South End Library Summer Program Notes, Including the Return of Pat Loomis's Annual Jazz Concert on Tuesday, July 17
DSCN1882
Summer is here, the tree gardens in front of the South End Library are in full bloom --all maintained by the Friends of the South End Library-- and library summer programming for July and August is in place. The listings are below.
Regrettably, the BPL still closes its branches on Saturdays in the summer, just when the kids are of of school and we need Saturday hours the most. Call the BPL (617 536-5400), the Mayor's Office (617 635-4500) and the City Council (617 635-3040), if you would like to register your interest in seeing this changed. According to City Council President Stephen Murphy, in a June 18 interview with the Boston Globe's Andrew Ryan, "Boston has weathered the fiscal crisis better than other large cities and is facing its first “breathing room budget’’ in several years." Councillor Murphy, who came to the FOSEL sponsored candidates debate at the South End Library during his reelection campaign, has been a long-time supporter of library services, and would like to know about your support for better library hours.
While you have our representatives on the line, consider asking for an additional night the South End library can be open, just like eleven other BPL branches. There are 25 branches in the BPL system. Eleven are open two nights a week. They include Adams, Brighton, Charlestown, Codman, Dudley, Honan-Allston, Hyde Park, Lower Mills, Mattapan, South Boston and West Roxbury. Fourteen, including the South End library, offer only one late night a week. Among the fourteen are some of the busiest in the system: Jamaica Plain and West End. By contrast, the downtown Copley Library is open four nights a week, all day Saturday and five hours on Sunday (except during the summer). Most of Boston's library patrons who fund the public library through their taxes do not live downtown, however.
Below are the summer listings for the South End Library, put together by the dedicated staff. If you have any questions, please call Anne Smart or Margaret Gardner, the children's librarian, for further information. Phone: 617 536-8241.
The annual summer jazz concert and potluck by the fabulous jazz group Pat Loomis and Friends will take place at the South End Library on Tuesday, July 17 from 6:30 PM to 8:00 PM. All are welcome.
Toddler Story Time: Mondays at 10:30 AM. Songs, stories and craft for youngsters up to age three.
Pre-School Story Time: Wednesdays at 10:30 AM. Songs and movement, stories, and a craft for youngsters age three to five.
Spanish in Motion with Jouveth Shortell: four Wednesdays in August at 10:30 AM.
Summer Book Club for children aged six to nine: read a book; do crafts, and more. Mondays from July 9 through August 20, from 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM.
Summer Book Club for children aged nine to thirteen: Choose books; do crafts and more. Tuesdays, from July 10 through August 21, from 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM.
For all readers all ages all summer long: pick up your summer reading at the library; read and earn rewards for every five books you read; register for the BPL-sponsored DREAM BIG summer reading program in the library or on-line.
Additional Summer Programming: call the South End branch at 617 536-8241 to register for three-star programs listed below.
*** Make a Beautiful Dream Catcher for Your Room. Tuesday, July 10 at 2:00 PM
** Storyteller Mark Binder spins adventure tales about Giants and Giant Slugs for children aged six and up. Thursday, July 12 at 2:00 PM
*** Animal Rescue League Tours. Wednesdays July 18 and August 8. Meet at the SE Library at 1:00 PM sharp.
** Teddy Bear Sleepover. Tuesday, July 31 at 6:30 PM. For young children and a parent. Bring a teddy who will stay overnight. Children pick up their teddy the next morning, Wednesday, at 10:30 AM story time, where a "treat" will await them.
**Storyteller and librarian Danielle Schulman will spin world tales for the BPL-sponsored 2012 Summer Reading Program, Dream Big. For children aged six and up. Tuesday, August 7 at 2:00 PM.
** Tide pools at the South End Library from the New England Aquarium. Thursday, August 9 at 2:00 PM.
** Museum of Science at the South End Library with Science Magic. Tuesday, August 21 at 2:00 PM.
Rutland Square Author Mari Passananti Will Read From Her First Novel, "The Hazards of Hunting While Heartbroken," Tuesday June 19 at 6:30 PM
"Don't go to the beach without it," is the advice of Wendy Walker for her colleague Mari Passananti's first novel, "The Hazards of Hunting While Heartbroken." Passananti who like Walker once worked as an attorney, was raised by a Finnish mother and an Italian dad in Rhode Island before settling in the South End with her family. She is currently wriiting a suspense novel, tentatively titled, "The K Street Affair," scheduled for publication sometime this year. The reading will take place on Tuesday, June 19, at 6:30 PM at the South End Library, upstairs in the community room.
