Hi Rumbo readers. Let me start with an apology. In my last two
articles I said that the library Open House was to be on April
7th. The date on that has been changed to April 21st. The change
had to be made as the original date conflicted with a fundraising
event for Ms. Veronica Casado of the city’s personnel department.
As some of you may know, Ms. Casado is bravely battling breast
cancer and the last thing we want, here at the library, is to
create any conflict that might prevent anyone from being able to
support her in her struggle. We moved ahead to the 21st but the
event will still be held at 4:00 pm and we hope to see a lot of
you there.
Our Tutor.com launch was very successful. Principal Beth Gannon
from the Oliver school and Coach Paul Neal of Lawrence High
brought young people in to get a look at the program as they are
the target audience. We also had Senator Susan Tucker who always
makes herself available for good events in our city. If you are a
parent or a teacher in Lawrence please make certain that you are
aware of the details of this program and how your sons and
daughters can get the maximum benefit from it. Remember it is
totally free and anyone here at the library is prepared to answer
any of your questions.
One of the issues the students seemed concerned about was whether
the online tutors would be able to find out information about
students because of the use of library card numbers as passwords.
I want to assure parents and students alike that this program is
100% anonymous.
We’re very proud of circulation librarian Nancy Gunther. Her
slogan “The best things in life are free…Find them at your public
library” was chosen by the SEIU as their slogan for National
Library Week 2006. The SEIU is the library workers union and is
the union that represents the staff of our library. It is awfully
nice to see Nancy and the Lawrence Public Library credited on all
the posters.
The library local history room is in full gear preparing for its
official opening which will correspond to the Open House mentioned
above. As I write this, librarian Louise Sandberg is working with
a crew of volunteers to move the books into the new shelving area.
We are thrilled to have come into possession of the bookcase that
was owned by the Reverend William E. Wolcott. Wolcott is well
known in Lawrence history as the benefactor of the White Fund who
left a legacy to our city that includes the collection of
paintings (including a Monet) known generally as the “White Fund
Paintings”. The White Fund Trust continues to thrive today and we
are proud to have its trustees sit on the board of the library
trustees. This beautiful piece of furniture was restored by Mr.
Claude Marquis of the DPW and will be placed in the local history
room.
I went by City Hall this afternoon and had a chance to see how
beautiful it looks now that the restoration is completed. It is
great to see another aspect of our Capital Improvement Plan coming
to completion. Yet something else to make our community proud. I
hope a lot of you will be able to attend our Friends meeting. See
you at the library.
