It's No Mystery

Charlotte Canelli is the Library Director in Norwood. Read her entire column in the Norwood Transcript and Bulletin this week.

Excerpt:

Every year the library remains closed the first or second Friday in June. Our staff development day is very important for us. During it, our facilities crew shampoos rugs, repairs plumbing and paints ceilings. One of the most cumbersome tasks is setting up staging to replace light bulbs in ceiling fixtures. Closing during this week day is important to us.

So are you thinking that the rest of the library staff is sitting by a pool? That they are out shopping at the local outlets? Of course not! The staff is, in fact, hard at work offsite at another library.

In 2009 we spent the day nearby at the Norfolk Public Library. In 2010 we spent our day at the Morse Institute, the public library in Natick. The beauty of public libraries is that there is wonderful free meeting room space available and we, like you, take advantage of it.

This year’s staff development day included some great events. One was a panel discussion by five local New England mystery authors, all members of Sisters in Crime – New England.

Stories For All Ages

Read Charlotte Canelli's entire column this week in the Norwood Transcript and Bulletin.

The reality is that I live in a world of book lust, one in which I get to read a very small percentage of what I read about or purchase for the library.

I confess that I read fiction only when it captures my interest or imagination. I’ve read, of course, quite a bit of classical and contemporary fiction over the last half century. However, I am often jealous of my colleagues, family and friends who have a much longer fiction-reading list that I have.

My personal passion for reading lies in non-fiction. When I’m asked for my favorite book or a recommendation I always think first of titles within the non-fiction genres, whether they are serious historical or scientific accounts or quirky travelogues or memoirs.

Read a Good Book With Your Ears

Jenna Hecker is the Technology/Reference Librarian at the library. Read her entire column in the Norwood Transcript and Bulletin this week.

Excerpt:

Growing up, I had a voracious appetite for books. I was constantly bothering my parents to please read one more story.

Bored with the always-predictable ending to the “Frog and Toad” stories, their voices hoarse, my parents finally invested in books on tape. I quickly realized that the professional readers on my tapes were much more animated than my parents, and never demanded that I go to bed. The books on tape became my preferred method of getting my literary fix.

When I learned to read to myself, I abandoned my beloved tapes. Chapter books couldn’t be absorbed in a single night the way picture books could, and it felt much more grown-up to walk around with my nose in a book than to wear headphones.

Our Newest Four-Legged Best Friend

Read Charlotte Canelli's entire column this week in the Norwood Transcript and Bulletin.

Excerpt:

When Gerry married me I came with some baggage, some of it my 2-year-old toddler-puppy and a few of her leftover medical bills. I’ll spare you the details, but I rescued her from sure-euthanasia when for nearly a year she suffered from life-threatening Boxer colitis.

A homemade diet of sweet potatoes, barley, ground beef and scrambled eggs saved her life and that concoction, along with a hearty dose of loving family life, keeps her amazingly healthy today.

Most amazingly, of course, is that Gerry accepted us, the complicated librarian and her sickly dog and crazy dog diet plus all of our bad habits. He’s had only a few raised eyebrows and had minimal reservations to date.

Wedding Season

Read Charlotte Canelli's entire column this week in the Norwood Transcript and Bulletin.

Excerpt:

This coming 12 months we have not one, but two daughters getting married. Each is the eldest daughter – both my husband’s and mine. This is a different century, however, and our independent daughters are full of their own plans and organizational skills. These creative and resourceful young women have needed little help.

I’ve had an amazing romp with my own daughter through the bridal shop scene. Both Gerry (my husband) and I have had the tasty experience of trying wedding-day menus and the teary-eyed ones viewing engagement photos. Yet, all of it has been totally organized by the brides and their soon-to-be-spouses.

There's Something for Everyone at Norwood's Library

Read Bonnie Wyler's entire column this week in the Norwood Transcript and Bulletin.

Excerpt:

" When I began working at the Morrill Memorial Library in 2001, I was struck by the unusual breadth and depth of the programs offered here.

Like many libraries, Norwood offers wonderful programs for children and adults in the community. In addition to these basic services, our library has two outstanding programs: Literacy and outreach, which address the needs of underserved populations in town.

The outreach program delivers library materials to residents of nursing homes and senior housing facilities, as well as to anyone unable to come to the library because of illness or disability.

The literacy program provides free tutoring to non-English speakers and people who wish to improve their language skills."

Bonnie Wyler is the outreach and reference librarian at Morrill Memorial Library.

Never Too Late to Learn

Read Charlotte Canelli's entire column this week in the Norwood Transcript and Bulletin.

St. Leo University is tucked into hills that roll across part of west central Florida. It is a small campus; only 1,000 students live and study there in buildings designed to look like a Spanish mission. 

Many more students at St. Leo are the non-traditional types who attend evening or weekend classes on campus or at satellite locations. Over 13,000 of St. Leo’s students finish their degrees in continuing education programs in seven states or through online learning. 

Most of these students have families and jobs that won’t allow them to pursue their education the old-fashioned way. Many of them return to school after hardship or initial educational failures. Whatever the reason, all of them are making their families proud.

Saving the World and Other Backyard Projects

Read Charlotte Canelli's entire column this week in the Norwood Transcript and Bulletin.

Excerpt:

I was stung on the eyelid by a nasty yellow jacket as a young child. It was, as you might guess, a very traumatic experience. I remember lots of adults fussing about me and having to take blue medicine by the spoonful and I’ve been terrified ever since.
As a young(er) adult I avoided bees and wasps at all costs, actually nearly breaking my back on a fireplace pit as I stepped away in panic. Bees, as you might guess, wouldn’t be my choice of pet, companion or live-in guest. Or neighbor.

