The Pollard Library will be closed Monday, February 20th, for Presidents' Day & Next Week is Lowell Kids Week

The Pollard Library will be closed next Monday, February 20th in observance of Presidents' Day.

And don't forget, next week is Lowell Kids Week! There are tons of free family friendly programs going on all around Lowell (including at the Pollard). The NPS has put together a handy schedule and a one page at a glance guide. And you can keep up to date on all the latest Kids Week news on their Kids Week Blog. Important to note that weather cancellations will be announced on WCAP 980 AM. Have fun!

Friends Meeting Thursday 6PM

Friends, Lowellians, Countrymen, lend me your ears...

Or just attend the Friends of the Library meeting this Thursday at 6pm. The hot topic is the planning of the annual booksale. The Friends of the Library is a group of people dedicated to supporting the library and its staff. This independent, non-profit organization raises funds via annual membership dues and book sales to help pay for museum passes and some wonderful library programming for the public. So, if you want to lend a hand to support your library and meet some great local folks in the process come on down to this meeting. Lend a hand, meet some friends, sounds like a good deal.

PBS Masterpiece - Great Expectations - This April

As if Downton Abbey weren't enough...PBS Masterpiece just released a teaser trailer for it's modern adaptation of Great Expectations premiering April 1st, & 8th. Of course, this adaptation was made in celebration of Dickens's 200th birthday which you should have heard of by now. There's lots going on round the world to celebrate and lots in your own back yard with the Dickens in Lowell yearlong celebration.

This Masterpiece adaptation of Great Expectations is the perfect opportunity for you to get a jump-start in advance of our Lowell Reads Great Expectations program this June-August. That is if you don't mind spoiling the reading experience. After all, there was a recent article in the Boston Globe's Braniac section that claims spoilers actually make stories better. It releives the anxiety of the unknown, or something like that.

Three Films in Three Days

It's always exciting to see the jersey barriers go up on Arcand Drive, because then you know Winterfest is almost here. We just wanted to remind you the Pollard is joining the fun with our own little disparate film fest tonight, tomorrow and Saturday.

PROTEKTOR - TONIGHT 6:30PM

First up is our monthly independent film night (2nd Thursday of every month) featuring the WWII inspired film from the Czech Republic, Protektor. This film, by Marek Najbrt, is a winner of 9 Czech Lions (Czech Academy Awards) and tells an intimate story of a husband and wife torn apart by the limitations imposed by the occupying German Nazis. If nothing else, it's interesting to witness the effects of the WWII German occupation of Czechoslovakia from the perspective of a modern Czech filmmaker. Protektor has not been rated by the MPAA and should be considered for mature audiences. The run time is 102 min. and it is in Czech with English Subtitles.

GOING BLIND - TOMORROW 1:30PM

Then, tomorrow as part of our See What You've Been Missing! Low Vision Open House, we will be screening the documentary Going Blind by Joseph Lovett. After years of suffering from diminishing vision due to glaucoma, Mr. Lovett decided to reach out to investigate and document how people all over the world respond to vision loss. The Lowell Film Collaborative has written a nice piece about the film and Mr. Lovett we appreciate them helping spread the word. So, come on by to the Vision Station Open House and see the station Demo from 12pm-1 and stay for a facinating documentary at 1:30PM. Not Rated. Run time is 82 min.

THE SMURFS - SATURDAY 1PM

There's something winterly about the Smurfs. Not in the sense that they're cold and cheerless, quite the opposite. But there's something about them that smacks of winter. Not sure quite what. Perhaps it's their blue skin? Or their white pants? When it came time to pick our annual family Winterfest matinee it was clear that the little guys were going to get the nod. So, come on by if your downtown enjoying the arctic fun at this Saturday's winterfest and warm up for a spell in the library with a modern take on a cartoon classic. The Smurfs—directed by Raja Gosnell and starring Neil Patrick Harris, Sofia Vergara, and Hank Azaria—is rated PG. Run time is 103 minutes.

NF Book Club - An American Requiem by James Carroll - Thursday, March 1st @ 6:30pm

What a refreshing thing it is to discuss a book with a diverse group of attentive and considerate adults. Reading is such a solitary, intimate and sometime arduous experience that to be able to share one's gained insights with a larger group of people who partook of the same solitary, intimate and sometimes arduous experience is a rare and wonderful thing. We're lucky this book group meets every month. What I mean to say is thank you once again to the Pollard's Non-Fiction Book Group, for this past Thursday's heartfelt discussion of The Emperor of All Maladies.

And to announce to Greater Lowell book lovers, it is time to set your sights on the next Non-Ficiton monograph. The selection for next month's discussion should be very interesting indeed. On Thursday, March 1st @ 6:30pm we will be discussing An American Requiem: God, My Father, and the War that Came Between Us by James Carroll.


Carroll is a former priest and Boston Globe columnist and this memoir won him the National Book Award in 1996. Here is a short synopsis from the jacket:

In this dramatic, intimate, and tragic memoir, James Carroll recovers a time that one of us will ever forget - a time when parents could no longer understand their sons and daughters and when you people could no longer recognize the country they had been raised to love. The wounds inflicted in that time have never fully healed, but healing is something that Carroll accomplishes in telling his family's remarkable story. The Carroll Family stood at the center of all the conflicts whirling around the Vietnam War. ... An American Requiem is a benediction on his father's life, his family's struggles, and the legacies of an entire generation.

Mr. Carroll will be reading from American Requiem at Suffolk University's Modern Theatre on February 15th. Unfortunately, it appears this show, which was free and open to the public, has been SOLD OUT.

Winterfest Matinee - The Smurfs - Saturday, February 11th @ 1PM

Hello Blue Saturday. As part of Lowell's Annual Winterfest celebration we'll be offering you a chance to warm up with the smurfiest of all family films: The Smurfs at 1pm, Saturday, February 11th. So come on by and take a break from all the smurfy wintry action outside. Stay and warm up for a bit, or for the whole film either way we're looking forward to welcoming you. This 2011 film is rated PG and the run time is 103 minutes. This screening is sponsored by the Friends of the Library.

Delayed opening for staff training this Thursday, February 2nd

In addition to being Groundhog's Day, this Thursday is the first Thursday of the month, which means we will have a delayed opening to accommodate staff training. Library Hours 11am-9pm.