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150th Library Anniversary, 150 Things to Do!

A sesquicentennial anniversary is no small feat. In honor of our 150th anniversary, the library is celebrating its extensive past and exciting future by highlighting programs that capture the essence of the library and its place in the community.  Scroll down for a complete list of “150 Things to Do at the Library!” and see if you’ve used the library to the fullest extent.

150 Things to Do at the Library!

  1. Ask our Director for a tour of the Library;
  2. Utilize our Low Vision Reader;
  3. Help out with our Community Puzzle in the Ref. Room;
  4. Find the portrait of the first Belmont librarian;
  5. Visit the 1-of-a-kind Frankenstein collection;
  6. Start your own book club using our pre-made kits;
  7. Join the Library’s annual, all-ages Summer Reading program;
  8. Practice speaking English at our English Conversation Circle;
  9. Watch a movie and eat popcorn at our movie club, Dial M for Movies;
  10. Watch our public service announcement and find out why the library is yours to discover;
  11. Visit the wildlife that frequents the creek. We have otters, hawks, turkeys, and muskrats!
  12. Ask to see the completed Feasibility Study;
  13. Read and relax in a comfortable easy chair;
  14. Attend Sensory Storytime designed especially for those on the autism spectrum;
  15. Use Wowbrary to stay on top of the newest books, music, and movies available;
  16. Sign up for RB Digital (formerly Zinio) to read popular magazines on your device;
  17. Get books delivered to you or loved ones who are housebound through Books on Wheels;
  18. Check out Homework and Hot Chocolate for teens;
  19. Attend a Library Trustees Meeting;
  20. Visit the Belmont Historical Society in the Claflin Room;
  21. Donate some books to the Friends of the Library;
  22. Get to know your elected officials during office hours;
  23. Sign up for our e-newsletter;
  24. Download Libby, our one-tap reading app;
  25. Reserve a museum pass to one of twenty museums and play spaces in the area;
  26. Read Belmont newspapers from 1890 to the present;
  27. Try out a book by receiving first chapters via email;
  28. Check out a library tote to carry home all of those items you just checked out;
  29. Got a hero? Let’s find his/her biography;
  30. Use one of our catalog computers for access to the millions of materials available through the Minuteman Network;
  31. Find resources to write or rewrite your resume;
  32. Visit our Digital Display to see what’s new and upcoming in our resources and programs;
  33. Host a meeting for a group of up to 130 people in our Assembly Room;
  34. Catch up on the latest news and gossip with our extensive periodical and magazine collection;
  35. Consult consumer guides online and in the library to make informed decisions on your next big purchase;
  36. Use our online language learning resource, Mango, to learn a new language;
  37. Take home the newest Bluray;
  38. Use Biography In Context to find great resources for that assignment;
  39. Visit the fishtank and make some new fishy friends;
  40. Try out our self-checkout machines;
  41. Attend a playgroup;
  42. Buy a gently used book for your home collection at the Friends Everyday Book Sale;
  43. Sign up to volunteer with the Friends of the Library;
  44. Take a look at this month’s newsletter;
  45. Visit the Memorial Garden off the West Parking Lot;
  46. Follow @belmontlibma on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram;
  47. Read a book found in our “New Books” section;
  48. Read a book that’s less than 150 pages;
  49. Read the New York Times online, at home or in the library;
  50. Read a book from our Young Adult Room, not just for teens!
  51. Grab a great read from a local author in our “Local Spotlight” collection;
  52. Download an eAudiobook using Libby or Hoopla;
  53. Read Belmont newspapers from 1890 to present online;
  54. Use our free wifi located throughout the Library, network is “Belmont Public Library,” NO PASSWORD;
  55. Have lunch by the creek at one of our picnic tables;
  56. Meet one of our great staff members;
  57. Borrow a Kill-o-Watt monitor to see how much energy your home appliances use;
  58. Use one of our public computers to browse the web, email, or print;
  59. Attend a Library Building Committee Meeting;
  60. Get involved with our community read, One Book, One Belmont;
  61. Borrow one of the Library’s Kindles, which come preloaded with dozens of fiction and nonfiction bestsellers;
  62. Attend one of the Library’s ongoing book clubs, like the Belmont Book Discussion Club or the Senior Book Discussion Group;
  63. Check out the best community bulletin board in town, just outside the Children’s Room;
  64. Join our Knitting Group;
  65. Use one of our study carrels to write your next great novel;
  66. Attend our annual Purple Heart Ceremony, this year on Tuesday, August 7, 2018 at 10am;
  67. Check out a Playaway, plug in your headphones, and go for a walk;
  68. Ask us about the Library of Things;
  69. Stop and smell the flowers at every entrance;
  70. Participate in the Belmont Story Project;
  71. Show respect to our veterans, and review the names on the War Memorial in the lobby front entrance;
  72. Find the mural painted by the Belmont High School Class of 2012;
  73. Ask to meet Elaine Alligood, our longest serving trustee;
  74. Attend one of the Selectman office hours the Library regularly hosts;
  75. Visit the statue in front of our west entrance;
  76. Ask a children’s staff member about Jane Gray Dustan;
  77. Visit the Pop-up Library at the Farmers’ Market, monthly during market season;
  78. Play with the Magna-Tiles in the Children’s Room;
  79. Browse our video game collection – we’ve got games for Wii, Wii-U, PS4, XBOX 360, & Nintendo Switch;
  80. Attend one of our weekly storytimes for babies, toddlers, or pre-k;
  81. Attend one of our Friends Author Series events, like September 17th’s talk with Lindsay Mattick, author of Finding Winnie Winnie’s Great War;
  82. Snap a pic using one of our resources & tag @belmontlibma with the hashtag
