Summer is half over, and we have been bustling! We're delighted to overhear we have the best Children's Room around, our meeting spaces are booked constantly, and we've starting handling facility rental for baby showers, wedding showers, graduation parties and piano recitals in the Community Room; please get in touch if you have a need for space we might be able to accommodate outside of operating hours. The space is available from 6pm on, on Friday and Saturday, all day Sunday, and on Monday holidays.

As we celebrate year two of substantial completion, we are very proud of our accomplishments! In the last two years, my staff and I:

• Reopened the Library post-COVID in a larger, modern facility;
• Learned a new phone system; a new meeting room reservation system; a new self-check/self-return system; a new building security system; a new A/V system; a new door alarm system;
• Trained 10 new staff and celebrated 3 retirements;
• Created a culture of mutual respect, kindness and compassion for middle school students using the Teen Room and have reviewed Code of Conduct and Behavior expectations with 431 students;
• Reviewed and updated 9 policies (Unattended Child, Reciprocal Borrowing, Security Camera, Parking, Minimum Staffing, Code of Conduct, Internet Use, Bulletin Board, Inclement Weather)
• Created 9 new policies (Meeting Room Use, Facility Rental, Tutoring, Piano Use, Exam Proctoring, Group Visits, Notary, Privacy & Confidentiality, Unaccompanied Adult)
• Implemented an Appeals Process;
• Brought in $4,462,572.05 in grant funding, including: $70,000 in grant funding from MA Historic Commission; $1,400 in grant funding from the Grafton Cultural Council $1,000 in grant funding from the Coalition for a Healthy Greater Worcester $62,244.80 in State Aid through compliance with municipal appropriations, materials spending, operating hours and statistical reporting; $4,304,596 in reimbursement for the MA Public Library Construction Program (MPLCP) grant $23,331.25 in funding for ADA technology to support for people with visual disabilities;
• Increased programming for all ages, including monthly art programs for adults, book clubs for kids, anime and manga programs for teens, and programming in partnership with Apple Tree Arts, Crescent Manor, Willard House and Clock Museum, Small Stones Festival of the Arts; Busy Bee, and Grafton Public Schools;
• Offered large scale programming, including Free Comic Book Day, Halloween, Pride Month, and Summer Reading;
• Increased museum pass use from 289 in FY21 to 920 in FY23;
• Increased seed library use from 46 in FY21 to 658 in FY23;
• Increased WiFi use from 1515 in FY21 to 20,059 in FY23;
• Increased public meeting use from 88 in FY21 to 3,046 in FY23;
• Increased volunteers from 3 in FY21 to 251 in FY23;
• Increased visitors from 2,208 in FY21 to 77,710 in FY23.
• Increased circulation of physical materials from 48,818 in FY21 to 141,708 in FY23;
• Increased circulation of digital materials from 35,829 in FY21 to 36083 in FY23.

Granted, some of these numbers are greatly affected by COVID! Still, we have accomplished a huge amount with minimal staffing for a facility and town of our size, and have much to celebrate and we move forward in FY24. A huge thank you to our staff for their hard work and dedication, and to the Board of Library Trustees, Friends of the Library, and Capital Campaign for their ongoing stewardship, support, and vision.

Beth Schreiber,

Library Director

The Library Planning and Building Committee is scheduled to meet to pay bills at a to be determined date in August, via Zoom. Please check the Town website for the posted agenda! Zoom Link remains the same.

Meeting ID: 879 0582 0658

Passcode: 478236

Check out construction photos in our Construction album on our Facebook Page!

NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • AN OPRAH BOOK CLUB PICK • A dazzling novel about a young Black woman who walks the streets of Oakland and stumbles headlong into the failure of its justice system. This debut of a blazingly original voice “bursts at the seams of every page and swallows you whole” (Tommy Orange, author of There There).

Kiara and her brother, Marcus, are scraping by in an East Oakland apartment complex optimistically called the Regal-Hi. Both have dropped out of high school, their family fractured by death and prison.

