Good morning. I’m Spencer Buell, and I write about Cambridge and Somerville for the Globe. A lot of my reporting can be found in our Camberville & Beyond newsletter, which is a weekly digest of news and conversation-starters from those two fascinating cities.
I spend a lot of time in Camberville covering all sorts of things. I have covered strife in Somerville between library staff and City Hall, and have talked extensively with staff members about what the job is like these days.
Today, I want to share a few thoughts about the ways the role of libraries, and the people who make them what they are, has evolved to meet the times. But first:
- A Maine man was one of the 39 people convicted of non-violent crimes who were granted pardons by President Biden Thursday (along with 1,500 sentence commutations). “I was choked up a bit,” he said.
- In Sweden, a world leader in minimizing municipal waste, the goal is for every possible scrap to be recycled, composted, or turned to biogas. What can we learn from them?
- Bill Belichick is going back to college, and he says it’s a dream come true.
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TODAY’S STARTING POINT
It’s no secret that libraries have become targets. Attempted book bans, including in dozens of Massachusetts districts, are back in vogue. Backlashes to libraries’ expanded programming offerings, especially when they involve or include LGBTQ people, are part of the political landscape and likely will be for some time. Somerville certainly knows this. Last year, ahead of a planned drag queen story time, its library faced not only a protest, but also a bomb threat — the first in the library’s history, officials told me — that shut the event down.
Yet libraries, at least in New England, aren’t just surviving the attacks; they’re thriving. Adapting to the times is what libraries have been doing now for years.
Just ask Sanda Erdelez, dean of the School of Library and Information Science at Simmons University, who I called this week to talk it over.
A new age: “Libraries are constantly reinventing themselves,” Erdelez said. “Whoever was projecting libraries would be dead because of the transition to digital resources overestimated. Because it’s not only about books. It hasn’t been only about books for a long time.”
Just drop by any library and look around. Space that once stored physical media is now used for computers, as meeting space for local organizations, or for work-from-homers to make use of the free wifi. Library “fiber arts” circles and jigsaw puzzle-assembly clubs socialize over crafts and cups of tea. “Maker spaces” are stocked with tools like 3D-printers and sewing machines, while “libraries of things” offer treasures-to-go. In Cambridge, the library will lend you a GoPro. In Somerville, you can borrow a birding kit, or even a karaoke machine.
You’ll find your traditional book clubs and author talks, but also movie nights, IT training, job-hunt coaching, yoga, terrarium-building classes, green-screen video tutorials, and on and on and on. Look up the events calendar at your local library. In all likelihood, it’s packed.
Filing in the gaps: The modern library has also become a community center, with all the responsibility that comes with it. Their quiet spaces are a respite for cities’ homeless community members who have no place else to go. In the colder months, they are one of the few remaining places where a person can spend a few hours of comfort and warmth without needing to pay for the privilege. Teenagers, with little money and few options for “third places” to spend time, turn to libraries en masse, with mixed results (as Somerville knows all too well).
‘“Because it’s not only about books. It hasn’t been only about books for a long time.”’
Sanda Erdelez, dean of the School of Library and Information Science at Simmons University
All of this, of course, has put new pressures on librarians, whose duties have expanded well beyond stocking books and swiping library cards. Many, including in Somerville, have begun adding social workers to their payrolls. (Erdelez says Simmons has begun integrating aspects of social work training into the curriculum for up-and-coming librarians, as well).
”Libraries end up being an overflow space, resolving whatever problems are emerging somewhere else,” Erdelez says. “Which is a huge responsibility, but it also creates an opportunity.”
Librarians are in the trenches every day. Next time you see one, say thanks.
POINTS OF INTEREST
By Teresa Hanafin, Globe Staff
A COSTLY CITY JUST GOT COSTLIER: The state Senate refused to let Boston Mayor Michelle Wu shift some property taxes onto businesses. Now some cash-strapped homeowners are facing a 10.4 percent hike in a city that’s already pricey. (Boston Globe)
I KNOW SOME HOMEOWNERS WHO COULD USE THE MONEY: Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts is removing 20 Dutch and Flemish paintings from its collection and plans to sell most of them at auction early next year. (Boston Globe)
MANGIONE’S MEDIA DIET: A spin through the public social media accounts of Luigi Mangione, the alleged shooter of the UnitedHealthcare CEO, appears to show that he’s not a right-wing or left-wing nutjob who spun off the rails; rather, he shares a belief system with many of his generation. (Politico)
LOST, THEN FOUND: The fall of the Assad regime in Syria means prisons are emptying. CBS News found a man identifying himself as American Travis Timmerman of Missouri (CBS News) while CNN’s Clarissa Ward was there when rebel fighters discovered a Syrian prisoner locked in a cell who was unaware of Assad’s ouster. (CNN)
NO SPIES: The FBI didn’t have any undercover agents at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, according to an inspector general report that debunked rightwing conspiracy theories that the FBI incited the riot. But there were paid informants there, and some of them later testified against the rioters. (CNN)
DRUG DEALS: The dean of students at Pittsfield High School in western Mass. has been charged with trafficking cocaine. He is not accused of selling to students. (Berkshire Eagle)
LOWER FINES: The Consumer Federal Protection Bureau is rolling out a new rule next October that would cap certain bank overdraft fees at $5. But small banks and credit unions are exempt. (Boston Globe)
ESCAPED JAILBIRD: Scrim the slippery pup is still eluding capture in New Orleans. And now the town of Essex in Massachusetts has its own celebrity escapee: A colorful peacock that’s been strutting around town since late summer. Locals have nicknamed him “Liberace” and “The Disco Chicken.” (Boston Globe)
BOOK THAT VIKING RIVER CRUISE: Fewer grandparents are taking care of grandchildren, according to the latest comprehensive data from the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey. It’s probably because deaths from opioid abuse have declined and fewer women are in prison. (AP)
A DUSKY PALETTE: As someone who once painted her living room a color called “Desolate,” it was nice to hear that “Mocha Mousse,” “Purple Basil,” and “Mapped Blue” are designer favorites for 2025. (Boston.com)
THE TRANSITION TO TRUMP
Appointments
President-elect Donald Trump plans to appoint Kari Lake, who lost races for governor and US Senate in Arizona and is a 2020 presidential election denier, to be the next head of the Voice of America. (NPR)
Politics and policy
Trump promised to start pardoning nonviolent participants in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol during the “first hour” that he returns to office. (NYT)
CORRECTION: In Wednesday’s Starting Point, we mistakenly said that Mariah Carey was performing at TD Garden this week. She appeared at the arena last week.
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Spencer Buell can be reached at spencer.buell@globe.com. Follow him @SpencerBuell.