Independent Film Night Thursday, August 11th @ 6:30 - Illegal - a film by Olivier Masset-Depasse

Join us at 6:30PM on Thursday, August 11th for the latest installment of our Independent Film Series: Illegal - a film by Olivier Masset-Depasse (2010). This is an elegant little film about a former teacher from Russia living illegally in Belgium with her fourteen year old son. They are caught one day by the Belgian authorities. Her son escapes arrest but she is taken into custody and threatened with imminent deportation. What follows is her struggle to maintain her dignity while she attempts to gain freedom for her and her son. 95 mins. In French and Russian with English subtitles. This screening made possible by the Friends of the Pollard Library.

The Pollard Library Independent Film series occurs the 2nd Thursday of every month! Please note: These Independent films are not rated by the MPAA and should be considered for mature audiences.

Man Booker List Announced

The 2011 Man Booker longlist was announced yesterday. This is a prestigious annual prize given to a full-length novel, written by a citizen of the Commonwealth of England or the Republic of Ireland and published in the United Kingdom for the first time in the year of the prize.

There's good news and bad news. The good news is that the longlist for the prize gives us a list of some of the best books to have been published in the past year, including in this case the works of four first time novelists. New work, new life—always exciting. The bad news is that many of the works are not yet available in the United States. The Los Angeles Times published the full list including predicted dates of when you might find them on American bookshelves.

Parker Lecture Brochures Now Available

It's that time of year again. Time to mark your calendars for the upcoming Parker Lecture Series. We have the attractive 2011-2012 Calendar of Events brochures available at our public desks. Some of the highlights include local authors, Jane Brox and Katherine Paterson, a panel on "Intellectual Property and the Arts" featuring Andre Dubus III, Arno Minkkinen and Alan Williams, and of course, the Pollard Library will be hosting a few events this fall:

September 22, 7PM -- Chaim Rosenberg will give a talk on his recently published biography of Francis Cabot Lowell.

October 20, 7PM -- Stephen Collins will perform his one man show "Shake-Scene" about none other than William Shakespeare.

November 17, 7PM -- RP Hale will give a talk entitled "The 2012 Fraud: Misreading the Maya and Their Calendars" just in time for the new year.

Come on down to the library and pick up your brochure today! And while your at it, enter our Adult Summer Reading drawing!

Park Service Civil War Trading Cards - Last Week for Luther, Abba's Up Next

This is the last week to pick up your Luther Ladd Civil War Trading Card created by the Lowell National Historical Park and available now at our public desks. Get 'em while they last! Beginning next Monday, August 1st and for the rest of the month of August we will be offering Abba Goddard's trading card, which is ironic because she wrote for the Lowell Offering. Here are some other facts about Ms. Goddard and her connection to the Civil War from her Park Service Trading Card:

Abba Goddard moved with her family to Lowell in 1834. She wrote for the Lowell Offering in the 1840s under the pen names A.G.A. and A.A.G. In October 1861, Goddard left Portland, Maine with five other women to accompany the 10th Maine Infantry as a nurse. "Miss Goddard will receive the blessings of our sick boys to the end of life," stated John M. Gould, a veteran and historian of the 10th Maine.

Non-Fiction Book Club discusses Cod: A Biography of a Fish that Changed the World. Thursday, August 4th @ 6:30PM

Last month the Pollard Non-Fiction Book club had a record attendance number and a spirited discussion of Stephen Puleo's Dark Tide: Great Boston Molassess Flood of 1919. Month by month, this group just keeps getting better.

Next up for the group is Cod: A Biography of a Fish that Changed the World by Mark Kurlansky. This book is a little older but the favorite of many avowed non-fiction book lovers. Part history, part cookbook, part travelogue, this book presents a unique reading experience. So, read up and come on down to join in on the discussion, August 4th @ 6:30PM in the Ground Floor Community Room. All are welcome, snacks provided.

