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Go Green at Hamilton-Wenham
The Hamilton-Wenham Public Library is a proud recipient of the How Green Is My Library? grant, which awards funds to be spent on web support, collection development, programs and promotions for green living. Our GoGreen pages provide information about green topics of local interest, such as composting, organic food, energy savings and toxins reduction, and provide you with resources that will enable you to go green.
Be sure to check back frequently as this page and its subpages continue to expand over the coming weeks and months!
An Important Press Release...
GoGreen Library Events
Special GoGreen Pages
Electronic Resources With A Green Focus
Print and Media Resources
Library Director's GoGreen Blog
Additional Local Resources
Brought to you by...
An Important Press Release...
The Hamilton-Wenham Public Library won an important grant from the federal
Institute of Museum and Library Services through the Library Services and
Technology Act administered by the Massachusetts Board of Library
Commissioners. |
GoGreen Library Events
Do you want a refresher on a program you attended, |
On February 15th, Heidi Wilcox of the Massachusetts Toxics Use Reduction Institute presented Reducing Toxins in Your Home, a talk on the many ways in which toxic items are present in everyday items that we use in the home. She also presented alternatives and make-it-yourself versions.
Sally Zimmerman, Manager of Historic Preservation Services at Historic New England, presented Energy Retrofits and the Historic Home: Weighing Risk and Opportunities on February 29th. This valuable program focused on improvements to older houses without damaging historic fabric. Sally provided an historic preservation perspective on insulation, window repair, air sealing, and renewable energy options in the historic home.
Gretel Clark held a series of four H-W Trash Q&A sessions in March and April, helping people with their questions, concerns, and problems with the new recycling and trash pickup guidelines.
On March 6, Alison Hardy of Window Woman of New England presented on Repair of Wooden Windows. Alison was featured in This Old House and the New York Times. An expert on repair and restoration of wooden windows, her philosophy is "Save Energy, Save Money, Save History: Restoration not Replacement."
Master Gardener Betty Sanders presented Dirt On Your Hands, Soil In The Garden on March 7th. She believes that the soil we plant in is the most overlooked aspect of gardening, and discussed how using gardening methods which improve rather than hurt the soil, with an emphasis on turning kitchen and gardening waste into compost, can create gardens from the ground up.
On March 28th our children's room held a Create a Collage! activity as a tie-in with our community read, The Mangrove Tree.
The next day, March 29th, Mangrove Tree Author and Illustrator Susan L. Roth and illustrator Cindy Trumbore came to the library to discuss their book: a fascinating synthesis of children's poetic narrative and nonfiction documentary, with paper and mixed media illustrations, about the work and life of Dr. Gordon Sato.
Dr. Sato came himself that evening for The Manzanar Project with Dr. Gordon Sato at Gordon College, where he discussed his enormously successful hunger-fighting initiative, planting mangroves in Eritrea, Africa, crediting his early inspirations as a young man growing corn to feed his family in the Manzanar Internment Camp. View Dr. Sato's inspirational and moving presentation here:
You can also visit his Manzanar Project webpage for more information.
On April 4th, Betty Sanders returned to discuss Healthy Lawns and Lawn Alternatives. "How much lawn do you use? How much do you need? What can you do with the rest of your property?" Betty focussed on how people can care for their lawn with minimal environmental impact, and without breaking the bank.
Lisa Spence of the Salem Community Cardens presented on the ins and outs of home composting in Vermicomposting on April 11th. Attendees asked many questions and had an opportunity to view our library's vermicomposter, learning about the 2,000 red worms who call it home.
Miniatures by Winson Morrill were on display at the library throughout the month of May. Winson is a Hamilton resident and was featured on the Boston's Channel's Chronicle HD for his skillfully executed miniatures. His pieces are amazing examples of recycled art: he uses the wood from former buildings (for example, the original Beverly Hospital) to make his ships in bottles.
We also hosted a display by The Friends of the Boston Harbor Islands, which included a map of the National Park, its origins,
directions, and the geological, plant and animal features on the
islands. There was also information about America's first lighthouse. We thank the Friends for their kind donation of three books: East of Boston: Notes from the Harbor Islands, Kings Handbook of Boston Harbor and
Chestnuts, Galls, and Dandelion Wine: Useful Wild Plants of the Boston Harbor Islands.
On May 2nd, Robert Reid, founder of the Organic Garden Cafe, gave a presentation on Going Green With Your Diet, in which he inspired patrons to grow and use their own fresh ingredients in raw food creations.
Tina Woolston, Director of the Office of Sustainability at Tufts University, presented The Climate Reality Project on Wednesday, May 30th. Founded and chaired by Al Gore and with over five million members and supporters worldwide, the Project "is guided by one simple truth: the climate crisis is real and we know how to solve it."
That night we also held the drawing for our GoGreen Library Bingo challenge. Patrons submitted their completed Bingo sheets for the chance to win a gift basket. Congratulations go to Tricia for the winning entry.
