Free to All - BPLF's Spring 2022 Newsletter

FREE TO ALL The Boston Public Library Fund brings BOLD IDEAS to life.

SPRING 2022 NEWSLETTER

Dorchester Cartoonist Named BPL’s First Teen Artist-inResidence The Lynch Foundation’s Generous Support Funds the Inaugural Role

By Julie Rafferty "I’ve been interested in art since I was very small, and I loved reading books and stories, whether or not they had pictures,” says LJ-Baptiste, the first-ever Teen Artist-in-Residence at the Boston Public Library. “But I really related to the Captain Underpants stories. They pushed me to draw my own comics.”

As an art educator and professional cartoonist, Baptiste has collaborated with companies including Google, Hasbro, and PBS to produce essential works of art. But he is perhaps best known for his ongoing comic book series, COMIXSCAPE, which features the adventures of a bright-eyed, perpetually preteen boy and his raccoon sidekick.

LJ’s story continues on page 2

PLUS: Cooking Up New Programs A Love for Literacy A Note from the Executive Director

Dorchester Cartoonist Named BPL’s First Teen Artist-in-Residence Beginning in late winter 2022, Baptiste will bring his approach to inspiring kids and teens to make art and appreciate the art around them to the Adams Street, Roslindale and Roxbury BPL branches as the inaugural Teen Artist-in-Residence.

This new six-month position and program is funded through a gift to the Boston Public Library Fund (BPLF) from the Lynch Foundation, and will include up to 15 classes for teens across the three branches, says Jess Snow, Assistant Manager of Youth Services.

“We’ve chosen those three newly renovated sites for this new effort because we really want to ignite programming for teens in those branches,” says Snow. “The significant arts focus in Roxbury generally is also a very important catalyst for developing this kind of programming there.”

Baptiste says he hopes that in his role as an Artist-in-Residence, he can help open up new artistic and critical thinking skills to both teens who have little drawing experience and those who have a budding passion for art and storytelling.

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A Note from the Executive Director DEAR FRIENDS, Your gifts to the Boston Public Library Fund (BPLF) are responsible for many of the “firsts” you’ll see at the Central Library and across all our neighborhood branches. Private support enables the Boston Public Library (BPL) to take on ambitious and creative opportunities and we are excited for you to read about some of the ways philanthropy brings bold ideas to life: • Our first Teen Artist-in-Residence LJ-Baptiste is sharing his artistic and critical-thinking skills with the Dorchester, Roslindale, and Roxbury branches to fuel a new generation of artists and storytellers, supported through the generosity of long-time partner The Lynch Foundation. (page 1) • Stephanie Chace, the BPL’s first Nutrition Literacy Coordinator, is partnering with local cultural institutions, community groups, area businesses, nonprofits, and city agencies to create a host of free programs focused on nutrition, all funded by a three-year commitment from the PDB Foundation. (page 6) • Dr. Julie Wood’s forward thinking estate gift is set to create opportunities for young patrons to connect with up-and-coming authors and illustrators of color. (page 8) The passion of these individuals — and their willingness to try something new, take risks, and serve others — is truly inspiring. I’m proud to be part of an organization that is so open to experimenting, improving, and learning. I know so many of you also value this about the BPL and it is an honor and privilege to continue this important work together.

With gratitude,

Paula S. Sakey Executive Director Boston Public Library Fund

Celebrate with Us! National Library Week is April 3 – 9

Together, we bring bold ideas to life.

500 GIFTS

To celebrate the Boston Public Library (BPL), generous sponsors will match 2:1 all gifts received during National Library Week, up to $200,000! That’s right — when you make a gift of $50 — our sponsors will donate an additional $100 to the BPL!

$300,000

National Library Week celebrates public libraries and highlights the valuable role they play in transforming lives and strengthening communities.

Use this QR code or visit www.bplfund.org/library-week to learn more about National Library Week and to view the names of our sponsors.

BPLF Spring 2022 Newsletter

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An Intellectual Home for All

By Richard Garver

Bates Hall is a unique Boston place. People of all backgrounds, from immigrants and high school students to writers and academics, have seated themselves next to each other at its oaken tables, illuminated by the glow of its green shaded reading lights, for over one hundred years.

