NASA Administrator @South Hadley Public Library

The head of NASA during the Carter administration will speak at the South Hadley Public Library on Tuesday, July 21 at 6:30.

Dr. Robert Frosch served as NASA Administrator from 1977-1981. While at NASA, Dr. Frosch was responsible for overseeing the continuation of the development effort on the Space Shuttle. During his tenure the project underwent testing of the first orbiter, Enterprise, at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Facility in southern California. The orbiter made its first free flight in the atmosphere on August 12, 1977.

Dr. Frosch has also served as an Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Assistant Secretary General of the United Nations, and Vice-President of General Motors. He is still active in scientific and technical policy activities, serving as a Senior Associate at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard.

For more information, contact the library at 413-538-5045 or visit them online at http://www.shadleylib.org

Friends of WMRLS facebook page

Hi all:
The Friends of WMRLS has a brand new Facebook page. So far, even though its existence has not yet been published, we have 11 fans! Why don't you become a fan, too. So far, the Friends of CMRLS has 31 fans. Let's see if we can beat them! All in fun of course. ;-)

Here's the link:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Whately-MA/Friends-of-WMRLS/98164952633?ref=s

Please post to the page. The Friends will be posting events as they happen, information on upcoming Friends' meetings and the like. Add what you would like to see on the page.

If you see something on the page that should be there that I've forgotten please post that so I can add/fix, etc.

And -- most importantly, thanks to Janet Eckert for formatting the Friends' logo and to Julie Bartlett for figuring out what I did wrong and fixing it!

Forbes Library Budget Announcement

Press Release June 29, 2009

The Trustees and staff of Forbes Library are grateful to the voters of Northampton who passed the override. Director Janet Moulding said that the library will still have to make cuts in services for FY10 because of reductions in the library’s income, but because of funds from the override, those cuts will be much less severe.

Because of reduced income from the city appropriation and state aid, the library will spend less for books, DVDs and library supplies. The only reduction in hours will be that the library will close on Saturdays this summer from July 4th through September 5th. The library will resume its current hours after Labor Day. “We are sorry to inconvenience any of our patrons because we know how important library services are to Northampton, especially in tough economic times. Our usage has increased by 20% since July 2008! We are hoping the economy will improve in the next couple of years, so Forbes can resume summer Saturdays and ideally increase hours in the future,” said Moulding.

Funds from the override have also enabled Forbes to keep its state certification which entitles the library to state aid, grant eligibility and, most importantly, interlibrary loan privileges. Said Moulding, “Without certification, residents of Northampton could not request books and videos from other libraries through interlibrary loan. We couldn’t even go to another library and check out materials. Without certification, Northampton would become isolated from the whole library consortium.” Because of the override, Forbes will also be able to keep the Hampshire Room for Local History and the Calvin Coolidge Museum open for limited hours each week. “We are relieved that we won’t have to turn away historians and genealogists. Our collections are essential to many people’s research,” said Moulding.

Starting July 4th, Forbes will be open from 9:00 to 9:00 on Mondays and Wednesdays, from 1:00 to 5:00 on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and from 9:00 to 5:00 on Fridays. The library will be closed Saturdays and Sundays until Labor Day.

Contact information:
Janet Moulding
Forbes Library
20 West Street
Northampton, MA 01060
413-587-1016
jmoulding@forbeslibrary.org