Library Annual Report, FY08

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!"