What's Going On - March 2024 | | |
|
From The Desk of the Executive Director | |
March is coming in, and I can’t figure out if it’s an irritable lamb, or a laid-back lion. Growing up in Buffalo, March always came in like a gorilla, so anything is better than that!
March is shaping up beautifully, with an exciting Gallery Opening on March 21st of the
LookBook show. We will be celebrating Women’s History Month with a terrific party. Details below.
We had another pipe leak on the second floor, luckily while we were still here for the day. We
can’t wait until we can replace our failing heating system! Those of you who contributed to our
Annual Appeal helped us to cover the cost of yet another repair. Soon, we will be able to put this
behind us, and what a party we will have then!
We look forward to seeing your smiling faces as Spring approaches. Stay warm. Stay happy.
Stay in touch!
Jan
| | |
|
An Important Note about Driving and Parking on Chapel Street:
The east bound side of Chapel Street (across from the Library) is closed to traffic for the nonce. Traffic detours around the block (along Church Street to Elm to Orange to Chapel), and there is no street parking on our block of Chapel. This detour is to accommodate the construction of two buildings currently under construction. The west bound side of Chapel remains open. Regardless: We are open! There are many parking garages, including two on State Street, one and a half blocks from the library. Please call us if you have any concerns.
| | |
|
More on parking:
The website Park New Haven provides a link where you can learn about the location of metered parking spots and local parking garages near the purple star on the map (us!). You probably know about this stuff, but if you're explaining it to friends, use this link! It might make things easier.
| | |
NEWS FROM THE GALLERY UPSTAIRS: | |
ATTENTION ARTISTS
The Gallery Upstairs at the Institute Library
wants YOU in the mix.
Celebrate Women’s Herstory month in style:
Please note: this is FREE and OPEN
TO ALL LEVELS OF EXPERIENCE, ALL GENDERS, IDENTIFICATIONS and AGES!
LOOK BOOK WILL BE
ON EXHIBIT
March 14- May 25th 2024
OPENING RECEPTION
MARCH 21st 6:00 - 8:00
| |
|
The current show from
has opened!
Cry It Out
by
Molly Smith Metzler
FINAL PERFORMANCES
March 1, 2 @ 8:00 p.m.
BUY TICKETS HERE
enter code LIBRARY to receive 10% off ticket price
| |
|
DOWNTOWN BRIDGE:
The Oldest Established Permanent Floating
Bridge Game at
847 Chapel Street
If you'd like to be added to the email list of players (because sometimes the schedule has to change), please reach out to
Eva Geertz: Eva@InstituteLibrary.org
The secret population of
closet bridge players
and aspiring bridge players
in our midst
now meets Second Mondays
| |
The evenings start at 7:00 and run about 90 minutes. We've got several tables available, and decks of cards, and even score pads! | |
|
Folks who haven't played in years, folks who are just starting to learn to play,
and expert old hands -- all are welcome!
Hoping to see you here - we are organizing now for:
Monday, March 11 at 7:00 p.m.
(subject to change; please reach out to us for schedule confirmation)
| |
Friday Happy Hour Jazz |
Fridays in February |
5:30-7:00 p.m.
An Eclectic Selection
From Our Vinyl Collection
March 1 -- The Afro-Semitic Experience
March 8 -- Johnny Mercer
March 15 -- Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers
March 22 -- Gerry Mulligan
March 29 -- Earl Hines, solo
Although always subject to change as to artistic spotlight, Friday Happy Hour Jazz will continue a swinging tour of that great American art form, “LP Jazz”, meeting at 5:15 or so every Friday, in the third floor music room, to consider, contemplate and appreciate the wonders in the Collection.
Friday Happy Hour Jazz is, as always, a BYOB, BYO Snack evening; the crowd's always appreciative and always excited to see what people bring. Updates to the schedule, including inclement weather closures, will be provided via the internal Jazz email list. Want to be added to that list? Let us know!
Please consider making a $5 donation when you come to Friday Happy Hour Jazz.
| |
The Operations Manager's Offering:
February was hectic as heck, and March is looking to be not quite as over-loaded, but still pretty busy. We've been processing books and anticipating lots and lots of section-shifting as re-installed bookcases become available for us and in preparation for changes as renovation efforts unfold. We anticipate our small but amusing Art section will move to the third floor, for example, to cohabitate with the Music section. They will live in sin up there; the Religion section will stay on the main floor.
A recent op-ed piece in The New York Times caught our eye because it focused on a subject dear to many who hang around the Institute Library -- the unearthing of books long-felt to be "lost" or overlooked. Sometimes these books get reprinted, and we cheer that these books can find a new audience; apparently some find this enterprise of dubious value because why would you read an old book when there are so many new books out there?
To this we say: Stuff and nonsense. This is a false choice.
Don't let literary or social critics bully you into thinking you can't read this or that, and that you must read this or that instead. One need not limit oneself to only one kind of book or only one other kind of book, setting frames and limitations based on date of publication. You shouldn't feel you can only read current work, or only "classic" books -- "classic" is in the eye of the beholder, after all, and it changes from generation to generation. My classic is your trash, and your classic is my snoozefest. It's all fine. What matters is, reading, enjoying, thinking, and reading more.
At the Institute Library we don't believe it's an either/or choice. It's a both/and.
Onward, friends.
--Eva
|
|
 | |
Image: Best-selling fiction by Lisa Alther blurbed by the extremely literary Doris Lessing, a combination hard to imagine today
"But to live a rich reading life, all readers, not just critics, should resist the imperative to treat reissues as particularly pertinent to our current moment, and instead view them as objects through which to experience a different moment. We should welcome the critic’s sentimentality and enthusiasm, her insistence on talking about books and authors she fears no one cares about — because we should resist the impulse to justify every moment of time we spend, and more importantly because
to only consume art that was created in our lifetimes
is a terrifying thought."
-- Apoorva Tadepalli,
in The New York Times
Our collection is not extremely large, but it does contain multitudes. Wondering if we've got that novel that came out in 1979 that no one else has anymore?
Want us to try to order a newly-reviewed title for you to read? Get in touch. Call 203-562-4045 or
email Eva@InstituteLibrary.org
| |
|
Hours of Operation
Closed Sunday & Monday | Tuesday-Friday: 11:00-5:00 | Saturday: 12:00-2:00
Location
The Institute Library, 847 Chapel St, New Haven, CT 06510
(203) 562-4045
| | | | |
