Holyoke Public Library Then and Now

Sorry so quiet lately, but I think I have major senioritis and have been trying to spend as much time offline as possible.  But, I have a bunch of new vintage library postcards to share, starting with Holyoke, MA!

Holyoke is one of the larger cities in western Massachusetts, located on the Connecticut River near Springfield, with about 40,000 residents.  It was the first planned industrialized city in the country and was once a huge paper manufacturer.

The Holyoke Public Library was founded in 1870 by the Holyoke Library Corporation as a private organization, at a time when the population was only 10,000 people.  After receiving a donation and 1200 books, it opened in an old schoolroom, with Sarah Ely serving as its first librarian.  As a private library, it charged $1 a year to check out books until 1886.  In 1876, it moved to a room in City Hall.  It was moved to its current location in 1902 in what was a 25,000 square foot building on Maple Street and is one of the few neoclassical style buildings in the city.  In 1912, a natural history museum opened in the library and stayed until the 1950s.  From the 1940s to 1950s, the system opened three branch libraries, but they appear to have closed.

The library then, circa early 1900s

And now, in 2013 after a renovation

The library underwent a huge renovation in 2013, which added a teen room, computer lab and classroom, study rooms, a community room, and reading areas.  The remodel also added an additional 15,000 square feet to the building, and moved its entrance to what was originally the back.  What do you think about the new addition?  The design couldn’t be more different.

The library has 11 librarians and library assistants, and a History Room archivist, among other staff.  The History Room has information on Holyoke and genealogy resources.  It also offers digital collections.  The library has free streaming movies and music and career resources for patrons. And it has the common children’s, teen, adult, and reference services, online catalog, and events. The only thing that really struck me about the website is the very first thing on the home page is a large message asking for donations with a PayPal button.  I’m all about supporting libraries, but it seems like the services should be listed first and asking for donations toward the end.

When I wrap up classes in December, I think I’ll contact the History Room to see if they can help research a few Irish ancestors who lived in Holyoke back in the mid 1850s.  What a wonderful resource!

Sources

Holyoke, Mass Holyoke Public Library page

Holyoke Public Library official site

City of Holyoke History

Library grand re-opening article

2013 Images

Bath Maine Public Library Then and Now

I just got a great new vintage postcard to share for the Then and Now series.  The Patten Free Library in Bath, Maine struck me as having a beautiful and unusual design, sort of reminiscent of a castle.

Bath is a small city situated on the gorgeous Maine coast.  I haven’t had the chance to visit, but I’ve known about it since high school and have seen pictures since my friend got sent went to a boarding school there.

Then, ca. 1910

And now, in 2011

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And 2015

Source

It was surprisingly challenging to find current pictures of this library, so sorry about the smaller image sizes.  The library’s website seems to be down, at least for now, but fortunately, I found plenty of info about the library on other sites.

Established in 1847, Bath’s original library was held in rented and donated spaces until a man named Galen C. Moses donated $10,000 ($256,000 in today’s money) to build a library.  It was designed by George Harding, an architect who created several buildings now on the National Register of Historic Places.  Harding used a Richardsonian Romanesque style, popular in the era.  The Patten Free Library was opened to the public in January 1891.  Children’s services were first offered in 1911 in the second floor tower room.

Additions were made in 1961 and 1998, which you can see in the “now” images to the left of the original tower building.  The first addition added a children’s room, lobby, reference room, and auditorium.  The 1998 addition expanded the children’s and young adult rooms, and added a Sagdahoc History and Genealogy room.  At the same time, the original building was restored.

Today, it has a collection of over 55,000 items and a circulation of over 156,000 items, as well as 24 staff members.  Their Facebook page seems to be pretty active, with posts about events and programs.

References:

A page about the Patten Free Library

Another page about the Patten Free Library

Wikipedia’s Patten Free Library page

Patten Free Library’s Facebook page

Official Patten Free Library website (cached version)

George M. Harding

Sunset Branch Library visit

I always tell myself I won’t feel bad when I get too busy with school and work to blog here, but I still do.  So, I’m back with a featurette on the Sunset Branch of the San Francisco Public Library, which I visited this week.

The Sunset Branch is one of eight Carnegie libraries here in San Francisco.  Built in 1918, it was also the eighth branch of the library.  According to the SFPL, the branch is at the site of an old barn that boys used to use as gun target practice!  I can’t even picture it.

The library in 1918.  It still looks pretty similar.

Image source

Different authors are featured around the exterior

The front has some really pretty details

I couldn’t get any pictures inside because it was packed.  It’s a two story building, renovated in 2007, with the main stacks upstairs and a children’s area downstairs.

See even more historical photos of this branch here.

Currently reading: Who Could That Be at This Hour? by Lemony Snicket and CSS3: the Missing Manual by David Sawyer McFarland while I wait for my next requested book to arrive at the library.

