USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Braintree > Town annual report of Braintree, Massachusetts for the year 1962 > Part 12
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17
147
THAYER PUBLIC LIBRARY
The Trustees of the Thayer Public Library present for your considera- tion the Financial Report of the Trustees and the Report of the Librarian for the year 1962.
Gordon W. Bryant, Treasurer
Doris A. Canavan Constance S. Leggett
Gordon O. Thayer
Gilbert L. Bean, Chairman
ANNUAL FINANCIAL REPORT - December 31, 1962
PRINCIPAL FUNDS
Foundation Fund
Caleb Stetson Fund
Rachel R. Thayer Fund
Nathaniel H. Hunt Fund (with Town Treasurer)
Lucia E. & E. Stanwood Hollis Fund (with Town Treasurer)
Frank Kenna Fund 545. 45
RECEIVED
Cash on Hand January 1, 1962
$3,592. 74
Added during 1962 - Foundation Fund
$ 438. 30
Stetson Fund
100.00
Thayer Fund
6. 88
Hunt Fund
873.00
Hollis Fund
374. 37
Kenna Fund
16. 81
Miscellaneous Interest
37. 95
$5,440.05
EXPENDED
From Foundation Fund Hunt Fund
$2,544. 75
1,462. 48
Bank Service Charge
2. 26
$4,009. 49
Cash on Hand January 1, 1963
$1,430. 56
$5,440. 05
GORDON W. BRYANT Treasurer
STATISTICS 1962
CIRCULATION Main Library Books
Adult
107,544
+1942
* Juvenile
163,332
+1254
270,876
+3196
Phonograph Records
4,587
. 224
Total
275,463
+2972
148
$11,020. 91 2,500.00 172. 50
Branches
Adult
28,451
253
Juvenile
20,240
265
Total
48,691
- 518
Total Loans
324,154
+2454
*The juvenile circulation at the Main Library includes books which circu- lated over the desk at the Library and books which circulated from class - room deposits at the schools.
Over the desk
110,919
+ 8633
School deposits 52,413
- 7379
163,332
+ 1254
REGISTRATION OF BORROWERS
Adult
Juvenile
Total
Borrowers January 1, 1962
8882
4877
13,759
Registered in 1962
2197
981
3,178
Borrowers moved or cards expired
1756
1168
2,924
Total registrations
December 31, 1962
9323
* 4690
** 14,013
*A complete revised counting of juvenile registrations was made in October, 1962, accounting for the decrease in juvenile registrations on December 31, 1962.
* 45% Population
LIBRARY MATERIALS
Books
Adult
Juvenile
Total
Volumes, January 1, 1962
43,155
16,975
60,130
Volumes, added 1962
2,614
1,137
3,751
Volumes withdrawn 1962
1,659
1,135
2,794
Volumes, December 31, 1962
44,110
16,977
61,087
Phonograph Records
January 1, 1962
828
Added 1962
63
Withdrawn 1962
36
Records December 31, 1962
855
ORGANIZATION MEETINGS
IN LIBRARY ROOMS
147
12
MONEY COLLECTED AND TURNED OVER TO THE TOWN
TREASURER FROM FINES
& LOST BOOKS
$5,167.27
+$209. 40
149
THAYER PUBLIC LIBRARY REPORT OF THE LIBRARIAN
1962
THE LIBRARY IN THE LOCAL COMMUNITY
A public library exists primarily to give both recreational and educa- tional service to the community in which it is located. The Thayer Public Library, Braintree's public library system, consists of the Main Library, located approximately in the geographical center of the town, and two small branches located in two outer areas of the town, serving a population of 31, 069 people. During 1962, the staff of nine full time, and five adult part time librarians; one full time and one part time custodian have tried to give the best service possible with our given facilities and appropriation to 14, 000 townspeople registered as library borrowers. We have also served regular paying out-of-town borrowers from Holbrook, Randolph, Foxboro, Hanover, Scituate, Brockton, Quincy, Rockland, Weymouth and out-of-town students from Thayer Academy and Archbishop Williams High School. We have lent in 1962 to local and out-of-town borrowers 319, 567 books, periodi- cals and phonograph records. The detailed statistics showing the complete use and resources of the library precede this report.
