Coming to you live from the Blizzard of 2015! There were least two feet of drifts outside my door this morning, so needless to say my library is closed. As you can see in the picture I had to dig myself a pathway out, and that door across the way? The one that is basically clear? That’s how everyone in the big house gets in and out. Ugh. Upper class snobs. Truly my carriage house is servants’ quarters.
So anyway, I’m holed up here with books, records, coffee, and Netflix. Not a bad way to spend the day.
But, let’s talk about trivia last week! Ladies and dudes: it went so well! We had about 25 people there and while three of the 8 teams were somehow friends of the library staff or library staff themselves, I thought it was amazing! My questions were a bit on the easy side, but no one seemed to mind! Patrons asked if we were going to do it again and I think that we brought in a lot of business for the hosting restaurant. It was a Tuesday night – not a historically big night for drinking – and so I bet us being there was good for their bottom line. And it was so good for the library to be seen as something that is engaged in the community and is more than just a repository for books. (Unlike this douchecanoe – sorry for the insult perhaps he is really a nice guy but honestly, the he seems like a whole canoe-full of doucheness – from the “Cooperative Library of Boxford” which seeks to not support a tax increase for the very wealthy MA town to get a new library building to replace their current falling down, mold-ridden building that has had to be closed because it is dangerous.)* [Edit on 3/15/15: Thinking back on this post, name-calling is not really the way to go here and probably unprofessional, but honestly, I was frustrated. I was and am frustrated for the people in Boxford who have taken library service for granted and for those who don’t understand all the work that libraries do.]
So anyway: trivia was a success and fun was had by all. I was the MC and my colleague Curtis set up all the AV equipment and kept score. We are hopefully going to do it again in the spring, most likely April or May. I’d love to be able to do it every month but we’d have to probably buy questions from a trivia place to do that. It’s just too hard to write 20 questions every month. It’s a lot of work!
I’m so happy that we took a risk and it worked out. I’m really proud of us for trying something new. Yay MHL! Thanks to those friends of mine who came out to play – you are amazing!
What new library things have you tried? Do you want to rant with me about this dumb Boxford guy? Meet me in the comments!
*I might add that if the people don’t support new taxes to build a new library the Boxford library will continue it’s process of being de-certified and will not be able to participate in our consortium of libraries. Not only does this mean that the people of Boxford will not be able to have their own library, they will not be able to use a Massachusetts library anywhere! Currently, if you have a library card in your home town you can use an Massachusetts library. But you have to have a card where you live. If not, NO LENDING LIBRARY SERVICES AT ALL. Some town libraries may not even really want Boxford residents at their programs. It some ways it makes sense; if you don’t support library services in your own town, it doesn’t seem fair for you to take your kid to story time in Topsfield….but that is a discussion for another day. And don’t even get me started on this guys’ “plan” to circulate old, crappy e-readers with free e-books on them. HAHAHA DRM will come for you and your family!
lcarslibrarian 
Could you use trivial pursuit (or similar game) questions? Or is there copyright type issues with that?
Well, they wouldn’t have to KNOW that they are trivial pursuit questions! Great idea – I didn’t think of that!!
Ach… Cooperative Library of Boxford. There’s so much wrong with Mark Mercier’s idea. And he’s VERY presumptuous. I mean REALLY! a bunch of obsolete kindles. I smell an ego-trip.
The Pollard library is closed until Thursday morning so i have an extra day off. I’m not sure what I’ll do with it yet. I did discover a new (to me) “cozy” (according to my taste) series… Max Tudor by G.M. Malliet.
What about checking “Mental Floss” magazine for new trivia questions?
I sometimes hope that DRM does come for the Douchecanoe, as he is almost all that is wrong with Boxford. I am so very glad that we are still certified as I wouldn’t use the services while we were in flux, as it didn’t seem fair. And I’m staying anonymous ass my kid has to interact with the Douchecanoe’s.
I get that! I hope that everyone in Boxford who is frustrated by the situation is talking to the town/their representatives and voting to get a good library back!!
Anonymous-what is DRM? lcarslibrarian, many in Boxford have been working for years to get a decent library-but it has been a real challenge. You probably know that we voted for a new library in 2010, but our election and Town Meeting votes were derailed by a single Zoning Board vote.
I’ll jump in to say that “DRM” is digital rights management. Wikipedia says this: With first-generation DRM software, the intent is to control copying; with second-generation DRM, the intent is to control executing, viewing, copying, printing, and altering of works or devices. The term is also sometimes referred to as copy protection, copy prevention, and copy control, although the correctness of doing so is disputed.[5] DRM is a set of access control technologies.
Basically I was saying DRM will come get the Cooperative library of Boxford guy because publishers will not like his model of circulation….