Forbes Library launches mobile site

For the convenience of patrons using smartphones and other handhelds, Forbes Library has built a new website optimized for iPhone and Android devices. It offers quick access to library information, the catalog, e-books, databases, events calendar, and our reader's advisory blog. Check it out at http://forbeslibrary.org/mobile or scan this QR code with your smartphone.

We'd love your feedback!

--Faith Kaufmann, Forbes Library

Fine Art Scanography from Nature

UMASS AMHERST LIBRARIES HOST

 

EXHIBIT: FINE ART SCANOGRAPHY FROM NATURE

Amherst, MA – The UMass Amherst Libraries host an exhibit, “Fine Art Scanography from Nature,” by Easthampton, Massachusetts based artist/naturalist Marty Klein ’72, G’96, from September 3 to December 28, 2011, at the Science and Engineering Library, on Floor 2 of the Lederle GRC Lowrise at UMass Amherst.  A reception will be held on Thursday, September 22, 2011, from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. 

Since 2006, Marty Klein, a long-time resident of the Pioneer Valley, has been creating limited edition, archival prints in the photographic medium known as scanography. Over the past five years, his art has been featured in many local and regional exhibits. Most of the subjects portrayed - plants, flowers, mushrooms, etc. are either locally grown or foraged by the artist. The compositions, which look like a hybrid of photography and illustration, portray both familiar and less seen details from the natural world. Klein holds a BA and a Masters of Regional Planning from UMass Amherst. He has worked as an artist, planner, blacksmith, and land protection activist.

“Marty Klein is a pioneer in scanography, the art of using a flatbed scanner as a macro camera. His work is remarkable for its deeply informed connection to nature, for its wit, and for its joy in life. His grounding in photography serves him well in composing his materials on the glass. What gives Klein depth is his intimacy with Nature, for he is a true naturalist, a man of the land. He sees.” —John Caddy, naturalist/writer, 2010.

For more information on Marty Klein: www.martykleinart.com.  The exhibit is open during the hours that the Library is open: http://www.library.umass.edu/hours.html.  For more information, contact Barbara Stewart (stew@library.umass.edu, 413-577-2634). 

Starting Up the Springfield Seed Library!

Get growing with the Springfield Seed Library : wwlp.com

Growing healthy food in Springfield can be easy and low cost! Springfield City Library and New Growth Gardens are launching a seed library with two upcoming hands-on workshops. A seed library is a place where seeds are safely stored and protected so that community members will have access to FREE seeds when the next growing season arrives. Urban farmer and food educator Peter Merzbacher will lead the seed saving class at the Pine Point Branch Library, 204 Boston Road (263-6855), at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, September 14, and again at the Forest Park Branch Library, 380 Belmont Avenue (263-6843), at 6 p.m. on Thursday, September 22. All vegetables for the seed saving workshops will be provided. Fresh from the garden refreshments will be provided at each workshop. Plus, we can’t wait to show you how we’ve repurposed an old wooden library card catalog for seed storage! To sign up please call either branch, email dmadsen@springfieldlibrary.org, or visit us online at www.springfieldlibrary.org. Funding for this project has been provided by Artists in Context (www.artistsincontext) a non-profit organization based in Cambridge MA engaging in projects elsewhere in Greater Boston, Western Massachusetts, Maine and Rhode Island. AiC's mission is to nurture creative platforms for the generation of ideas and real-world projects that move us closer to a sustainable future. Through these projects organizers create situations for conversation and research in the arts, architecture, sciences, humanities, commerce and communications.
http://www.wwlp.com/dpp/mass_appeal/community/get-growing-with-the-springfield-seed-library

Looking to get involved?

Librarians who are looking to get more involved in service to the library community both locally and statewide have multiple opportunities to participate.

The Massachusetts Library System is seeking Librarians who are interested in serving on its Executive Board. Board members serve a three-year term, and the group meets on the last Monday of each month. This is a great opportunity to get your voice heard statewide. If interested in learning more, please contact Board President Sal Genovese as soon as possible at sgenovese@ocln.org.

Additionally, the Western Massachusetts Library Advocates organization is also seeking Librarians or library supporters who are interested in serving on their Board of Directors. This group meets monthly, and is an excellent opportunity to work in support of issues unique to libraries in the West. For more information, please contact Toni Golinski-Foisy at agolinsk@cwmars.org.

I encourage you all to actively take part in the decision-making process that effects our libraries, and to work on behalf of the betterment of all libraries, both near and far!

Western Massachusetts Library Advocates Semi-Annual Meeting

Save the date on Wednesday, October 5 at 10 am for the Semi-Annual Meeting of the Western Massachusetts Library Advocates. We will be electing new officers and voting to finalize the merger between the Friends of WMRLS and the Western Massachusetts Library Club.

Following the business meeting at 10, we are very excited that Tom Corbett of Cushing Academy will be our keynote speaker at approximately 11:15. Here is a brief description of his discussion:


Tom Corbett will discuss an alternative future fore getting reading materials into the hands of our users outside of the traditional print paradigm (and systems such as Overdrive that are grounded in that tradition). This future is possible and even, to some extent, already here at Cushing Academy. However, we have a ways to go to before this new paradigm can fit well within other library environments. The biggest obstacles are not necessarily technological or monetary in nature, but, rather, organizational--even psychological. This future requires not only new approaches and ways of thinking about librarians and their institutions, but--perhaps more importantly--the publishing industry itself. Tom will argue that it is time to start thinking seriously about how best to deliver to our users the words and ideas of our best authors and thinkers and not stay so narrowly focused on delivering (and controlling) the physical manifestations of that writing: printed books.


Please join us for what is certain to be a timely, topical, and exciting discussion!

