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Posts from Webster Library

Growing Up In the Webster Library

The stairs leading up to the apartment.There are many people who say the library played an important role in their childhood. But for Kenneth Choquette, the library was—quite literally—his home.

Ken's grandfather, John Mahon, was the custodian at the Webster Library from approximately 1940-1971. In those days, mostly because of the coal furnace, being a custodian was a twenty-four hour job. At the very top of Webster, up a back staircase, was Ken's home: a four room apartment. The space itself is still there, but it is now full of air conditioning vents and electrical 

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There's Gold in Them Thar Hills: Digging at the Webster Library

For Webster Library's second big "Dig into Reading" event of the summer, we celebrated digging of all kinds (if you missed our worm races, check them out).

For this program, we separated our room into four main areas:

Paleontologist: Search for laminated dinosaur bones in a kiddie pool filled with packing peanuts. Geologist: Fizzing rocks that dissolve in vinegar to reveal a prize. Paleontologist (part II): ... Read More ›

Dig Into Reading: Worm Races at the Webster Library

The one at the bottom wins!Who says worms aren't fast? All of us at the Webster Library beg to differ. We recently held very competitive, highly excitable, worm race!

First, it's not very easy to find worms in this concrete jungle. Luckily I realized that pet stores carry them. I chose to use earthworms over red wigglers because then we could simply put them outside, instead of trying to find a composting site at the end.

We 

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Steal This Story Time: Won't You Be My Neighbor Day

Photo courtesy of the Fred Rogers Company.March 20, 2013 would have been Mr. Roger's 85th birthday. At the Webster Library we celebrated by having our very own Won't You Be My Neighbor Day. The premise was simple (but as Mr. Rogers says, "Deep and simple is far more essential than shallow and complex"). Won't You Be My Neighbor Day encourages everyone to do one neighborly act—and of course, wear a sweater!

I grew up with Mr. Rogers. It is difficult for 

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Steal This Story Time: Glow in the Dark

I love it when librarians put their story time plans online. I “borrow” them all the time! In an act of reciprocation I figured I might as well throw my story time themes at the Internet to see what sticks.

Disclaimer #1: I will credit others whenever possible; however, I’ve kept pictures and notes about my themes for years but have not been keeping track of where I got the ideas. In the spirit of generous, helpful librarianship, hopefully everyone will understand if I accidentally omit a source.

Disclaimer #2: Even the name of this 

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ReelAbilities Rules! The Disabilities Film Festival in New York City

If you haven't experienced, or perhaps even heard about, ReelAbilities, this may be the year to discover this unique festival, which is a film festival, but also so much more.

Anita Altman of the UJA-Federation, who founded the festival in New York City in 2007, states its goal is to raise consciousness "about our common humanity and the value of each person, without regard to his or her ability or disability." This is the fourth New York 

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"The Snowy Day" Connection: Ezra Jack Keats and Webster Library

How was the man who famously created The Snowy Day and so many other classic picture books connected to Webster Library?Read More ›

Library Hands (like jazz hands, only better!)

Patrons of the Webster Library wrote one word on their hand to describe what the library means to them. The ultimate goal was to make a video to help support the library, but more importantly, every time we stopped someone to ask if they would participate in this slightly odd project, we started a conversation.

Sadly, it is very easy to walk blindly by large signs that shout, “40 Million Dollar Budget Cut!” But when you ask someone to write a word on their hand, it forces them to stop and think. It also makes surrounding 

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I Want To Be Your Personal Penguin: Wedding Readings from Children’s Books

Being a librarian, it's not surprising when I say that I'm surrounded by stories. But in reality, we are all surrounded by stories, every day. This was never more apparent to me than when I officiated a friend's wedding. She asked that I include a reading from a children's book, and while neither she nor her fiancé had any particular connection to children's literature, we created a whole ceremony around the power of story.

The groom told the story of how they met. The bride had her own version of that very same story. I told my story of watching them fall in 

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