The Hamilton-Wenham Public Library received monies from the Center of Excellence to continue programs for baby boomers and to purchase materials that are of interest to this age group. In July of 2009, Greg Maichack, a well-known artist from Western Massachusetts came to the library to provide a pastels art program called “Starry Sky”. Twenty-five participants both young adults and adults attended this popular program.
Also in July, Hope Luder, a docent and teacher at the Orchard House in Concord, MA, came to the library to speak to a group of 14 adults about Louisa May Alcott and her writings. This program followed a field trip that 25 adults made to the Orchard House for a tour. In addition, the Friends of the Library purchased a pass to the Orchard House so that patrons could visit this historic site.
In September, we put together a Self-Published Authors Fair and invited authors from all over Massachusetts. We had 25 authors attend with 80-100 patrons coming by to meet the authors, buy books and have them signed. In the evening, we invited Rita Schiano, as our keynote speaker. She wrote Painting the Invisible Man and Sweet Bitter Love. She is a self-published author, industry published author and has run a publishing company. She gave the group tips on how to get their books marketed. This event was very popular and we’ve been asked to do it again.
When we began doing programs for the boomer population, we did a survey. This survey indicated that travel, local history and current events were of great interest to our patrons. Therefore, we wanted to do a current events series. We called it Keeping Current with the World Around Us. The Center of Excellence grant and the Friends of the Hamilton-Wenham Library made five November and December programs possible. In addition, we used the Center for Excellence funds to purchase items for our collection that matched the needs and interests of our patrons.
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