NaNoWriMo is coming!

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nanowrimoNovember is National Novel Writing Month or NaNoWriMo.  It’s a chance to finally write that novel you’ve been dreaming of for years.  The library is a “Come Write In” site this year, and we’re making it easy to complete your masterpiece.  Starting on November 2nd our Innovation Center will be reserved for writers from 9:00 am to noon.  We have story cubes to inspire you and we’ll be posting writing prompts on social media every day throughout November.  Interested?  Come in during October to pick up an information packet with everything you need to know!

Annual Report for FY 2016

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The Annual Report of the Seekonk Public Library and Smart Memorial Trust for Fiscal Year 2016 is now available. The reports provide an overview of activity at the library from July 2015 to June 2016.  The library remains one of the most used of our Town’s Services. Here are some highlights.

Seekonk Public Library in FY 2016

  • Total hours open: 2,967
  • Total visits: 115,360
  • People using cards: 5,514
  • New users getting cards: 815
  • Items borrowed: 275,896
  • Reference questions: 12,471
  • Times the library meeting room was used by other groups: 547
  • Total attendance at children & family programs: 8,767
  • Total attendance at adult & teen programs: 1,535

Arrrr! Pirates in the Library!

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skull-307778_1280Do  you know your “avast” from your “aye-aye?” Aye! Would you rather be carousin’ than haulin’ wind? Aye! Are ye a lily-livered landlubber?  Nay!  You’re just the kind of fine swashbuckler we’re looking for.  Talk Like a Pirate Day is on September 19th.  To prepare, the library is having fun by entering a pirate-themed contest sponsored by Mango Languages.  Libraries and patrons from all over are making videos to celebrate their libraries.  The winning library and patron win new iPads!

Want to join in on the fun but aren’t sure what to do?

First, check out the official rules.
Next, create an account and brush up on your pirate-speak by taking the free course on Mango!
Finally, join us on Saturday, September 10th from 10 am -2 pm.  All you need to bring is yourself, your sense of humor and a willingness to make cheesy movies.  (Optional: pirate costumes, monkeys, parrots…) We’ll set the scene, shoot it and show you how to enter it in the contest.

So come on down, ye scurvy scalawags!

Questions? Email Adult Services Librarian Amy Greil – agreil@seekonkpl.org

New Front Door for the Library

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Installing New Door

Installing the New Door

After years of complaints, the front entry doors at the library are being replaced. The existing doors were installed in 1978. Years of wear have left the doors distorted to the point, where they could not closing properly.  The new doors not only fit right, but have better insulation and glazing, which greatly improves their energy-efficient. The new doors will also open and close automatically, which will make the library much more accessible. Anyone with even a slight physical limitation, or for that matter, an arm-full of books or baby stroller, have great difficulty getting through the old doors and into the library. The new doors will open as soon as a person approaches the door. Built-in safety features prevent the door from closing on people or things that may block the pathway. 

The installation will take place on Tuesday June 21 and Wednesday, June 22. The front entryway will be closed, but you can access the building from the side door on the parking lot.

The door is being paid for with state library incentive grant funds, which are under the control of the Board of Library Trustees. Some additional funding and staff time is being provided by the Seekonk Public Works Department.

 

Temp Entry [2]

Temporary Entrance from the Parking Lot

Library Study to Present First Look at Possible Building Designs

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You will get to see the first drawings of three potential building designs at an open meeting on Wednesday, May 11. This will be the fourth and final meeting in a series of public discussions with the library planning and design team from Tappe Architects. The meeting will start at 7:00 PM in the multi-purpose room at the library.

These preliminary designs reflect the conceptual design options discussed at the public meeting on March 29. All of the design options being considered are for an improved facility on the library’s current site at 410 Newman Avenue. The drawings will reflect scenarios for renovating the building and expanding it to a second floor, renovating the building and expanding it towards Seekonk Meadows, and constructing a new library facility within the footprint of the existing building. These initial architectural drawings will help the town’s Library Facilities Study Committee decide which of these options is the most feasible for future development.

Public input is critically important at this phase of the process. Both the design team and the committee are eager to hear comments from the public. Residents can obtain additional information about the library facilities study by visiting the study committee’s website.

Round Two: Library Building Planning

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The Seekonk Library Facilities Study Committee invites all town residents to help plan the Seekonk Public Library of the future at the second in a series of public meetings being held at the library. The meeting will take place in the multi-purpose room at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, March 3.

The library planning and design team from Tappe Architects will conduct the meeting and lead the discussion. The architects will report on the progress made since the first public meeting held on February 2, which attracted over sixty people. The remainder of the evening will focus primarily on the Library Building Program. This lengthy document describes the anticipated library service needs of the community and projects the amount of space needed for the next twenty years. The building program ties together the library service needs of the community and the space needed to provide those service. The building program is the foundation on which the design is built.

The architects will explain the function and sizes of each element described in the program and how the individual spaces are related to one another. The design team plans to have the attendees break into small groups to focus on particular zones described in the building program. These include the types of spaces needed currently to serve children, teens and adults as well as spaces for evolving and new services. The meeting will take a comprehensive look at the space needs of the library, so the Facilities Study Committee hopes to draw a broad cross section of the community to this meeting.

Residents can obtain additional information about the library facilities study by visiting the committee’s webpage or by calling Peter Fuller at (508) 336-8230, ext. 5101.

Future & Status of the Public Library

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Why Public Support & Use of Libraries Continues to Grow

A diverse group of about sixty Seekonk residents met  last evening to hear a presentation by the library design team from Tappe Architects.  Tappe has been hired by the Town to work with the Library Facilities Study Committee to coordinate a feasibility study and to develop schematic designs for the Seekonk Public Library of the Future. Part of the presentation included a discussion of why public libraries will remain important public institutions in the future.  Jeff Hoover, head of the library design team at Tappe referenced some of the sources listed below during his presentation.  The Facilities Study Committee maintains a list of articles and studies about the future of public libraries on its webpages. The links to these sources are replicated here to make them more easily accessible. 

Pew Research Center’s Internet in American Life Project

Massachusetts Municipal Association. The Municipal Advocate, Vol. 27, No. 1 – Municipal Libraries

New York Times

Forbes Magazine

Institute of Museum & Library Services. 

Studies from the American Library Association

Knight Foundation 

 Library Journal
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