Hawaii State Library Then and Now

Today’s Then and Now’s featured library is the Hawaii State Library in Honolulu.  I’ve been featuring some beautiful libraries in New England over the past year, but wanted to share something totally different this time.  Hawaii is close my my heart, as is New England, because my mother is from Hawaii and most of that side of the family still lives there throughout the state.  I’d been on the lookout for vintage library cards for anywhere there for a long time and finally got lucky.

As you know, Honolulu is the state capital and a very popular place to visit.  The State Library is downtown, next to the Iolani Palace and the State Legislature.

Then, circa 1930s

And now

The library looks pretty similar today to the 1930s.  The palm trees right in front are gone, with other trees in front of the side windows and on the vintage card it looks like a walkway used to go up the center of the lawn, but otherwise it looks the same.

The library started humbly in 1879 and only men could check out the 5,000 books.  Supported by Andrew Carnegie, the current library was built in 1913.  Other funding and books were donated by King David Kalakaua and his wife, Queen Kapiolani; Queen Emma; and Princess Pauahi. The library has four floors and the outside has 20-foot columns and 18-foot arches (http://www.aloha-hawaii.com/oahu/hawaii-state-library/).

Today, it is the main library of the Hawaii State Public Library System and has a collection of over 500,000 books and more in “supporting materials”.  In 2012, it lent over 414,000 items, served nearly 350,000 patrons in-house, answered nearly 70,000 reference questions, and held just over 100 programs with about 3,900 attendees.

It has many of the typical departments, such a children’s section and an art, music, and recreation section with books, sheet music, pictures, and more. There is also a federal documents section providing free access to federal records, and a Hawaii and Pacific section with information specific to Hawaii, the South Pacific, New Zealand, and Australia, with items on Hawaiian legends, school yearbooks, and more.

The library is open Monday through Saturday.  I was somewhat surprised to see that the website includes Hawaiian words to describe its services (like how one section is on the mauka side, meaning toward the mountains), but also really like that pieces of the Hawaiian language permeate the entire culture, even on websites for state services.

I’ve been to Hawaii many times, but never visited the library and I will definitely try to the next time I go!

Currently reading: Supernatural Enhancements by Edgar Cantero

Image Source

2014 in review

It’s my one year blogiversary and I’ve learned a lot over the past year, sharing 99 posts so far, and I’m looking forward to sharing new series and content in 2015.

Here’s a look back at 2014…

Special libraries posts: The Helen Crocker Russell Library of Horticulture, The United Irish Cultural Center’s Patrick J. Dowling Library, The California Academy of Sciences’ Library, and the Museum of Performance and Design.

I also visited the Bancroft Library at UC Berkeley, the main library in Esfahan, Iran, and the Half Moon Bay Public Library.

A series of book list posts: National Lighthouse Day, National Camera Day, Father’s Day, National Wildflower Week, National Poetry Month, St. Patrick’s Day, National Quilting Day, My Top 5 Books read in 2013, and My Top 5 Young Adult Books read in 2013.

A Then and Now series on vintage library postcards and what the libraries are like today:
Kimball, VT, Turners Falls, MA, St. Johnsbury, VT, Claremont, NH, White River Junction, VT, Woodstock, VT, and Lancaster, NH.

Posts on library services, such as how to help domestic violence victims, a fun post on National Bookmobile Day, why special libraries are interesting to me, and I experimented with taking a class at a local library.

And I shared too many weekly link wrapups and infographics on education, libraries, and technology to recap!

I’m planning some {hopefully} fun stuff for 2015 now.  If there’s anything you’d like to see, please let me know!

Links of the week: Best book covers of 2014 and more

I hope you had a nice holiday!  I was just easing into the winter break when I was taken down for about a week by the flu, but luckily I’m on the mend now.

Here’s some favorite links from the week.

The New York Times’ best book covers of 2014.  Lots of loveliness.

And the NYT editors share the best book they read in 2014, new or old.

And the SF Weekly’s top books of 2014.

The New York Public Library discovers a stash of questions posed to librarians from the 1940s to the 1980s.  “Is it possible to keep an octopus in a private home?”

The 25 films selected for the Library of Congress National Film Registry for 2014.  Big Lebowski and Ferris Bueller!

Edinburgh University gives a library card to a cat.

Tracking the 20 most popular websites since 1996.  Wow.  Remember Netscape, Lycos, and Altavista?  Angelfire websites!  Plus many others I can’t remember.  It’s interesting to see websites become popular and less popular, and Amazon and Facebook enter the fray.

Self-care for graduate students, by Hack Library School.  “Marvel at what you’ve learned.”  Well said.

