Highlights and Accomplishments
Special Events
The Main Children's Room hosted "A Night at Hogwarts:
A Library Lock-In" to celebrate the final Harry Potter book release.
The event included "butter beer," the sorting hat, indoor "quiddich,"
divination, exploding potions, wand making, and a trip to the
"owlery" where mail from home arrived via owl post. As midnight
approached, kids embarked on a scavenger hunt leading to an old
trunk. When the trunk was opened, each child received a surprise
copy of the final book complete with a personalized bookplate.
All settled in to find out what happened to Harry and his friends.
Only a hardy few read through the night. At seven the next morning,
parents arrived to pick up their tired wizards.
Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote
Peace…One School at a Time by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver
Relin was this year's selection for "Cambridge Reads." This citywide
reading program was so successful, that a second presentation
was added. More than 1,500 people attended. Former U.S. ambassador
to Pakistan Thomas W. Simons, Jr. and his wife Margaret hosted
more than 100 Cambridge residents for tea at the Central Square
Branch to discuss "Making Pakistan Safe for Greg Mortenson."
The Library, in collaboration with The Horn Book
Magazine and Cambridge Forum, co-hosted a memorable visit by Newbery
Medal winner Susan Cooper, author of The Dark Is Rising series.
Along with Gregory Maguire (author of Wicked) and Roger Sutton
(editor-in-chief of The Horn Book Magazine), Cooper participated
in "The Writing of Fantasy," a roundtable discussion at MIT's
Stata Center. The following evening, she presented the Cambridge
Forum lecture, "Unriddling the World: Fantasy and Children" to
a capacity crowd at First Church of Cambridge. Ms. Cooper also
visited fifth and sixth graders at the Haggerty School.
Artist, author, poet and recent winner of the Coretta
Scott King Award Ashley Bryan gave a joyful and passionate recital
of poems by African American poets. His visit, which was sponsored
by the Library and the Cambridge Public School Media Services,
included a presentation at the Fletcher/Maynard Academy.
Houghton Mifflin Company and the Cambridge Public
Library hosted historian, critic, curator and author Leonard Marcus.
He presented a program on his newest title, Minders of Make-Believe:
Idealists, Entrepreneurs, and the Shaping of American Children's
Literature.
In March, library trustees, staff, members of the
City administration and the Main Library project team celebrated
the installation of the last iron beam on the new Main Library
building. This long awaited milestone was just one of the many
advances in the construction of our new building.
Literacy Initiatives
The Literacy Project received funding through the
America Reads Program to provide after-school homework help at
the O'Neill and Valente Branch Libraries. Tutors offered drop-in
help for middle school students. The grant also funded college
students to assist with computer classes, English classes and
one-on-one tutoring at Central Square Branch.
English conversation groups flourished at the Valente,
O'Neill, and Central Square Branches, as well as the Main Library.
Participants made social contacts, learned about American culture,
improved their English skills (reading, writing, listening and
speaking) and, most importantly, they learned about the library's
resources and frequently took out books, DVDs, audio books. The
success of these groups prompted the library to offer a citizenship
class which was well attended and demonstrably successful as several
participants passed the exam.
Outreach to preschools serving low income and immigrant
families continues. Children's librarians regularly visit 15 classes
throughout the city to conduct story times. They also leave small
book collections for the teachers to read between visits. Locations
include Cambridge Head Start programs, the Salvation Army Day
Care, Al Bustan, and Children's of Cambridge. In its second year,
this program has succeeded in captivating the children with outstanding
books, expanding their awareness of art and text, and coaching
their teachers on ways to share books with children.
During the summer of 2007, 23 camps visited the
libraries. Librarians also visited camp programs and presented
stories and songs. Through a Metrowest Regional Library System
Storytelling Grant, storyteller Lani Peterson offered a weeklong
storytelling training at Frisoli Youth Center.
GBH and the Library co-sponsored Between the Lions
at the Main Library, and at the Central Square and O'Neill Branches.
This six-week program, designed to promote conversations about
picture books, included related activities for children ages 4
to 6. The books included main characters from various cultures
(Abiyoyo, New Shoes for Silvia, etc.). At the end of each session,
the children were given the featured book to keep.
Honors
The Library was honored by the Massachusetts Library
Association with the association's first Innovation Award. The
award recognizes exceptional, cutting-edge programs, services
or projects that show innovation and leadership, and make a significant
impact on the community. The CPL was lauded for its newly created
YouTube "commercials" which were produced in collaboration with
the Cambridge Rindge and Latin Media Center. The campaign, designed
to promote library use among young adults, reminded viewers that,
"Life is expensive. Information shouldn't be. Check it out at
the Cambridge Public Library!"
Maria Balestrieri, Literacy Specialist for the Library
was honored by the City with an Outstanding Employee Award. Maria
was lauded for her expansion of the literacy program, both physically
(to five locations) and programmatically. She added new dimensions
such as English conversation groups, family literacy and math
literacy as well as homework help to the pot and stirred it all
up with as much enthusiasm, devotion and ability as seemingly
possible in one person.
Children's Librarian Julie Roach was elected to
be a judge for the 2010 Randolph Caldecott Medal selection committee.
The Caldecott Medal is awarded annually by the Association for
Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library
Association, to the artist of the most distinguished American
picture book for children.
Boudreau Branch
Circulation and program attendance increased 6%
and 20% respectively.
Central Square Branch
Circulation increased 5% and program attendance
exceeded 17,900.
Students from every public school and several private
schools in Cambridge submitted 685 entries in the 10th annual
Tree Project Poetry Awards. Participation was 20% higher than
in FY07.
The branch is a partner in Mixing in Math, a grant
project of TERC, funded by the National Science Foundation. The
project is designed to create activities using informal math concepts
for after-school programs.
Collins Branch
Circulation increased 10% and program attendance
grew by 15%.
New landscaping and flowers greatly improved the
streetscape and enhanced the charm of the branch.
O'Connell Branch
Circulation increased 4% and 5,629 residents attended
over 220 programs.
O'Neill Branch
Circulation increased 6% and 5,854 residents attended
418 programs.
Three poetry readings were presented in conjunction
with Syl-la-ble, a group of local poets.
Valente Branch
Library staff initiated a weekly read-aloud program
for the MAPS Senior Group.
The branch offered a series of discussions about
books authored by Portuguese descendants. The program was sponsored
by the Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities program "Bringing
Ideas to Life," and co sponsored by UMass Dartmouth and Luso-American.
Staff offered 395 programs to the community, a 72%
increase. Over 4,200 residents participated in library programs.
Neighborhood resident Matthew Rajcok demonstrated
his design for the American Society of Civil Engineers bridge
design contest during the Cambridge Science Festival.
"I wasn't a library user for many years, but now
that you have the online search, ordering, reminders, etc. I am
totally hooked!"
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