STUDENTS IN THE PUBLIC LIBRARY
In January of 1962 the Study Room with its own separate collection of reference books was opened to High School students. This was to relieve the crowded conditions in the upstairs rooms, especially in the evenings, and is intended for real study purposes only. It is necessary to staff this room with an adult monitor to keep order. The first few weeks we found it difficult to get students to use this room, because they could not have a good time. Some high school students do not come to the library to study, but to meet their friends. They appear to consider the library a social club. However, this is not true for the great majority of students. There are a great many who do want to study and are serious in their purposes of com- ing to the library. As soon as they became used to the idea of a place to study, and when they found that we intended to keep the room quiet, these serious students have appreciated the room and have used it to good advan- tage. There is still a certain group who come in to have fun and disturb the students; they have no intention of using the library except to have a good time.
This is not a problem peculiar to Braintree. We read in both library periodicals and other magazines that this is becoming a critical problem throughout the country. In the Newsweek Magazine for December 31, 1962, an article entitled "Twist in the Stacks" reports the serious problems of rowdyism, mutilation and theft in the large city libraries of Los Angeles; Brooklyn, New Nork; Evanston, Illinois; and even in Honolulu. Los Angeles has had to close completely two branches because of this problem. New York City's Fifth Avenue library has had to discontinue to students under a certain age the privilege of using its reading room facilities. We are de- termined to avoid any such backward step in Braintree. There is probably no final solution to this problem but its control is possible if parents and educators will cooperate in discouraging socializing in the library. Failure to control it is a real threat to the progress of learning; it is an educational problem as well as a library problem.
Braintree library service to students has been strengthened tremen- dously by the realization by our School Department that this phase of our service is a normal extension of their educational function. We are indeed
150
fortunate that our school committee again this year has contributed sub- stantially to the enlargement of our collection of reference books in the Study Room. We intend to work towards even closer cooperation as time goes on, particularly in preparing to meet the demand when individual teachers give assignments which result in requests by large groups of stu- dents for the same material.
We are pleased that the program for 5th grade school children which was worked out last year in cooperation with the School Department and the Historical Society has continued in the second year. Every 5th grade child in the town, from both public and private schools comes to the library on a School day to learn how to use the Children's Library and of the interesting things it offers, and to hear an illustrated map lecture on the History of Braintree.
Student use of the library is to be commended, for this measures to a large degree the library's success as an educational institution in the Town. The library does, however, have the problem of preventing use by one group from interfering with the enjoyment of Library facilities by other library patrons. The transfer of student study facilities to a special room has done much to eliminate the disturbance of adult users of the library by the ever increasing number of students. There is no question that the in- creased use of libraries by students is straining the facilities throughout the country. This increase should please us all, but we must face up to the necessity of keeping our Library abreast of these developments. It cannot be done without additional expense and personnel.
Measures under consideration which may alleviate the student problem are the possibility of opening the Study Room in the afternoon and opening the Main Library on Tuesday evenings. For some time we have realized that the Main Library building should be open on more evenings during the week, but it has been a problem of arranging staff schedules so that there could always be one person on duty familiar with reference work, and enough other staff members to handle the desk work. Borrowers have fre- quently spoken about being open on Tuesday evening, and we feel that this might relieve the congestion during the other three evenings. One of the first duties of the new year will be to try to work out a schedule to permit opening this additional evening, and also to try to provide for a staff mem- ber in the Study Room in the afternoon.
MUTILATION AND THEFT OF BOOKS
Earlier in this report of the student problem, we mentioned the mutila - tion and theft of books. ' Nothing is so disconcerting to a borrower or to a librarian as to pick up a volume of an encyclopedia and find that a particular article has deliberately been taken out; or to find that a complete volume is missing. Library materials are public property and for the use of all citizens, and students doing this have thought only of their own needs and not that they are depriving some other student of using the material also. Not only encyclopedias, but also ordinary circulating books may have several sections dealing with a particular subject, or pictures and dia- grams torn from the book. Recently a student picked up the C volume of the Americana to use the article on Communism; the whole four or five pages on this subject had been neatly cut out with a knife or razor blade. It is difficult to trace the origin of this, although staff members have been instructed to be continually on the watch. We hope it will not become necessary to resort to the procedure used in many large libraries of pre- venting direct access to reference books and inspecting every such book when it is returned to the desk.