  83. #BelmontLibraryMA & we’ll repost!
  84. Get CCNA Security certified, or take a digital photography class using our online learning resource, lynda.com;
  85. Suggest a reading list to our resident reading list creator and librarian, Chris, by emailing [email protected];
  86. Take yourself out to a ball game! Reserve our latest pass, discount tickets to the Lowell Spinners;
  87. Reduce your carbon footprint: walk to the library on a warm day and leave your fan or air conditioner off at home, read the newspaper, enjoy the air conditioning at the library while the day heats up and read or use any resource at the library. Sharing resources uses less energy. Let’s make global cooling our priority!
  88. Go to the cooking section and pick a random page from a random book, then challenge yourself to make whatever you found;
  89. Ask to meet Corinne McCue Olmsted, our newest Trustee;
  90. Sign up for a library card or ask for a replacement card redesigned with our logo;
  91. Ask us how you can watch movies at home, DVDs, Roku, Hoopla, Kanopy – we’ve got many options for you;
  92. Ask our Library Director about quiet study rooms; coming soon;
  93. Check out the hidden corner of the creek behind the library shed, it’s beautiful;
  94. Come and meet Fire Fighters and touch a firetruck during Fire Prevention week every October;
  95. Chipmunks, otters, hawks, rabbits, and more have all been spotted on library grounds, observe our furry friends today;
  96. Meet Fred Dooe, our longest serving employee and Radhika Tavshikar, our newest employee;
  97. The Library Building Committee is working towards building a new Library for our community. Ask our Library Director for the latest update on how things are going;
  98. Town Meeting members: Pick up your packet of materials at the library before important town meetings and votes;
  99. Enjoying our new furniture? We’d be happy to share the source, and take your suggestions on furniture ideas you’d like to see in the future;
  100. Meet Elvis the Therapy dog, he makes a few visits a year;
  101. Teens, come work together to find freedom in one of our escape rooms;
  102. Checkout one of our slide scanners or signup to have a library staff member scan your slides for you;
  103. Scan your documents to your email or USB using one of the copiers in our Reference Room;
  104. Sign up for one of our monthly 3D printing classes;
  105. Teens, attend one of our Homework and Hot Chocolate sessions;
  106. Teens, attend one of our Teen LGBTQIAP+ drop ins;
  107. Find the perfect gift for the book, movie, and music lovers on your list using our annual Gift Guide;
  108. Vote in the Assembly Room on Election Day if you live in Precinct 1;
  109. See what Belmont has been reading with our annual list of our top circulating titles;
  110. Teens, come to one of our Teen Gaming events featuring new and retro video games;
  111. Attend an instruction session to learn more about one of our databases;
  112. Read the Boston Globe in person or online;
  113. Find the legal form you need from our comprehensive database of Massachusetts legal forms;
  114. Submit and interlibrary loan request to get material that is not in any Massachusetts library;
  115. Find your next read using the Novelist database;
  116. Pick up a free photocopy of the Sunday New York Times crossword puzzle;
  117. Pick up a free photocopy of the New York Times bestseller list;
  118. Check out the artwork outside of the Claflin Room;
  119. Read the inscription above the main entrance;
  120. Checkout a graphic novel and see what all the fuss is about, found in our Reading Room;
  121. Charge your cellphone with one of our portable chargers;
  122. See the U.S. flag donated by the local Boy Scouts in our Children’s Room;
  123. Get lost in prose reading one of our books of poetry;
  124. Take a trip down memory lane by going through Belmont High School yearbooks, available online at the library or in the comfort of your own home!
  125. Read the library’s mission statement;
  126. Advance your career using the books from our Career Center section;
  127. Get ready for your professional or academic aptitude test using one of our test prep books;
  128. Complete your homework assignment using one of the high school textbooks you can checkout from the Reference Desk;
  129. Improve your foreign language skills or read in your native language by checking something out from our foreign language collection;
  130. Attend one of our music programs;
  131. Find your neighborhood on the 3D relief map in the library’s balcony;
  132. Take a peek at the library’s ceramic tile mural;
  133. Discover the artwork dedicated to Shirley in the Children’s Room;
  134. Check out the library’s paperweight collection case;
  135. Request help with you digital device or a digital library resource with our Tech One-on-One sessions;
  136. Attend one of our tai chi classes;
  137. Come to the Parent Child Book Club for children in grades 3-6 and their parents;
  138. Attend one of the weekly story times run by the Children’s Room;
  139. Check out a book on CD to make your commute or long drive fly by;
  140. Request an item through the Commonwealth Catalog to get something that is available in a Massachusetts library but not an MLN library;
  141. Suggest an item we should purchase for our collection by filling out the form on this page;
  142. See what the news is saying about libraries with the articles linked at the bottom of our homepage;
  143. Login to the Minuteman catalog to renew and request items on your account;
  144. Read the latest editions of local newspapers in our West Wing;
  145. Plan your next adventure using our collection of travel guides;
  146. Explore the visually impressive books in our Oversize collection;
  147. Checkout a documentary film from our Nonfiction DVD collections;
  148. Ask a reference librarian for a guest pass to get on one of the public computers if you forgot your card;
  149. Sign up for Girls Who Code;
  150. Come hear the Ukuladies!
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