Author Archives: Kate Farrish

Say hello to another new staff member at the Tolland Public Library

In honor of National Library Week, the Tolland Public Library Foundation is introducing and celebrating the new staff members at the Tolland Public Library.

Thank you to Frank James for the photo.

Karen Duhamel Lambert
Circulation Assistant
How long have you been at the Tolland library?  6 weeks
Favorite Book: “Trickster’s Queen” by Tamora Pierce
Fun Fact: “I have completed National Novel Writing Month twice.”

Circulation Assistant Karen Duhamel Lambert

Meeting the New Tolland Public Library Employees

To mark National Library Week, the Tolland Public Library Foundation is introducing and thanking the new staff members of the library.

Stop by and say hello to:

Anna Mae Wasielewski
Circulation Assistant
How long have you been at TPL? 10 Months
Favorite Book: “A Darker Shade of Magic” by V.E. Scwab
Fun Fact: “In my free time, I’m a Fire Wizard in an online fantasy world.”

Circulation Assistant Anna Mae Wasielewski

Photo by Frank James

 

Celebrating the Tolland Public Library Staff

The Tolland Public Library Foundation board of directors showed their appreciation April 4
for the Tolland Public Library staff, including Library Director Barbara Pettijohn, at the start of

National Library Week.

Treasurer Jan Rubino, at left, and Vice President Daniela Boebert Titterton, at right, dropped off plants, seeds and cards to thank Barbara, at center, and her staff for their exemplary service year-round.

Library Foundation Board Treasurer Jan Rubino, at left; Library Director Barbara Pettijohn, center, and Vice President Dani Titterton, at right

 

Thanks to Robert Rubino for the photos.

April 4 to 10 is National Library Week!

The Tolland Public Library Foundation will mark National Library Week April 4 to 10 with some posts celebrating the Tolland Public Library, Library Director Barbara Pettijohn and her hard-working staff that helps Tolland residents and library patrons all year long.

In particular, we’ll be introducing the new staff members all week. Thank you to Frank James of Tolland for the photos.

Lori Ferguson
Library Technical Coordinator
How Long at the Tolland Public Library: Seven months
Favorite Book: “The Secret Life of Bees” by Sue Monk Kidd
Fun Fact: “I’ve flown in helicopters several times.

Library Technical Coordinator

Library Foundation Launching Tolland Oral History Performance Project on April 28

Thanks to a grant from the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving, the Tolland Public Library Foundation will launch a townwide oral history project on April 28 at the Tolland Public Library.

The special community project, known as the Tolland Oral History Performance Project, centers around collecting oral histories of longtime Tolland residents and will culminate in a public performance developed from the stories collected through this effort.

Participants will use oral histories and historic records to create a community performance to highlight the lives of the people of Tolland, past and present.

The project cultivates intergenerational relationships while participants learn local history. They’ll also develop storytelling techniques, and the project will engage residents in civic public dialogue.

Kristen Morgan, a professor of Theatre and New Media Studies at Eastern Connecticut State University and a member of the board of directors of the library foundation, will direct the project. She has decades of experience in developing public performances based on oral histories and historic archives.

Her recent projects including “Thread City,’’ based on stories of immigrants who worked at the American Thread Mill Co. in Willimantic, and “Cultivating Dignity,” a production filmed during the COVID-19 pandemic on the experiences of a young Martin Luther King Jr. as he worked in the fields of the Cullman Bros. Tobacco Farm in Simsbury.

Morgan will lead a kick-off workshop on April 28 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the library at 21 Tolland Green to introduce the project and educate participants in how to conduct oral history interviews. The library foundation has donated funds to make recording kits available to be checked out from the library, and Morgan will explain how to use the kits.

Residents of all ages are welcome but are encouraged to register ahead of time by visiting tolland.org/library, clicking on the online events calendar and scrolling to April 28. For more information, email Morgan at [email protected].