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Bells Will Be Ringing

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Photo: Lee Leach

One of the many things I didn’t realize about Norwood before moving here is that we have the Walter F. Tilton Memorial Carillon at Town Hall. My undergraduate alma mater also has a carillon which I always enjoyed hearing, so I was excited the first time I heard bells here. I don’t remember the specifics but I suspect I was stopped at the light on Nahatan and Washington and figured the tower was at one of the churches on the Norwood Common since municipal carillons are not very common in the United States. Eventually I discovered it’s in Town Hall and try to listen for at least a few minutes whenever I hear the bells.

Our current Town Carillonneur, Lee Leach, is a frequent library user and at some point the topic of Norwood’s carillon came up in conversation. I told him how much I enjoy hearing the bells and that I am always reminded of my college days. The carillon world is fairly small; there are fewer than a dozen carillons in Massachusetts, so Leach knows the current carillonneur at my alma mater. Not only does she usually participate in the summer concert series, she also brings students to play at Norwood a few times a year. Earlier this winter I was lucky enough to go up in the tower and see/hear some Wellesley College students practicing.

I confess that although I liked hearing the bells on campus I never went up to see the carillon and knew nothing about how the instrument is played. Based on the variety of musical styles I heard, I knew they weren’t ringing the bells by pulling ropes, but beyond that I’m not sure I gave it much thought. For me, seeing the bells and learning how the instrument is played was more interesting than the view. I’ve since done quite a bit of research on the Walter F. Tilton Memorial Carillon, and carillons in general.

A carillon is defined as a musical instrument with at least 23 bells, and is usually in a tower or belfry – anything less than 23 is a chime. Norwood’s carillon has 50 bells as part of the instrument and a 51st bell, which is an old fire bell from Norwood. The carillon is played using a keyboard, or clavier, and pedal board. There are batons rather than keys and the player hits them with the side of his/her fist rather than the finger. Like an organ, there are many more pedals than on a piano. The bells are hung from a frame above the clavier and a series of wires with springs connect to the bell clappers. Striking a baton or pedal makes the wires move the clappers and sound is produced. The clavier can be open to the bell tower or in an enclosed space. Pipe organs are the instrument most similar to a carillon and organ pipes are the only instrument heavier than the largest carillon bells. The Walter F. Tilton Memorial Carillon’s largest, or Bourdon, bell is 71 inches in diameter and weighs 7,840 lbs., it sounds B-flat. Its smallest bell is 6.5 inches in diameter and weighs 11 lbs. Although there is music written for the carillon, many players rework other music for the carillon, including jazz and rock.

Tuned carillons became common during the 1600s in the Benelux countries in Europe, primarily in Belgium and the Netherlands. They were more often found in municipal buildings than in churches. In Singing Bronze: a History of Carillon Music, Luc Rombouts examines why Belgium and the Netherlands were centers of early carillon excellence. He argues that the weaving superiority of the region made it easier for them to create the wire components of the carillon. Reading that made me realize a weaving loom was exactly what the network of wires I’d seen running between the bells and keyboard reminded me of.

The skill of casting tuned bells came close to dying out, but by the turn of the twentieth-century the art had been revived. Before World War I there were fewer than half a dozen carillons in the United States. After the war, many Americans soldiers who heard them for the first time while fighting in Belgium and France felt that carillons were a fitting component of war memorials. Two English foundries: John Taylor and Co., and Gillett & Johnston cornered the American market.

The first municipal carillon in the United States was in Albany, New York’s City Hall. It was cast and installed in 1927 by John Taylor and Co. That company also cast the first carillon in Massachusetts at Our Lady of Good Voyage Church in Gloucester in 1922. The Walter F. Tilton Memorial Carillon is one of three carillons in Massachusetts made by the other significant English foundry, Gillett & Johnston. The Bancroft Memorial Carillon at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Cohasset, dedicated in 1925, was Gillett and Johnston’s third carillon. Norwood’s carillon, dedicated November 11, 1928, was their eighteenth, and Wellesley College’s Galen L. Stone Tower in 1931 was their 34th. More than 30 carillons in less than 10 years made for a busy place – fourteen of those were installed in the United States. England’s Child: the Carillon and the Casting of Big Bells, by Jill Johnston is part biography of Cyril F. Johnston, part corporate history of Gillett & Johnston, and part memoir. Johnston was the child of Cyril F. Johnston and an American nurse who did not learn her father’s identity until after his death.