More than 148,000 records from the Government Printing Office now available at the Digital Public Library of America, improving public access to federal documents.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Now reading: Just Kids by Patti Smith.

Esfahan, Iran main library

I hope you had a wonderful holiday weekend!  How is it already December?!?  Back in late October, I had the chance to visit the main library in Esfahan, Iran.  Esfahan is a beautiful city, and Iran’s third largest.  Persians have a very long history of literature and poetry, and the huge Central Library of Esfahan Municipality definitely showed their love of books.

They had this nice origami crane statue in front, but no explanation why.

From the entrance.

It was kind of an odd set up because it appeared to be one building, but it wasn’t all interconnected.  You had to keep going back outside and through different doors to access different parts of the library.  Luckily, there were maps (in English!) at each entrance.

I randomly chose a door and wandered around for a minute.  The staff at the desks, who were all women, were quite surprised to see me walk in.  I asked a woman if anyone spoke English and she called a man over.  He didn’t introduce himself, but kept saying, “Welcome to my library” and proceeded to take me on a tour, even though I hadn’t even asked yet.  The tour was a little challenging because he could speak decent English, but couldn’t understand a word I said.  So, I just went with it.

This part of the library was sectioned off from all the rest and was just a small room.  It turned out it’s sort of like a “little free library”, where you bring a book and then take a book for free.  There was one woman staffing a desk in the room, presumably to make sure people followed the rules.

Through another entrance, he led me into the main part of the library.  These are the new books, which were featured in these locked cases right inside the entrance.  There were several (hard, plastic) chairs nearby for perusing these.

To the left of the new books was a large bank of computers for searching the catalog.

I was impressed with the number of computers, but overall it wasn’t too exciting until I saw the signs above the computers….

Oh yes, it’s true.  They had separate computers for men and women.  And incidentally, there were far fewer computers for women (8 for men, 4 for women).  I’m assuming they’re censoring out search results for women since this was the only place in the library that I saw segregated by gender.

Near this was a nice fish tank.

And this is a map of all the branch libraries in Esfahan.  You can’t see it in the pic, but each branch is lit up by a little bulb.  The guy leading me around told me that like our public library system, one account allows access to all the branches in the system.

Here are brochures (should have grabbed some!!) and more new books.

They had a large information center full of computers, but he unfortunately didn’t explain what exactly what people could use them for, if they had to sign up, etc.  Normally, I wouldn’t question it.  They’re just computers for patron use.  Except this was the first of four large computer labs with different names.  As you’ll read in a minute, there’s also a separate lab just for database access, so I don’t think that was what these were for.

This was their reference room.  They have over 10,000 books in this room and a lot of seating.  Reference books are non-circulating.  Resources are encyclopedias, dictionaries, etc. and I believe are written in Arabic and Farsi.

This was the periodicals room.

Here’s the circulation desk.  I was surprised by how closed off and unwelcoming it felt.

And this is their audiovisual section.  He said they have over 5,000 DVDs and CDs, but this was all that I saw.  There is a staffed desk for this section.

And just to the left of the above picture are the new CDs and DVDs.  Some of them appear to be software, but may just be tutorials on using software.

Down the stairs, they have an art gallery of Iranian artists that I think he said changes exhibits monthly.  There were more staffed desks down here.  I’m not sure if any of the art was for sale, or if it was strictly on exhibit.

Next to the gallery was an internet computer room.  I’m not sure what the difference was between this and the information center.

Not pictured were two other large computer labs.  One was labeled as “scientific databases”.  The way the staff person described it, it sounds as if the library is part of a consortium with local universities as a partnership to offer access to databases.  He mentioned the University of Esfahan and the University of Technology.   He didn’t say how many databases they offer.  I didn’t catch a sign for the other computer room.

He said there were three floors of books underground, which I assume are the main stacks.  He tried to show me even more of the library, but I didn’t have time to check it out.

He also told me about the library’s digital library (limited English version), which offers over 1,000 digitized manuscripts in Arabic, Farsi, and English.

Since the man couldn’t understand English, I wasn’t able to get more details on any of their services.  He was also moving very quickly so I couldn’t get a lot of pictures.  But it was still an interesting experience.  I am grateful that I had the chance to get a personal tour of an Iranian library.

Currently reading: Dreams of Gods and Monsters by Laini Taylor.

Bibliolinks: Vintage Thanksgiving recipes, a lost Steinbeck story and more

Okay, so I meant to post this on Friday, but better late than never, right?

I did my first ever oral history interview for my special studies class and I think it went pretty well.  I learned some good tips from the experience for the next interview which is in just a week and a half.  That interview (and the two hour tour and conversation after it) wiped me out for the rest of the week and now I’m catching up.

And of course, I won the student award for the SF Special Libraries Association.  It’s still a surprise.  What is also awesome about it is it comes with a free year of membership, which is perfect timing because I just got an email saying it was almost time to renew.