The same evening, there will be a fundraiser on the library's first floor to raise money for an ethnic weaving scholarship to honor the memory of fiber artist Theresa-India Young. The event will start at 5:30 PM.
South End Library to Host a June 19 Fundraiser and Silent-Auction to Establish the Theresa-India Young Memorial Scholarship at Mass College of Art
"Over the Rainbow," produced during Theresa-India Young's community-weaving workshop at the South End Library, 2003
On Tuesday, June 19, the South End Library will host a community fundraiser to establish an ethnic weaving scholarship at Mass College of Art in the name of fiber artist Theresa-India Young. Young, who specialized in the teaching and history of traditional fiber arts from African-American and Native-American cultures, passed away prematurely in 2008. A long-time resident of the Piano Factory Guild artists' building on Tremont Street, she held several workshops at the South End Library, and supervised the weaving of "Over the Rainbow," the wall hanging that has graced the stairway wall over the computer section of the branch for almost a decade.
Ms. Young amassed an enormous research library on world cultures that included textiles, carpets, ceramics, jewelry and books. They were donated to a number of local institutions, including Mass College of Art, the Tozzer Library of Harvard College, the Allan R. Crite Research Library and Wheelock College, among other places. The New York City-born artist had learned basketry, rug weaving and skills rooted in --the South-Carolina-based-- Gullah folk arts from her relatives, but won a scholarship to Boston University's Program-in-Artisanry for Textiles in 1975. Since then, she taught and lectured at many Boston institutions, including the Museum of Fine Arts.
The June 19 fundraiser will offer a silent auction with special items for sale, such as Young's tassels and drapery tie-backs; works by different artists; vintage clothing; African sculptures; beaded necklaces; handmade notebooks and Egyptian calendars. The fiscal agent for tax-deductible donations to benefit the Theresa-India Young Memorial scholarship fund is United South End Artists.
The event starts at 5:30 PM. There will be light refreshments.
South End Library and MSPCC Will Screen "The Preacher's Son," A Movie About Non-traditional Adoption, Tuesday, May 29, 5:30 PM
On May 29, the South End Library is hosting a film screening of The Preacher's Son, a 2009 movie about a male couple that builds a family with five children through adoption from "the train wreck" of foster care. The couple, Greg Stewart, a minister and preacher's son, and Stilman White, took the five boys --among whom were two sets of siblings-- and moved them from California to the American heartland.
The screening is sponsored by the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (MSPCC). After the film presentation (86 minutes), there will be an informal discussion about non-traditional and cross-racial adoption. Refreshments will be provided by the Friends of the South End Library. The South End branch is located at 685 Tremont Street, between Rutland Square and West Newton Street. Phone: 617 536-8241. Starts at 5:30 PM.
BPL's Popular Homework Assistance Program (HAP) to End This Month, But What Will Replace the After-school Tutoring Service in the Branches Next September Is Uncertain
DSCN1880
The Homework Assistance Program (HAP), that placed high-school students in their local libraries to tutor elementary-school children living in the same neighborhood, is ending this week. It is unclear what will replace the four-day-a-week after-school service in September, according to Anne Smart, head librarian of the South End Branch. It may continue for two days a week, but what will be available the rest of the time for students seeking homework help is still unsettled. Tutors participating in HAP were paid between $8.25 and $10 an hour, depending on how often they work. They are high-achieving students from Boston's public and private schools, a number of whom had been in HAP themselves when they were younger.
Jessica Snow, the BPL's Youth Services Coordinator, reacting to the outcry by the BPL's children's librarians in March, suggested that " there may be opportunities for the HAP mentors to participate in by volunteering” instead of being paid. This may not be welcome news for some: Angela, a Josiah Quincy School junior, who is in her second year as a HAP tutor at the South End branch, said that the money she earns is important to her. "It's the only job I have. I like not having to ask my mom for money," she explained. "She already struggles because I have two brothers in college. It's a lot of pressure for her."
Another HAP participant at the South End branch, Winnie, said she would continue tutoring, even if she isn't paid. The Boston Latin School junior had been in the program when she was in 4th grade at the Quincy School in its Chinese bi-lingual program: as the oldest child in a family where only Chinese was spoken, she needed the language boost HAP gave her. "After I left, Margaret kept asking me when I would be a sophomore so I could tutor other kids myself," said Winnie, referring to Margaret Gardner, the children's librarian at the South End library. "One day, I showed up and said, 'I'm a sophomore now,' and then I began to work with the kids after school."