The Walter F. Tilton Memorial Carillon stopped being played in the late 1970s due to a need for repairs. Once work was begun, it was discovered the entire tower was seriously damaged by water leaks, and repairing the tower and fixing the leaks took precedence. By late 1982, work on the tower itself was nearing completion and the bells could be rehung. In early 1983, the expert hired to evaluate the needed work on the bells discovered that the second and eleventh bells were missing. With all the work that had been in done the tower there was no way to know when or how the bells disappeared. John Taylor, Ltd. of England was the foundry hired to repair and remount the bells. They cast replacements for the two missing bells.

Norwood’s first carillonneur was Kamiel LeFevere, a Belgian who came to the United States to play carillons. He was the first to play at St. Stephen’s in Cohasset and became the carillonneur at Riverside Church in New York City. LeFevere traveled to Norwood to play until 1934. His inaugural performance at the dedication of Norwood’s Town Hall and Carillon was broadcast on radio station WEEI. Roger Walker was the second carillonneur, playing from 1934 until 1972. He lived in Hyde Park, MA so had a much shorter commute for his performances. Martin Gilman played after Walker. George Mahoney, Jr. overlapped with Walker and Gilman. Sally Slade Warner was the carillonneur at St. Stephen’s in Cohasset and also played in Norwood. She managed the summer concert series for many years. Our current carillonneur, Lee Leach heard the Walter F. Tilton Memorial Carillon being played not long after he moved to Norwood in the 1990s. He decided to learn how to play the carillon and has been playing here since 1996. Before Leach, George Mahoney, Jr. was the only Norwood resident to play the Norwood carillon. Leach and Assistant Town Manager Bernie Cooper oversee the carillon. It is a volunteer position for Leach who coordinates the summer concert series, holiday performances and other special events, in addition to playing. There is now another Norwood resident and a few other regular players who are all volunteers.

The 2019 Summer Concert Series kicks off on Monday, June 24 at 7 pm and runs weekly until August 12. If Monday nights don’t work for you, Leach often plays during the farmers’ market on Tuesday afternoons. There will also be a concert on July 4th at 3 pm. The tower is generally open for visitors during or after performances for anyone who is curious to see the instrument. The library will be hosting “Meet the Carillonneurs” on Thursday, June 27 at 6:30 pm with Lee Leach and others who play the Walter F. Tilton Memorial Carillon.

If you have a third grader this year, s/he may go up in the carillon on their field trip to Town Hall. For youngsters who haven’t been up to the carillon, Rosie Meets the Carillon, by Kerri Lu is a story about a little girl whose grandmother plays.

Victoria Andrilenas is a Part-time Adult Services Librarian at the Morrill Memorial Library. Look for her article in the May 30, 2019 issue of the Norwood Transcript.

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Cause for Celebration?

arrow-sign-saying-celebrateI was listening to the radio a while back when the DJ mentioned National Pizza Day. “Malarkey!” I said (or something like that.) Sure enough, when I did a Google search for national days, I found National Pizza Day listed on nationaldaycalendar.com. This is not to be confused with National Pizza Party Day (May 17.) Of course a little overlap is to be expected on a site that’s now tracking 1,500 national days, and where anyone can fill out a form to register a special day for annual recognition. I was relieved to see that the site doesn’t declare national days for individuals, since that literally requires an act of Congress.

My feelings about acknowledging every day as a special day mirror my philosophy about doling out awards to everyone who participates in an event: if everyone is a winner, then no one is. If every day was ‘special’ we would burn ourselves out in a frenzy of celebration, and start looking forward to doing nothing. Plus, too many days spent overindulging and our pants would no longer fit. Don’t forget how you feel every year by January 1st! That said, I do have a soft spot for certain recently invented national days. May 4th as Star Wars Day appeals to the punster in me (“May the fourth be with you,”) while March 14th as National Pi Day, for the mathematical constant that begins 3.14, appeals to my inner geek. It also appeals to my stomach, since it’s a great excuse to eat the homonymous dessert: pie. Still, I am more of a traditionalist when it comes to holidays. Beyond our ten federal holidays such as Independence Day, and national observances like Mother’s Day, I was curious to learn more about the days we celebrated before the recent proliferation of national days. A search in the Minuteman Library Network unearthed several interesting volumes.

