Around Town

LETTER: A Fitting Way to Honor Watertown’s Retiring Library Director

By |

Watertown Free Public LibraryThe Watertown Free Public Library. A Fitting Tribute To A Local Superstar

After 27 years, Leone Cole, Our Library Director is Retiring, Here’s An Idea to Thank Her for Her Service to Watertown

Dear Watertown,

Under Leone’s innovative and forward-thinking leadership, our library has become the heart of our community – welcoming, serving, and educating people of all ages and from all walks of life, through even the most challenging of times. Our library has had such a positive influence − in ways we can only begin to imagine − on the lives of so many who have entered that building on 123 Main Street. Book groups, films, music, our History Room, research assistance, the Hatch Makerspace, storytelling, community talks/events, Project Literacy, the Library of Things, courses in finance, exercise, citizenship, and more have brought our community together. As many residents of Newton, Belmont, and Waltham will tell you, our library is their library of choice.

Entertainment

Watertown Library Announces One Book, One Watertown Title for 2022

By |

The following announcement was provided by the Watertown Free Public Library:

WFPL invites you to participate in One Book, One Watertown 2022! This year’s book selection challenges us to question how we engage with the natural world around us. Braiding Sweetgrass, by botanist and Citizen Potawatomi Nation member Robin Wall Kimmerer, is a “hymn of love to the world” that gifts insight about scientific knowledge, Indigenous wisdom, and the teachings of plants. As a botanist, Robin Wall Kimmerer has been trained to ask questions of nature with the tools of science. As a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, she embraces the notion that plants and animals are our oldest teachers. In Braiding Sweetgrass, Kimmerer brings these two lenses of knowledge together to take us on “a journey that is every bit as mythic as it is scientific, as sacred as it is historical, as clever as it is wise.” Kimmerer shows how other living beings — asters and goldenrod, strawberries and squash, salamanders, algae, and sweetgrass — offer us gifts and lessons, even if we’ve forgotten how to hear their voices. 

This year, we encourage readers to go slowly and savor this beautiful book — either all at once, or in bits and pieces.

Around Town

Watertown Library Events Moved Online Due to COVID, See What’s Happening this Month

By |

Watertown Free Public LibraryThe Watertown Free Public Library. The Watertown Free Public Library provided the following announcement:

Due to the recent increase in Covid cases, all in-person Library programs will be canceled or moved online for the month of January. Here’s what this means:

January programs that were scheduled to take place in person will be canceled or held virtually. This eNewsletter includes updated information.January programs that were scheduled to take place virtually will continue.Front Lawn Story Time will move to Facebook Live beginning 1/6/22.Outside groups that have booked meeting rooms can continue to meet.Library services and in-library browsing will continue. We hope to resume in-person programming in February, 2022, but will adjust as necessary.

Around Town

Library Collecting Stories & Images of Watertown Since 1950, Hosting Author Talk & Concert & More in December

By |

Watertown LibraryThe Watertown Library is collecting images and stories about the city’s recent history. WFPL is embarking on a mission to collect stories and images from Watertown’s recent history, from 1950 to the present day, and we need your help! Want to volunteer for the Library and help preserve the story of Watertown’s diverse community? Join our corps of Digitization Day volunteers in 2022. Sign up now on our volunteer page. Coming up this month, learn about the language of cults with Amanda Montell, join the Zinesters’ Club (open to teens and adults), or attend a Coffeehouse Concert at WFPL with free refreshments from O’Some Café! 

For Children

Baby Story TimeMondays and Wednesdays | 11 AM | In the Library | A Librarian will read stories and lead activities. For babies who are not walking. Registration required.

Around Town

Works of Watertown Quilters on Display at Library, Hear from Speakers on Nov. 16

By |

Quilters’ Connection presents “Connected Threads” at the Watertown Library, featuring traditional quilting to modern mayhem. Join three members of Quilters’ Connection as they share the diversity of modern quiltingand invite you to become part of the fun. The speakers will be RoseMary Bilezikian GabonlyianKoch on traditional quilting, Susan V. Polansky on pictorial collage quilts, and Julie Fei-Fan Balzer on playful surface design. Watertown Free Public LibraryWatertown Savings Bank Meeting Room123 Main Street, WatertownTuesday November 16, 20217:00 pm – 8:45 pm

The lecture is free but registration is required. Visit this website for more information:https://reservations.watertownlib.org/connected-threads-traditional-quilting-modern-mayhemFunded by a grant from the Watertown Community Foundation to Quilters’ Connection(www.quiltersconnection.org) and in collaboration with the Watertown Free Library.

Around Town

Watertown Library Hosting Brighter Futures Career Job Fair

By |

The following information was provided by the Watertown Library:

If you would like to get into the job market quickly, you may want to consider a technical or specialty program. These training programs vary widely in majors, length of programs, cost, and other characteristics, but they have one thing in common: an emphasis on hands-on training for a specific career. On Sunday, Nov. 14, the Watertown Free Public Library is hosting the Brighter Futures Career Fair — an opportunity for teens and adults to learn about technical and vocational opportunities in a wide array disciplines, all in one place. This is event is perfect for anyone interested in a specialty profession such as nursing, culinary arts, cosmetics, engineering, accounting, or auto mechanics.