The new face of the ‘new’ library

It’s undeniable—the Harvard Public Library is a hopping place.

The activities and excitement start with even the youngest of library-goers. Every Monday and Thursday morning at about 10:30 a.m., more than 50 patrons of mostly infants and toddlers accompanied by their moms, dads, and grandparents climb or toddle up the three flights of stairs to Volunteers Hall for the lap-sit nursery rhyme and story program, Mother Goose on the Loose. “It’s controlled chaos,” said the head children’s librarian, Abby Kingsbury. “And I love it.”

Buddies Townsend Noon (left center) and Jamie Romero snuggle up and listen to a lullaby during story time. (Photo by Lisa Aciukewicz)

Although drop-in infant storytime is not a new program—nor is it the only one for preschoolers; there are four more storytimes for the 5 and under set—its popularity has skyrocketed. With the rise in attendee numbers, some days upward of 70, Kingsbury decided last September to move this early-literacy program to Volunteers Hall. It has, she noted in an interview, the added bonus of providing seating for caregivers.

Also started this September and popular among the teens is the Maker Day program. Jill Hayes, the young adult and reference librarian, introduced the “maker day” idea to her teen advisory board, and “they ran with it,” Hayes said this week. The middle- and high-schoolers plan the theme and activities for three stations in the “makerspace” of Volunteers Hall. About 25 students, on average, will drop by, build, create, socialize, and snack during this monthly program. “I researched the ‘maker movement’ and saw a trend of libraries having makerspaces, especially with STEM [an emphasis on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics],” said Hayes. “I put out materials for ideas, and they’ll completely and creatively do something very different—and that’s encouraged!”

Nontraditional lending

In another recent initiative, the board of library trustees and Library Director Mary Wilson have expanded into nontraditional lending. Two years ago, they piloted the program with the StarBlaster telescope and two ukuleles. Since then, the telescope has been in nearly constant circulation. The program has expanded to currently include two more ukuleles, an electricity usage meter called Kill A Watt for the home, and 80 new, family-style, quality board games.

Digital lending is also seeing a significant surge at the library. In fiscal 2017, there was an increase of 76 percent in downloaded audiobooks and a 17 percent increase in electronic books, according to Wilson’s statistics. Wilson credits this in part to the launch of the library’s new website with mobile access. She said that patrons can read an e-book when commuting or renew a print book using a cellphone “while waiting in line to buy groceries.”

Other digital resources include the ability to use a library card to search the New York Times and the Boston Globe, or to log in to Consumer Reports and Morningstar, an investment research database. The library card is the key to linking to the Mango foreign language app, with tutorials in more than 70 languages. Signing in to the Hoopla app, which was instituted last year and can now be streamed, provides on-demand movies, TV shows, and music.

An uptick in circulation

All this activity and new initiatives have led to steady growth in library use in Harvard. Last year, more than 17,000 patrons attended a children’s or young adult program or received help from the reference librarian. For the last nine years, more than 100,000 items per year have been checked out, including items checked out digitally. Also in 2017, there was a 6.4 percent increase in circulation, accounting for 132,887 items.

While the library has found new ways of bringing reading material to its patrons electronically, the circulation of printed books went up 11 percent last year, according to Wilson. Asked her thoughts as to why there is a return to print, Wilson answered rhetorically, “When you spend the entire workday looking at a computer, as many of us do, do you want to go home at night and look at another screen?” She also suggested the “feel” of a book and sense of where the words are located on a page matters.

A tradition of values

From humble beginnings, when in 1793 the Rev. Peter Whitney wrote of acquiring 100 books for the first social library in town, to the building and dedication of the old library in the town’s center in 1887, and to the renovated and restored Old Bromfield building, the home of the new library, a set of common values has been passed down. Wilson writes on the welcoming page of the library’s website that she and her staff “strive to continuously enhance the personal, intellectual, and cultural life of our community.”

The value of public service is evident in all the energy and dedication Wilson’s staff brings to the library every day, and in the dedication of the many volunteers, the trustees, the Friends of the Harvard Public Library, and the Harvard Friends of the Arts. As Kingsbury said, “What’s better than getting books into the hands of kids and helping them to become educated citizens? It’s pretty awesome.”
This vision of the library’s role in the community is embodied in the words of a longtime library volunteer and trustee, the late Ray Moffa, as seen on his memorial plaque in the library’s lobby: “One book, one answer, one insight could make a lifetime change in someone’s life.”