The news about the discontinuation of HAP came without a warning to the branches this March, upsetting children's librarians all over the city who valued the program. But according to one grant writer close to its funding strategy, the BPL kept no reliable data to support the program's effectiveness. The library didn't appear to keep close track of the children they served, and the data that was available was a count from the teens who are placed in each library. Teens would count everybody they talked to as a participant regardless of whether they actually helped them with homework. It was also difficult to measure whether HAP had any impact on school performance, as there did not seem to be a connection to the schools or data from teachers.
HAP cost the BPL an estimated $200,000 a year and was a popular fundraising target for the BPL Foundation. As recently as last November, donors could become sponsors during a Foundation Gala Benefit, as well as during the the April “Big Thrill” fundraiser which listed the HAP program as one of its beneficiaries at that time (the web site for it has since been changed to reflect that HAP is no longer a fundraising goal).
South End branch head librarian Anne Smart said there is still a lot of 'push-back' by children's librarians at most branches to salvage the program, which is seen by her and most other branch librarians as beneficial at many levels. "The tutors earn some money and are motivating the younger kids because they are high-achieving students," she said. "The young ones can't wait to become tutors themselves."
Memoirist Christine Chamberlain and Custom Publisher Jane Karker will Tell You All You Need to Know About Memoir-writing, Tuesday, May 22, 6:30 PM
FOSEL _Greenn Christine Chamberlain flyer_5-22-12 1
On Tuesday May 22, at 6:30 PM, The South End Writes will host memoirist Christine Chamberlain and custom-publisher Jane Karker,who will discuss how to write memoirs of people and places AND get published. Here’s your chance to learn how to put into words your observations about the block you’ve lived on for so many years, or just a family memoir to encourage your children to think of you fondly. Chamberlain and Karker have helped develop a small body of such memoirs produced by residents of Maine, where they hail from, and would be happy to assist in starting such a collaborative venture in the South End.
Chamberlain, a Wellesley College graduate and former journalist who reported from Europe for various publications in the U.S., began to write memoirs when a friend asked her to do one of her mother. She has since completed more than 70, as well as histories of places and institutions, including the history of rowing at Dartmouth and one of the Cambridge School of Weston. Samples of her work will be available for viewing at the event.
Tonight's Reading by Author Leah Hager Cohen Cancelled Due to Family Emergency
The scheduled reading tonight, May 15, by Leah Hager Cohen had to be cancelled to to an emergency in the author's family. We wish her the very best and hope to reschedule the event when it is convenient to do so.
Next week, Tuesday May 22, at 6:30 PM, The South End Writes will host memoirist Christine Chamberlain and custom-publisher Jane Karker, who will discuss how to write memoirs of people and places AND get published.
Here's your chance to learn how to put into words your observations about the block you've lived on for so many years, or just a family memoir to encourage your children to think of you fondly. Chamberlain and Karker have helped develop a small body of such memoirs produced by residents of Maine, where they hail from, and would be happy to assist in starting such a collaborative venture in the South End.
We hope to see you there.
Massachusetts Library Caucus Came for Breakfast at BPL on March 21st --not May 21st-- Details to Be Posted in Very Near Future
From time to time, one gets egg on one's face, and this is one of those times for yours truly: the BPL trustees' breakfast with the Massachusetts' Library Caucus took place on March 21, and will not take place on May 21 as I reported earlier. I apologize for the error. A belated report on the event will be posted in the near future. Onwards and sideways...
Another Sign of Better Boston/Beacon Hill Library Ties: the Massachusetts Library Caucus is Coming for Breakfast at Copley's McKim Building on May 21
handmade books by second-graders on display in Donnell Library, NYC 2008
In a welcome sign that the BPL is working hard to improve its ties with the State Legislature, it is hosting a breakfast for the state's Library Caucus on Monday, May 21. The caucus is made up of state legislators from all over the Commonwealth who see libraries as their special charge. Since 2008, when two powerful BPL trustees --MA Senate President William Bulger and State Rep. Angelo Scaccia-- left the Boston Library Board over the ousting of former BPL President Bernard Margolis by Mayor Thomas Menino, the relationship between BPL and Beacon Hill went into atrophy mode.