MLA meet and greet

Hi all:
Ruth Urell, new Pres of MLA, and recent denizen of Western Mass is hosting a small series of meet and greats around the state. There has beenone recently held in Sheffield. The next one will be on Tuesday Ausust 16th at the Dirty Truth in Northampton, next to Fitzwilly's. 6 pm is the time. Let's make sure western Mass turns out in overwhelming numbers!

Quest for the Eastern Cougar @South Hadley Public Library

Slideshow & Presentation

Tuesday, August 30 @6:30 

Just five months ago, the eastern cougar (puma, panther, mountain lion, catamount, etc.) was declared extinct by the federal government.

How did they disappear? Do they still exist? Should they be reintroduced to the wild?
Join naturalist and author Robert Tougias for an informative slideshow and presentation about this fascinating lost creature.

South Hadley Public Library / 27 Bardwell Street / South Hadley MA 01075

Tim Van Egmond at the Greenfield Public Library

Friends of the UMass Amherst Libraries Hosts

“READY WHEN YOU ARE CHARLIE BROWN!

WAR STORIES FROM BEHIND THE LENS”

Emmy Award Winning Producer, Director, Actor

~ Michael Haley ’65 ~

On Saturday, October 1, from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., the Friends of the UMass Amherst Libraries will host the 13th Annual Fall Reception on the Lower Level of the Du Bois Library at UMass Amherst.  The keynote speaker, Michael Haley ’65, will give a talk, “Ready When You Are Charlie Brown! War Stories from Behind the Lens.”  Emmy Award-winning producer, director, and actor, Michael Haley has had a 40-year career in the film industry, starting in the late ’60s after he graduated from UMass Amherst. The program starts at 2:30 p.m.; the event is free and open to the public.  Reservations are appreciated.  To RSVP, call (413) 545-0995 or email friends@library.umass.edu. 

Haley has been recognized many times over for his impressive body of work, receiving numerous awards.  His films include Charlie Wilson’s War (2007), Closer (2004), Angels in America (2003), Joe Somebody (2001), What Planet Are You From? (2000), Primary Colors (1998), Groundhog Day (1993), and A League of Their Own (1992).  He was nominated as Best Actor for his role in Wilde Irish Women at the Dundalk, Ireland Theater Festival in 2004.  The list of directors that Haley has worked with includes Sidney Lumet, Sidney Pollock, Barry Levinson, Penny Marshall, Harold Ramis, and Mike Nichols. He has also worked with some of Hollywood’s premier actors and actresses, such as Katherine Hepburn, Harrison Ford, Meryl Streep, and Tom Hanks.

Haley recently donated his papers to the UMass Amherst Libraries.  Reflecting a distinguished career in film, the collection consists of scripts, photographs, memorabilia, diaries, notes, and correspondence.  There are over 100 scripts, for films ranging from the Godfather II to Charlie Wilson’s War and Angels in America.

Haley is currently writing a book about his career in the film industry and lives in Conway, Massachusetts.

As part of the fall reception program, Robert Potash, member of the Friends of the Library Board of Trustees, will be honored with the 2011 Siegfried Feller Award for Outstanding Service.  This award, established in 1998, is given annually to an individual who has made outstanding volunteer contributions to create awareness and build support for the UMass Amherst Libraries.

UMass Catering will provide refreshments.  A selection of DVDs of Haley’s films will be available for sale by the University Store.

Big E Ticket Distribution

On the evening of July 20, 2011, volunteers and members of the Western MA Library Advocates Board of Directors gathered at Lynn Coakley's home to distribute prize admission tickets to The Big E. Thanks to Lynn for providing the location and the refreshments. Thanks to Lynn, Jim Craig, Tammy Ely, Bonnie Isman, Sue San Soucie, John Ramsay and Jan Resnick for providing the labor. Big E tickets have been a staple of Summer Reading Program prizes for several years. Eighty-four main libraries and branches each received a pair of tickets for the fair.

The Big E is the largest fair in the northeast and is a New England extravaganza with top name entertainment, The Big E Super Circus, the Avenue of States, Storrowton Village Museum, animals, competitive exhibits, rides, shopping, crafts, a daily parade and a Mardi Gras parade and foods from around the world. The fair runs for 17 days each September. In 2010, over 1,228,418 people attended The Big E.

This Big E ticket distribution was made possible by the Western MA Library Advocates working to support library services in Western Massachusetts and a generous donation by The BIG E.

Author Cailtin Horrocks in South Hadley - Monday, August 22 @6:30

Author Talk, Reading, & Book Signing at the South Hadley Public Library

Thirteen women confront dramas both every-day and outlandish in Caitlin Horrocks’ This Is Not Your City. In stories as darkly comic as they are unflinching, people isolated by geography, emotion, or circumstance cut imperfect paths to peace—they have no other choice. A Russian mail-order bride in Finland is rendered silent by her dislocation and loss of language; the mother of a severely disabled boy writes him postcards he'll never read on a cruise ship held hostage by pirates; and an Iowa actuary wanders among the reincarnations of those she's known in her 127 lives. Horrocks’ women find no simple escapes, and their acts of faith and acts of imagination in making do are as shrewd as they are surprising.

Masha Kabakow Rudman Issues in Children's Literature Collection

UMass Amherst Libraries will launch the Masha Kabakow Rudman Issues in Children’s Literature Collection on September 17, 2011, at the Du Bois Library at UMass Amherst.   

The event will include a self-guided tour of the collection from 2-3 p.m. on Floor 11 and a multimedia program from 3-5 p.m. on the Lower Level.  The program will include an introduction to the collection and comments by authors Jane Yolen and Jacqueline Woodson, and other special guests.  Refreshments will be served.  The event is open to all.

More information: http://bit.ly/masha_rudman.