April 30, 2016

April 29, 2016

Trivia, baby!


(Click on image to enlarge.)

"Nothing about whiteness describes who I am."


A new book by Rachel Dolezal, the civil-rights activist who was accused of misrepresenting herself as black last year, will discuss people being caught between boundary lines of race, culture, or ethnicity.



April 28, 2016

April 27, 2016

April 26, 2016

Based on the title alone...


...we love this book

The fact that the Washington Post review says it's non-fiction that "reads like a thriller" doesn't hurt either. 


P.S. There are 43 copies available from the Western Mass library system. Go check one out.

April 12, 2016

April Mystery of the Month:


From the Special Collections Sleuth:
We have many unidentified photographs in our collections. Each month we will post a different image in the hopes that someone will be able to provide us with clues to help us identify it. Will you be the one to solve this month's mystery?


Here's what we know:
This photograph, dated 1917, is in a folder of Amherst clubs and organizations. The man in the front row wearing a straw hat may be Daniel Shay. Do you know who these people are? Do you know anything about this baseball team?

Contact Special Collections with whatever you've got!


Happy 100th birthday, Beverly Cleary!


You're wonderful.


This. Just this.




"It's nice to know the library's there, close by, and in its way, somehow looking out for them."

How Visiting My Local Library Makes Me a Better Parent.

April 11, 2016

** Friends Book Recommendation of the Month **


by Leo Tolstoy
translated by Rosamund Bartlett


Perhaps it is time to do some rereading, and I most highly recommend a new translation by Rosamund Bartlett of Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy. I have read the book a couple of times and I picked this off the shelf at the Jones, thinking just to see how she handled the opening chapters. Before I really stopped to think, I had read the whole book. The graceful, thoughtful translation by Rosamund Bartlett is a pleasure to read from start to finish. I find I am most interested in a different character each time I have read this book, so it really seems upon rereading like a brand new book. Enjoy.

-- Edith, member, Friends of the Jones Library System

April 8, 2016

Little Free Libraries


Wouldn't it be great to see these sprout up this spring, 
alongside the daffodils?



April 6, 2016

What a sweetie


This guy returned a library book 49 years late.


Kinda renews your faith in all of us, doesn't it?

April 5, 2016

Valley Gives Day is coming up on May 3!


Save the date! 
Mark your calendar! 
Do that thing with the string on your pinkie!


Valley Gives Day! May 3!

But you? You can give any time.

WOOT!

Garden Statement from the Trustees of the Jones Library

** Jones Library Director Sharon Sharry asked the Friends to post this letter from Jones Library Trustee President Austin Sarat. **
Garden Statement from the Trustees of the Jones Library
3-28-16
I am writing on behalf of the Library Trustees to offer a brief update on the opening phase of a renovation and construction project designed to improve the Library’s usability for all town residents.
Our design team includes one of the leading historic preservation oriented architectural firms in the Commonwealth (Finegold Alexander Architects), which has partnered with local architects Kuhn, Riddle. From the outset, the design team has been told that the Library’s external spaces – the gardens and other open areas – are important components of the project.
The Library will not seek to expand more than is necessary to meet patron needs over the next twenty to fifty years. The standards for the Building Program that we are following derive from national guidelines as applied by the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners to facilities in Massachusetts.
In our design process we are working cooperatively with the Historical Society in order to arrive at a mutually beneficial plan. That plan may involve the sale and purchase of a small piece of land from the Historical Society to the Jones Library. In addition, we are collaborating on the notion of shared processing, programming and storage spaces for our institutions’ valuable artifacts.
As our planning goes forward, we want to be clear in stating how much we value the Kinsey Memorial Garden. It is a wonderful part of the Library grounds and of the town. Yet to endorse a request to “preserve in its entirety the Kinsey Memorial Garden” as proposed to Town Meeting, just as our planning and design effort gets underway, seems premature as it would unduly constrain the effort to provide the best possible Library to the people of Amherst. Putting a restriction on any portion of our property would deny our design team the ability to use our building and grounds in the best way possible.
Whatever is ultimately decided about the Kinsey Garden, we look to work with the Historical Society, Friends of the Library, Garden Club, Amherst residents, etc. to create a garden vista which will inspire pride and be visible and accessible to the community.
As the process of thinking about the future of the Library and the Historical Society unfolds, we will provide many and varied opportunities for community involvement.
We are grateful to the residents of Amherst for their support of the Library and interest in our planning and design process.
Sincerely,
Austin Sarat, President
Jones Board of Trustees

April 2, 2016

Ten reasons why you should eat chocolate while reading


Another example of hard-hitting journalism.


But honestly? Do you ever need a reason?

April 1, 2016

Want a literary name for your kid?


Rather than go with Tom (Wolfe), Dick (Francis), or Harry (Potter), the Friends have found a list of baby names for you that haven't already been used a gazillion times.


Plus you might find some new-to-you books to check out!