The Mayor did not appoint any state legislator to replace Bulger or Scaccia for several years, which meant, among other things, that for several years no one from the BPL was at the Legislature advocating and lobbying for funds to maintain library services. It proved one thing: if one does not ask, one does not get. The legislature cut Boston's library budget; the mayor cut the library budget; and in 2010 the mayor and BPL President Amy Ryan proposed closing up to 10 branches. In the end, none were closed, in part because Boston's state representatives, hearing the outrage in their constituents' voices, threatened to cut off all state funding to Boston if any library branches were shuttered.
Shortly thereafter, State Rep. Byron Rushing, who had assailed the BPL trustees for their lack of competent advocacy on Beacon Hill during the 2010 library closure fight, was nominated to the BPL's Library Board. Immediate improvements ensued. He made public comment at BPL trustees meetings standard operating procedure. He took charge of the long-term strategic planning plan, Compass, which had earlier been initiated by former BPL trustee and author, James Carroll. The May 21 breakfast meeting is another sign of library-climate warming. Kate Hogan (D Stow), will give opening remarks after a welcome by Amy Ryan; the executive director of the Massachussets Board of Library Commissioners, Robert Maier, will discuss budget priorities for the state libraries; and Rep. Rushing himself will talk about ...Library Cards. Stay tuned.
The one-hour meeting is open to the public and starts at 9:00 AM.
Author Leah Hager Cohen Will Read from "The Grief of Others" on Tuesday, May 15, after an Introduction by South End Novelist Sue Miller
The South End Writes author series will bring author Leah Hager Cohen to the South End Library on Tuesday May 15th to read from her latest novel, The Grief of Others. She will be introduced by South End novelist Sue Miller, who invited her to speak at the program. The event will start at 6:30 PM.
Hager Cohen has been described as one of this country’s best novelists by the editor of the New York Times Book Review, Sam Tanenhaus. The Grief of Others delves into a family fighting for its emotional survival while whipsawed by the loss of a small child. A Boston Globe’s book reviewer described the writing as “fluid and insightful." The author, a graduate of the Columbia Graduate School for Journalism, has published both fiction and non-fiction books, and is a regular contributor to newspapers and magazines. In one recent Boston Globe opinion piece she explained why the Pulitzer Prize Committee’s refusal to select a winner for its 2012 Fiction category was ‘a good thing;’ in another, she provided an insightful look into the working life of the South End Writes' most recent speaker, award-winning short-story writer Edith Pearlman.
Hager Cohen's other titles include the non-fiction books Train Go Sorry: Inside a Deaf World, and Glass, Paper, Beans, as well as the novel Heart, You Bully, You Punk.
Head Librarian Anne Smart has many of the titles available at the South End branch for those who wish to borrow them: all you need is your BPL library card.
The final two South End Writes events of the season will take place on Tuesday, May 22 and Tuesday, June 19, both at 6:30 PM at the South End Library. Memoirist Christine Chamberlain and custom-publisher Jane Karker will talk about how to write memoirs of people and places AND get them published on May 22; and South End resident Mari Passananti will read from her first novel, The Hazards of Hunting While Heartbroken.
Edith Pearlman Will Read at the SE Library May 1, Followed by Fiction Writer Leah Hager Cohen (May 15), Memoirist Christine Chamberlain Accompanied by Custom-Publisher Jane Karker (May 22)
The South End Writes authors' series will be in full swing in May when authors Edith Pearlman and Leah Hager Cohen will read from recent work at the South End branch on Tuesday, May 1 and Tuesday, May 15, respectively. They will be introduced by local novelist Sue Miller, who invited them. Edith Pearlman's much-prized collection of new and selected short stories, Binocular Vision, has just been released in paperback. Just in time ,as every book venue in Boston was sold out of the hardcover version. The collection won the 2012 National Book Critics Circle Award, the 2011 PEN/Malamud Award, and was a finalist in the 2011 National Book Award for Fiction. Pearlman won other awards, such as the Pushcart Prize, the O'Henry Prize and a number of others for previous work.
Leah Hager Cohen has been described as one of this country's best novelists by the editor of the New York Times Book Review, Sam Tanenhaus. Her latest novel, The Grief of Others, delves into a family fighting for its emotional survival while whipsawed by the loss of a small child. The Boston Globe's book reviewer described the writing "fluid and insightful." Hager Cohen, a graduate of the Columbia Graduate School for Journalism, is a regular contributor to newspapers and magazines, as well, and recently explained in a commentary for the Boston Globe why the Pulitzer Prize Committee's refusal to select a winner for its 2012 Fiction category was 'a good thing.'
