A Note from the Director

Thanks to all who showed up for Halloween to trick or treat and pick up comics, pop bracelets, stickers, candy and more! It was a delight to see so many people come through -- over 500 visitors!

The goats produced many giggles and the Tumble Bus, mandala pumpkins, Emotional Wellness Fair was a hit, and I now have a selenite crystal in my office for healing, positive energy and purification. Thank you to the Coalition for a Healthy Greater Worcester and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation for partial funding. With the daylight shortening and Daylight Savings Time ending this weekend, we are working to make a light therapy lamp available for checkout soon. Please make note that the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline hotline number has changed: dial 988 for 24/7 counseling and information and referral in English and Spanish, and visit https://988lifeline.org/ for resources. Our website features a list of additional resources for mental health support, safety and domestic violence and abuse at https://graftonlibrary.org/2021/12/23/need-help-fast-gpl-cares/.

October was challenging with undesirable patron behaviors reaching a crisis point. We closed the Teen Room for a week, implemented a library card requirement to try to get to know visitors by name and rolled that back to a sign in procedure and behavior contract. We have also begun enforcing room occupancy for safety and better management of the Teen Space. These changes provide an opportunity to set expectations for positive outcomes. Some of our middle school frequent fliers kindly shared their Halloween candy with me last night, demonstrating that accountability and boundaries and limits do help to build relationships.

A special thanks to Christine and our team of Library Garden volunteers, and everyone who helped pull weeds over the growing season! Join us on Tuesday mornings as soon as the weather is back over 50 degrees to keep our grounds looking beautiful.

In November the Children's Room will be celebrating dinosaurs all month long and we encourage writers of all ages to to drop in and write during NaNoWriMo. I will be busy updating our action plan for 2023, finalizing a department inventory of assets, and writing a letter of intent for a MA Historic Commission Grant to restore and preserve our cupola.

In less than two weeks, we look forward to a visit from lecturer Robert C. Cheney, Executive Director and Curator of the Willard House and Clock Museum in North Grafton, Massachusetts who will speak on 50-Years of Collecting Excellence, in celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the Willard House and Clock Museum and the recent loan and installation of a Benjamin Willard 1795 eight-day clock at the Library in our Historic Reading Room. Please join us Monday November 14 at 7pm for the program, which will be followed by a wine and hors d'oeuvres reception. Please register online in advance. I hope to see you there!

Beth Schreiber,

Library Director

Expansion Update

TBA

The Library Planning and Building Committee is scheduled to meet on Monday November 7 at 6pm on Zoom:

Agenda

Zoom Link

Meeting ID: 879 5681 7665

Passcode: 087506

We installed the gate for our stairs to allow unattended after hours programming, but we are still missing the lock, wheel and need to swap the panels that arrived for the ones that were specced. This month we are finalizing a schedule for making ADA accommodations to counters and sinks throughout the building, adding changing tables and sanitary napkin receptacles to all restrooms, and wrapping up humidifier solutions for the historical room and door solutions for the Maker Space and Community Room. Capital Campaign continues to work on donor signage. Thanks to volunteers who put together benches for the front lawn and to DPW for installing later this month.

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

Spotlight on Fiction

Ready Player One

By Ernest Cline

IN THE YEAR 2044, reality is an ugly place. The only time teenage Wade Watts really feels alive is when he's jacked into the virtual utopia known as the OASIS. Wade's devoted his life to studying the puzzles hidden within this world's digital confines, puzzles that are based on their creator's obsession with the pop culture of decades past and that promise massive power and fortune to whoever can unlock them.

But when Wade stumbles upon the first clue, he finds himself beset by players willing to kill to take this ultimate prize. The race is on, and if Wade's going to survive, he'll have to win—and confront the real world he's always been so desperate to escape.

Request a book, a CD-Audiobook, an e-book on the Libby app, or an e-audio on the Libby app.

Our November Display

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.

Craft Items Wanted

Have you given up on scrapbooking? Discovered crocheting just isn’t for you? Don’t have enough time for crafts now that you have to go back into the office? Because arts and crafts aren’t just for kids, the Grafton Public Library is happily accepting donations of your adult craft items that are in like new or even brand new condition. This fall, we will be putting together adult craft kits to check out from our Library of Things as well as Take-And-Make craft kits for adults to get us through those long winter days indoors.

We are looking for the following supplies:

Painting–oil, acrylic, watercolor paints, brushes, canvas and watercolor paper, paint by number kits
Scrapbooking–unused scrapbooks, whole pieces of paper, fresh sheets of stickers, appliques, acid free glue and glue dots
Needle and yarn crafts–crochet hooks, knitting needles, round knitting looms, yarn, embroidery hoops, canvas, embroidery floss, embroidery needles, felting, macrame
Beadwork–beads, hooks, clasps, hardware and tools for jewelry
Baking and confectionary–new disposable pastry bags, tips, tools, candy molds
Sculpting and burning–clay and sculpting tools, wood burning kits and supplies
Candle making–packaged wax, wicks, scents
Miscellaneous supplies–glue guns, hot glue gun sticks, pinking shears to cut designs, art markers and pens, sketchbooks and pencils
Model building kits–cars, boats, airplanes
>>Please do not bring glitter<<

Please email Debby Jackson, Administrative Assistant, jacksond@grafton p ub l i c li b r a ry.or g with any questions and to coordinate drop off.

Seeds Needed for Our Seed Library

We hope that you enjoyed

your gardens this summer!

Please donate leftover seeds to a staff member in the Lobby or at Borrower Services on the second level. Seeds should be labeled and placed in a plastic ziploc bag.

Featured Museum

The Trustees

The Trustees of Reservations is here to protect and share the Massachusetts places people love for their exceptional scenic, historic, and ecological value. For their trails, their history, their gardens, their beaches. For the simple reason that nature and culture can soothe the soul and improve our lives. Visit https://thetrustees.org/.

Reserve a museum pass online!