But while Marcus clings to his dream of rap stardom, Kiara hunts for work to pay their rent—which has more than doubled—and to keep the nine-year-old boy next door, abandoned by his mother, safe and fed. One night, what begins as a drunken misunderstanding with a stranger turns into the job Kiara never imagined wanting but now desperately needs: nightcrawling. Her world breaks open even further when her name surfaces in an investigation that exposes her as a key witness in a massive scandal within the Oakland Police Department.

Rich with raw beauty, electrifying intensity, and piercing vulnerability, Nightcrawling marks the stunning arrival of a voice unlike any we have heard before.

Request a book, a large-print book, an e-book on the Libby app, or an e-audio on the Libby app (available on Android, iPhone, tablets and desktops). Stop by the library to take a Libby brochure home or ask a staff member for assistance.

The Borrower Services and Reference staff invite you to

check out an item from our two staircase displays in

Room 201 - Large Print/New Books.

Through our summer reading program, "Find Your Voice," we encourage children and their families to explore the magic of storytelling, discover new perspectives, and unlock the power of their own voices.  View our online calendar to learn more!

G.U.M. (Grafton Ukulele Musicians) Jam meets monthly from 6:30-8pm on the second Wednesday of the month, year-round, and is lead by Eric Guerin, courtesy of Apple Tree Arts. Our next session is Tuesday August 9th at 6:30pm. Please join us for Play Music on the Porch Day on the Community Room patio on Saturday August 26 from 11 AM - 12 PM. We still have t-shirts available for sale for $20.

B.Y.O.U. – Bring Your Own Ukulele or check out one of ours!

Participants may bring or suggest music to learn, and we sometimes offer themed selections — 80s night, 3 chords night, Beatles night — if there is interest.

Click here for more information.

Top 10 Books Requested in

CW MARS

1. The Five-Star Weekend by Elin Hilderbrand
2. Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
3. The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese
4. Happy Place by Emily Henry
5. Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano
6. Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
7. Small Mercies by Dennis Lehane
8. Zero Days by Ruth Ware
9. The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny, and Murder by David Grann
10. The Housemaid by Freida McFadden

Top 10 Movies Requested in

CW MARS

1. Avatar: The Way of Water
2. John Wick: Chapter 4
3. Are you there, God? It's Me, Margaret
4. The Super Marios Bros. Movie
5. Greyhound
6. Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3
7. Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves
8. Mandalorian: Season 1
9. The Quiet Girl = An Cailín Ciúin
10. Guy Ritchie's The Covenant

August Free First Thursday

Thursday, August 03, 2023 3 - 9 PM

Join us for a restorative evening of art, beautiful horticulture and community. Explore the galleries after hours. The Café will be open from 5-8 pm for dinner and drinks.

Reserve a museum pass online!

We have not yet hired a consultant to facilitate our Long Range Planning Process, and are still taking applications for at-large members for the planning committee. Interested parties can complete a volunteer application online at https://graftonlibrary.org/volunteer. The next Board of Library Trustees (BoLT) meeting is Wednesday, August 23, 2023 at 7:00 PM in person at the Municipal Center, Conference Room A.

Agenda: https://www.grafton-ma.gov/AgendaCenter/Board-of-Library-Trustees-Grafton-Public-9

The BoLT Policy Committee will meet Wednesday August 2 at 7:00 p.m. This will be a hybrid meeting on site in the 10-seat Conference Room.

Agenda: https://www.grafton-ma.gov/AgendaCenter/Board-of-Library-Trustees-Grafton-Public-9

Zoom Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82809991805?pwd=VUJwUVRoTDFRUVRQWWZzY2hpUE80QT09

Meeting ID: 828 0999 1805

Passcode: 416496

For more information, visit our event calendar.

Members can check the Friend's Facebook page for scheduled meetings.

https://www.facebook.com/GPLFriends

Join or renew your membership at www.friendsgpl.org/join

Questions? Please contact info@friendsgpl.org