I learned that while it is tempting to think of nouveau holidays as a trend-driven by social media, the reality is that our penchant for partying predates widespread use of the Internet. Alice van Straalen’s The Book of Holidays Around the World (published in 1986) is a charming compendium that boasts “at least one reason to celebrate on every day of the year.” As promised, it includes international celebrations from Norway’s Constitution Day (May 17) to the Chinese Hungry Ghosts Festival (August 18), in which people make offerings of food, money, clothing and such to their ancestors. The layout of this book provides one occasion to celebrate per calendar day, so some of the reasons are a bit thin. Numerous entries rely on famous author birthdays. Nevertheless, there’s not a whiff of National Donut Day or the other stuff trending now.

Anyone who objects to the questioning of author birthdays as a reason to celebrate will likely adore A Reader’s Book of Days: True Tales from the Lives and Works of Writers for Every Day of the Year, by Tom Nissley. True to its title, this book offers a full page dedicated to each day of the year including author birthdays and death dates as well as other reasons to celebrate, or lament. Readers can rejoice in the publication of various works, from the first volume of Cervantes’ Don Quixote (January 16, 1605) to The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams (October 12, 1979.) Or they can bow their heads over the misfortunes therein such as Ernest Hemingway’s various accidents and injuries, which are detailed across nine different dates! Births, deaths and other goings-on of fictional characters are also included. As an added bonus, Nissley thoughtfully introduces each month with a page of recommended reading.

As well as offering ideas for adding your own flair to holidays, The Book of New Family Traditions: How to Create Great Rituals for Holidays and Everyday by Meg Cox encourages finding new reasons to celebrate. In keeping with the other titles, it suggests celebrating author A.A. Milne’s birthday. It is, this book notes, important to personalize reading by having a sense of the author who created the characters we love. That, and “mid-January is a good time for a party, deep in the winter doldrums.” I have to admit that reading Milne at an indoor picnic with characters from the Hundred Acre Wood while munching on snacks made with honey sounds like a fine idea.

If we needed any further proof that people like to party, Anthony Aveni’s The Book of the Year: A Brief History of Seasonal Holidays offers insight into the origins of celebrations throughout the year. From “Happy New Year! But Why Now?” to “Christmas: From Resurrection to Rudolph,” Aveni progresses through the year offering a broad array of cultural perspectives. Of the origins of Labor Day, he writes that in 1882, “Defying authority, ten thousand men left their jobs and paraded up Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue…” They apparently then had a picnic and rounded out the day with fireworks. It was such a hit that they kept repeating it, until it was formally established as a holiday.

So it would appear that we’ve been drumming up excuses to celebrate for a long time. In spite of my protestations that I’m a purist, and although I balked at the gambit of National Pizza Day, even I could not resist the excuse to celebrate with a slice of Sicilian on February 9th. I guess that’s what bothers me: the fabrication of special days as excuses to indulge somehow diminishes the celebrating we do on days of real import. I love birthday cake but if I ate it every day it would be less special. Yet viewing each and every day as a cause for celebration isn’t an inherently bad idea. I just hope that we can balance out all of the hedonism with a bit of temperance (it will make those indulgences even tastier!) In the meantime, maybe we can celebrate with a little altruism. National Random Acts of Kindness Day, anyone? Technically it’s February 17th, but there’s an idea worth celebrating every day.

Kirstie David is the Literacy/Outreach Librarian at the Morrill Memorial Library in Norwood, MA. Look for her article in the May 23, 2019 issue of the Norwood Transcript.

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Frida Kahlo: Constructing a Life

the-two-fridas-paintingThis past weekend was Mother’s Day, or as it is known in our house, the one day of the year my family has to accompany me to an art museum. I chose to go to the Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) in Boston, which is showing an exhibit through June 16th entitled Frida Kahlo and Arte Popular. (The “Arte Popular” refers to traditional Mexican folk art, which Kahlo collected and surrounded herself with.)  The exhibit combines Kahlo’s own art with the arte popular that she loved, and asks viewers to consider how these objects impacted her art and aesthetic.