151
PERSONNEL CHANGES
On November 7, 1962, Mrs. Dorothy Blair retired as Children's Librarian at the Library having filled that position since September, 1946. Her years of service to the library and especially to the children of the Town of Braintree will not soon be forgotten. Mrs. Blair had taught not only in elementary schools but in Teachers' Colleges, so she was unusually well qualified to counsel children and parents in the choice of reading mate- rials. Under her stimulating influence non-readers have become readers;
VS FOR SA
A familiar face in the Children's Room Mrs. Dorothy H. Blair, retired November, 1962
they have developed a taste for good reading and they know how to use the facilities of the library. She had a gift for telling stories and each summer children would sit with enrapt attention at her weekly story hours; this summer there was a total attendance at the eight story hours of 1073 or an average of 134 each week, the highest being over 200. It bespeaks real talent to keep at attention such a large number of children.
It was a difficult problem for the Librarian and the Trustees to find a satisfactory person for the new Children's Librarian. After much searching and interviewing applicants during the summer months, Mrs. Sarah F. Cobb of Hanover was appointed Children's Librarian to begin work the first of October. Mrs. Cobb attended high school in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, and is a graduate of Colby College, Waterville, Maine. She has taken courses at the University of Connecticut in education and library science, the latter including cataloging, reference, Children's Literature. She has also taken a course in Story Telling with Mrs. Beryl Robinson of Channel 2. She has half of her credits necessary for a degree in Library Science. Her profes- sional experience includes work at the Swarthmore Public Library, five years teaching in the Junior High School of Windsor, Connecticut. Three of these years she was in charge of a new school library which she organized in a new building. She came to Braintree from the Rockland Public Library where she was the Children's Librarian. Mrs, Cobb worked for a month
152
before Mrs. Blair retired becoming familiar with the background of the work here in Braintree. Parents are invited to come in and meet our new Children's Librarian.
Another position to be filled in 1962 was that of Supervising Custodian at the Main Library building. In addition to the primary requirement of being a qualified stationery engineer, familiar with building and equipment operation and maintenance, this position requires a person of integrity, and tact, who has the personality to deal with young people and adult groups who may use the auditorium. In February, Mr. Leonard W. Cosgrove, of East Braintree, was appointed in this capacity. He has proved both efficient and popular and is a happy addition to our personnel.
OTHER CHANGES
Mrs. Julia Doukszewicz, who has served at the East Braintree Branch as assistant for several years, very capably took charge of the branch dur- ing the prolonged illness of Mrs. Giles, branch librarian. Miss Judy MacAllister who had served as general assistant in the adult department was transferred to the Children's Department as assistant to take the place of Miss Anne Whalen who had been working on a temporary basis. Mrs. Sarah Nightingale, Miss Yvonne Benoit and Miss Dorothy Kamison joined the staff in the Adult Department as full time assistants to fill vacan- cies of long standing which had been filled temporarily by part-time people.
THE LIBRARY'S PLACE IN THE LARGER COMMUNITY
The library's chief duty is to the citizens of its own community; how - ever, it has a responsibility to work in cooperation with neighboring com- munities as well as to be familiar with and take part in library services of a broader nature. Just as separate towns can better serve their citizens by being a part of a county and state organization, rather than remaining isolated, so it is with libraries. The Libraries of Massachusetts are in the process of organizing for more effective service by providing a system of Regional Libraries throughout the state.
REGIONAL LIBRARY SERVICE
The State Legislative Act of 1960 providing for State Aid to public libraries by a direct Grant-In-Aid to towns and cities, also provided for the establishment of a state-wide program of Regional Library Service. A regional library program will be a program of services which a local library either cannot provide at all for itself or cannot provide adequately by itself. By cooperating with other libraries horizons will broaden.
Plans for Regional Centers in Worcester and Springfield have already been approved and are in the process of being set up. If present plans are adopted in January, one large Eastern Region will be set up, with the Boston Public Library as the Regional Center. Braintree will belong to this region, and will be one of twenty-nine towns and cities in a South Metropolitan Sub-Region with the Quincy Library serving as the sub-center.
What will these plans mean to the citizens of Braintree ?
1. Inter-library Loans Through the Thayer Public Library citizens can borrow on inter-library loan from a much more extensive collection of materials than is now possible, service will be more complete and a great deal faster than at present.
2. Telephone Reference Service Your library will be able to telephone to either the Sub- Regional center or to the Regional Center on a telephone collect basis, for answers to quick reference questions we are not able to answer ourselves.
153
3. Reference and Research in Depth
This means that the resources of the greatest public library (the Boston Public Library) will be available for use by all the residents in the Eastern Region. It will be an attempt to make research library service to the ultimate degree available to the smallest community.
