Monday, December 28, 2020
Monday, December 21, 2020
Monday, December 14, 2020
Free Streaming Videos
Libraries offer such a wealth of free resources that sometimes even we librarians are surprised to learn about all of the amazing benefits provided by the simple library card. If you’re anything like me, you were delighted to learn in last week’s blog that one of the benefits of a State Library card is access to free streaming videos! This is especially welcome news now that so many of us are spending more time at home. As soon as I read about this option, I logged into my State Library account and was thrilled to see that there were over a thousand videos available to stream instantly, including movies and TV shows in a variety of genres: comedies, dramas, documentaries, children’s videos, and many more.
If you’re a permanent Massachusetts state employee, you too can stream free videos with your State Library account. Simply log in to the C/W MARS Overdrive site with your State Library card number (be sure to select “CW MARS Patrons” from the dropdown box upon login), and navigate to the “Videos” section in the “Collections” tab. Another option is to use the Overdrive app, which allows you to watch streaming videos on your Android, Chromebook, iOS, or Fire device.
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| Some of the videos available for streaming |
If you need help setting up your account or getting started with streaming videos, you can view Overdrive’s Help page or get in touch with us at the State Library Mon-Fri 9am-5pm via chat, phone (617-727-2590), or email (reference.department@mass.gov).
It’s easy to sign up for a State Library card if you don’t already have one: just fill out our online form for state employees, and we’ll send you your new library account information so that you, too, can explore all of the free videos brought to you by your library.
Laura Schaub
Cataloging Librarian
Monday, December 7, 2020
State Employees: Sign Up For an “Electronic” State Library Card Today!
Even though the State Library’s physical location is closed, our librarians continue to work diligently to provide remote services to our patrons. And as a reminder, state government employees can still sign up for a new library card or request a card renewal. What can a library card do for you? Many things!
- Sign-in and manage your State Library patron account online. Patrons can view books that have been checked out, as well as change their password (from the default password that we issue upon sign-up) and other personal information.
- Borrow from thousands of ebooks, audiobooks, popular magazines, and even movies—for free! Just use your library card and password to sign into your CW/MARS Overdrive account: https://cwmars.overdrive.com
- Access journal and newspaper databases provided by Ex Libris, including JSTOR, GALE Academic OneFile, the Boston Globe, and New York Times. Choose a database by name or subject by visiting our serial solutions page.
- Submit requests for books and journal articles via interlibrary loan. Here’s how: https://www.mass.gov/how-to/interlibrary-loan-at-the-state-library
- Note: book lending has been suspended at this time.
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| An example of some of the thousands of ebooks that are available to borrow. |
Applying for or renewing a State Library card is easy! All you have to do is fill out our online form here: https://www.mass.gov/forms/state-library-card-online-application-form. Once the form is processed, we will send you your library card information.
If you have any questions about signing up for or renewing a library card, or if there’s anything else the library can do for you, contact us! Our librarians are working Monday-Friday, 9AM-5PM and can best be reached via email (reference.department@mass.gov) or through our new chat service.
Kaitlin Connolly
Reference Department
Thursday, December 3, 2020
Friends of the Library Newsletter - December issue
Keep up with the State Library's activities and programs with the Friends Newsletter. To download your own copy visit: https://www.mass.gov/news/december-friends-of-the-library-newsbrief
Monday, November 30, 2020
On (Virtual) Display in the State Library
As Thanksgiving ends and we look towards the upcoming holiday season, it’s time to pick a new item for our virtual display! This December, we’re sharing Christmas Eve on Beacon Hill, a small twenty page booklet from our collection that dates to 1918.