Frida Kahlo is one of the most celebrated artists of the 20th century. She has joined the ranks of Van Gogh and Picasso among others, who are so ubiquitous you don’t even have to know much about art to know who they are.  Her work is on a $10 poster in some kid’s dorm room, as well as t-shirts, handbags, toys, and even lipstick. She is no longer just a famous artist, she is pop culture.

Because of this popularity, it can be tempting to dismiss Frida. To say she had a major impact on me seems almost embarrassing; I might as well say “I like art.” Everyone likes Frida, and I tend to be pretty uncomfortable liking something that is extremely popular. If it is everywhere, it becomes less interesting. But of course, this is completely ridiculous – Frida Kahlo is beloved for a reason. Her art is extremely personal. It can be brutal and violent, showcasing her distress for all to see. She is beautiful and powerful; she is pain and beauty. Almost every female artist admires her.

One of the interesting things about Frida is that we don’t just love her art, we love her. We know who she is and what she looks like just as much as we know her painting The Two Fridas. This was intentional and by her design. Her husband, Diego Rivera, was already a famous Mexican painter when her art was recognized and began showing, and she knew what journalists and collectors thought of an artist could be as influential as their work itself (if not more.)  So she constructed Frida “the artist” – the face she wanted the world to see.

As a child, her family changed her birth year from 1907 to 1910 to hide the fact that she was developmentally behind when she was entering school, due to illness. As an adult, she kept the 1910 birth year not because she wanted to be seen as younger, but because that was the year of the Mexican Revolution. As a young woman, Frida defied convention and dressed as a man in tailored suits and with short hair. But later, she would commission seamstresses to create elaborate copies of traditional folk dresses that she was sure to be photographed in. She wanted to be seen as a symbol of Mexico, a woman of the people. She would be the embodiment of the strong Mexican Revolutionary.

When Frida Kahlo is talked about, the conversation usually centers around both how personal her art is and how tragic her life was. She poured all of her hopes and sorrows into her art, and pushed the boundaries of how brutal and honest she could be. We look at her work and feel like we know her because she is seemingly showing us pieces of her very soul.

But the MFA show is a little different – a little left of center. We know Frida, but we also know what Frida wanted us to see. She constructed the image of herself with careful thought and planning. Some may see that as a lie – a mask, and feel like we have somehow been cheated out of knowing who she really was.

I like to think a little more hopefully about it. Frida could not help illness and accidents, betrayals and loss. But she surrounded herself with the things she admired and loved. She was a strong, intelligent woman who made herself into the symbol she wanted to show the world. Frida’s work continues to show us that we cannot avoid pain, but we can mold it into something beautiful.

Reading List:

Frida Kahlo: An Illustrated Life by Maria Hesse
Frida: A Biography of Frida Kahlo by Hayden Herrera
The Diary of Frida Kahlo: An Intimate Portrait
Frida Kahlo: The Paintings by Hayden Herrera
Frida Kahlo at Home by Suzanne Barbezat

Nicole Guerra-Coon is the Assistant Children’s Librarian at the Morrill Memorial Library in Norwood, MA.

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Theranos, Silicon Valley and Secrets and Lies

bad-blood-book-coverThe saga of Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos, her revolutionary (but failed) blood testing company, is a captivating one. While you may have read about it on the Internet, or in news reports last summer, you should read the exposé, Bad Blood by John Carreyrou, published last fall. It is rich with the full account as it was revealed. Carreyrou was (and is) a reporter for the Wall Street Journal. He was hungry for his next new journalistic journey, and a tip about Theranos was just the ticket.

The story of Theranos begins with Elizabeth at 19 – a college dropout – and a concept that depended on all the stars aligning and the pieces of the puzzle falling into place. Most importantly, however, science was required to work.

Detractors have declared that the science was never there to begin with. That it was an absurd quest. Others question if more years and engineering may develop the product that Elizabeth promised – a piece of medical equipment that can deliver accurate results of over 1000 separate tests using only a finger-prick and one drop of blood. Theranos bombed miserably, but not before duping investors and the public.

For those of us hungry for a tragic tale – one that includes billions of dollars and an abundance of Silicon Valley garish living habits, the story does not disappoint. And further, there are continuing acts of trickery, meaningless investments, and the clandestine romance of the two ambitious, vital players.