4. Individual Borrowing
An individual from Braintree will be able to borrow personally from the Boston Public Library as the Regional Center and the Sub-Regional Reference Center at Quincy, as long as he has a card at the Thayer Public Library.
Miss Hall has been privileged during the past few months to have a part in helping to organize this important project. She has served as Chairman of the Nominating Committee to select officers for the South Metropolitan Sub-Regional Advisory Council, and a member of the Nominating Committee for the overall Eastern Region. She has also served as a member of the Planning Committee to review questionnaires returned by librarians and to draw up a qualitative statement of library needs for this area. Your li- brarian has considered this a most enlightening and worthwhile task, and feels it is a great privilege to have been able to work with many librarians in trying to bring about this important program of making the best and most extensive service possible for all citizens in this area.
OTHER INTER-COMMUNITY ACTIVITIES
Mrs. Emerson has served during the year as Treasurer of the Old Colony Library Club, and Mrs. Tarbox has served as Auditor of the same organization. Miss Hall has also served as Secretary of the Greater Boston Public Library Administrators.
The Thayer Public Library was host to the Old Colony Library Club in June. This was an unusually large meeting, with the library auditorium filled to more than capacity. As another measure of offering service to neighboring communities, the Trustees agreed to extend limited privileges of the Braintree Library to card holders of the Randolph Library after the disastrous Randolph Library fire in December. This will be for an emer- gency period until such time as adequate facilities are restored in Randolph.
The reference librarian has compiled bibliographies for Norfolk County Extension Courses, and is receiving many letters from people in all parts of the country asking for information on Braintree ancestors.
GIFTS
The library acknowledges gifts of books and periodicals received during the year from the following:
Reference Books for the School Study Room from the School Department.
Books from the following organizations and Braintree individuals:
American Petroleum Institute Telephone Pioneers of America F. E. Compton Company Hallmark Cards, Inc. Bookman Association of New York Ford Foundation Cecil B. DeMille Trust Bernard J. Granville - Oppenheimer Fund Armstrong Cork Company
154
Public Trustees, London, England Tufts Library, Weymouth Free Public Library, New Haven, Connecticut
Braintree Garden Club, books in memory of Mrs. Sophie Blunt and Mrs. Wallace Bacon
Quincy Cooperative Bank in memory of Henry Davis Higgins.
Mrs. H. Hobart Holly, Mr. Paul Preaux, Mr. H. Wolfert, Mr. A. A. Wall, Dr. Charles Sturtevant, Mrs. Margaret Drovet, Mrs. Charles Rolfe, Mrs. Jean Ekstrom, Mrs. Daniel Nihan, Mrs. Raymond Lyons, Mr. Gordon Trask.
Periodicals from the following:
Lions Club - Lions Magazine
Rotary Club - Rotarian
16 & 8 Movie Club - Better Home Movie Making
Dr. Marvin Powell - Forbes Magazine Mr. R. G. Longfellow - Numismatist Magazine Mr. Gordon Trask - Journal of Accountancy
The service of the Thayer Public Library has a good reputation among state library officials and neighboring libraries. This reputation is possi- ble only by the untiring efforts of each one of the library staff working with the advice and guidance of the Board of Trustees to carry on this type of service.
Respectfully submitted, MIRIAM HALL Librarian
REPORT OF THE BOARD OF WATER COMMISSIONERS
To the Citizens of Braintree:
The Braintree Water Department, at the end of its 72nd year, con- tinues to grow with the ever-increasing demand for water.
Expansion of our department during the past ten years is noted by the following figures:
gallons pumped in 1952 - 573,067,000 gallons pumped in 1962 -- 1, 057,154, 100
The supply of water has been increased by excavations in Great Pond and Upper Pond and by the installation of the Lakeside Well. We have in the planning stage: further excavating projects, installing of a new dam at the north end of Great Pond, and the yearly search for new well sites.
During the hot weather for the past eight years, we have had an odor and taste problem. Our Superintendent has spent many hours on a solution. A larger Carbon Machine was installed and proved fairly successful. A diver was hired to examine the floor of Great Pond. He discovered silt from five to fifteen feet deep over a great portion of the bottom. When the temperature of the water rises this silt ferments, thus causing the problem for which dredging seemed to be the only answer. However, after confer- ring with our engineering consultant and a dredging contractor, we found this operation to be very costly.
