Open books

by Michael J. DeCicco

Visit your local library this fall – it’s where you’ll find a surprising amount of things to do and important renovations and innovations to experience. Dartmouth has a nearly brandnew library building with unique features and a new Director of Libraries.

Dina St. Pierre, a New Bedford native, came to the Dartmouth position only months ago after eight years as the Library Director in Acushnet, and before that as a Youth Services Librarian for the New York Public Library system. The other newcomer to town is the North Branch Library, at 211 Cross Road, which St. Pierre manages along with the Southworth Library at 732 Dartmouth Street. The North Branch opened in January 2020, only to close six weeks later for many months because of the COVID pandemic shut down. That's why, she said, the facility "still smells like a new library."

No wonder this branch boasts many features that sets it apart from Southworth and even other area libraries. The branch's newest technological features include three bar-code-activated self-checkout stations and power tables where patrons can plug in their own laptop computers or other devices using USB and electrical outlets embedded in the tabletop. Across from the circulation desk sits a large children's room connected to an enclosed children's activities room. At the far end of the bookcases in the main room sits a dedicated Young Adult book room with comfortable swivel seats. Outside the back door a patio is ready for comfortable outdoor seating in the spring and summer. It faces a walking path on the lawn that reaches halfway to the Potter Elementary School next door. The new facility also features two quiet study rooms (available on a first-come, first-served basis) and a document scanning service.

Program-wise, St. Pierre is proud to note the North Branch recently helped to host the Whaling Museum's Common Ground Program, which seeks to collect oral histories from the South Coast. It made a mobile recording booth for this project available to the public until September 21. Also, the town's Children's Librarian will bring storytime to North Branch this fall. Meanwhile, St. Pierre is also working on the Dartmouth library's longerrange plans. The library system's Strategic Plan, created in 2018, is set to expire, she said, and she is working to get the public involved with creating a new plan, with focus groups and a public meeting or two. "We will keep moving forward," she said.

She asks people seeking more information on any of the above to visit DPLMA.org.

Turn the page

Kyle DeCicco-Carey, Director of Fairhaven’s Millicent Library (and a relation by marriage), boasts that the circa-1893 facility's newest feature this fall is its-easier-to-use website, with a better design and organization. “The design had not been updated in a long time,” he said. “The library has had a website since 1995. It needed easier access to information.”

But the Millicent Library is having a good fall program-wise too. It was able to host its first ever outdoor concert on September 9 (featuring the jazz, funk, and soul music of Nina Ott's Organic Quartet), and it has started a South Coast Cinemaniacs Club in September, featuring older films to attract local film buffs to enjoy these free movies together. No membership registration is required. Patrons, DeCicco-Carey said, will also note a new archivist and a new Head of Circulation, as well as a repaired chimney. The library recently received a $136,360 grant from the town's Community Preservation Committee for the work needed to fix leaks in one of the three chimneys of a building the town opened on January 30, 1893, the birth anniversary of Millicent G. Rogers (who died in 1890 at age 17), the facility's namesake and daughter of Henry Huttleston Rogers, the library's chief benefactor. In honor of it being 130 years since that opening, the library has put together an anniversary display featuring the first book ever checked out and other items from the library's origins.

On October 7, the Millicent Library will be part of the 18th annual Manijiro Festival, a JapaneseAmerican festival commemorating Manjiro Nakahama, the first Japanese person to live in America and the town's Sister City connection with Tosashimizu, Japan, established in 1987. This will be the first to be held since the COVID shutdowns, and the library's own Manijiro display will be a big part of the festival.

The library will also be co-hosting its third annual "Kids Fest" in conjunction with the Fairhaven Visiting Center (to take place at the Center) on October 14, featuring face painting and costumes and other kid-friendly games. For more information, visit the new website, Milicentlibrary.org.

All kinds of art

A big attraction at the main branch of the New Bedford Free Public Library, 613 Pleasant Street, this fall and any time of year is the third floor Art Room, which has been in its present form as a gallery for 15 years and is open to visitors 40 hours a week.

The Library's art curator, Allie Copeland, said she is actively seeking new additions to the library's collections. She recently acquired three new pieces, a painting called "The Demolition of the Cannon St. Station" by contemporary New Bedford artist Milton Brightman, and two fiber art pieces from the New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park's artists in residence Beatrice and Elaine Alder. Plus, she just acquired older prints (1950-1970) from noted artist Leonard Baskin.

Copeland estimates the library owns and displays around 300 paintings, 1,800 prints and over two dozen sculptures. The collections include works by such nationally and internationally noted artists as Albert Bierstadt, John James Audubon, William Bradford, R. Swain Gifford, William Allen Wall, Walton Ricketson, Bela Pratt, and Clifford Ashley. They are on public view throughout the main library as well as in changing exhibits mounted in the third floor gallery cases.

Additionally, she is proud to note the New Bedford Free Public Library has partnered with the New Bedford Art Museum for an exhibit currently at the museum titled "Under the Sheltering Sky" (until October 29) featuring a selection of prints from a first edition set of John J. Audubon's "Birds of America") and it is planning another partnering exhibit in December.

Library Director Olivia Melo enthusiastically agrees that the library's art collection is its most unique feature compared to other area libraries. She said the aforementioned partnership with the New Bedford Art Museum has been ongoing for more than 10 years. There's a City Gallery alcove at the museum that on a rotating basis displays city art at least twice a year. "If you want to see more of the collection, come to the library," she said.

Under other fall highlights, Melo said that by the end of the year the library system is hoping to be in receipt of an Outreach Vehicle which is smaller than the current bookmobile. This new vehicle will replace the 2005 vehicle which requires a CDL driver to navigate it around the congested city streets.

Melo is particularly enthused about this innovation because the smaller vehicle, she said, will be driven by the Outreach Librarian who will provide library services to community agencies and events as well as provide homebound services to patrons not within walking distance of neighborhood libraries. For more information, visit newbedford-ma.gov/library.