11/19/2024
News from the J.V. Fletcher Library
50 Main St., Westford, MA (1-978-692-5555), http://www.westfordlibrary.org
Unless otherwise noted, the following programs are made possible by the Friends of the Library.
Director’s Corner: A big thank you to author Dan Souza and all the members of theFriends of the Library who worked so hard to make the Annual Meeting a success. We are so grateful to the Friends of the Library for all of their support and funding for Library programs, museum passes, new collections, and so much more!
Pre-School Concert with Steve Blunt: Monday, November 18 at 10:30 a.m. in the Meeting Room The big kids are back to school so that means the younger kids get an energetic show just right for preschoolers with dancing, singing, and playing along with Steve. Come join us for a rocking good time! No registration is required.
Virtual Job Search Help for 50 & Over – Interview Strategies: Wednesday, November 20, 9:30 -11:30 a.m. The Massachusetts Library Collaborative's 50+ JobSeekers Group meets biweekly the 1st and 3rd Wednesdays of the month, from 9:30- 11:30 a.m., via Zoom. If you are unemployed and actively looking, underemployed, seeking a new career direction, re-entering the job market after a long employment gap, or recently retired and looking for your "Encore Career", this networking group program is perfect for you! Registration required.
Night Sky Restoration: Thursday, November 21 at 6:00 p.m. in the Meeting Room – Presented by Tim Brothers, Observatory Manager at MIT’s Wallace Astrophysical Observatory (Westford, MA). Our night sky is in crisis as the fastest growing environmental problem, light pollution, turns night into day. Tim will be speaking to us about a path forward in restoring darkness to our nighttime environment. He recently completed a case study of an LED streetlight retrofit in Pepperell, MA, whereby following dark-sky lighting best practices, he measured what effect, if any, there was on the night sky. The results have significant implications for how we approach future lighting installations as the Westford area develops. Tim Brothers is the Observatory Manager at MIT’s Wallace Astrophysical Observatory (Westford, MA) and a Technical Instructor in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences. He also co-founded the Massachusetts chapter of Dark Sky International, where he is primarily focused on outdoor lighting policy in the region. Tim was recently awarded a minor planet designation, asteroid (28992), for his work on asteroid detection. Registration required.
“How Chamber Music Works” Demo-Concert: Tuesday, December 3 at 6:00 p.m. in the Meeting Room. The Youth Services department and Westford Chamber Players (WCP) will be co-hosting a demo-concert, performed by WCP professional musicians. The program will be highly interactive and entertaining, demonstrating how music instruments work and how the harmonious interplay of the instruments can tell a story and express feelings in a chamber setting. The demonstration part includes engaging audience participation, followed by a mini-concert. The musicians will be performing several pieces of classical and popular music, including Kikki’s Delivery Service from Studio Ghibli, dances from Bach and Handel, excerpts from Mozart and Viotti, the famous Crisantemi from Puccini, and a few popular Christmas songs (e.g., Oh Christmas Tree and Jingle Bells Boogie). The event is completely free and geared towards children ages 5 – 18 as well as adults who are interested in chamber music. Registration required. Through the registration form, the WCP collect very brief information about the age ranges of our audience to better tailor the program.
Where are Elephant and Piggy?: Remember the fun of the summer, searching for Appa? Let the fun continue! Come in and find the hidden Elephant and Piggy in the children’s room. If you find them, you will receive a bag of 6 charms and clips from summers past to add to your collection. Each week during the month of November Elephant and Piggy will have a new hiding spot.
Staff Recommends: Sophia Kinsella’s new novel, What Does it Feel Like?, has a very different feel from her usual light and comical stories. It mirrors health struggles that the author is going through in her own life. "Eve is a successful novelist who wakes up one day in a hospital bed with no memory of how she got there. Her husband, never far from her side, explains that she has had an operation to remove the large, malignant tumor growing in her brain. As Eve learns to walk, talk, and write again-and as she wrestles with her diagnosis, and how and when to explain it to her beloved children-she begins to recall what's most important to her: long walks with her husband's hand clasped firmly around her own, family game nights, and always buying that dress when she sees it. Recounted in brief anecdotes, each one is an attempt to answer the type of impossible questions recognizable to anyone navigating the labyrinth of grief."
If you have questions or need assistance, please call us at 978-399-2300 or send us an email at [email protected]
Having submitted a grant application in January of 2017, in July 2022 WESTFORD received notice from the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners (MBLC) that it would be awarded a provisional state-funded grant in the amount of $7,851,994.00 under the Massachusetts Public Library Construction Pro...