Speaking for myself, Bates Hall is my most fruitful place to work. It is not only that its shelves contain essential resources like United States Census reports going back to the early 19th Century and that its reference librarians are unfailingly helpful. Its architecture, the almost tangible reverberation of ideas that have taken shape there over the years, and, most significantly, the respectful quiet of

For a short time, the Boston Public Library Fund is offering a limited opportunity to honor a family member or friend by dedicating one of Bates Hall’s 56 iconic green lamps with a distinctive engraved brass plaque.

Each brass plaque is 5¾ inches long by ¾ inch high with black engraved type. Two lines of text are provided for your special message.

Gifts and commitments of $18,000 secure the plaque in this historic location. Interested individuals should contact Carol Estes-Schwartz, Deputy Executive Director, at 617-859-2032 or cestes@bplfund.org to learn more.

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diligent fellow Bostonians contribute to an ambience that seems to elicit my best thinking.

There is perhaps no other place in today’s Boston that successfully brings such a crosssection of its people together, as they strive to advance their education, improve their place in society, grow in wisdom or just get out of the cold in a place where they are treated with dignity.

Over the span of 10 years, author Richard Garver spent hundreds of hours in the Central Library’s Bates Hall, researching and writing his contributions to the recently published The Atlas of Boston History.

“There is perhaps no other place in today’s Boston that successfully brings such a cross-section of its people together.”

- Richard Garver

BPLF Spring 2022 Newsletter

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The BPL’s First Nutrition Literacy Coordinator Cooks Up New Programs for Patrons

By Katie Miller With a generous donation from the PDB Foundation, the Roxbury Branch’s Nutrition Lab is now the Boston Public Library’s hub for culinary literacy. Leading this exciting initiative is Stephanie Chace, the Library’s first Nutrition Literacy Coordinator, who began her work in August 2021.

Stephanie sat down with the Fund’s Katie Miller to share more about her role and how food and cooking engage the community in a completely new way.

Katie Miller: Your work here at the Library is so unique. What is a Nutrition Literacy Coordinator?

Stephanie Chace: I spend my days primarily at the Roxbury Branch’s Nutrition Lab, but I support all branches. I collaborate with cultural institutions, community groups, city agencies, area businesses, and nonprofits to develop nutritionally based programming for the Boston community.

I love my job because I respond to the needs and interests of our patrons and build programs for them. For me, nutritional literacy is not passive.

It is skill and knowledge based, that when shared in an engaging manner, allows patrons to take actionable steps towards their own health.

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KM: What are you looking forward to in the year ahead?

SC: I’m excited about all of the partnerships we’ve formed. We are collaborating with Haley House, a café in Nubian Square. They have been part of the Roxbury community for a long time and we are setting up a series of cooking classes – one for families and another for seniors. We are also piloting a “teens and tacos” night with them.

In February, Stop & Shop offered the online class, “Plant-based Eating in the African Diaspora.”

We’re also doing an online program for individuals learning American Sign Language. Our class will teach signs for foods and snacks!

In March, we are collaborating with Apprentice Learning of Jamaica Plain to host classes at the Nutrition Lab for young people to learn culinary skills to work in the food services industry. We will also have our first in a series of Edible Alphabet cooking classes, based on the program created at the Philadelphia Free Library, where patrons can learn English through cooking.

KM: That’s a lot to kick off 2022!

SC: There is so much to do and I’m eager to implement all the terrific ideas I’ve received from patrons. I’m looking into a lecture series on African American cooking, pre-natal and post-natal nutrition classes, a solar cooking workshop, family recipe sharing, AND, I am on a mission to find the Roxbury Russet — an heirloom apple that was once harvested in the area. Maybe we’ll have a cider press and an apple bake-off next fall!

Innovative Program Will Serve Patrons Experiencing Housing Insecurity The Liberty Mutual Foundation, the Yawkey Foundation, and an anonymous donor have contributed to the effort.

By Ben Wind On any given night in Boston, more than 4,000 individuals sleep on the street or find refuge in temporary housing.

During the day, Boston Public Library (BPL) staff regularly interact with homeless patrons at the Central Library in Copley Square and across all branch locations.

Public libraries are often a safe place for shelter and rest. It is no surprise, then, that individuals experiencing homelessness have increasingly turned to the BPL for assistance in meeting their basic human needs. Since 2017, the Boston Public Library has partnered with the City of Boston’s Department of Neighborhood Development and the Pine Street Inn to provide crisis intervention and case management at the Central Library.

