The Community Libraries of Providence offer a slew of programming every week for kids and adults at their nine locations around the city – from book clubs, to gardening resources, to artist talks. We highlight a few of these events in our monthly community libraries segment.
For May, morning host Luis Hernandez spoke with Cheryl Space, Library Director of the Community Libraries of Providence, and Maranda McCormick, who runs the monthly Banned Books Club at Rochambeau Library.
Fox Point Library’s jug band ensemble
Cheryl Space: At the Fox Point Library on the first Tuesday evening of the month, we have a jug band, and they follow a traditional jug band format from the 1920s and 30s. We have folks playing ukuleles, mandolins, washboards, and kazoos. If you don’t bring your own, they provide you with a kazoo so you can join in. Fun fact about the Fox Point Library: they have a resident parrot named Yaya, and occasionally Yaya joins in the fun. So it’s just a good time, and it’s for all ages.
Build a LEGO triple-decker house at Smith Hill Library
Space: I know there’s a lot of adults out there who grew up with LEGO, who are still huge aficionados, so you can come learn about the history of the triple decker with artist Andy Grover, who’s truly legendary in the LEGO world, and historian Tracy Picard. They’re going to talk about the triple-decker, and then you can use LEGOs to build your own. This is actually for adults. You’re also encouraged to bring photos and stories to share about your own experience with a triple-decker if you have one. For this program, unlike others, you do have to register. So I encourage you to call the Smith Hill Library if you’re interested in joining in.
PechaKucha Night at Knight Memorial Library
Space: So PechaKucha is fascinating. A Pecha-Kucha is a Japanese word that means chitchat. I think the best way to describe it, it’s kind of like a show and tell for adults. So volunteer presenters put together 20 images. They speak about each image for 20 seconds. We’re going to be hosting this at the Knight Memorial Library outside on Wednesday, May 28, in the evening. The theme is epoch. The volunteers are going to be coming up with the microphone, telling the story, so it’s very cool, and it’s a monthly event.
Rochambeau Library’s banned books club
Maranda McCormick: Right now, we’re reading Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. It’s a dystopian novel. They found a way to make a utopian society that uses advanced technologies for things like reproduction, social conditioning, and building caste systems. We’re trying to figure out at what cost does that come with when the government has so much control.
We talk a lot about what’s happening in the world right now. We talk about censorship, and I think that’s really important. People don’t realize how much there’s a bridge between the different sides of politics, right? A lot of people on the right and on the left really don’t like the idea of censorship, so it’s a way to kind of bridge that gap.
You can find us on Meetup, or you can find us on the Rochambeau Library website.
The banned books club meets the last Saturday of the month at Rochambeau Library. You can learn more about what’s going on at the Providence Community Libraries at clpvd.org.
