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Library Lines May 13,
2020
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Introducing Beanstack
With so much changing in our world on a daily basis, we want to let you know that one thing will
not -- the Middleborough Public Library WILL be offering a summer reading program again this year.
Your staff has been working hard to develop another fun, meaningful and educational summer program for kids, teens and adults, and we want to announce today that we'll be using the Beanstack online platform for our
programs this summer. New with Beanstack is a mobile app, to make participating even easier.
We'll be keeping to our typical schedule, kicking off the program the third week of June. Keep watching our newsletter for more information and click
here to see where you'll be able to create Beanstack accounts for you and all your family members once our program opens next month.
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Everything You Always
Wanted to Know About Overdrive and the Libby App
But Were Afraid to Ask
Now's the time to explore the incredible depth of our OverDrive collection. Start here and click on the Collections tab to find something unexpected. A recent search through the "Available Now" titles brought up many books that have had intimidatingly long hold lists over the past two years. Maybe you gave up on it because you got tired of waiting, so now's the time to search and borrow something like Michelle Obama's memoir Becoming, Ruth Ware's newest mystery, The Turn of the Key, Louise Penny's A Better Man, or Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann.
If you're new to borrowing from the Library's Overdrive collection, start here at the "Help" pages. For assistance, email Reference Librarian Libby Fox and she'll get back to you and try to help.
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Hooray! Hooray! It's Finally May
!
Children's Librarian Miss Amanda presents her collection of weekly online activities for your kids to have fun with until the Library reopens.
Wednesdays at 1:00 p.m. -- Story time on
Facebook! This week, on
May 13, j
oinMiss Amanda and special guests from the Middleborough
Fire Department, Lieutenant Larry and Firefighter Ryan, for a safety story time on the Library's Facebook page. Now is a good time to remind children of hazards at home, so Lieutenant Larry will give families some great reminders regarding fire safety and Firefighter Ryan will demonstrate the current gear they wear when responding to emergencies. If you're looking for ways to talk to young children about wearing masks, social distancing, and washing hands please visit the Library's Parents Corner.
Tech with Tiny Tots on Thursdays -- Today,
May 14, is the final session of Miss Amanda's
Zoom group for parents with babies/toddlers.
If you've got a
baby or toddler at home, take a lunch break with Miss Amanda to enjoy a short story, rhymes and songs plus time to socialize with other caregivers. Learn tips on how to encourage early literacy skills appropriate for your child's brain development and gain support during this difficult time. Crying, hungry, tired and sleeping kids are all welcome! Everyone will be muted during the storytime part of the program. Please register here.
Friday Fun with Miss Lori's Puzzle/Challenges -- This week, starting
May 15,
Miss Lori wants to hear about how you celebrated your mom on Mother's Day. You can email her or post something on our Facebook page. Here's a Mother's Day anagram from Miss Lori:
M - Mothers are important
O - on a daily basis
T - together with Fathers
H - help their children
E - every day grow and learn
R - really loving
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Although this is our Library, not a museum, you get the idea. (Creation by Ken and Sebastian Glaspey.)
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Tuesday Lego Challenges --
Your challenge for this week, starting May 19, is to build your own museum using Legos. What would be in your collection? Dinosaur bones? Art? Rocks? Create labels for your items on display.
Be sure to look for another newsletter, coming out on
Wed., May 20, for next week's fun programs with Miss Amanda!
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News From the
Children's Department
Feeling stressed about managing homeschooling, work, food security, and more? You're not alone. Check out
Miss Amanda's conversation with Meg Quirke, Family Resource Coordinator, regarding Interface, a free mental health resource available to residents of Middleborough. You can reach the Interface Helpline at
888/244-6843, Monday-Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Don't forget to check out more resources for caregivers on the Library's
website.
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Teen Reads, Tips & To-Dos
Each week, we'll share new and notable books, tips on topics and resources relating to you, or themed craft and activity ideas to help you get through this tough time.
This Week's Spotlight: Sports Stories
NEW TITLES
A world champion swimmer at 14, Susannah Ramos' finds herself fighting to keep her career afloat when two important people enter her life: a new coach with a revolutionary training strategy and a charming fellow swimmer named Harry Matthews. Grades 9-12. Release date: May 18.
In this graphic memoir, Gene Luen Yang turns the spotlight on his life, his family, and the high school where he teaches, chronicling the Bishop O'Dowd High School varsity basketball team and their phenomenal
season. Grades 9-12.
Lazarus Weathers, a high school senior from the wrong side of the tracks, seeks to protect his half-brother while pitching his way out of poverty, one strike at a time. Grades 7-12.
For more Deuker sports stories, take a look at these titles.
FAVORITE SPORTS AUTHORS
Kwame Alexander's novel-in-verse sports stories combine both on-court energy and an emotional punch. Try the award-winning Crossover, its sequel Rebound, or Booked, a companion volume centered on soccer. Gr. 5+
John Feinstein's
sports fiction
covers play-by-play action, relationship issues, and the challenges high school athletes face both on and off the field.