So, how exactly has this librarian become a beekeeper? Or perhaps, the wife of a beekeeper who happens to keep honeybees in OUR yard?

My beekeeping days began as a total skeptic. For one, I figured that my hobbyist husband would give up on his rather strange interest in raising honeybees. Golf, birds, photography, gardening – did he really need another obsession? Secondly, I figured that his wife (me) would never actually OK the idea. However, given time and knowledge, and my insatiable desire to feed my family’s reading needs and support their causes, here we are ... saving the world.

Use the Library to End the Day Happily

Jean Todesca is a Youth Services Librarian at the Morrill Memorial Library in Norwood. Read Jean's entire column this week in the Norwood Transcript and Bulletin.

Excerpt:

The hectic day is finally winding down.

It’s 9:30, the pizza boxes are piled in the trash. Your 4- and 6-year-old children are finally bathed and in bed after a late Little League game, preceded by a Cub Scout meeting and a quick stop at the school art fair. You’ve just put your feet up when you hear a loud wail coming from your 9-year-old son who is working on his homework. “I need six facts about New Mexico!” he exclaims.

Your first thought is the library, but it’s already closed. You’re just too tired for a random Internet search. If you could only get to an almanac, encyclopedia or fact book, but you can’t!

Volcanic Interruption

Read Charlotte Canelli's entire column in the Norwood Transcript and Bulletin this week.

Excerpt:

It seems woefully apropos to quote Robert Burns this week. In “To a Mouse”, Scotland’s national poet wrote this in 1785:

“The best laid schemes o’ Mice an’ Men, oft go awry, an’ leave us nothing by grief and pain, for promis’d joy!" I am left wondering, perchance, if Poet Burns was ever disappointed by an Icelandic volcano named Eyjafjallajökull

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Hooked on Scrabble!

April Cushing is the Adult Services Librarian at the Morrill Memorial Library in Norwood. Read April's entire column this week in the Norwood Transcript and Bulletin.

Excerpt:

The cry of “bingo!” resounded through the 2nd floor Simoni Room as it does nearly every Tuesday night at the Norwood Library. A dozen or so adults of all ages and abilities meet weekly to match wits and pursue a passion for Scrabble.

For those unfamiliar with the lingo, a bingo occurs when a player uses all seven of his or her tiles simultaneously to form a word on the board, earning a 50-point bonus.

And, at the Morrill Memorial Library, usually a round of applause as well.

These folks take their Scrabble seriously.

Birds of a Feather Flock Together

Margot Sullivan is a retired Adult Services Librarian who still works part-time as a Reference Librarian and leads two popular book discussion groups.
Read Margot Sullivan's entire column this week in the Norwood Transcript and Bulletin.

Excerpt:

Yes, birdwatchers are curious creatures aware of birds but often oblivious to the rest of the world around them. We had a friend who lived on the island who had taken a shower and walked naked through her living room not realizing the picture window shades were open. Did the birders notice or even bat an eyelash? Nope – they were obviously watching for some elusive gnatcatcher, or warbler, or wren in the bushes.

Poetry and Hums

Read Charlotte Canelli's entire column in the Norwood Transcript and Bulletin this week.

Excerpt:That simple poem of mine was a celebration of pride, of sibling love and was an example of the pure delight in the miracles around me. A decade later, however, my poetry was full of girlhood angst and suggested an adolescence that was overflowing with the turmoil of the 1960s.
That po etry, nevertheless, helped to get me admitted to the best university in my universe, Cal Berkeley. It was the era just past Beatnik, halfway through the hippie-movement and full swing into California sun worship, college rioting and the Vietnam War. A poet’s heaven.
I’m grateful that my teachers and my family encouraged me to write poetry. In the years that followed, college papers and other communication replaced my poetic impulses. I often miss that rare extravagance of my childhood.

Living in a Foreign Language

Read Charlotte Canelli's entire column in the Norwood Transcript and Bulletin this week.

Excerpt:

Several weeks ago, my eldest daughter had one of the most important interviews of her life. For 12 hours I stayed at the acceptable mother-distance (while somehow managing to hold my breath at the same time). When I couldn’t stand the suspense any longer, in my I’m-a-digital-not-overbearing-Mom kinda way, I sent her a simple text.

How’d it go, I asked.

Her reply? One word: “Meh.”

Meh? What did “meh” mean? Could it mean “my ego hyperventilates” or “Mom, enough hysteria?” I’ve been struggling with 21st Century acronyms for some time now. I’ve always thought I was tech-savvy. However, I found out that I was an undereducated digital immigrant over a decade ago when I thought LOL meant lots of love. I was finally told LOL meant laughing out loud by my youngest daughter who was, appropriately, laughing out loud.

So, what is meh, I asked my husband. Fortunately, he knew enough to consult the online Urban Dictionary to calm my fears and assuage my ego. Meh, he explained, is a verbal shrug of the shoulders which also means “eh, who cares?” Oh, okay, that explains it. Not.

Reading Dr. Seuss

Read Charlotte Canelli's entire column in the Norwood Transcript and Bulletin this week.

Excerpt:

On March 2 of every year the NEA plans its Read Across America day and asks “every child to be reading in the company of a caring adult” at some point in the day. (The NEA hopes to create a nation of readers through that program it created in 1997. Read Across America is now in its thirteenth year and it is a year-round program that focuses on motivating children and teens to read.)