Important Service Updates Starting Monday, December 7th

Expanded Services Scheduled to Begin December 7th

Updated Service Hours are as follows:

Curbside Pickup Service Hours

Monday, Wednesday, and Friday
2:00 pm – 5:30 pm 

Saturday
9:30 – Noon & 1:00 pm – 4:30 pm

Browsing By Appointment Hours

Tuesday and Thursday
10:00 am – 12:30 pm & 2:00 pm – 5:30 pm

Appointments will be ½ hour long with ½ hour between appointments for sanitizing and cleaning. 

Abbot Public Library is pleased to announce the expansion of our services to include an additional way for patrons to borrow tangible materials. Based on the results of our recent Library Services Survey, we will be offering limited browsing, by appointment, two days per week, while continuing to provide our very popular Curbside Pickup Service, four days per week. 

Call the library at 781-631-1481, Ext. 201 for more information on how to register for an appointment to browse a limited area of the library. The first appointment date will be Tuesday, December 8th. Appointments will be a half hour long, and browsers will be required to wear masks (patron-provided) and gloves (library-provided). Browsing will be limited to designated areas where new and recent additions to all categories of the Library’s collections will be gathered.

Adhering to social distancing space requirements, we are able to accommodate up to four adults and/or teens, on the main level, and an additional four Children’s Room patrons – adult and/or children – on the lower level, per half-hour appointment. A half hour will be reserved, between appointments, to sanitize service desks and other public areas, for patron and staff safety.

Please watch for further details of our expanded services by following us on Facebook, visiting our website, or following our blog. 

Thank you for your patience and your continued support, as we navigate through these unprecedented times!

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Enjoy the 2020 Marblehead High School Senior Art Show – A Virtual Exhibit!

The Marblehead High School Senior Art Show, in May, has been a highlight of the Abbot Library’s exhibits program, each year. Working with art faculty member Rachel Branham, and two or three MHS seniors, for whom presenting the exhibit serves as their senior project, the Library has enthusiastically welcomed the opportunity to bring the talent and creativity of the High School’s “art majors” to the Marblehead community. With the library and schools closed, this partnership is continuing in a new and exciting way.

This year, show your support for the Class of 2020 from your living room! For the first time, Marblehead High School’s annual Senior Art Show is being presented virtually. Available for viewing as of Monday, May 25^th, the exhibit can be found on the Abbot Public Library’s website. 

Citrus State of Mind by Hadley Kaeyer

The show includes pieces in a variety of media, made both during the year in art class and, more recently, while schools have been closed due to COVID-19. Students were invited to produce artwork expressing the impact of the COVID-19 closure on their Senior year experience. Many pieces have accompanying text further describing this experience. This year’s show was organized as the senior project of Colette Bender and Lily Yates.

Covid 19 by Bella Damon

We encourage everyone to spend time enjoying this virtual exhibit — a wonderful opportunity for this year’s graduating seniors to showcase their creations while maintaining social distancing. The seniors have worked hard this year to produce some remarkable works of art, so visit the show and give these artists the recognition and appreciation they deserve!

A Modern Great Wave by Lucy Tedford

Find Product Reviews With Consumer Reports Online!

Consumer Reports, an independent nonprofit member organization, is available for you to use from home with your library card! Find detailed reviews and ratings for products related to Appliances, Cars, Health, Money, Babies & Kids, Electronics, and Home & Garden. Need a new washing machine? Consumer Reports has rated 132 different machines based on water efficiency, noise, and capacity. Is your lawn mower on the fritz? Find one that “makes the cut” from the 125 rated push, self-propelled, or robotic lawn mowers and tractors. 

Check out the “Latest News” section for informative articles on a variety of topics and products. Want to know how to choose and wear a mask? Do you need to find ways to stay safe from germs when you go to the grocery store? Articles related to these questions and more can be found here. You can also sign up to have news and tips sent right to your email!

Find comprehensive topic guides on current subjects in “Issues that matter to us,” including the coronavirus, car safety & efficiency, data privacy, food safety, and more! You can also easily search for products, or find an A to Z list of products, from air conditioners to yogurt.

Take a peek inside the June 2020 Consumer Reports to read articles from the current issue and find back issues in the Archive.

Need help finding something in the online version of Consumer Reports? Email the Library Reference Staff at mar@noblenet.org!

A Calming Classical Soundtrack

Perhaps you’d just like to be for a while. Breathe in, breathe out. Reset your anxious mind. Release negative emotions. I’m not talking about virtual yoga classes here (though what an excellent idea!). I’m talking about revisiting–or discovering anew–the soothing power of classical music.

Your “new normal” routine may not allow you to drop everything and de-stress for long periods of time–and that’s where our newly-curated 2020 APL Calming Classical Soundtrack on hoopla will stand you in good stead! Pop in your earbuds and live in a soul-soothing soundscape while going about your daily tasks. You’ll have the illusion of a “calm bubble” while still maintaining productivity and maybe saving your sanity! 

Chief among the 35 work-friendly offerings in this collection are albums featuring composers from the Baroque and Classical eras: Bach, Handel, Haydn, and Mozart. There’s a reason for that! The music of these periods tends to be highly patterned and structured, with repeated themes and variations on those themes. Ideally, as you listen, your thoughts will untangle themselves and your concentration will improve.

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You might try the albums Big Bach Set, Vol. 3, Handel: Water Music, Haydn: Classical Music for Relaxation, Mozart: Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, or Mozart: Symphonies Nos. 35 & 39. Or go for baroque (bad pun, sorry) with a mixtape of sorts, featuring recorder soloist Lucie Horsch: Baroque Journey. And if you need to break your concentration for a while and stretch those desk-cramped limbs, you can’t go wrong with some lively Elizabethan birthday party music.

There’s plenty more to explore in the collection–good, old-fashioned lullabies, Romantic-era de-stressors like Fauré and Debussy, and even albums with “dream” or “chill” in the title–all recently released.

And if you exhaust these selections, have a look at hoopla’s The Most Relaxing Series for even more classical comfort. You can breathe out now!

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Library of Congress Historic Film Archive

While responsibly staying at home and keeping abreast of developments, we can choose to focus some of our attention on other pictures and other times. It might actually be healthy to do so! One of the constants in the last century or so of American history has been our fascination with moving pictures. And now, we have unprecedented access to one of our nation’s most revered archives of film documentation–the Library of Congress! 

According to a recent article in The New York Times featuring this exceptional streaming option, “the astonishment of riches includes up-close looks at our history in hundreds of films. And they’re all free.” That’s right! You can dip into snippets of life at the turn of the last century at no cost. Escape today’s pressures with some lighthearted film shorts here–you’ll find everything from a glimpse of the America’s Cup defender in 1899, to a fanciful “life drawing” session, to a spirited clip of women on horseback in full-on Victorian riding gear. Explore the LOC’s 7000+ film offerings (ranging from the 19th century to more recent times) and exist in a different world for a while! If you like, you can also sample the collection at the LOC YouTube channel.

Or perhaps you’d just like to hark back to the relative “normalcy” of last spring. If so, you’re in luck! Some of the top most-circulated films at the APL in March and April 2019 are currently available to watch or re-watch on hoopla. Take a privileged peek at the life of a storied hotel with Always at the Carlyle. Watch Emma Thompson do her best for justice in the complex, suspenseful film The Children Act. Visit the streets of Tokyo with a look at the Academy Award- nominated Shoplifters.Or try one of our library’s own 2020 “Oscar nominees” set in another of history’s dramatic moments: 1945.

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So if you like your escapism tempered with a dash of past reality, you might just grab some popcorn and give these options a whirl!