Christmas Eve on Beacon Hill was written by Richard Bowland Kimball, a resident of the neighborhood, with drawings done by Maurice Day. Kimball, who was a new arrival to Beacon Hill, writes that he was unaware of Beacon Hill’s Christmas Eve celebrations when he first accepted an invitation from a friend to participate. He describes walking around the neighborhood and seeing “candles beyond counting in the windows. Delia Robbia Madonnas or painted medieval ecclesiastical carvings fastened to the old housewalls, green wreaths on the old white doors, Christmas trees behind the panes; and moving among the groups, church choirs, led by trumpeters, stopping and singing before the houses old carols.” Kimball was experiencing a popular Beacon Hill tradition that had begun almost a decade prior.
Beacon Hill decorated with candles in the windows and carolers on the streets can be attributed to Elizabeth Cram, wife of architect Ralph Adams Cram. Circa 1907, Elizabeth urged her friends to place candles in their windows on Christmas Eve, and after being well received, the group formed the Chestnut Street Christmas Association. The association began formally organizing Christmas Eve candle and caroling festivities, and it proved to be so popular that people came from around the city to visit Beacon Hill. In the coming years, the tradition of lighting candles even spread elsewhere in the city as well as to cities far and wide. As Kimball writes in 1918, “Last year Christmas Eve was celebrated with candles and carols as far west as San Francisco, as far north as Labrador.” As a fun Christmas addition, you can also click here to see a Cram family Christmas card designed by Ralph Adams Cram and held in Historic New England’s ephemera collection.
As the preservation librarian, I should also note that this booklet could use a little repair work! Based on the digitized images, it looks like there is a fair amount of non-archival adhesive tape that was used for mending over the years. In the lab, we would try to remove that tape, mend the pages, and perhaps re-do the simple pamphlet stitch that was done as the binding. Some general cleaning would give it a nice fresh look, too! Though we’re not in the lab at the moment, I can flag this item for preservation attention once we’re back on-site, and maybe it will look good as new by the time the holiday season rolls around in 2021!
We are featuring the cover of this booklet here on the blog, with its ornate font and a beautiful night time illustration looking up Chestnut Street to the golden dome of the State House. The image is flanked by taper candles, similar to the ones that would have been found in the windows of Beacon Hill homes. To see the full booklet, be sure to check it out on DSpace. Take a close look at all of the festive drawings of Beacon Hill windows adorned with wreaths and candles. And regardless of how or if you celebrate the holiday season, we wish everyone a happy and healthy December full of good cheer.
Elizabeth Roscio
Preservation Librarian
Monday, November 23, 2020
December Author Talk: Nicholas Basbanes
- Cross of Snow: A Life of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow by Nicholas Basbanes
- Monday, December 7, 2020—6:00pm
- Presented by American Ancestors/New England Historic Genealogical Society and the State Library of Massachusetts
- Hosted on Zoom by GBH Forum Network
Cross of Snow, the result of more than twelve years of research, is the first major literary biography of Longfellow in more than fifty years. Since the biography’s release in June, reviewers have taken particular note of the modern feminist approach Basbanes has employed to give full biographical attention to Fanny, taking in her work as a brilliant artist, diarist, correspondent, and chronicler of her times.
Nicholas Basbanes is an award-winning investigative journalist and the author of ten critically acclaimed works of cultural history; his first book, A Gentle Madness: Bibliophiles, Bibliomanes, and the Eternal Passion for Books, was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for nonfiction and was a New York Times Notable Book. His 2013 book On Paper: The Everything of Its Two Thousand Year History was one of three finalists for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction and was named a best book of the year by six national news organizations. Basbanes also writes the “Gently Mad” column for Fine Books & Collections magazine, lectures widely on book-related subjects, and is a frequent contributor to Humanities magazine and other publications.
This free virtual event is presented as a partnership between the American Inspiration author series by American Ancestors/NEHGS and the State Library of Massachusetts, produced by GBH Forum Network. To register, please visit: https://wgbh.zoom.us/webinar/register/6216038823579/WN_2YfSc2wNQE2cTZt_il_16A
Be sure to check out the other upcoming author events hosted by our partner, American Ancestors/NEHGS: https://www.americanancestors.org/inspire
Author Talks Committee
State Library of Massachusetts
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