155
Mr. Richardi made a trip to Washington D. C., and full investigation into various Federal and State agencies for financing this dredging project showed State Aid was the answer. A meeting of the Water Boards of Randolph, Holbrook, and Braintree was held with Representatives Hollis, Johnson, Connell, Senator McCormack, and Town Counsels of Holbrook, Randolph and Braintree. A bill was drafted to be presented to the Great and General Court for funds for the project with the approval of the members present at our meeting together with Cartwright and Mullen. This is known as House Bill #1198, and if passed, will enable us to commence dredging. The end result will be a saving on chemicals for treatment of water, uncovering springs now plugged by silt, and increasing storage facilities.
The Commissioners wish to thank Mr. Richardi and the employees of the Water Department for another year of devotion resulting in another year of progress.
Respectfully submitted,
THOMAS H. MATTHEWS, Chairman
ARTHUR L. WHITTEN HOWARD J. ROSE
Board of Water Commissioners
REPORT OF THE SUPERINTENDENT
To the Board of Water Commissioners:
As Superintendent of the Water Supply System, I am pleased to submit the 72nd Annual Report showing the present condition of the Department and all the extensions and improvements made together with a statement of the cost of operating the system during the year.
The Distribution System has been increased by 9, 386 linear feet of water mains and 19 new hydrants. We added 117 new services, 16 were re- newed, and 32 were repaired.
The repairs and improvements made at Great Pond were as follows:
A 14" Butterfly Valve on #1 Filter was installed and is now in service. We installed a new Carbon Machine which is working to our satis - faction. We also painted the Filtration Plant. Weston and Sampson our Consulting Engineers sent their head chemist, Mr. Bogren, to check the taste in the water. For the most part, this work was done by our own Supervisor at the Pumping Station along with our other employees.
Sprinkler lines were installed at the Hixon Electric Company, Weymouth Art Leather, Jenkins Company of Wood Road, and the Abrasive Company.
We had an excessive amount of locating and marking mains and services for the Highway and Sewer Departments. The Contractors in- stalling sewer lines in the Town caused considerable damage to our mains, hydrants, and to our services.
Regarding Article #50, laying water mains, we have replaced a 6" line with an 8" line on Quincy Avenue from Hayward Street to the Quin- tree Drive-In Theatre with 1, 800 feet of 8" cast iron pipe and we replaced a 4" pipe with an 8" cast iron pipe on Bickford Road and Newton Avenue.
156
We lowered a main on Middle Street for the Highway Department under Chapter 90 at a cost to the Water Department for the amount of $1,652. 50. This work on both Article #50 and the Chapter 90 job was done by the Water Department forces.
There was a considerable amount of vandalism done to our property which caused much damage. On Audubon Avenue, a hydrant was opened and the meter was broken at the Watson Park Playground. At Sunset Lake, five barrels were damaged, the lock on the pumping station and four windows were broken. The Police Department was notified of the damage in each case.
On April 9th, we commenced with our program of flushing all the hy- drants in the Town. This operation was completed in ten days by having our men work from 9:00 P. M. to 1:00 A. M. The people of the Town were notified through the Patriot Ledger and Radio Station W. J. D. A. We want to thank everyone for their full cooperation during this program.
Two of our loyal employees retired this year. Rocco DiFiore who com- pleted 19 years of service retired on August 29th, and James Starkey re- tired on April 4th with 22 years of service.
I would like to express my appreciation to the Board of Water Commis - sioners for their full cooperation and assistance during the past year.
Respectfully submitted, DONATO T. RICHARDI Superintendent
FINANCIAL STATEMENT
Balance, January 1, 1962
$57,204. 34
Amounts Transferred from Special Accounts at Town Meeting
8,093.25
$65,297. 59
Collections
409,324. 15
$474,621. 74
Disbursements
Maintenance and Operation
$339,868. 12
Amortization on Debt
36,000.00
Interest on Debt
11,279.50
Commissioners
300.00
Laying Water Mains
28,748. 82
416,196. 44
Balance, December 31, 1962
$ 58,425. 30
UNEXPENDED BALANCE ON ART. 12 NEW HIGH LIFT
PUMP AT GREAT POND $436. 60
157
ANNUAL REPORT OF THE BRAINTREE SCHOOL COMMITTEE
The year 1962 was an active and productive year for the town's School Department.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.