A patron once told me that she never goes upstairs to look for books. She picks all her reading material from the return carts near the circulation desk. I told her that would never have occurred to me. She said, “Well, it lets me know what other people are interested in. It’s like anonymous book…
The Children’s Room at the West Branch in Davis Square is beloved by children and caregivers alike. The home of Babygarten, storytime, and the summer reading club, it’s where children discover the joys of reading and serves as a valuable resource for parents and teachers as well. In the past three years circulation of children’s…
“Cup o’ Joe with Joe” is the City of Somerville’s employee recognition program to acknowledge the efforts made by those employees or departments who have gone above and beyond in their usual job responsibilities. This month’s winners are the Library’s own Jim and Thy! Congratulations guys, you earned it!
Our new Library Director Maria Carpenter (in the white shirt with the black belt) participates in Flashmob at Sunday's Somerstreet Fest!
An SPL blog reader recently suggested to me that I write about “crazy books in the collection.” With over 200,000 volumes SPL definitely has its share of those (among my favorites are a slim little volume on the guys who figured out how to embalm Lenin and a book about the first scientific studies of…
There’s no doubt about it: we’re fascinated by organized crime. Whether it’s The Godfather, Goodfellas or The Sopranos, we can’t get enough of books and dramas that claim to show us the mob from the inside, an alternative underground world with its own laws and loyalties. Citizen Somerville is the genuine article: the memoir of…
Every October it becomes important, no, necessary to see the leaves turning, to be surrounded by leaves turning; it’s not just the symbolism, to confront in the death of the year your death, one blazing farewell appearance, though the irony isn’t lost on you that nature is most seductive when it’s about to die, flaunting…
This is a Black Sparrow Press edition of Women, by Charles Bukowski, published in 1996, two years after his death. I reckon the library kept this copy fed and clothed for approximately ten years, where it sat on a shelf just long enough to recover from the hangover of the previous borrower before being dragged…
Did you know that the Somerville Public Library runs on less than 1% of the City’s total budget? Annually, the Library spends less than the cost of one hard cover book per resident to make the entire Massachusetts public library system (370 libraries, networks, and regions) available to everyone in Somerville. These resources include books,…
The Boston Globe recently selected Wrentham resident Joanna McFarlane as their Most Frugal New Englander (she won the contest they sponsored) and have published 14 of her money-saving tips. Tips #1 and #2 are library-specific: Find free kids' events: Rather than paying for entertainment, see whether your local library hosts free children's storytime or playtime. …
