By Judy Schuler
In few places would a leaking roof cause such consternation as in a library. At first barely noticed, then growing and disguising its source, the leak led to moving 26,000 books, thousands of DVDs and audio books and closure of Lakewood Memorial Library, 12 W. Summit Street, until the roof could be replaced and the interior damage restored.
Closed on February 4, it was reopened 7 months later, on September 12. Last Saturday, October 8, the library hosted a Grand Reopening Fall Fest with ribbon cutting, crafts, food trucks, free books, pumpkin painting, games and crafts led by members of the Southwestern High School Cross Country Team. It was “a great success. Community members were very supportive and expressed their joy in our being open again,” says Shannon Taylor, library director. “Because all of the books were unloaded from the shelves and stored offsite as part of the mitigation process, we decided to reconfigure the layout by rearranging the shelves to create more open space,” says Taylor.
“The closure itself hasn’t changed the services we provide but it did grant us the opportunity to evaluate our existing programs and services to improve them and create new programs and offer new services as well. Through grant funding, we will now be offering computer classes with Northstar Digital Literacy and free art workshops each month featuring local artists. We have also added Mango Languages (courses in over 70 world languages) as a new learning mechanism for our patrons.”
Through the remainder of 2022 and into 2023 “we are looking forward to serving our community and also to finding new ways to better serve them. We hope to make up for lost time with a robust slate of programs and featured artists in our gallery. The current artists through the month of October are Mary McCague and Tom Townsend. Many of the pieces are for sale with proceeds benefiting the library.”
Art workshops and other events will be featured as they occur.
The art workshop on Saturday, October 22, is Poetry in Motion, a beading workshop by D’Arsie Manzella. Registration is required as space is limited. Sign up by calling 716-763-6234 or emailing programs@lakewoodlibrary.org.
Another special programon Wednesday, October 26 at 5pm, is “Spiders, Bats, Snakes: Oh My”, a program by Becky Nystrom, Jonathan Townsend, and Twan Leenders, “knowledgeable and passionate local biologists that will explore the causes and consequences of the common misconceptions surrounding these creatures that so many consider creepy.” It’s recommended for teens and adults.
Beginning in January, Lakewood Library will host the Acting Lab every second and fourth Saturday, 2-4pm. Open to students 16 and older, it will focus on basics like word order and diction, contentless scenes, drama games, monologues, and script analysis. Participants will also learn from acting legends, including Stanislavski, Meisner, Strasberg, Adler, Hagen and more.
“We recognize the value of arts programming in the community and offer this as another way to enrich the lives of our patrons,” Taylor says.
Further information is available at lakewoodlibrary.org