My Library

We will soon be wrapping up Writing Through Memory: Memoir and Storytelling, a ten week workshop we have been hosting at the Kingsbridge Branch, brought to us through the Creative Aging program from Lifetime Arts. After a recent class, I caught up with one of the students, Helen.

Tinta, Papel, y...Café, una serie de tertulias que nace en la biblioteca Mid-Manhattan, cuenta con un grupo muy interesante de participantes. Todas tienen una historia que contar, como lo demostraron los escritos leídos el primer día de la reunión. Poemas que nos hicieron añorar nuestros países de origen, relatos que parecían haber sido sacados de un mundo garcíamarquezco, historias neoyorquinas come de película, relatos biográficos que nos sacaron más de una lágrima.

I first met Janielle Fermaint a few weeks ago at a meeting in the Mid-Manhattan Library. She seemed like a person with lots of library experiences to share so I asked if we could meet for an interview. She agreed, and we spoke in the Battery Park City Library. Janielle is pictured to the left, on the appealing second floor of the branch which opened in 2010 as Manhattan's first library with green LEED certification.

This week, we are wrapping up our second semester of French classes at Jefferson Market. After Saturday's class, we caught up with Shauna, one of the students.

The Jefferson Market Library continues to offer multi-session courses in subjects taught by college professors — just like you'd take in an adult continuing education program at a university. Recently we offered a free six-session Introduction to Western Philosophy course. Here's what two participants in that course, Carlos and Shaan, had to say:

Mulberry Street Library is proud to present the art exhibition "Beauty in Reading," featuring the photography of Kamia J. Funchess and the watercolors of Mychel Russell-Ward. The works are on view throughout the library through June 30th, 2012, and capture people caught in the act — of reading.

Mulberry Street Library was very excited to receive a grant from Lifetime Arts this year to participate in their Creative Aging program. Lifetime Arts is an organization devoted to enriching the lives of older New Yorkers through both the visual and the performing arts. We received our grant to offer Drawing From Life Experience, an 8-week drawing class for older New Yorkers. The students learned the principles of still life and live-model drawing, using a variey of papers and drawing materials. The culminating event on May 12, 2012 was held in our Community Room, where the students displayed one matted artwork they created in the class. The students spoke about their artwork to 

Since April 5th, the Jefferson Market Library has been hosting a series of watercolor classes for twenty adults, all aged 55+. This course, led by teaching artist Josh Millis, is funded by a grant from Lifetime Arts. The participants have been working on paintings inspired by Jefferson Market and other Village landmarks. This week, I spoke with students Leo, Judy, and Noreen, all regular patrons of Jefferson Market, to find out what they are enjoying about the class so far.

Anyone who visits Mulberry Street Library can't help but notice the wonderful bulletin board hanging in the Children's Room. Created by the Library's very own Anastasia Sorrenti, a full-time clerk with a penchant for design, these original displays tie a seasonal theme to well-loved children's books each month. This month's display is a celebration of Dr. Seuss, whose birthday was on March 2.

We sat down with Sorrenti to discuss her process for creating these special works of art. We hope you'll stop by Mulberry Street Library to check out the Children's Room bulletin board soon!

Starting April 5, 2012, local artist Josh Millis will be leading a series of watercolor classes for adults 55+ at Jefferson Market Library. These classes, as well as the gallery opening and reception on May 31, are made possible by a grant from Lifetime Arts. In this blog post, Josh tells us a little bit about his own experiences with art and teaching and gives us some great book recommendations!

Andrew is 17 years old. He has been attending Young Adult programs at New Dorp Library for several years. In an attempt to get to know him better, I asked him five ridiculous questions. These are his serious answers.

"I love talking about nothing, father. It is the only thing I know anything about," quips Lord Goring in Oscar Wilde's An Ideal Husband. At Mid-Manhattan Library's English Conversation Hour for intermediate, advanced, and native English speakers on Thursday evenings, we love to talk about anything of interest with people from all over the world who stop by for a chat. Everyone learns more about other countries and cultures and shares information and experiences about living in New York. And it's also a chance to practice speaking English in friendly surroundings, so come join the conversation! The English Conversation Hour will resume on January 12, 2012 and will 

Since I would never make anyone coming into the library do something that I'm not willing to do myself, I had one of my fellow librarians interview me for our monthly anime patron feature. I'm also sad to report that this month's Anime Night is our last, mainly because FUNimation's Operation Anime service has decided to officially shut down. Something tells me that this is not the end, however, so look for more Anime/Manga offerings from the Mid-Manhattan Library sometime in 2012!

Afghanistan, Algeria, Argentina, Belarus, Belgium, Benin, Bolivia, Brazil, Burma, China, Columbia, Czech Republic, Dominican Republic, Egypt, El Salvador, France, Gabon, Haiti, India, Iran, Italy, Japan, Khazakhstan, Korea, Martinique, Mexico, Mongolia, Morocco, Nepal, Pakistan, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Senegal, Serbia, Slovakia, Spain, Taiwan, Turkey, Ukraine, Venezuela, Yemen... What do all of these countries have in common? The English Conversation Hour at the Mid-Manhattan Library! We've met and talked to people from all the countries listed during our Thursday evening coversation hours for intermediate, advanced, and native 

Every November, the searches for Stanley Horowitz on Google gain momentum. Horowitz, a poet, published a tranquil 18 word poem in the November 1983 issue of Reader’s Digest magazine, page 109. Some years later the poem was posted to a list of autumn quotations on the Internet, sandwiched between poetry giants like John Keats and Robert Frost, and it has been used ubiquitously all over the web ever since. 

On Wednesday, November 9, the New Horizons Band for Adults played a concert at Chatham Square Library before an appreciative audience. It was their premiere performance at this library, and for a member of the flute section, it was a homecoming.

We had 14 patrons at last night's anime screening of Kenichi, the Mightiest Disciple. There are many people who work at the Library who help contribute to our regular programs. One of them is Je-Andy, an audio-visual page who helps set up Anime Night every month at Mid-Manhattan Library. I sat down with Je-Andy and asked him some questions.

Welcome to the latest installment of My Library, English Conversation Edition! We’ve been introducing you to some of the regular participants in the English Conversation Hour for intermediate, advanced and native speakers, which takes place at the Mid-Manhattan Library on most Thursday evenings at 6:30! We have a fabulous time meeting and chatting with people from all over the world. Feel free to drop by and join in the talk some week.

So far on this blog channel, we’ve met Tika from Japan and Youngsil from Korea. Now I’d like to present Guillermo!

Heather, this month's anime patron, joins her sister Erin and her fellow library patrons Anthony, Matt, Bobby, Shanta, and Marcus as one of longest standing Anime Night participants at Mid-Manhattan Library.

Despite faithfully coming nearly every month, Heather recently confessed to me that she wasn't always the biggest fan of anime and manga. I took some time during this month's screening to see if she had changed her mind and find out if she planned on coming to our upcoming screenings of Kenichi in November and MoonPhase in December.