February News from the Jacob Edwards Library

Library News

Jacob Edwards Library

February 2022

Library hours

Monday & Thursday 9 am - 8 pm

Tuesday, Wednesday, & Friday 9 am - 5 pm

Saturday 9 am - 1 pm

Masks are required in all municipal buildings.

The library will be closed on February 21, in honor of President's Day.

Curbside pickup is available during library hours!

Items may be returned only through the book drop at the rear of the building, due to challenges posed for safe materials handling.

No donations can be accepted during the pandemic.

Meet Libby!

With your library card you can access e-content without leaving your home!

Get started with Libby now.

Calling all #LibraryLovers!!

Want to show your library some LOVE this Valentine’s Day? The MA Board of Library Commissioners is celebrating #LibraryLovers for the entire month of February. You can go to https://www.lovemasslibraries.com/ and upload Valentine videos and photo Valentines, which will also be shared with legislators to help raise awareness.

2021 Resident Survey about Library Usage and Attitudes - MA Board of Library Commissioners

During June 2021, the MBLC distributed the survey with the goal of gathering information to guide MBLC's promotional efforts. Here are the results of that survey:

MBLC 2021 Survey about Library Usage and Attitudes

Programming

Knitting with Sonya

Tuesday mornings

10:30 am - 12:30 pm

Reading Room

All are welcome!

Southbridge Chess Club

with instructor Ben Marinelli

Saturday mornings

9:30 - 11:30

All ages and skill levels welcome!

The Photography of William Bullard, 1897-1917:

Worcester's People of Color Community

Fourth Part

Sponsored by Suzanne Delahanty, Friends of Jacob Edwards Library and Mari Ada Crosbie.

Throughout the month of February, in celebration of Black History Month, another part of the Bullard collection will be on exhibit.

Through some good luck, retired teacher Frank Morrill had the opportunity to buy this significant historical collection of a uniquely rare treasure trove of glass plate negatives of African Americans/Native Americans in Worcester. Over the past three years, other selections from the collection were displayed. This year's exhibit will display many portraits that have never been exhibited in public before.

The negatives are those of the late itinerant photographer William S. Bullard, of Worcester and later North Brookfield, who, between 1894 and 1917, took a vast amount of images of the city's streetscapes, businesses and local residents. Morrill, who has published several books about Worcester and other local communities, purchased the Bullard collection, approximately 5400 glass plates, in 2003 to use in further research focused on Worcester streets and architecture. In 2013 his granddaughter, Hannah, accidently discovered a negative of a person of color that was incorrectly filed and research began that led to this rare historical treasure.

There are approximately 240 images of people of color, mostly living in the Beaver Brook area along Park Avenue within the first four decades of having obtained their freedom. Approximately 80 percent of the portraits were identified by Bullard in his logbook, which is the key to the collection. Morrill and Professor Janette Greenwood of Clark University have researched the identified Bullard sitters since 2014 and have discovered a large number of descendants, many of whom had never seen a photo of, or knew the history of, their ancestors.

Presentation by Frank Morrill will be on

Thursday, February 3rd from 6:30 pm - 7:30 pm.

Staff Pick

"Join Mary Roach on an irresistible investigation into the unpredictable world where wildlife and humans meet. What's to be done about a jaywalking moose? A grizzly bear caught breaking and entering? A murderous tree? As New York Times best-selling author Mary Roach discovers, the answers are best found not in jurisprudence but in science: the curious science of human-wildlife conflict, a discipline at the crossroads of human behavior and wildlife biology. Roach tags along with animal attack forensics investigators, human-elephant conflict specialists, bear managers, and "danger tree" faller-blasters. She travels from leopard-terrorized hamlets in the Indian Himalaya to St. Peter's Square in the early hours before the Pope arrives for Easter Mass, when vandal gulls swoop in to destroy the elaborate floral display. Along the way, Roach reveals as much about humanity as about nature's lawbreakers. Combining little- known forensic science and conservation genetics with a motley cast of laser scarecrows, langur impersonators, and mugging macaques, Fuzz offers hope for compassionate coexistence in our ever-expanding human habitat"-- Provided by publisher.

Featured Database

HelpNow

From college application essays to the SAT, school reports, and even creative writing, get free feedback on any type of writing. You can connect with a live tutor for immediate help or use the writing lab for thorough feedback.

The Jacob Edwards Library subscribes to more than 50 online databases which can help you with everything from schoolwork, finding up-to-date health information, to learning a new language, or preparing for your driving test. Check them out here!

Teen Corner

Welcome to the Children's Page

February 2022

Saturday, Feb. 5, All Day 9:00 am to 1:00 pm

Take your Child

to the Library Day

Visit us anytime between

9:00 am and 1:00 pm

Saturday February 5, 2022

Take Your Child to the Library Day (TYCLD) is an international initiative that encourages families everywhere to take their children to their local library. Launched in 2011 in Connecticut by librarians Nadine Lipman (Waterford Public Library, retired) and Caitlin Augusta (Stratford Library) with artist Nancy Elizabeth Wallace, TYCLD raises community awareness about the importance of the library in the life of a child, and promotes library services and programs for children and families.

Join us to see all that we have to offer for you and your family!