CHRISTINE CHAMBERLAIN, a memoirist and biographer, will talk about how to turn your oral history, family history and any other history of interest to you and others into books that can be self-published. It can be the history of rowing, of first-generation families who want to preserve culture and customs for their children, or the history of institutions that don’t yet have one written down. Chamberlain, a former journalist working from Europe, will bring Jane Karker, a small publisher from Maine, who will provide pointers on self-publishing and display samples of self-published work. Tuesday, May 22, 6:30 PM.
FOSEL Wins $8,000 Grant from PRUPac for Handicapped-accessible Door at South End Library
The Friends of the South End Library is pleased to report that our request for a grant from the Pru-PAC Community Benefits Committee has been approved!! This grant, combined with generous donations from private donors and library patrons will ensure that the handicapped-accessible door will be installed as soon as Pru-Pac's funds become available. A date for the disbursement of the grant funds has not been set.
FOSEL applied for a grant of $8,000 to fund a capital improvement project at the South End branch of the Boston Public Library, specifically the installation of an automated door to allow library patrons with physical disabilities, as well as the elderly patrons and parents with strollers, to access their community library. As you know, the current doorway consists of two separate heavy doors both of which must be opened by hand. With the installation of a handicapped-accessible door, the South End Library will be one of a handful of BPL branches to become fully ADA compliant, since the library already has an elevator to the second floor.
BPL did not allocate money to support this vital need in their capital budget but it did express strong support for FOSEL’s campaign to raise funds for this project. As this is a capital improvement project, BPL will have direct supervision over the installation of any handicapped- accessible entrance way and control over the bidding process and the selection of a contractor. However, we anticipate a swift completion upon distribution of the funds from PRUPac.
Prudential Center developers contribute money to the fund only when a building permit is issued. Following issuance of the permits for the Exeter Residences, $302,500 was contributed. The second project, at 888 Boylston Street is currently in a holding pattern. However, when the required permits are issued another $169,500 will be contributed to the fund. It is unclear at this time whether the South End Library funding will come from future or current funding.
Having identified a handicapped-accessible entrance to the library as a priority issue, FOSEL embarked on a private fundraising campaign to raise the necessary funds to have an automated entrance system installed. To date, we have raised over $6,000 from South End residents to accomplish our goal. The Pru-PAC committee took into account which projects which had secondary funding sources, so our neighbor's generous contributions were a vital component in the approval of FOSEL's grant request. Thank you all!!
Award-winning Author Edith Pearlman Will Read from Her Bestseller, "Binocular Vision," at the South End Branch on May 1, with an Introduction by South End Novelist Sue Miller
Good luck trying to find a hard-cover copy of Edith Pearlman's latest short-story collection, Binocular Vision, at any of the local bookstores.
Barnes and Noble is out. Trident Books and Raven Used Books are out. Brookline Booksmith is out. The publisher is out. And there's a long waiting list at the Boston Public Library for the book, which won the 2011 Pen/Malamud, National Book Critics Circle, and Edward Lewis Wallant award and was a finalist for the National Book Award. The good news is the paperback issue will show up in the stores next week. But the BEST NEWS is that Edith Pearlman herself will read from the collection at the South End Library on Tuesday evening, May 1, at 6:30 PM.
South End resident and nationally known novelist Sue Miller will introduce Ms. Pearlman, whose profile was featured earlier this week in the Boston Globe. The event is sponsored by the Friends of the South End Library as part of its The South End Writes/The South End Invites authors series.
Reminder: The Easter Bunny Will Visit Library Park Sunday, April 8, at 11:00 AM
The Easter Bunny will visit the Fifth Annual Easter Egg Hunt, sponsored by the Friends of the South End Library, Sunday, April 8, at 11:00 AM, right after the Egg Hunt in Ringgold Park sponsored by their Friends group, which starts at 10:00 AM. There will be refreshments, a separate area for tiny hunters, and police help crossing Tremont Street. Bring your own baskets, or use ours...Hope to see you there, on Tremont Street between Rutland Square and West Newton Street.
