Curling up with a good book is one of the coziest experiences we can have, and that experience is only enhanced when it’s accompanied by something home-baked and sweet to the taste.  That’s why we’re so excited around here by our first annual Book and Bake sale.  On Saturday June 7, from 10 to 4, in the Nash Meeting Room, you can buy books and all kinds of sweets, and help the library do a little fundraising at the same time.

           Thanks to all the staff and patrons who will provide baked goods and work at the event, but special kudos to Janis Derby, part-time assistant in Reference, who spearheaded and organized the whole thing.  The library staff is always surprising me with their expertise and talents in a wide range of fields, and Janis, who, to paraphrase Lewis Carroll in Alice in Wonderland, can do six impossible things before breakfast, is no exception.

          We are happy to announce that our library has been awarded a grant to present “Picturing America,” a joint venture of the National Endowment for the Humanities and the American Library Association.  We will have high-quality reproductions of notable American art on display, in order to give our patrons the opportunity to learn about our nation’s history and culture in a fresh and engaging way.  We will have a number of events connected with this venture, which will start in the fall.  Thanks, once again, to the Reference staff and to our part-time grant writer Patricia Jempty for putting our application together.

          Sometime in the next few weeks we will unveil our new web site, which Technology Coordinator Erik Robinson has been working on feverishly.  It will have all the items you’re familiar with, like a connection to our catalog and the ability to reserve a title, pages for the children’s activities, etc.  But it will also be easier to navigate, will allow you to donate to the library using Paypal and, most exciting, will enable you to view the wonderful slides in our Ward Smith collection of pictures of the mill villages and Pawtuxet Valley.  These pictures range from the 1860’s to the 1930’s, but the heaviest concentration is the last half of the 19th century.

          Enjoy your summer, and don’t forget to visit the library—as you can see from all the above, “the joint is jumpin’.”

                                                                                                    Frances Farrell-Bergeron