Tuesday, April 10, 2012

MAKING HISTORY: SYNAGOGUE REPLICATION PROJECT, @ NEAJL SPRING MEETING

MAKING HISTORY : SYNAGOGUE REPLICATION PROJECT, WITH RICK AND LAURA BROWN, @ SPRING MEETING OF THE NEW ENGLAND CHAPTER OF THE ASSOCIATION OF JEWISH LIBRARIES (NEAJL) , FRIDAY, MAY 4.


The Spring Meeting of the New England Chapter of the Association of Jewish Libraries (NEAJL) will take place, Friday, May 4, @ Temple Emanuel, Newton, MA. All are welcome!

The schedule is below. (If you're just interested in the "Making History" program, it's fine to come just for that session.)

9:30 - 10:00: Coffee, tea, muffins, shmooze.

10:00 - 11:15. Making History: Synagogue Replication Project, with Rick and Laura Brown (details below).

11:30 - 12:15. The Wonderful World of E-Books! - facilitated by Jane Zande, Librarian, Cong. Beth Israel, W. Hartford, CT; and Cathy Balshone, Librarian, Newton Public Library.

12:15 - 1:00. Stay for lunch if you like! You may bring a dairy or pareve bag lunch. We''ll have water, seltzer, coffee, tea.

1:00 - Shabbat Shalom!

MAKING HISTORY, WITH RICK AND LAURA BROWN.

Rick and Laura Brown are the creative forces behind "Making History," a truly remarkable and inspiring project they founded ten years ago to replicate models of 17th century Polish wooden-frame synagogues, along with recreations of the exquisite paintings that adorned the vaulted ceilings and walls. The smaller scale models they have produced with artisans, scholars and students have been wowing viewers across the country over the last decade. Articles on earlier phases of their work have been featured in the NYTimes, JTA, and other publications.

Now, NEAJL members and guests have a chance to hear firsthand about this one-of-a-kind endeavor that is culminating this summer in Poland, as the Browns lead the final phase of construction and painting of the Gwozdziec synagogue replication project. The completed work will become the centerpiece of the Museum of the History of Polish Jews, set to open in Warsaw in 2013. The Browns, professors at Mass Art, are world renown in the field of recreating historic objects. Their work has been featured on PBS and the History Channel. They are co founders of HandsHouse Studio, a not-for-profit, innovative, educational organization that creates adventurous hands-on projects through community-service, building projects with non-profit partners around the world and is a Cooperating Institute with the Massachusetts College of Art and Design Professional and Continuing Education Program.

-Here's more info HandsHouseStudio and the Making History Project
They will tell us about HandsHouse Studio, the Synagogue Replication Project and a documentary film they're working on about the Synagogue Project.

RSVP ASAP, the latest, please, by Friday April 27, to Ann Abrams.

Ann Abrams, President, NEAJL
Librarian, Temple Israel, Boston

USED BOOK SALE!

There will be a  USED BOOK SALE, Sunday, June 10, from 9:00 - 2:00, of all kinds of Jewish books, for children and adults, @ Temple Israel, Boston.   For more information, please contact aabrams@tisrael.org

Monday, May 23, 2011

NEAJL Spring 2011 meeting

We had a very good meeting this past Friday, at Gann Academy!   Thanks to Julie and all the Gann staff!

As I said at the meeting, I'll post, here, some of the things we talked about, with the relevant websites:


1. Gil reviewed the Sydney Taylor winners, and most of the honor books.  They can all be found here.  

2. Gil also reviewed some new titles, for adults, including:


A)  David Biale's History of Secular Thought


B)  The Washington Haggadah


3) Cathy recommended Rebecca Goldstein's 36 arguments for the existence of God

4) Toby recommended   Nathan Blows out the Hanukkah Candles, by Tammy Lehmann-Wilzig  a book that focuses on a child on the autism spectrum,

and, Dorie Witt's Guide to Surviving Bullying, by Brigitte Berman   , whose title speaks for itself.


5)  Ann recommended How to understand Israel in 60 days or less
       by Sarah Glidden.


6)  Ann led a discussion about programs we run at our respective libraries.  Some of the ideas were:

  • Running events in tandem with other community events
  • Summer programs: "Breakfast and Books"
  • Jewish Book Month lectures
  • One synagogue one book
  • Author talks 
  • Custom-made bookmarks to promote a library


7)  Ann led a short discussion (because of time constraints) about what to do with old books, and/or books
      that no one's borrowed for years.  She mentioned that she hired an appraiser to come and appraise 
      about 50 titles in her collection, as a way to help in her thinking about whether to keep, sell, or give them
      away. 


8)  We were delighted to welcome Jonathan Krasner, who spoke to us about 
     The Adventures of K'tonton and Hillel's Happy Holidays: Children's Books and the Making of 
     American Jewish Identity,  which focused on the authors, Sadie Rose Weilerstein and Mamie Gamoran, 
     and the  artist, Temima Gezari; he then connected this talk with the subject of his latest book,   
     Samson Benderly and his 'Boys': Masters of American Jewish Education and their 'Dream Not Yet
    Come True'

Friday, July 24, 2009

Steven Bernstein on Making Your Library Visible in the Social Networking Age

Thank you to Steven Bernstein, Assistant Catalog Librarian at the Elihu Burritt Library of Central Connecticut State University for his illuminating presentation entitled "Making Your Library Visible in the Social Networking Age."

You can view his presentation here.

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Cathy Balshone-Becze: What Public Libraries Can Do For Special Libraries: Presenting an Overview of Services in Massachusetts

Thank you to Cathy Balshone-Becze for presenting on "What Public Libraries Can Do For Special Libraries: Presenting an Overview of Services."

This presentation is part of a joint session, "What Public Libraries Have to Offer Special Libraries – Massachusetts & Connecticut," presented with Laura Vasselle. It is a fantastic comprehensive overview of the organization of Massachusetts libraries and the services available available to Massachusetts residents, with a focus on those helpful to library professionals working in a Jewish institution. Stay posted for Marie's summary of the session. We appreciate Cathy's sharing her time, expertise and enthusiasm to expand the presentation's audience by allowing it to be posted here and are delighted that she and Laura were able to join forces in the spirit of the conference theme.



Cathy Balshone-Becze is Reference Librarian at the Newton Free Library in Newton, MA.

Thursday, June 25, 2009


Here is the group photo that was taken at the conference last week. Today Jane Zande emailed out a link to the very nice article that appeared in the Jewish Ledger about the conference, including this photo as well as a list of everyone who attended, including those not pictured.

Monday, June 22, 2009

Stephanie (Sara Leah) Gross: Social Media and Social Networking for Librarians

Thank you to Stephanie Gross of Yeshiva University for her presentation at NEAJL, "Social Media and Social Networking for Librarians: Sandbox Lessons Before 'The Real Thing'".


Sunday, June 21, 2009

Laura Vasselle: Electronic Resources available to Connecticut residents through iCONN

Thank you to Laura Vasselle for presenting on "Electronic Resources available to Connecticut residents through iCONN."

This presentation is part of a joint session, "What Public Libraries Have to Offer Special Libraries – Massachusetts & Connecticut," presented with Cathy Balshone. It is a rich sampling of the myriad resources available to Connecticut residents, with a focus on those helpful to library professionals working in a Jewish institution. Stay posted for Marie's summary of the session. We appreciate Laura's sharing her time, expertise and enthusiasm to expand the presentation's audience by allowing it to be posted here and are delighted that she and Cathy were able to join forces in the spirit of the conference theme.

Laura Vasselle is Information Technology Librarian at the Town of Bloomfield Libraries, Bloomfield, CT.