Now, with generous funding from the Liberty Mutual Group, the Yawkey Foundation, and an anonymous donor, the BPL is formalizing its social services division by hiring of a full-time social worker who will oversee a bold new endeavor known as the Peer Navigators program.

“The creation of an on-staff Library Social Worker position will be a critically important step for us to support BPL staff, strengthen our partnerships, and better serve our patrons

experiencing housing insecurity and related issues," says Library President David Leonard.

“The social worker will be a key role for partners in this work and lead the Peer Navigators program pilot.”

Peer navigators have experience living in housing-insecurity and are hired by the Library to engage patrons exhibiting indicators of homelessness. Through their lived experiences, these staff members will make authentic connections with patrons that might otherwise not be possible.

The Boston Public Library Fund secured the three philanthropic commitments in 2021 enabling the program to launch this fiscal year and is continuing efforts to sustain the program.

“With this funding, the Library created an innovative way of approaching housing-insecurity in the City of Boston,” says Boston Public Library Fund Executive Director Paula Sakey.

“We are incredibly grateful to our generous donors for enabling the BPL to pilot this critical program for our patrons.”

4,645 120 The average number of Bostonians who live on the street and/or find refuge in emergency shelters or transitional housing. *City of Boston 41st Annual Homeless Census, April 2021

Number of monthly interactions with individuals experiencing homelessness at the Central Library in Copley Square. *Central Library Staff Records

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Number of BPL locations where Peer Navigators will work to meet the most acute needs.

BPLF Spring 2022 Newsletter

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A Love for Literacy With a planned gift to the Boston Public Library Fund, Dr. Julie Wood supports the next generation of children’s book authors and illustrators.

By Katie Miller At each phase of her career — public school teacher, reading specialist, university professor, publishing consultant, editor, author — Dr. Julie Wood has developed innovative ways to help children read. As a young teacher, she created a reading summer school in her barn; later, she wrote the “I Can Read” series Tug the Pup; and today she is consulting for the YouTube Original series Kid Correspondent.

borrowing books because they could never afford to buy their own. When I think of the BPL, I think of my grandparents and my father, who grew up a stone’s throw from BPL. The Library was there for them. In my own small way, I want to make children feel welcome in one of Boston’s finest institutions.

Her varied areas of expertise enable her to work holistically across disciplines as she strives to cultivate a love of reading among young people. Dr. Wood received her master’s in education from the University of Connecticut and went on to Harvard University where she earned a doctorate in education with a focus on technology and innovation.

KM: What was attractive to you about creating a planned gift and earmarking this gift in your will?

Recently Dr. Wood included the Boston Public Library Fund in her estate plans to establish the Dr. Julie Wood Children’s Series. Her gift will be invested, and the earnings will fund annual opportunities for the BPL’s young patrons to connect with authors and illustrators.

Katie Miller: What inspired you to make this gift?

Julie Wood: Establishing the Children’s Series at the Boston Public Library Fund is truly a full circle moment for me. My grandparents immigrated to Boston during the Irish Potato Famine in the 1860s. They never attended college, but they loved to read. They placed great value on the Library and

JW: I’m at a point in my life where I want to leave a legacy.

Adding the BPL to my will allows me to hold onto my savings, while ensuring I can have a big impact later. The Children’s Series is forever and that makes me feel good! It’s all about supporting the next generation!

KM: What do you want your legacy to be?

JW: In the gift agreement, I requested that the Children’s Series emphasize up-and-coming authors and illustrators of color. Having worked inside publishing, I know it can be a closed off community. I think of all the talented artists and writers who represent the backgrounds of Boston’s children and I want to lift up their work. It is exciting to think about which authors and illustrators future BPL librarians will select!

For more information on gift strategies that can help you support the Boston Public Library Fund and provide significant benefits to you and your family, please contact Carol Estes-Schwartz, Deputy Executive Director, at 617-859-2032 or cestes@bplfund.org.