If you are further intrigued, the HBO documentary, The Inventor: Out for Blood, is an excellent way to watch Elizabeth Holmes in action. It is full of both stills and video that explain some of Elizabeth’s appeal. More importantly, the documentary is full of interviews and testimonies with the whistle-blowers, the detractors, and some of the people who finally began to suspect that Theranos was essentially a house of cards ready to fall. (The HBO documentary is available in several outlets; I found it offered free on a JetBlue flight. Be assured that we will purchase the documentary when it is available on DVD.) Some of Holmes’ charm (whether you find her alluring or not) is explained in the video; at least it is obvious by the men who were beset with her.)

Another, somewhat abridged version of the story is the fascinating six-episode (free) podcast, The Dropout (produced by ABC Radio and ABC News Nightline.) It’s under five hours of listening and rich with the voices involved in the scandal. I listened to the podcast before reading the book; the book is a richer telling of the Theranos tale. I described the podcast as abridged because there are details in Carreyrou’s book that answered many of the questions I had that were left unanswered by the podcast.

The documentary and the podcast left me wanting more. There are hundreds of news articles written about Theranos, both in the ascent of Elizabeth Holmes and in her tragic downfall. In addition, there are short videos and teasers for the documentary.

Many people can’t wrap their head around the magic spell Elizabeth Holmes presented or staged to enchant men like statesmen George Shultz and Henry Kissinger, investors like the Walton (Walmart) family, Rupert Murdock, and Betsy DeVos, and business partners like Walgreen’s. But she did. And easily. They were all hopelessly smitten by the young woman, or by the recommendations of people in high places. For a period of 14 years, Holmes managed to defraud millions of dollars in investments for her Silicon Valley start-up, much of it from Walgreen’s, the pharmacy “trusted since 1901.”

Some of Elizabeth Holmes’ biographical history explains her rise to fame. She was smart. She was pretty. She was ambitious. As a young child, Elizabeth was attracted to both fame and fortune, and she dreamed of becoming recognized for inventing something that would change the world. Some have suggested that her biggest aspiration was to become a billionaire.

Those who interacted with Elizabeth in the classroom or neighborhoods she lived in seemed to be either dazzled or unimpressed by Elizabeth’s poise, composure, and can-do attitude. She was enabled by a family who encouraged her and who had some critical connections through their work and lifestyle. She lived in both Washington, DC and Houston and was afforded splendid opportunities such as summer Mandarin language programs in China. She had no difficulty being accepted to Stanford as a freshman in 2002. By 2004, at the age of nineteen, she dropped out of college, mainly because she was spending more time presenting her ideas to venture capitalists and to influential contacts and wealthy families than she was spending on her studies.

Elizabeth amazingly succeeded in getting her advisor and the Dean of the School of Engineering, Channing Robertson, to join her in her effort to “revolutionize healthcare.” Other influential men in the heart of Silicon Valley, particularly with ties to big money were also impressed, and they all helped her in her spectacular rise. Of note, however, is that none of the investors and board members influential in Holmes’ rise were engineers or scientists. Just like those who knew her as a child, not everyone was charmed with Elizabeth or her company. She had detractors along the way. Many Silicon Valley stars quickly left her company, and some became whistle-blowers. One became so disheartened that he took his own life.

The story of Theranos is actually ongoing, even though the company ceased to exist in 2018 after a three-year investigation by the SEC and others. Elizabeth, the woman who yearned to be the next Steve Jobs, is facing criminal charges of up to 20 years in jail, along with her one-time lover, Ramesh (Sunny) Balwani. The real tragic end may come later this summer after the trial is over.

Charlotte Canelli is the Director of the Morrill Memorial Library in Norwood, MA. Look for her article in the May 9th issue of the Norwood Transcript.

 

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Borrow a Karaoke Kit, or a Companion Cat

When people think of the public library, I’m fairly certain that books come to mind before all else. Of course libraries have lots of programs and events, and lend a multitude of other materials such as movies, museum passes, and even video games. Nowadays tech-savvy folks also take advantage of “virtual” collections of e-books, audiobooks and streaming video. Over the years the Morrill Memorial Library started thinking outside the box and lending puzzles, knitting needles, cake pans and electronics including Wi-Fi hotspots and GoPro video cameras. Whether we realized it or not at the time, we created, in library parlance, a “Library of Things.”