BPL's Homework Assistance Program (HAP), Popular at SE Branch and Elsewhere, to Be Cut After Twelve Years; Effectiveness Data Not Collected by BPL Administration; Librarians Upset
A long-time popular Homework Assistance Program (HAP) available at most BPL neighborhood libraries and the Main Library will be discontinued at the end of this school year in May. The news came to the branches in an out-of-the-blue email at the end of March from Jessica Snow, the recently hired Youth Services Coordinator for the BPL. The after-school mentoring program, highly valued by library staff, paid high-achieving students from Boston's private and public high schools $8 an hour to tutor K-8 students in libraries all over the city. It will be replaced by other after-school efforts, yet-to-be determined.
HAP cost the BPL an estimated $200,000 a year and was a popular fundraising target for the BPL Foundation as recently as last November when donors could become sponsors during a Gala Benefit. The upcoming "Big Thrill" fundraiser in April also lists the HAP program as one of its beneficiaries. But according to sources within the City-wide Friends Group, which is affiliated with the BPL, a lack of reliable data that should have been collected by BPL administrators to support the effectiveness of the program made it difficult to continue to raise funds for it.
Children's librarians all over the city are very upset and have written Ms. Snow asking her to reconsider. "I cannot believe that the library is choosing to end a successful program, which has been held for 12 years, without any discussion with the staff involved in developing and implementing this program," wrote one children's librarian. "Many of us consider the Homework Assistance Program one of the best programs we run for children and teens. It serves a vital need in our communities; helping children with homework and study skills (many of whom can’t get that help at home) and giving high school students valuable work experience." Another pleaded that "we can all together brainstorm a way to save this very successful and educationally sound program that has earned praise and support from teachers, parents, students, librarians, and donors alike for the past twelve years. I also am surprised and upset that such a highly praised and strong tutoring program would be so abruptly announced as terminated."
According to Anne Smart, head librarian of the South End branch, four high-schoolers tutor K-8 students four days a week for a few hours at her library. "It's a great program," she said. An email sent to Ms. Snow by a SE branch staff member said, "Since I came to the SE Library in 2001, we have had several HAP mentor families in which each sibling in turn on reaching 10th grade has followed the tradition set of becoming a HAP mentor. Many of our mentors live in the South End and first came here as young children. I can’t count how often I have heard elementary and middle school students say, “When I get to 10th grade I am going to be a HAP tutor.”
In her email response to the outraged librarians, Ms. Snow wrote that she "appreciated" the comments. She did not indicate whether she would reconsider the decision. As far as the high-school tutors are concerned, she wrote, "With the new out of school time programming there may be opportunities for the HAP mentors to participate in by volunteering."
"New Busy-ness" Measure Is Not Meant to "Compare" Branch Performance But to Assess "Reach" of Library Services into Neighborhood, Says BPL's Spokeswoman Gina Perelli
A recent measure by BPL administrators to redefine what makes a branch "busy," the so-called "new Busy," is not meant to compare branch libraries competitively, according to Gina Perelli, the library's communications director. Perelli also said that the measure was "proposed" and "still looking for input" from library staff. "The idea is to capture the reach of library services into a community," she said, "to look at how many contacts the staff has with patrons as opposed to just the figure for ciculation." The "new Busy" calculation, published late February in the internal BPL Weekly, did not include a request for comment from library staff, and listed the three branches with the highest numbers consecutively. They were West End, West Roxbury and Mattapan.
A BPL's branch's circulation was one of the measures used in 2010 to determine which libraries should be closed and which remain open. The "saved" libraries, which tended to be larger, would have more resources and be open more hours. However, a number of to-be-closed libraries, while small, were convenient for users' access while larger ones were hard to reach by public transportation, or because patrons were elderly, handicapped, or too young to walk longer distances. Testimony during the library-closing hearings in 2010 suggested that patrons of East Boston's Orient Height branch, for example, one of the four on the closing list, would have had to traverse the tunnel to get to the next closest library in East Boston.
The "new Busy" calculation adds to each branch's circulation figure the number for visitors, programs and computer sessions. However, it doesn't take into account the number of hours a library is open, or the number of computers available for computer sessions. Had this number been adjusted for hours open, in a "new new Busy" configuration, the three "top-performing" branches would have been West End, Jamaica Plain and Mattapan. BPL's Perelli acknowledged the flaw during a phone conversation and pointed out that the definition of a program was not set either. "Circulation also depends on how large a collection is," she added, agreeing that there might still be "a lack in uniformity" in the numbers used to assess either a branch's reach or its comparative popularity.
