Friends of the Jones Library System News

Friends, it's the  literary event of the month! Osteria Vespa is hosting a Literary Feast and a portion of the proceeds will go to the Friends of the Jones Library. What IS this Literary Feast, you ask? Simply a meal reminiscent of what characters in Donna Leon's mystery series might have enjoyed. Vespa has graciously offered to donate a portion of the night's proceeds to the Friends. And hey, even if you've never delved into her books about Venice and Commissario Brunetti, join us at Vespa anyway! Your belly will thank you.

Are you a library supporter? Do you eat food? If you answered YES to any of these, come join us at Osteria Vespa in downtown Amherst on Thursday, July 27! A portion of your bill will be donated to the Friends !

Why we love Millennials :

in exactly one week?  Come join Friends and channel your inner Italian police chief. (Click on image to enlarge.) Andiamo!

If our 92-year old former president can get out there and swing a hammer,  so can we, Friends. Learn more about Habitat.  "You don't have to have a lot of influence to make a difference,  just the motivation to do the work needed." (Click on image to enlarge.)

Donna Leon lives in Venice, writes about Venice, loves Venice. But! Did you know she went to UMass? Check out this interview from last summer. Although she won't be joining us at Vespa in person, if you read this article, it'll be as if she's at your table with you anyway. A little. (Click on image to enlarge a wee bit or check out the PDF here .)

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Uke can't play well? Come on down and HUM along!  (sorry.) (Click on image to enlarge.)

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Read books. Get prizes. Woot! (Click on image to enlarge.)

Hot? Tired? Grumpy? The Friends to the rescue!  Go here! Watch this! Be happy!

The Jones Library Board of Trustees in Amherst seeks six energetic and enthusiastic volunteers with gardening, landscaping, and/or garden design experience to serve on the Library’s newly established Jones Library Gardens Advisory Committee. Under the direction of the Library’s Facilities Supervisor and Library Director, in accordance with the Board’s Gardens Policy, this Committee will assist in the planning, development, and ma intenance of all Library owned and/or maintained green spaces. The Committee will also assist with the design, development, and implementation of the Jones Library’s green spaces if the Jones Library expansion/renovation project moves forward. (Please see attached Jones Library Gardens Advisory Committee Charge and the Library’s Gardens Policy for more information.) The Trustees are committed to building a culturally and socioeconomically diverse Committee and strongly encourages applications from all persons with applicable experience. Committee...

Milo Yiannopoulos, white nationalist provocateur, gave a speech in January asserting that, "As a Victorian novelist might have put it, it is a truth universally acknowledged that an ugly woman is far more likely to be a feminist than a hot one." In addition to pointing out that the Regency-era Jane Austen died 20 years before the Victorian era began, scholars rebuff this association . "To use Austen as an alt-right icon, these thinkers must either read the author's work poorly or not at all, relying on our cultural association of her work with chaste courtship, romantic marriage, and overwhelmingly white British society to imply an endorsement of those values. In fact, white nationalists would do well to realize, her work has endured largely because it cleverly and subtly skewered them."

Independent booksellers must choose all the time between promoting free speech by selling potentially inflammatory titles or possible censorship by refusing to carry those controversial books. This article looks at the difficult line bookstores must walk. And, perhaps, libraries?