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Lending “things” is becoming increasingly common in public libraries, and here in Norwood the community is embracing the phenomenon. Always aiming to please, we recently expanded our collection of household items, arts and crafts tools, portable electronics, games, and much more.

Did you know that you can come to the library and check out: a metal detector, a device to diagnose why your check engine light is on, a picnic basket, a ukulele, a knife sharpener, or a karaoke machine? How about a food dehydrator, color blind glasses, or a portable turntable that also converts LPs to digital audio files? Now that spring has finally arrived, the library can fulfill many of your outdoorsy needs with: a soil tester, tennis rackets, a cricket set, bike repair tools, and a birdwatching kit.

Purists may wonder why public libraries would venture in this direction and perhaps stray from their traditional purpose. Are they following a fleeting trend? Jumping on the latest bandwagon? I daresay no! On the contrary, we here at the Morrill Memorial Library are staying true to our mission statement: “The Morrill Memorial Library is a vital community center which provides innovative and effective services to all users to enrich their lives with cultural, educational and recreational programs and materials.”

We respond to the needs and wants of the diverse Norwood community, and aim to “enrich lives” in a variety of ways. Of course books and film still play a major role in carrying out this promise, but why not offer “things” as well, allowing visitors to create art, repair their homes, entertain guests, and pick up new hobbies? As with traditional library materials, we help our Norwood neighbors to save money by borrowing rather than buying, or to “try before you buy.” Hearkening back to our mission statement, we certainly hit the mark for innovation when lending out our dog training kit or disco lights. We honor cultural diversity in music traditions, offering patrons maracas, a guiro, an afuche cabasa, and a set of Indian tabla drums to bring home. In our educational role, patrons may learn how to embroider by checking out books on embroidery, accompanied by actual embroidery hoops. As for the recreational goal, the backyard horseshoes set speaks for itself.

You may have seen selections from our Library of Things on display upon entering the library recently, but as we acquired more and more, our staff decided to make room for a large browsing collection on the second floor. Anyone may search our online catalog for “postage scale” or “scientific calculator,” but it sure is fun to window shop the shelves and discover what’s new. Speaking of which, what’s the deal with the “companion cat?!” As much as I’d love to have furry friends in the library and share them with our pet-loving community, I fear we’d be guilty of animal cruelty, or health code violations. We did, however, just acquire a “Joy for All” Companion Cat, by Hasbro. I named him Morrie and adore him already. Turn him on and this cutie meows, purrs and cuddles in response to scratches and pats. At first blush one may think we’ve taken this Library of Things, thing, too far, but allow me to explain. Morrie is not just a toy like the jumping little doggies at the entrances of mall toy stores. Hasbro markets its Joy for All pets to ages 5-105, emphasizing their ability to “bring comfort, companionship, and fun to elder loved ones.” Think of Morrie as a therapy cat that never needs litterbox cleaning or trips to the vet.

Morrie the Morrill Memorial Library cat may fall into the category of assistive technology available to borrow. Along these lines, our Outreach department lends a variety of magnifiers and other devices for those with vision or hearing impairments. Come borrow a folding walker, cane or reacher if you or a loved one has a temporary mobility setback.

Attention local book clubs: the Norwood library owns over 20 book club kits – sets of ten books along with discussion questions and author bios. Next time your book group meets, no need for every member to spend money on the book or compete for a limited number of copies in the Minuteman network. Borrow the book bag and distribute them amongst yourselves.

Our website will soon feature a page devoted to the Library of Things, but in the meantime, browse our online catalog, or stop by to see it for yourself and peruse a guide to the collection on the first or second floor. Our Facebook page has a Library of Things photo album as well.

The library purchased some of our circulating things just for fun and to get everyone excited about all the new stuff we have for you. After all, today’s public libraries are a far cry from stuffy institutions full of dusty books, steadfast researchers and shushing librarians. Our shelves have no shortage of beach reads and rom-coms, hardly designed for serious academic pursuits. Many other items though, have educational, cultural, and otherwise life-enriching purposes, even Morrie (4 C batteries included).

Lydia Sampson is the Technical Services Department Head at the Morrill Memorial Library in Norwood, MA. Look for her article in the May 2nd issue of the Norwood Transcript.

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