"We are still reframing ourselves as a result of the Compass hearings," said Perelli, referring to last year's numerous meetings to produce the BPL's long-term Compass Strategic Plan. "It is still an internal adjustment, informed by Compass to look more broadly at the community."
A New "Busy" Measure at the BPL Re-arranges the Pecking Order of the Busiest Branches but Doesn't Account for Differences in Library Hours
A new metric to assess a BPL branch's "busy-ness" is was instituted by the BPL recently, one that adds three new numbers to the "old" busy-ness measure of "circulation only." "This calculation expands the conversation beyond just circulation to capture more examples of the diverse ways in which a Boston Public Library location is engaged in delivery of service and user interactions," according to the BPL Weekly, an in-house newsletter.
By the old standard, the Jamaica Plain branch topped all the others for busy-ness, a little uncomfortable perhaps for the Library's administration in light of their efforts to close it, together with three others --Faneuil, Orient Heights and Washington Village-- in 2009. The "new Busy" puts the West End branch first in the most-popular sweepstakes, followed by the big beautiful new library of Mattapan and the West Roxbury branch. Jamaica Plain finishes fourth.
Strangely, the new measure does not take into account the number of hours a library is open. The BPL branches offer their services either 48 or 45 hours a week. Nor is it adjusted for when those hours are. As the recent Pew Charitable Trust Report "The Library in the City" points out, increased weekend hours can do a lot to generate visitors and circulation. In Boston, just nine branches offer a full day of service on Saturday; all the others open their doors a half day only. The South End branch, like many others, closes all Saturdays during the summer --just when the kids are out of school. Similarly, eleven of the 25 branches are open two evenings a week; the remaining 14, one night only. By contrast, the Central Library is open four nights a week, all day Saturday and five hours on Sunday, for a total of 61 hours. Not surprisingly, the main library has the highest busy-ness number, even though most of Boston's library patrons live near the branches, not downtown.
The new busy-ness's value for "computer sessions" does not reflect the number of public-access computers available in a branch, either, although it stands to reason that the more computers can be used, the more will sessions there will be. Central Library has between 75 and 80 computers, according to its reference desk; Mattapan has 44, Brighton 31, and the remaining branches anywhere between 8 (West End) and 29 (Grove Hall), according to library staff answering the phones. The South End branch has 25.
If one adjusts the "new Busy" number for how many hours a neighborhood library is open, the list of Most Popular changes again. Let's call it the "new new Busy." The top performer in that calculation is the West End branch. Jamaica Plain's branch comes in as a close second, followed by Mattapan, West Roxbury, Hyde Park and the much beloved little Faneuil library, another one on the to-be-closed list. More surprising, it beats out the new Brighton branch, down in 14th place.
The Fifth Annual FOSEL Easter Egg Hunt is ON in Library Park, Sunday, April 8, From 11 AM to 1 PM
The Easter bunny has been practicing his moves. The Parks Department has sent us the permit. Volunteers have filled Easter eggs with chocolate, poems, riddles and knock-knock jokes. The helium tank stands ready to fill the balloons and Easter baskets have been dusted off. Area D4 promised to help all comers cross the streets. Neighbors are baking the refreshments. In other words, we're ready for this year's hunt: all we need is YOU... There will be a roped-off section for the tiniest hunters to protect them from their sometimes too-enthusiastic colleagues. The hunt will start at 11:00 AM sharp and, if previous years are any indication, it will be over by 11:01 AM.
Hope to see you at Library Park, next to the South End Library, on Tremont Street at Rutland Square.
Pew Charitable Trust Study Shines Light on Voter-approved Library Tax Increases in 2011 to Meet "Shadow Mandate" of Expanded Library Services
Philadelphia-Library-City
Four years after the 20o8 economic downturn slashed library budgets all over the country, the Pew Charitable Trust has taken stock of the library landscape since emerged. Remarkably, it reports that in the middle of the recession voters in three cities studied--Columbus, OH, Los Angeles and Pittsburgh-- approved ballots for dedicated funding for libraries by large majorities. Seattle voters may face a similar ballot issue this year. Should Boston be next? The Pew study, The Library in the City: Changing Demands and a Challenging Future, points out what many observes already suspected, namely that the number of social services discontinued in the last decades by government and non-profit agencies has been bestowed on libraries by default. The report calls this "the shadow mandate." An unfunded mandate, to be sure. Library budgets are called on to provide Internet access, job applications, income-tax assistance, health information, government services and benefits, help for the homeless, after-school programs, tests for GED, safe havens for children, welcoming spaces for teenagers, ESL classes for immigrants, literacy workshops, arts and literary events and, oh, yes, circulation of books and DVDs. Yet none of the agencies unloading their services onto libraries deposit money in library operating budgets. That libraries might want to explore opportunities for grants and funding from such organizations --schools, agencies in public health, social services and workforce development-- is one of the suggestions made in the Pew report.
