Locations Taking Book Donations

Here is a brief list of locations in the area that are currently taking book donations! If a patron asks about donating books, feel free to direct them to the following:

Goodwill – Drop off at HomeGoods, Main Street, Reading

More Than Words – Drop Off 48 Stevens Street Stoneham, MA

Used Book Super Store – 149 South Main Street, Route 114, Middleton MA, 978-304-0345
*They are only taking books that are in excellent condition, and donations are limited to two boxes or bags*

Used Book Super Store – 256 Cambridge Street, Burlington, MA, 781.272.6650
*They are not accepting encyclopedias, magazines or VHS tapes*

Recording Disruptive Behavior

In the past, the Research and Reader Services staff kept a print log of any behavior issues in order to address any ongoing issues. We’ve moved the log online. Now any staff member may use the new Disruptive Behavior Form to record a disruptive behavior issue including mask wearing problems.
The form is on the Intranet under Forms. All information goes to a log which we can review.
In order to maintain patron privacy, Michelle will periodically delete old issues from the log.

Women’s Equality Day @ RPL

Women’s Equality Day is Wednesday August 26
RPL is celebrating Women’s Equality Day! On August 26, 1920, the 19th amendment, which had been ratified by 3/4 of the states, was certified with the signature of U.S. Secretary of State, Benjamin Colby, and the seal of the United States.

On August 26, as part of The Vote grant, we have several displays and events to celebrate Women’s Equality Day

RPL commissioned a poem, titled Mothers of my Mother, by Nancy Genevieve Kohl to celebrate the day, you can read the poster-sized poem and click on a QR code to see and hear it read by the author.
We have two fantastic art installation pieces inspired by Representative Shirley Chisholm quote “If they don’t give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair”. The first is a community created chair garden in front of the studio. It’s comprised of many vote-decorated doll-sized chairs handed out as part of the Children’s Room Weekend Wonder Bags program
Second, there is a staff created chair display representing voting rights issues for selected populations. Come admire the creativity of your colleagues.

We’ve also got historical displays, filling out the details on the suffrage movement and a fantastic Pop-up Library Spot from 3:30pm – 5:30pm dedicated to materials related to voting rights.

Wednesday evening wraps up with a virtual author visit from Jen Deaderick. With her book, She the People: A Graphic History of Uprisings, Breakdowns, Setbacks, Revolts, and Enduring Hope on the Unfinished Road to Women’s Equality, Jen takes us through a lively history of the U.S. through the lens of women’s equality – register for this Zoom event now, books available here and ebooks here.
These programs are funded by Mass Humanities’ “The Vote” grant initiative, a statewide conversation about voting rights.

Vending Machine Refunds on Trial Basis

We are going to try an experiment and have an envelope of money labeled GBL Vending Refund available at the Borrower Services desk to provide change for those who have lost money in the vending machine. This does not mean that we will be contacting Carmen about any vending issues and if this becomes time consuming, we will stop providing the refunds and revert back to having people contact Carmen directly. Please let me know if you have any questions.

Updated – RPL’s First Steps to Respond to the Hate Speech at the High School

The Justice League met on Wednesday morning to come up with a plan to address the Hate Graffiti found at the high school. We decided to focus on the library as a space, that brings people together and is a gathering place of peace.

Our first steps were to change the sliders on the website, social media and the Brightsign monitors to have human rights quotes and Libraries are for Everyone images on them. If anyone asks about these images and quotes, please let them know they are in direct response to the hate graffiti found at the high school.

We will also be creating social media posts with thoughtful, inspirational quotes and if possible, include Evergreen links to books or the book by the author of the quotes. Feel free to post ideas on this google sheet: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_s1D-c7lGw9dzLmmt8nKXhwqq4MPYKXFRPxkyBd_OyQ/edit?ts=5bd9ebcf

We will also brainstorm and post random acts of kindness stories and other inspirational stories as we see them. This will begin sometime in the near future.

There is a display of books near the magazines about the holocaust, we will be adding titles to this display over the next few days.

The Teen room has 2 book displays–“Books to Inspire Social Change” and “Libraries are For Everyone.” Plus our bulletin board Question of the Month will be updated with a question for teens to respond to along the lines of Are You a Change Maker? drawing inspiration from the ISFR recent conference. We are also working to bring in author Sara Farizan who’s new book release Here to Stay focuses on bullying, hate, and phobia.

The Children’s Room is going to have some more displays and will possibly run another Kindness Rocks program.

Unfortunately, as you know, the library has not been immune to this type of hate speech/graffiti. Be alert and aware and let Amy or the librarian in charge know of any suspicious activity.

Peace.