Mass Memories Road Show is this Sunday, Oct. 25th, at the Hebrew Center!

Share your Martha’s Vineyard memories and help paint a portrait of our community!

The Mass. Memories Road Show, a public history project that digitizes family photos and memories shared by the people of Massachusetts, is coming to Martha's Vineyard. In a joint project of all the Island public libraries, this free program will be held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 25, at the MV Hebrew Center in Vineyard Haven. The entire event on Oct. 25 is free and open to everyone. For more information, visit http://vhlibrary.org/MMRS.shtml, or contact your local library.

That Sunday, participants are invited to bring up to three family photos to be scanned and included in the state's digital archive. Contributors can also choose to share the stories behind the photos in a short video, have their own keepsake photo taken, and get advice from professional archivists and historians on dating and caring for their family photos.

The photos you bring to the Mass. Memories Road Show event can be old or new, formal or informal – simply images that are important to you and that you feel are representative of your history, your family or your connection to Martha’s Vineyard.  The photographs can be in any format—prints, digital on a disc or a thumbdrive, or even on your cell phone!  After scanning, which takes only a few minutes, you get the original images back. For examples of photos people have brought to past events, visit the state website maintained by the University of Massachusetts Boston: http://openarchives.umb.edu.

Participants usually spend half an hour or more at community Road Show events. Getting your pictures scanned doesn’t take that long, and people will have enough time to complete their paperwork and linger to look at photos that other individuals have contributed.

Attendees who bring photos to scan can enter a raffle prize drawing for a $100 Bunch of Grapes Gift certificate, very generously donated by the MV Times!

The Mass. Memories Road Show is produced by the University Archives & Special Collections Department at the Joseph P. Healey Library, UMass Boston and co-sponsored by the Patricia C. Flaherty '81 Endowed Fund. Local funding provided by Friends of island Libraries, and a grant from the Martha's Vineyard Cultural Council. Additional support provided by the Mansion House Inn, Twin Oaks Inn, Martha's Vineyard Times, Vineyard Gazette, and Steamship Authority.

Save the Date for the Friends Fabric & Yarn Sale

The Friends of the Vineyard Haven Library are planning a Fabric and Yarn Sale to benefit the library on Saturday, November 14th from 10:30 AM to 3:30 PM.

This will be a de-stash and re-stash event! Please help us get it going by donating fabric, yarns and needles for the sale. Drop items off at the library Sunday, November 1st through Tuesday, November 10th, during regular library hours.

Yarns, fabrics, and needles will be available at bargain prices. Most quilting cotton with be $1/yard and wool yarn as little as $1/skein. From 2:30 PM - 3:30 PM, fill a bag for $10! All proceeds will benefit the library.

Please spread the word to fellow fabric and yarn lovers!

New & Improved: Commonwealth eBook Collections!

CLAMS Library cardholders now have access to more than 10,000 popular eBooks and audiobooks through the Axis360 service in the Commonwealth eBook Collection. Use the new Axis360 mobile app to check out and download audiobooks and eBooks to a variety of tablets and other devices (excluding e-ink Kindles).

Other resources in the Commonwealth eBook Collection include BiblioBoard Library, which provides books, articles, documents, audio, images and video from traditional publishers, self-published authors and libraries’ own content collections, and Proquest's EBL (eBook Library), which includes resources to help with academic research as well as personal interests, from cooking to gardening.

In addition, CLAMS continues to offer access to our Overdrive eBook and Audiobook collection, which offers a wide variety of popular eBooks and audiobooks in all genres that work with almost any device.

To learn more, visit Vineyard Haven Library's Digital Media page at http://www.vhlibrary.org/econtent.shtml

The Commonwealth eBook Collection is brought to you by the Massachusetts Library System in partnership with the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners and your local library, funded in part by the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services. Overdrive eBooks are partially funded by the Friends of the Vineyard Haven Public Library.

Art in the Stacks: Sharon Simonin

The Friends of the Vineyard Haven Library are pleased to present an exhibit of photographs by Sharon Simonin. The exhibit will be on display on the lower level of the library, during regular library hours throughout the month of October.

Sharon Simonin was born and raised on Martha's Vineyard, graduated from Martha's Vineyard Regional High School, and now works for the Martha's Vineyard Saving Bank. She loves photographing the beauty of the Island and is a member of the Martha's Vineyard Photography Club, which meets at 6pm on the first Thursday of each month at Vineyard Haven Public Library. 

The Vineyard Haven Public Library's "Art in the Stacks" space features rotating monthly exhibits and is managed by the Friends of the Library. The library also has a permanent collection of artworks that are displayed throughout the year, including 12 paintings by Vineyard artist Captain John Ivory. Artists interested in showing their work may contact the library at (508) 696-4210.

Cape Cod & Islands Commission on the Status of Women to Host Public Forum

The Cape Cod and Islands Commission on the Status of Women (CCICSW) will hold a public hearing on Thursday, October 15, from 5:45 to 7:30 PM at the Vineyard Haven Public Library, 200 Main Street, Vineyard Haven.

Citizens, government officials and organizations that advocate for women and families on the island are invited to attend and encouraged to participate and inform commission members on issues that are important to women and their families, and their community across Martha’s Vineyard.  Oral and written testimony will be accepted. The hearing is open to the public.  This event will feature networking and an opportunity for those in attendance to offer comments and/or testimony on the issues that are important to them.

The information gathered at public forums is compiled by the commissioners and help frame their priorities on issues for consideration and attention.  A panel discussion and forum on housing insecurity and stability, an issue that is highly prioritized by the commission this year, will follow the public hearing and testimony.  The panel will be moderated by Deborah Medders, town moderator for Vineyard Haven and will also include Philippe Jordi, Director of Island Housing Trust.

The commission is also especially interested in hearing from the public on earned paid sick time and their other legislative priorities including: pay equity and comparable work and equitable coverage in disability policies.  The commission would also like to hear from women interested in serving in public life – being elected to public office or appointed to boards and committees.

An independent extension of the Mass. Commission on the Status of Women, the CCICSW was enacted by law and established in 2009 to advance women toward full equity in all areas of life and to promote rights and opportunities for all women.

For more information or If unable to attend, please submit testimony/comments to the CCICSW at ppollockccicsw@gmail.com, or to the attention of CCICSW, c/o  Pamela Pollock, vice chair, PO Box 629, Cataumet, MA  02534.