The One-Card Tour
April 23, 2009
Thursday, April 23, 2009—It’s officially launched: a tour of all 41 libraries in our local Minuteman Library Network.
Who’s part of this event? Close friends who often head out on field trips together: Lola, age 8, who first suggested the tour; Bubbles, age 9; and 21, age 11; along with their moms, Virginia and yours truly. All of us, library lovers. The kids even more so when they travel together.
Why the tour? It’s pretty amazing that we can stroll into any one of dozens of libraries, browse the stacks, settle into a cozy corner to read, then check out all sorts of wonderful reading material just by presenting this one single card, free of charge. So we’re celebrating that fact. At the same time, each library has its own character, and we’d like to discover that as the tour unfolds.
Details: Well, we’re still working on those. Do we include all branch libraries (giving us a total of 64 places to visit), or just the main libraries? (All branches would be fun to try for.) What’s our time frame? (We had thought about the end of summer, but maybe it will take the rest of the year, or into next year?) We tend not to hurry once inside a library, so I have a feeling the details will just sort of fall together over time. (We’d never make it as Minutemen.)
State highway funds well spent.
Library # 1: Yesterday, Earth Day, we decided to officially start the tour with a library that none of us had been to before and that wouldn’t require too much gas for travel. So we picked the Goodnow Library in Sudbury.
"My favorite part was the old section, the room with the globe."
"My favorite part was the graphic-novel section. It was easy to find a copy of Bone."
"Favorite part? Reading."
More soon from the tour.
Birdfeeders at Goodnow. Even the birds find something satisfying here.
April 24, 2009 at 6:22 pm
I love this idea of your tour of Minuteman libraries! And aren’t we so lucky to have libraries, full and rich and free for all. Thank you librarians. Thank you illustrators and writers. Thank you readers of writers.
April 25, 2009 at 3:00 pm
Thanks, Sharon! Yes, we are so fortunate!
April 26, 2009 at 10:46 am
love the post. makes me want to jump in the car today and head out!!! yeah team!! peace
April 29, 2009 at 5:05 pm
What an AWESOME idea! I took the kids to the Boston Public Library in Copley last summer and got them a card. I was surprised that their children’s section is actually small compared to the ones in the burbs. At least the ones I’ve seen.
I’m adding this to my list of stuff to do over summer. If you’re not done by then, maybe the kids and I can join you?
April 29, 2009 at 11:22 pm
While it’s not part of the Minuteman network, BPL is also one we’ll visit. It’s an easy train ride from here. In fact, we’ve been talking more about details and using public transportation when possible as part of the tour. You guys are welcome to join the fun!
May 7, 2009 at 3:24 am
[...] did it get to be Wednesday already? In any event, last Saturday marked the second stop of our One-Card Tour. Saturday’s pick: the Concord Free Public [...]
May 15, 2009 at 2:18 pm
[...] last weekend’s visit to the Framingham Public Library (main branch) an official stop on the One-Card Tour. We’re calling it official, but with an asterisk to go back again with our full group, for a [...]
June 11, 2009 at 5:21 pm
[...] June 11, 2009—The One-Card Tour continues at a leisurely pace, as does my blogging this week. Last Friday afternoon, our One-Card [...]
July 23, 2009 at 5:33 pm
[...] The One-Card Library Tour resumes next week when three young friends are out of camp. Possibly related posts: (automatically [...]
August 23, 2009 at 11:26 pm
[...] August 23, 2009—So how is it possible that our group made no official visits as part of the One-Card Library Tour over the summer? Well, we all made visits to different libraries, but not as a group. Some of the [...]
January 27, 2010 at 3:02 pm
[...] 27, 2010 What happened to our One-Card Tour? Well, school and activities and work and the list goes on … That’s not to say we [...]
September 17, 2010 at 2:47 pm
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