Page 5 - annual-report-2019

Voyager: Herman Melville at 200, which opened in October. Thanks nearly one hundred storytime and craft programs, and nine special events,
are due to Book Conservator Christina Amato and Special Collections including a bookmaking workshop, a marionette show with authors David
Librarian Barbara Bieck for their time and efforts in readying these Ezra Stein and Miriam Kessler, and Sarah Porter’s Poetry Café. In May,
materials for exhibition and transport. we celebrated the stellar literary talents of our youngest members in the
2019 was another banner year for events and exhibitions. In January, seventeenth annual Young Writers Awards.
Women Get the Vote: A Historic Look at the Nineteenth Amendment July was a big month for personnel changes. We welcomed Chris Henry as
opened in the Peluso Family Exhibition Gallery. Visitors from as far away our new Building Superintendent, and we’re delighted to have found some-
as Japan, Istanbul, and New Zealand were inspired by the efforts of Head one who is relishing the role of caring for our century-old building. In the
of Exhibitions Harriet Shapiro, Communications Designer Doreen Pastore, same month, we bid farewell and good luck to Joan Zimmett, our Head of
and Circulation Librarian Cathy McGowan to bring the hard-won gains Development, on her retirement. Through her tireless efforts over the past
of the suffragists to life. twelve years, Joan has created a culture of philanthropy that has increased
annual giving and support for our collection and special projects. The pro-
Our events season featured several firsts, including welcoming a new
helping hand, Marialuisa Monda, to the department. A group of play- grams she’s nurtured will continue to strengthen the Library for many years.
wrights from the Dramatists Guild presented an evening of original plays In September, I attended the annual American Membership Libraries Group
inspired by the Library, with actors portraying characters from George meeting at the newly re-opened Center for Fiction in Brooklyn. Immediately
Washington and Lorenzo DaPonte to an underappreciated Library clerk afterward, I traveled to London with my MLG colleagues to participate in
named Frank. Giles Milton, a London Library trustee and the author of a conference organized by the London Library, in which we discussed chal-
Churchill’s Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, spoke to a sold-out crowd lenges and strategies with our fellow directors from independent libraries in
in a lecture co-sponsored with the International Friends of the London the United Kingdom. It’s been tremendously rewarding working together,
Library. And we were thrilled to present our own esteemed trustee sharing our experiences, and helping promote our unique institutions.
Robert A. Caro in conversation with member writer Brenda Wineapple 2020 is already shaping up to be a challenging year, but as an institution,
on his latest book Working: Researching, Interviewing, Writing. We also we are nothing if not resilient. With the steadfast support and dedication
fêted more than sixty of our member writers who published books of our loyal staff, trustees, and members, we will emerge stronger and
during the year, at two separate special receptions.
better than ever.
The Children’s Library hosted the wildly popular Family Fun Day, an open Respectfully submitted on April 28, 2020
house to introduce the community to the Library, atop their usual slate of Carolyn Waters, Head Librarian