Baby, it's HOT out there....Cooling Center Open

The Lowell Senior Center is open for a cooling center to 8:00PM tonight and as needed during the week. You may call the center at 978-970-4131 to see if the hours will be extended after 4:00PM other days. Everyone is welcome, no residency or age restrictions.

Adult Summer Reading -- Tell Us Where You've Been

We know you've all been busy reading the summer days away. We know because we've been busy reserving, checking out, and shelving all those books you've requested, picked up, and returned. Now, it's time to get your just rewards by entering our Adult Summer Reading raffle. You can enter by stopping by the 2nd Floor Reference Desk to fill out an entry form. The form will ask you to rate the books you've read and give a short review. One entry form per book read. We'll be raffling off adult summer reading prizes (tote bags, notepads, etc.) on Friday August 5th. Questions about this program may be directed to Sean Thibodeau, Community Planning Librarian sthibodeau@mvlc.org.

Share Your Vision of Lowell, for Lowell

Do you have ideas to share that would make Lowell a better place to live or work? The City's Department of Planning and Development invite you to share your ideas at an upcoming public visioning session. Your contribution will help shape the city's long range plans for the future. All meetings will take place at the Lowell Senior Center, 276 Broadway St, from 6:30-8:30pm. Light refreshments served. Dates and topics follow:

July 14th—Housing and Public Services

July 19th—Transportation and Mobility

July 25th—Economic Development, Workforce Investment and Institutional Partnerships

July 28th—Community Character, Engagement and Identity

August 3rd—Open Space and Natural Resources

Illuminated Reading

Local author Jane Brox has published an illuminating essay about the history of reading in the Boston Globe this past Sunday. In it, she traces the past present and future of reading. One of the more interesting sections deals with the auditory tradition of reading, especially during the Medieval Ages, since there were few books and even fewer readers. Her meditation on the future of reading in a digital world is also interesting, and being a library we especially appreciate her defense of the printed word and our role in its preservation:

As the screen overtakes the solid page, and the ground floors of libraries have begun to look like the decks of starships, and the page has become its own lamp, as millions of books become available at the click of a key, and a simple search will turn up almost anything one needs to recall, surely the memory of what is read is dissolving all that much faster. As a stalwart reader of printed books, I’m left to wonder what will happen to the wide, slow silty river of the their history, to the countless volumes waiting now in the abandoned silence of library stacks. Stacks: The word itself connects books to the harvest, to corn and hay. They were always earthbound. Smell the must, feel the brittle, browning pages between your thumb and forefinger. The tears, the cracked spines, the stains and folds. Even if we readers forget them, printed books will hold us in their memory.

The Pollard's physical structure may never look like a starship but we, along with other modern libraries, are in a sense charting a course through strange new worlds in the digital universe. Though, our circulation numbers will attest that our stacks are far from being abandoned.

The full essay is available here. Consider subscribing to the Globe if you appreciate the writing.

Free Concert this Sunday - Lowell Philharmonic Orchestra

This Sunday, July 10th at 3pm, come rain or come shine, the Lowell Philharmonic Orchestra is giving a free live performance at the Shedd Park Pavilion. Bring some lawn chairs or a picnic blanket (and basket) and allow their dulcet tones to gently lead you into a soft summer's Sunday evening.

Unique Charitable Effort

On July 14th, our library director, Victoria Woodley, will be going behind bars for "good" by participating in a "Lock Up" benefit for the Muscular Dystrophy Association, all in an effort to help send kids to summer camp. For more information about this program and to find out how you can help please visit her webpage.

Delayed Opening (11am) Tomorrow 7/7

A quick reminder, tomorrow is the first Thursday of the month and that means we will have a delayed opening to accommodate a staff training. The library will be open from 11am-9pm tomorrow. We thank you in advance for your patience and understanding.

You can take the extra time to finish Dark Tide in advance of tomorrow night's discussion.