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Duxbury Free Library
Annual Report December 31, 2000
The first year of the millennium saw major staffing changes at the Duxbury Free Library. After sixteen years of service as reference/technical services librarian including eight years as library director, Joanne Lamothe moved on to become director of the Weymouth Public Library. In December, the Board of Library Trustees appointed Elaine Winquist as new director. Ms Winquist came to Duxbury in 1998 as reference/technology librarian after ten years at the Westwood Public Library as Head of Technical Services. Janice Neubauer, reference librarian and former director, retired after thirty-two years of service. Ms Neubauer devoted a large portion of her time to cataloging and processing historical materials in the Duxbury Room. Her hard work has made this unique collection available to everyone. Senior library technician
Joan Gazin retired after thirty-one years, and is back as a volunteer in the Technical Services Department.
This year the Board of Library Trustees appointed a committee to develop a long-range plan for the library. Chaired by trustee, Carl Meier, the committee included Deborah Bornheimer, Joanne Lamothe, Mary Ann Offer, Tom Broadrick, Peg Lougee, Jan Schwartz, Patrick Browne, Ted Lougee, Jamie Therrien, Fran Doran, and Corinne Woodworth. Approved in September, the Duxbury Free Library Long-Range Plan 2000 – 2004 serves as a guide to evaluate and improve library services. The goals and objectives included in the plan will be met through activities designed and carried out by the director and her staff.
Library programs for adults included a number of author readings and book signings in conjunction with Westwinds Book Shop. The library implemented a monthly poetry circle, a monthly book discussion group, and a monthly writers’ group – all led by members of the staff. Our popular Book Group Convention of 1999 was expanded into Book fest 2000, a day-long event featuring many local authors including mystery author, Philip Craig, and Boston Globe columnist, Brian McGrory. The highlight of this year’s programming was author Elizabeth Berg, reading from her newest work, Open House, just after being selected by Oprah Winfrey for Oprah’s Book Group.
Young Adult services this year included the popular evening coffee houses for teens, formation of the Digital Doritos (teen techies) who meet regularly at the library, and teen book discussion groups. This summer saw teens and adults at the beach for an evening of stargazing with astronomy buffs from Silver Lake High School. The annual South Shore Video Contest was a huge success with over a dozen films receiving awards at “Oscar Night at the Library.” Young Adult librarian, Ellen Snoeyenbos, worked with the Duxbury schools providing book talks, reference, and online research training to individual classes. With the Reference Department, she hosted an afternoon of training for Social Studies teachers.
The Children’s Department has provided activities and story times for all ages, including the annual sand castle contest, the Library Pet Show, book illustrators, magicians, and authors. The summer reading series, Open Books, Open Frontiers, had a record number of 729 young readers. The department sponsored a teacher workshop on the latest children’s literature and its relationship to the curriculum.
The Library continues to offer meeting rooms for community and civic organizations, in addition to quiet study areas, a comfortable periodicals reading room, word processors, and Internet stations. The reference department has introduced regularly scheduled classes on using the Internet. The library web site, duxburyfreelibrary.org, continues to be a strong tool both for library staff and for our users at home and in the library. Produced by members of the staff, the web site provides information about library programs and services, special and ongoing events, links to reference tools, and other useful or fun information.
In addition to its hard working staff, the library owes its success to the ongoing support of the Friends of the Duxbury Free Library and the Board of Trustees of the Duxbury Free Library, Inc. We look forward to forming partnerships with town government and with other Duxbury cultural institutions to provide an even higher level service to the community.
Respectfully submitted,
Elaine W. Winquist
Library Director
Board of Library Trustees:
Ted Flynn
Carl Meier
Jack Hill
Lynne Walsh
Peg Lougee
Corinne Woodworth
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