"Happy Days" At the Library!

On May 2, 2003, in celebration of the 3rd anniversary of the opening of our new library, the Billerica Public Library Foundation, Inc held its annual Spring gala. This traditionally formal evening, took a new twist (no pun intended) this year as we celebrated the era of the 1950's.

We transformed the library into a 1950's dance club. Our guests were all duded up in poodle skirts, saddle shoes, bobby socks, bowling shirts, leather jackets, rolled up jeans and the like. A juke box ice sculpture, red and white checkered table cloths and a menu fit for Elvis were just a few of the many highlights. The cocktail hour featured rum and cokes as well as vodka martinis, which you may remember were made popular by James Bond in the movie "Casino Royale" in the 50's. There was even an opportunity to have your picture taken on the vintage Harley Davidson motorcycle that was parked in the lobby for the evening. After dinner, we enjoyed the classic tunes of the 50's with DJ "A Party Waiting to Happen". A dance contest, hula-hoop activities, a silent auction and a make your own ice cream sundae bar all helped to make this a night to remember.

In addition to being a night of fun, the event raised money, which added nicely to the Foundation's coffers.

New Children's Librarian at Middleton:

Karen Dunham, the new Children's Librarian at Middleton's Flint Public Library, has been hard at work since April 7th. A special education major at Fitchburg State College, she did coursework in children's literature. Karen's experience in libraries will serve Middleton families well. She worked for nearly twenty years in the Public libraries of both Worcester and Leominster, where she earned great reviews.

The Flint's search committee felt that Karen stood out for her personality and philosophy of service to children and their communities.

Please stop in to meet our creative, enthusiastic, and thoughtful supervisor of children's services.

Library Wins PR Award:

The Ipswich Public Library was honored to receive a Public Relations Award at the Massachusetts Library Association's 2003 Annual Conference in Springfield on May 1, 2003. Library Director Victor Dyer picked up the second place award trophy and certificate in the 'Brochures' category. The Public Relations Committee of the Massachusetts Library Association honors libraries for outstanding public relations efforts biennially. Susan Edwards of Extra Mile Design designed the Ipswich Public Library's brochures, which were federally funded with LSTA funds through the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners. The attractive brochures feature the general library logo based upon decorative ironwork in the Gallery area of the library's 1869 building as well as the distinctive 'snail' variation. The four brochures making up the suite describe general library information, children's services, the Ipswich Public Library Archives and the artworks in the library. The library is located at 25 North Main Street. The brochures are available and free at the library.

News from the Lucius Beebe Library, Wakefield:

Lucius Beebe Memorial Library's Leane Ellis recently had an article published in Bay State Libraries, The Newsletter of the Massachusetts Library Association. The title of the article was "Readers' Advisory: Not Only for the Boom Years". Leane is the Reader's Advisory Librarian at the Beebe.

Nanci Milone Hill, Assistant Director at the Beebe Library, recently had an article published in the "Have You Read" column in the May /June 2003 edition of Bookmarks Magazine. The Lucius Beebe Memorial Library has won an unprecedented 8 awards in the Massachusetts Library Association's 2003 Public Relations Awards. Beebe Library took First Place honors for its posters advertising last year's Wakefield Reads program. They received Second Place honors in the "Event" category for the over-all publicity generated for the 2002 Wakefield Reads program.

The library also took Second Place in the "Book List" category for a list of fiction titles set in every state in the U.S. The list, entitled "From Sea to Shining Sea", is still available on Beebe Library's web site at http://www.noblenet.org/wakefield/. Second Place honors were also presented to the Friends of Beebe Library in the "Merchandise" category for the book bags, aprons, mugs and other library related merchandise that the Friends sell to raise money for the library.

Beebe Library won Second Place in the "Media Presentation" category for a PowerPoint presentation promoting last year's Summer Reading Program.

The library brought home an Honorable Mention in the "Newspaper Coverage" category. The library's weekly columns in the Wakefield Daily Item were a large component of Beebe Library's entry in this category.

The library took another Honorable Mention for an advertisement that ran at the Woburn Showcase Cinemas. The advertisement was produced in conjunction with the Reading Public Library, and ran as a slide on the movie screen between film showings.

Beebe library was also awarded Honorable Mention for its 2001 Summer Reading Program.

Assistant Director Nanci Milone Hill has put together a booklist for adult readers in conjunction with the 2003 State-wide summer reading program "Read, Think, Create." The list is separated into four categories; Fine Arts, Theater, Performing Arts & Music and includes fiction titles which fit into one or more of the categories. The list is available on the web at http://www.noblenet.org/wakefield/zrareadthinkcreateSRP03.htm and links into the NOBLE catalog. All are welcome to use the list.

Rockport LMS Retires:

Richard Thomas is retiring after working at the Gertrude C. Miller School Library (Grades 6 - 12) at the Rockport High and Rockport Middle Schools for 29 years as School Librarian-Media Specialist (and 35 years in public education), effective June 30, 2003.

New Director at Merrimac Public Library:

Don MacMillan is the newly appointed director of the Merrimac Public Library where he will manage the daily operation of the small but active library. He will be working with the state and local community to build their new library; which is scheduled to be completed next July.

He comes from a successful background in librarianship, management and technology. Before working for Merrimac he was the director at the Avon Public Library in Avon, Massachusetts, where he completed, on time and under budget, a long awaited building upgrade.

Drawing on his experience, he blends a well-rounded technology, finance and operations background to his new responsibilities as director of the Merrimac Public Library.

He introduced himself to the NMRLS staff this way via email:

Since starting my job last Thursday, I have had the opportunity to meet a few of the frequent patrons and department leaders here in town.

I've also met one of Merrimac's larger squirrels who dropped by on Friday to say hello. The squirrel was thankfully ushered out by a patron.

We currently do not have any squirrel books but we do have a lot of good information and books for people here.

I look forward to getting to know the community, MVLC network and NMRLS libraries as well as providing the best possible service we can offer.