If you like mystery with your sports, try his Edgar Allan Award-
winning
The Sport Beat
series featuring teen
sports journalists Carol and Stevie. Grades 6-12.
Mike Lupica's popular sports novels feature plenty of sports action and characters who overcome obstacles within their sport and in everyday life. Grades 6-12.
Jason Reynold's stellar Track series tell the tales of a fast but fiery group of kids from wildly different backgrounds chosen to compete on an elite track team. Grades 5+.
Paul Volponi's gritty, action-packed
Final Four follows four players at the Final Four of the NCAA basketball tournament as they struggle with the pressures of tournament play and the expectations of society at large. Check out
Top Prospect and
Rucker Parker Setup for more of the same intense drama. Grades 8-12.
GIRLS IN SPORTS
Holland Delviss, the only girl on the boys' high school hockey team, is forced to confront gender role expectations and her self-doubts, and finds herself falling for her bossy team co-captain. Grades 8-12.
After spending her summer running the family farm and training the quarterback for her school's rival football team, 16-year-old D.J. decides to go out for the sport herself. Grades 7-12.
Jordan Woods, captain and quarterback of her high school football team, finds her
scholarship chances and camaraderie with the team threatened when
Ty Green joins the team and takes her position.
For more sports romance, try
these other
titles
in the
Hundred Oak series. Grades 8-12.
Eighth-grader Molly's ability to throw a knuckleball earns her a spot on the baseball team, which not only helps her feel connected to her recently deceased father but also helps in other aspects of her life. Gr. 5+
When a school bus accident leaves 16-year-old Jessica an amputee, she returns to school with a prosthetic limb and her track team finds a wonderful way to help rekindle her dream of running again. Grades 7-12.
Three top students at an exclusive Manhattan ballet academy compete for the status of prima ballerina, with each willing to sacrifice, manipulate, and backstab to be the best of the best. Grades 9-12.
TRUE SPORTS STORIES
Boys in the Boat
: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics (Young Readers Adaptation) by Daniel James Brown. Grades 5+.
Courage to Soar: A Body in Motion, A Life in Balance by Simone Biles. Grades 7+.
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No Summit out of Sight
: The True Story of the Youngest Person to Climb the Seven Summits by Jordan Romero. Grades 6+.
Spinning by Tillie Walden.
G
raphic memoir recounting Walden's competitive figure skating life.
Grades 9+.
Undefeated
: Jim Thorpe and the Carlisle Indian School Football Team by Steve Sheinkin. Grades 6+.
Becoming Kareem:
Growing Up On and Off the Court by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Gr. 7+.
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"Your Two Cents Worth" --
Quick Tips to Help Manage
Your Account
Look here for tips to help you manage your library account from home.
1. "SAILS." Here's a trivia question you can challenge the others members of
your household with this week. You see this word on your library card, and on the online catalog and your personal account pages, but do you know what the acronym stands for? The answer is Southeastern Automated Integrated Library Systems. Did anyone know the correct answer? Kudos to them!
Our Library is one of 72 public and academic member libraries throughout southeastern Massachusetts that make up the SAILS network. Our membership in the network and the dues we contribute as a member are what allow us to provide you with access to other libraries' collections. This includes not only physical items like books, DVDs, magazines and CDs, but also the entire OverDrive digital collection and online research databases.
2.
Favorites List -- Do you have a favorite author or subject you like to read
about? Would you like to create and save a list of titles
to read later? You can do that through the online catalog. First log into your
SAILS account
. You can
then
search for a title, author,
or subject and start a list for them. Click on the
title you're interested in, click on the "Select Action" box, then click on "Add to My Lists." You can manage your lists (create names for them, sort them for easy retrieval later, etc.) from the "My Lists" link at the top of your account page.
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New Online Resource for Middleborough History Buffs
We've digitized for your online perusal 39 years of
The Middleborough Antiquarian, a newsletter published by the Middleborough Historical Association from 1959 to 1998. Read accounts of life in our town decades ago and peruse wonderful black-and-white photographs of 20th century life in Middleborough. Click
here to get started. If you'd like to purchase print copies of
The Antiquarian, contact the Middleborough Historical Association by mail, at 18 Jackson St, Middleborough, MA 02346, or phone at (781)361-1427.
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"Silly Shots" Photo Contest
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Any guesses which staff member might own this pair of PJs?
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Each Wednesday in May, we're continuing our Silly Shots photo contest. Just head to our Facebook page where you can post a picture depending on a weekly theme. You'll have seven days to post your pic, and every submission will be entered in a drawing to win one of five $10 Amazon gift cards, to be awarded once we re-open.