I hope you’re having a lovely weekend.  Here’s some links!

Image source

8 vintage Thanksgiving recipes from Duke University’s Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library.

A lost Steinbeck story has been rediscovered.

Poppytalk’s 2014 gift guide for books.

7 of the best apocalyptic novels.

A profile of what it means to be a catalog librarian.

Get to know the 2014 National Book Award finalists.

San Francisco has 8 Carnegie libraries. I’ve always loved the Sunset Branch.

It’s okay to have guilty pleasure reads.  Mine are anything by Kelley Armstrong.  What are yours??

The top 5 author cameos on The Simpsons. 

A field trip to America’s public libraries.

A lawsuit over Maurice Sendak’s rare book collection.

Bibliolinks: On the most expensive books ever sold and more

Happy Friday!  I’m finally getting rid of the jet lag that has been slowing me down since I got back home two weeks ago.  I’m still catching up on news and some class work, but almost back to normal.  Now I’ve just been trying to decide which classes to sign up for in the spring semester.  I’m so happy that I only have three electives left to take, but that also means I should probably be a little more thoughtful about which to register for.

This weekend, I plan to finish going through my Iran photos because people want to see them, doing some volunteering, and hopefully seeing friends.

stereo-2802.  In the Great Sutro Baths, San Francisco, 1898. Source.

Here’s some links for the weekend!

America’s top rated libraries for 2014.  Very happy to see the San Francisco Public Library system highly rated on the list.

Books to look for in November, from The New Yorker.

Have you heard about Sweet’N Low sponsoring an e-book for product placement?

The 10 most expensive books ever sold.

The new Palo Alto library has opened and I want to go see it.

The book designer’s challenge.

Cary Elwes has written a book on the making of “The Princess Bride”.  I must read this.

The Moscow Metro is now offering e-books for download while waiting for your train.

A handbook on federal librarianship, from the Library of Congress.

Digitizing 3-D photographs from the 1800s (direct link to collection here).

Library Thing for Libraries has improved its reading recommendations feature.

The secret stars of the San Francisco Public Library.  This article is a little older, but I’m just coming across it now.

Kimball, VT public library

I’ve been a bad blogger lately.  I’m writing so many blog posts for my two classes that I’m neglecting this.  So, it’s time for another Then and Now installment!  You may know that I like collecting postcards, so I started to collect vintage library postcards, with a focus on places related to my family.  Today’s library is the Kimball Public Library in Randolph, Vermont.  I actually have no ties to Randolph, although I do have family history in many nearby towns.  I just thought the library was pretty and I found two postcards, both with messages, which I like.

Randolph is a town of about 4,800 residents, located in the White River Valley region.  The downtown is a National Historic District.  It’s the largest town in the area and was originally settled in the late 1770s.

Then, in 1906

And, in 1907

And now, in 2013

Source

The 1906 postcard was mailed on August 21, 1906 to Lira E. Morse, Springfield Mass, 17 Princeton Street (that’s the order written on the card).  The message reads Sunday so warm.  Jessie and I didn’t go to church.  All well, Sarah.

The 1907 card was mailed October 15, 1907 to Miss Sarah Haven (?), 102 Congress St, Milford, Mass.  It reads Dear Friend, I was glad to hear a word from you.  Shall always hold you with Dear Abbie as dear friends.  Have just sent 18 views of Randolph to a friend in Peoria, Ill.  Sun ? friend.  She sent for {illegible rest of sentence} – 12 cts for 15.  -Mary Holbrook.

As you can see, the cute awnings over the windows are gone and there’s handrails down the stairs, but otherwise it looks the same.

Randolph’s original library was created in 1894 over a drug store with 134 books sent by the state, and other donations of books over the years created a sizable collection.  The Kimball Library was built in 1903 and named after Colonel Robert J. Kimball, a New York financier who donated $10,000 to build a proper library.

Today, the library is open daily and serves the towns of Randolph and Braintree.  They have computer and internet access, on an unspecific number of computers.  I think it’s cute that they have a “conscience box” instead of charging fees for overdue items.  One interesting aspect of their website is they have a Donate Now button.

They have five staff, which sounds like it may be pretty good for a small town, and I just realized that one of them is Jessamyn West, of librarian.net.  How funny.  I’ve followed her blog for a while and knew she was in rural Vermont, but didn’t know she worked in Randolph.  They also have five trustees.

Library services include access to electronic databases, an online course program, wi-fi, passes to local museums, and a subscription to a genealogy database.  Programs include book discussions, a book-to-film series, and a knitting group.  They also offer children’s programs like scavenger hunts, a Magic gaming group, and storytime.

All in all, a nice little library!

Currently reading: The Hard Way by Lee Child