The Library in the City studied 15 systems, including those in Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, Seattle, Pittsburgh, Atlanta, Baltimore, Detroit, Queens, Brooklyn, Charlotte, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Columbus, OH, and San Francisco. It focused on the Free Library in Philadelphia, which it then compared to the fortunes of the fourteen others. The report describes an overwhelmingly underfunded sector of the nation's public economy at a moment in time when the need for library services is as high as it has ever been. One figure in the report shows how the Philadelphia Free Library 's offerings, for example, supports no less than 15 government and non-profit agencies, ranging from schools to public health agencies to homeless services, while its operating budget sustained a 19 percent funding cut between 2008 and 2010, a 12 percent reduction in hours, and a 14 percent loss in full-time staff. Boston's library system, and all the others in the report, can easily claim a similar range of social services, and a similarly unfunded mandate for it. Boston's budget during those years was cut by 10 percent, its hours reduced by 3 percent and full-time staff positions decreased by nine percent. Current funding has stabilized at about $40 million, but not increased. San Francisco was the only municipality that expanded its library budget by 5 percent, all the more remarkable because it receives virtually no state or federal funding for its operations.
The need for sustainable library funding couldn't be made more clear in this well-written report, generously illustrated with snappy graphs, charts and photographs. It describes how in Pittsburgh, a library task force looked at almost two dozen funding strategies and recommended six. These included a new endowment campaign, actively cultivating community support, and proposing state and local tax incentives for library contributions. Another recommendation was acted on: a public referendum to raise property taxes to directly support the library. It was approved overwhelmingly last year.
The details of the various ballot measures to raise specific library funds differed but were similar in their results: keeping libraries open and perhaps even thriving, and making sure political support for libraries was articulated. Philadelphia's Mayor, Michael Nutter, has said repeatedly that his attempts in 2008 to close 11 out of 49 branches was "the biggest mistake" he made as that city's leader, according to the Pew report. It also mentions Mayor Thomas Menino's travail of being called a hypocrite for billing himself as "the education mayor" and then trying to eliminate libraries in Boston.
Voters in Columbus, OH, increased their library taxfor the first time in 24 years by an almost 2 to 1 margin, raising about $31 million. In Los Angeles, both the mayor and the entire city council supported a measure to dedicate a portion of property tax revenue to libraries in 2011, expected to produce about $50 million annually. LA voters approved it by 63 percent. That same year, Pittsburgh's taxpayers supported a new property tax to add an estimated $3.25 million to the library budget each year, by a remarkable 72 percent.
Pittsburgh city councilman and library trustee Patrick Dowd bucked those who said the measure would have no chance of succeeding. " There's a fundamental love of this institution because you have people who work in the neighborhood and are connected to people who go into the branch. The librarians are the people who get you the books, find a safe space for your kids. You know them," Dowd said. " You just don't have that connection with your garbage collector."
Author/Librarian Catherine Willis to Talk about Surprising Facts in her Recent Book about the History of the Boston Public Library, Tuesday, March 27, at 6:30 PM, at the South End Library
FOSEL _Catherine Willis flyer_3-27-12
CATHERINE WILLIS, who recently wrote a pictorial history of the Boston Public Library, will talk about some of the things she discovered while researching the book, which is part of the Images of America series. Currently the Manager of Technical Services at the BPL, and the 2007 recipient of the New England Library Association’s Award for Excellence in Library Technical Services, Ms. Willis can tell you, among other things, that the idea of the BPL was first proposed by French ventriloquist Alexandre Vattemare in 1841 and that the lions flanking the staircase in the BPL’s McKim building precede those of the New York Public Library by 15 years.
Tuesday, March 27, 6:30 PM. Sponsored by FOSEL as part of The South End Writes series. The South End Branch's staff has made numerous copies available at the library to patrons who wish to borrow a copy and take a closer look...