Week two of our May contest is a celebration of living life in our PJs. Starting Wed., May 13, post a pic of you
hanging out in your jammies, or just a pic of your PJs, if you'd rather.
Categories for the upcoming weeks are below, so start thinking about your entry:
May 20 -- I Heart Reading
May 27 -- Mask Fashion
One entry per person per week, please. Keep your eye out for snaps from our staff, too.
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Did You Know...?
Get to know a little bit more about our staff. T
his week, we're sharing a few fun facts about your newsletter editors, Young Adult Librarian Chris D
argelis
, and Reference/Adult Services Librarian Libby Fox.
Four Facts You Probably Don't Know About Us
Chris Dargelis
1. During my early school years, I swam competitively (backstroke and freestyle were my fortes), and I loved throwing the javelin for the Middleborough High School Girls Field & Track Team, where, for a time, I held the record for the longest javelin throw (99').
2.
I
have stood on the Eiffel tower in Paris and swam with a yellow shark in Bora Bora.
3.
When I attended Stonehill College, I served as
editor of The Cairn, the
college's student-run literary and art journal.
4.
I washed clams and handled live lobsters during summers and holidays in the unassuming but rustically charming store, The Lobster Shack, located off the Middleboro rotary, built by my great, great grandfather. The "Shack" was run by family--lastly by my mother--for 76 years before it closed in 2010.
Libby Fox
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The View Lounge on the 39th floor of the San Francisco Marriott hotel.
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1. I lived in San Francisco during the 1989
Loma
Prieta earthquake, and narrowly missed being on the 39th floor of the San Francisco Marriott Hotel for it's opening day party, in a lounge with floor-to-ceiling windows, the evening the earthquake hit.
2. My father, maternal grandfather, and maternal great-grandfather all served as editors of
The Westfield Republican, the newspaper in the little town of 3,000 people where I grew up in western New York.
3. When working for a public relations
agency in New York City during the mid-1980s, I spent six months traveling around the country with Dick Van Patten's wife, Pat, on a media tour for Fuji cameras.
4. My oldest of three sons, Will, had his
picture on a billboard in the Oakland A's
baseball stadium when he was 10 months
old.
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Spotlight on a Local Her0 --
Middleborough Schools
"Grab and Go" Program
The Middleborough Public Schools (MPS) have been providing for local families in need of nutritional assistance through their "Grab and Go" meals service program. Members of MPS staff, school resource officers, and the cafeteria crew work to prepare and hand out these meals daily, every Monday - Friday (except holidays) from 9:00-10:00 a.m. at the Henry B. Burkland Elementary School.
Any Middleborough family in need can pull up to the school's front office and receive free breakfast and lunch for that day.
Another local hero, Borobot, recently donated six protective face shields to the MPS meal distribution team
who are in contact with families during the "Grab and Go" program.
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Words of Appreciation,
both Past and Present
We heard last week from Renee Nolan thanking the Library for these weekly updates, and she included an example that "...illustrated that you've been appreciated for a long time." It was a brief essay from her daughter
Emily Hartford, a 2000 Middleborough High School grad who currently lives and works in New York. Approximately 30 years ago, Emily wrote a piece titled, "What Does the Library Mean to Me" and it warmed our hearts. Click
here to see the full text of Emily's letter.
And for those of you who read Emily's letter and are wondering, "Did the Library really used to loan out hamsters?" It's true! According to library technician Marliyn Thayer, who served as our Children's Librarian from 1988 to 2010,
the Library had a pair of hamsters back in the day when the Children's Room was located on the top floor of the building. Marilyn notes, "I do remember one of them knocking off the top of their cage and getting out, but we eventually found him." You never know what the Library may decide to loan out next.
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Book News From
Around t
he Country:
Zoom Backgrounds
Times of crisis often create new opportunities and this includes the coronavirus pandemic. Have you heard, for instance, that there are now consultants who will help people present the optimal background for all those Zoom video calls necessitated by stay-at-home orders?
Boston's Brattle Book Shop owner Ken Gloss also has a new side business to help weather the temporary closure of his shop. He's had requests from all over the country to provide sets of vintage books to decorate people's virtual backgrounds. You can listen to a brie
f WBUR story about it here.
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COVID-19 Critical Content
We know you've got lots of sites where you can go to get information on the coronavirus pandemic, so each week, we'll provide links to a few trusted and respected sources.
Contact Tracing -- Boston-based global nonprofit Partners in Health (PIH) is collaborating with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to conduct widespread contact tracing. PIH and Governor Baker are asking for your cooperation if you receive a phone call about this. Read more about it on
Mass.gov and on the
PIH website. You also can apply for a job as a contact tracer
here.
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Middleborough Public Library
102 North Main St., Middleborough, MA 02346
508-946-2470
Currently -- Closed until further notice, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
When we re-open:
Monday--Thursday: 10:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m.
Saturday: 9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Sundays: noon - 4:00 p.m.
Closed on Fridays
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