Events

November 3rd 2020
StoryWalks in Somerville - Family Friendly Reading Outdoors!

Have you ever seen a StoryWalk®? It’s a super fun way to read a book and get some exercise at the same time! Book pages are laminated and installed along a sidewalk, fence, or building. As people walk along the path of the StoryWalk®, they are directed to the next page in the story.

To make our StoryWalks®, your friendly children’s librarians selected some of our favorite books and performed magical arts and crafts to separate the pages and mount them on oversized paper. Then we... Read Post

September 17th 2020
Climate Justice by Mary Robinson book cover

It may seem that the news is all bad—COVID-19, hurricanes, forest fires--but by no means should we give up. Climate Preparedness Week is coming September 24-30, and the Massachusetts Library System has partnered with CREW (Communities Responding to Extreme Weather) to host free virtual programs on the intersections of climate resilience and social and racial justice. In keeping with those themes, here are some books and films about the struggle for a better future.

Former Irish... Read Post

May 9th 2016
Mercury is moving between Earth and the Sun today, a relatively rare event known as a solar transit. It began around 7 am today and will continue until 2:42 pm Eastern Time. Whatever you do, don't look directly at the Sun to try watch it. In any case, there's not much to see: just a small black dot (Mercury) on the face of the Sun. If you don't have a solar filter for your camera or binoculars there are plenty of live streams on the Internet, such as the one here. NASA has provided some... Read Post
November 19th 2014
Our latest and penultimate Muslim Journeys event, an interfaith panel discussion, went even better than I had hoped. Everyone, including the panelists, had a great time. Rabbi Eliana Jacobowitz of Temple B'nai Brith, Rev. Jeff Mansfield of the First Church of Somerville, UCC, and Dr. Ghiath Reda of the Islamic Center talked about what their religions have in common, how they differ, and other people's misconceptions about their faiths and its members.* Alexis Jordan Gewertz of Harvard Divinity... Read Post
July 18th 2014
Boston University professor Linda Heyw0od gave a great talk last night on Prince Among Slaves, one of the titles in our Muslim Journeys bookshelf. Prince is the story of Abdul Rahman, a Fulbe prince captured and sold into slavery in Mississippi and his quest for freedom. The book is also a fascinating portrait of antebellum Natchez, the heart of the "Cotton Kingdom." Dr. Heywood is a  dynamic speaker who  did a fabulous job placing the events and people of the book in their historical context,... Read Post
June 4th 2014

Somerville Public Library’s central branch is marking its centennial this year. Way back in January of 1914, the Italian Renaissance-style building at 79 Highland Avenue opened for patrons after its dedication on Dec. 17, 1913.

Famed library architect Edward Lippincott Tilton designed the new building. According to the Somerville Journal in an article dated Dec. 12, 1913, the library was constructed at a cost of $125,000 (which is $2,993,333 in today’s dollars). Great library... Read Post

June 3rd 2014

Books for Somerville Reads 2014 have arrived and are now available at all SPL locations! Somerville Reads is a project that promotes literacy and community engagement by encouraging people all over the City to read and discuss the same book. The book that has been selected for 2014 is Dark Tide: the Great Boston Molasses Flood of 1919 by Stephen Puleo. A companion children's book has also been selected: The Great Molasses Flood: Boston, 1919 by Deborah Kops. Both of these authors will be... Read Post

November 25th 2013
Somerville Public Library is one of ten public libraries in the United States to be selected as a StoryCorps @ Your Library pilot site. Through this oral history project, we aim to record the stories, thoughts, and ideas of a diverse mix of 30-40 Somerville teens. Teens may be interviewed by or interview friends, family members, mentors, etc. Trained community facilitators will guide the interview process and handle all technical aspects for a comfortable interview experience. For more... Read Post
November 15th 2013
Last night's Muslim Journeys event was great. Harvard Divinity School professor Leila Ahmed participated in a discussion of her book, A Quiet Revolution: The Veil's Resurgence, from the Middle East to America.  We had a good turnout, and everyone who participated in the discussion had interesting questions and shared well-informed opinions. The conversation ranged from  the history of this highly symbolic garment to the differences in religious practice and culture in various Islamic nations... Read Post
March 4th 2013

We knew you could do it, Somerville! Our fair city has won the library card sign-up competition that ran all last month against Lexington, Belmont and Arlington. Arlington challenged us to see who could get a higher percentage of card sign-ups in February 2013 compared to February 2012. Community pride was at stake – and we must say, you did your library and your community proud. Because of this campaign, Somerville now has 1,054 new library card owners. Arlington, Belmont and Somerville... Read Post

December 4th 2012
Last Saturday there was a community discussion with the founders of Cuppow.   The event was sponsored by the Friends of the Library.  Sara Fix is a patron and volunteered this write up of the event...many thanks Sara!   If you care about the environment, if you support local businesses, or if you’ve ever spilled coffee on your shirt, you could learn a lot from Joshua Resnikoff and Aaron Panone, creators of Cuppow.  These two friends created a plastic device that can turn a canning jar in to a... Read Post
July 18th 2012
I am working at the library because, first of all, I wanted a summer job. Many of my friends decided to participate in the Mayor’s Summer Jobs Program and my older sister has done it last year. Based on all that, I decided to participate as well since it looks good on a resume, is good for college, and a good introduction to the working world.

On the application, there were 5 categories of jobs and you had to rank them in order of what you would like to do most.... Read Post

May 31st 2012
Last night yours truly and Kristi Chase of the City's Historic Preservation department gave a presentation on genealogical and house history research. Since most people remember research processes when they're given concrete examples, we took one house in Somerville and explained how to use library resources and local government document to find out how the house had been altered over the course of its existence and to find out who lived there since it was built. So technically, the... Read Post
October 24th 2011



Our new Library Director Maria Carpenter (in the white shirt with the black belt) participates in Flashmob at Sunday's Somerstreet Fest!

February 28th 2011
There's no doubt about it: we're fascinated by organized crime. Whether it's The Godfather, Goodfellas or The Sopranos, we can't get enough of books and dramas that claim to show us the mob from the inside, an alternative underground world with its own laws and loyalties. Citizen Somerville is the genuine article: the memoir of Bobby Martini, who grew up during the Irish Gang Wars of the 1960s. He describes what it was like to live in the crossfire of the violence that claimed 60 lives before... Read Post

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