Vic and Sticks' Recycled Rhythm Band gave a fast-paced interactive performance on Wednesday, June 27th, championing the cause of kindness and sharing the message that everyone can make a difference through respect for oneself, other people, and the entire planet. Empty plastic bottles were handed out to the volunteers and transformed into percussive musical instruments, demonstrating the possibilities of "Reduce, Reuse and Recycle."
On Saturday, July 21st there was a Monarch Butterfly Program. Boston College professor Dr. Charlie Hoffman spoke about the identification, collection and care of Monarch eggs and caterpillars, and even how to raise them at home.
There was also a special program about BATS! by the Ipswich River Wildlife Sanctuary on Thursday, July 26th.
On Tuesday, September 25th, weather observer and author Eric Pinder gave a presentation on Mount Washington: Home of the World's Worst Weather. He related the peculiar pleasures of living and working as a member of the Mount Washington Observatory crew and discussed Mount Washington's distinctive geology and weather.
Tuesday also marked the end of our Sunflower Growing Contest., which began back in May. Participants used the seeds we provided, together with the soil and fertilizers of their choice, to grow big, beautiful sunflowers. The library received 14 entries altogether. Congratulations go to the Dobbins family, who swept the two winning categories: tallest sunflower (12'10 1/4'') and largest sunflower head (13'' in diameter.)
Thanks also go to local Hamilton student Julia, who created a Jing video earlier in the year, demonstrating how to use our subscription to the InfoTrac databases to research sunflowers and learn about growing them. It was a great help!
On Wednesday, September 26th, Eric Seaborn of Mass. DCR Urban & Community Forestry talked about to Stop the Asian Longhorned Beetle, an invasive species that is endangering thousands of trees, by knowing its life cycle, recognizing the signs of its presence, and distinguishing it from other insect lookalikes.
Special GoGreen Pages
Our special GoGreen pages provide a closer definition of the topic in question, together with a selection of relevant titles and other resources for further exploration.
The Mangrove Tree
(a community read)
Electronic Resources With A Green Focus
You could run riot on the internet as you research going green - or, you can start with our list of electronic resources, and collections of resources, with a particularly Green focus. This is a great way to find reliable, vetted information on a given subject.
- EBSCOHost [In the Library | From Home]
Use your 14-digit MVLC library card barcode number for remote access. Once in, click on GreenFILE. GreenFILE is a multi-disciplinary collection of scholarly, government and general-interest titles covering all aspects of human impact on the environment, with indexing and abstracts for more than 612,000 records, and full text for more than 9,100 records.
- InfoTrac® PowerSearch [Click here!]
PowerSearch makes it possible to find subjects from A-Z in one or several of the Thomson Gale's periodical resources in a single search. InfoTrac® links will work from anywhere in the state of Massachusetts. The following are those InfoTrac® collections most suited to Green research:
- Environmental Studies and Policy Collection
A collection of over 700 journals and 6 subject-specific Delmar reference titles covering environmental issues and policies that include perspectives from the scientific community, governmental policy makers, and corporate interests. - Gale Opposing Viewpoints in Context*
An excellent online resource covering today’s hottest social issues, with more than 5,000 topic overviews. Once in, click Issues, then choose Energy and Environmentalism for a ready list of GoGreen topics. - Gardening, Landscape and Horticulture Collection
It doesn't get any greener than this how-to hub, with information on everything from floral arrangements to conservation research to the biology of different plant species. - Global Issues in Context*
Once in, Browse Issues and Topics, then select Environment and Climate Change to explore how development industrialization affect us all. Or, use the World Map to search the regions of interest to you. - Home Improvement Collection
Do it yourself! Go green in your own home with this special collection of more than 250 home improvement-focused titles. Find out everything from environmentally friendly building materials to energy management and efficiency. - Science in Context
More than 22,000 topic overviews! This resources provides excellent reference content, with full-text magazines, academic journals, news articles and more.
- Environmental Studies and Policy Collection
For access to all of our databases, visit our Online Databases and our Hamilton-Wenham Databases.
Print and Media Resources
Visit our catalog to search all of our holdings. Below is just a sampling of some of our excellent green titles in both print and media form.
Remember to check our Special GoGreen Pages for books that focus on the subjects of home energy savings, composting, organic food, and toxins reduction.
Library Director's GoGreen Blog
Library Director Jan Dempsey maintains the GoGreen Blog, where she blogs about programs and resources for home energy savings, composting, organic food, and toxins reduction.
Visit the blog for the latest pictures of our vermicomposter, or Jan's LibraryThing list of the latest books bought with our "How Green is My Library" grant money.
Additional Local Resources
Sagewell Imaging does Hamilton-Wenham
Town of Hamilton Department of Public Works
Town of Wenham Community Services
Brought To You By...
This project is being funded through the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners with funds from LSTA (Library Services and Technology Act), a Federal source of library funding provided by the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
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Modified 10/11/2012