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A Shifting Economy Highlights Need for English Language Classes Eastern Bank Foundation Funds Expansion of the BPL’s ESOL Programs As immigrants account for an increasing share of Greater Boston’s population, the Boston Public Library’s cost-free English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) programming is in demand. Eastern Bank’s CEO Bob Rivers believes now is the time to invest in English language classes and the Bank’s Foundation recently made a generous grant to enhance the Library’s offerings. “As we begin to reposition the economy, we must address the wealth gap. This is the moment to lean into ensuring workforce mobility for all Boston residents and ESOL is how we are going to achieve that.”

Rivers adds that the grant is a true investment in the future. “Eastern Bank comes to this from a business perspective — that’s our expertise — and so the return, the ripple effect of ESOL on the local economy is quite rapid. There is a very clear path to improvement and to capitalizing on potential once individuals have mastered the English language.”

And while Rivers knows the business implications of ESOL, it is also personal for him. His mother, a Catholic school teacher in Dorchester for 30 years, proudly taught English at her public library. “My mom experienced how incredibly rewarding it is to unlock the skills and talents of our immigrant population and it’s exciting to know Eastern Bank’s partnership with the BPL is going to have a tremendous impact.”

Eastern Bank CEO Bob Rivers

Eastern Bank Foundation’s grant will help support BPL’s efforts to: • Hire an additional Literacy Instructor and train volunteers • Expand ESOL programs from 12 branches to all 26 locations • Develop outreach materials in multiple languages BPLF Spring 2022 Newsletter

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Sharing Boston’s Treasures The BPL recently purchased John Woolf’s photographs of vital city spaces.

By Aaron Schmidt BPL Curator of Photographs The BPL’s Arts Department recently purchased twenty-four inkjet print photographs, acquired from Boston artist John Woolf. These photographs include selections from his Mom & Pop Shop series of small retail stores located in Boston neighborhoods.

Woolf knows this city and its cultural institutions well; in addition to his work as a fine art photographer, he is the Digital Systems Manager for the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, responsible for imaging all of the museum’s collections.

For the Mom & Pop Shop series, Woolf focuses on local bodegas, barbershops, and bars. These places act as the face of a neighborhood, each with their own unique character, and are culturally significant, serving neighborhood needs and acting as vital gathering places.

Using a technique called High Dynamic Range, Woolf makes several exposures for each scene giving enough visual information to “mask separate areas of the photograph and adjust the brightness, contrast and color balance.” The masking process is like a digital mosaic as the photographer works and polishes sections of the image.

As the city gentrifies, and is reshaped by the pandemic, these familiar places are under threat. Knowing the vital role they play in their community adds poignancy to this series. Woolf ’s photographs are a significant addition to the BPL’s art collection as the Library strives to ensure its collections are diverse and inclusive.

The Boston Public Library Fund supports the Library’s ongoing efforts to ensure that the objects in its collection remain available to curious minds for decades to come.

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Billy’s Barber Shop, Dorchester 2018 Shanghai, Chinatown 2018

Transformative Change A new staff position at the Library will oversee the Library’s Founding Research Collection.

Facilitator. Detective. Project manager.

These are just a few ways to describe the critical work of the Library’s new position overseeing the Founding Research Collection. Thanks to a $1.6 million commitment by an anonymous donor through the Boston Public Library Fund and donations from the Associates of the Boston Public Library, the new role will steward renewed care and greater access to the over 400,000 volumes acquired during the Library’s earliest years.

Currently, individuals interested in researching the Collection must come to the Central Library and manually search microfiche cards, a laborious task in the digital age. This new staff role, which was filled in January 2022, will direct efforts to catalog, barcode, preserve, store, and scan books, pamphlets, magazines, and much more. In two years, the hope is that 150,000 items will become accessible to the public.

“It is so exciting to have someone fully dedicated to this historic collection and to now have the capacity and resources to make transformative change. I can’t wait to witness the discoveries and to share our findings with researchers and scholars in Boston and across the world,” says Beth Prindle, Head of Special Collections.

The Founding Research Collection was formed in the 1850s to provide the general public with free access to the kinds of specialized reading materials usually held by private subscription libraries or colleges.

BPLF Spring 2022 Newsletter

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UNLOCKING OPPORTUNITY ACTIVATING DEMOCRACY SHARING TREASURES After significant renovations, the Roslindale Branch reopened in December 2021.

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FREE TO ALL The Boston Public Library Fund brings BOLD IDEAS to life. | SPRING 2022 NEWSLETTER