Children's author Marguerite Davol to visit Lilly Library

The Western Massachusetts Library Club is sponsoring a visit from local children's author, Marguerite Davol, Wednesday, May 14th at 4pm at the Lilly Library in Florence. Ms. Davol will speak about her extensive picture books publishings and her lively career. Join us for light refreshments and to meet this wonderful author, bring any books you have in your collections for signing!

Please bring $2 to help defray the costs. The Club will also be meeting for dinner at a nearby restaurant following the event at Members' expense. Please RSVP to Mary Senecal at lakmary729@lycos.com


~ Mary Senecal, Western Massachusetts Library Club President

Recommended Program: Golden Wings and Hairy Toes

I wanted to share a program idea geared for adults that ties nicely into this summer’s reading theme. Todd McLeish, author of the book Golden Wings and Hairy Toes: Encounters with New England’s Most Imperiled Wildlife, gave a presentation at our library and it was really interesting. He is a great storyteller and shared some fascinating facts about endangered species in our area. “Todd McLeish profiles fourteen of New England’s most rare and endangered flora and fauna — mammals, birds, insects, plants, and fish — by following the biologists who are researching, monitoring, and protecting them. Todd traps bats in Vermont and lynx in Maine, gets attacked by marauding birds in Massachusetts, and observes the metamorphosis of dragonflies in Rhode Island. He visits historical cemeteries to see New England’s rarest plant, tracks sturgeon in the Connecticut River, and observes a parade of one of the rarest mammals on earth, the North Atlantic right whale, in Cape Cod Bay.” His fee was very reasonable and everyone seemed to enjoy it. His website with contact info is http://www.toddmcleish.com/.

~ Lisa Downing, Assistant Director, Forbes Library, http://www.forbeslibrary.org/

North Adams Poetry Slam a BIG HIT!

The North Adams Public Library’s first Poetry Slam was well received and a delightful event for the poets as well as the spectators. The winners of the Poetry Slam are:

First - Jacob Snow -- “Understanding Time”
Second – Cairo Voltaire – Annemic Dissipatent
Third – Seth Brown – Quarterstaff
Fourth – Casey Finnegan —Car Crash
Fifth – Void Sans Ange –Sleeping or blinking?
Sixth –Christian Phiffer -- Spit
Charlene Fiske – Visability

The first three place winners are invited to compete in the GRAND SLAM FINALE to be held on May 25 at the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art.

Prizes were awarded and donated by The Berkshire Bank and Legacy Banks, Angelina’s Subs, Wal Mart, Stop & Shop, Big Y and Quadlands.

~ Marcia Gross, Director, North Adams Public Library

Springfield Slammers rock!

We had over 60 people at our slam - about 20 people competed and we have 3 very hot poets who will hopefully all make it to the "Grand Slam" on May 25th. Local businesses were happy to donate prizes, so we had gift certificates for UNO's, Frigo's, L.A. Fitness (opening soon next to the Basketball Hall of Fame), etc... in addition to the $100 certificate from the BookLoft folks in Great Barrington (they donated $100 to every slam.... to be used to help defray the cost of self- publishing a chapbook). We are also in the process of contacting the winners of our 2008 Poetry Contest - they will all be invited to read at our awards ceremony on April 26th, and the top winners will be displayed in a storefront on Main Street (this will be part of a larger storefront art project being sponsored by the Springfield Cultural Council). We'll also post all the winning poems to the SCL website shortly after the awards ceremony.

~ Anna Brandenburg, Program Coordinator, Springfield City Library, abrandenburg@springfieldlibrary.org

The Digital Commonwealth: Information Session April 24

The Digital Commonwealth, a statewide digital library project, (www.digitalcommonwealth.org) is now in its second year and growing. The portal and website were launched in 2007 and the Repository will be launched later this year. On Thursday, April 24 from 10 - 12, at WMRLS HQ in Whately, Jan Resnick of WMRLS and Digital Commonwealth Executive Committee members Julie Bartlett and Marilyn Billings will present an information session for non-members on what the Digital Commonwealth is, why your organization should consider participating, how to join and what resources are available to get you started. We will repeat this program at NARA in Pittsfield on Thursday June 26, 10-12. If you are unable to attend and would like more information, contact Julie at jbartlett@forbeslibrary.org or Marilyn at mbillings@library.umass.edu. This program is co-sponsored by the Digital Commonwealth, WMRLS, and the Western Mass Library Club. Jan Resnick is the WMRLS contact person for this program. Registration for this event is available at: http://forms.wmrls.org/ceform

~~ Jan Resnick, Assistant Regional Administrator