South End Library tote bags for sale. Good weather has been ordered. Bring your own baskets or use ours: we have plenty. See you there....