Below is the link to the website of Councilmember Tommy Wells that provides the testimony given at the March 29, 2012, Budget Performance Oversight Hearing for the DC Public Library.
http://www.tommywells.org/2012/04/on-thursday-mar.php
The D.C. Public Library is proud to host Ancient Greeks/Modern Lives, a major national initiative bringing humanities based public programming to 100 public libraries, arts centers, theaters and museums across America.
Ancient Greeks/Modern Lives aims to inspire people to come together to read, see and think about classical literature and how it continues to influence and invigorate American cultural life. Over the course of five weeks, DCPL will host six public events in libraries around the District, each on a different theme.
This program is made possible primarily by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, with additional funding provided by four of the library friends groups in D.C: Friends of the Georgetown Library; Friends of the Palisades Library; Friends of the Watha T. Daniel/Shaw Library; and our own West End Library Friends.
Residents and non-residents alike are invited to come to be a part of this very unique program/conversation.
The specific program for the West End Library will be conducted on April 30, 2012, at 7:00 p.m. by Brett Rogers. Its subject is Stranger in a Strange Land Encountering the Other and will discuss how the Greek mythic hero Odysseus helps us understand the experience of being a stranger both in foreign (strange) lands and in one’s own home upon return to it. It will explore how Homer’s Odyssey helps us think about ideas, about the idea of the ‘strange’, the joys and difficulties of encountering difference (the Other), the virtues of (and problems in) hospitality and the very ways we define ‘home’.
To find the full details about this six part program, access the DCPL website at http://dclibrary.org/ancientgreeks
On Wednesday, April 18, 2012, Councilmember Wells will host the next session of “Tommy’s Traveling Book Club”, a quarterly discussion group coordinated by the Federation of Friends of the DC Public Library. This edition will be from 6:30 – 8:00 pm at the Petworth Neighborhood Library, located at 4200 Kansas Ave., N.W.
Councilmember Wells has chosen The Watsons Go to Birmingham – 1963, by Christopher Paul Curtis, a 1996 Newberry Honor and a Coretta Scott King Honor book. The story is told from the point-of-view of 10-year-old Kenny and describes the family’s trip from their home in Flint, Michigan, through their visit to Grandma in Alabama during the tumultuous summer of 1963.
The link to sign up is http://www.tommywells.org/events/bookclubapril2012.
There are numerous copies in the system, so check them out, and plan to join a lively book discussion.
As busy as David Pietrusza is these days on the lecture and television talk show circuits, the noted author and historian nonetheless found time last week to donate a copy of his latest book, 1948, to the West End Library Friends—who in turn donated it to the West End branch.
“It certainly was generous of him and the timing couldn’t be better,” said John Gizzi, the Chair of the Friends’ Outreach Committee: noting that the presidential election year has begun and Pietruszas’s 1948 is the story of the election that year won by Harry Truman in a never-expected upset.
Known as an historian and chronicler of presidential elections, Pietrusza has already written two books, 1920 and 1960, about the elections of those years and their impact on American history. Both books sold well and have been widely reviewed, and the author is a much-sought-after subject for interviews on modern U.S. political history. Recently, Pietrusza has been interviewed by Swedish Television on 9/11 and by the French publication LeFigaro on the New Hampshire presidential primary.
In a sense, Pietrusza is a friend of the West End Library himself. When he learned from an area resident that the West End Library’s only copy of 1920 was found missing two years ago, the New York-based author promptly sent a fresh one.
The testimony that follows the second paragraph was presented by Susan B. Haight on behalf of the Executive Committee of the West End Library Friends before the DC Zoning Commission. Susan’s statement joined similar statements in support of the proposed EastBanc project by representatives of the Advisory Neighborhood Commission 2A, the Foggy Bottom Association, the West End Citizens Association and the West End Friends, among others.
Full information about the hearing before the Zoning Commission can be found on the ZC website at http://dcoz.dc.gov/services/zoning/commish.shtm. On the ZC home page simply click the “Zoning Case Search” tab in the upper right-hand section of the screen; then type in “11-12” in the “Search Term” box and click “GO”; and then click “View Details” for Case Number 11-12 in the search results.
December 19, 2011 continued on January 5, 2012
Testimony of Susan B. Haight on Zoning Commission Case No. 11-12
EastBanc PUD in Square 37, District of Columbia
Good Evening Commissioners:
My name is Susan B. Haight and I live at 1111 23rd St., NW. I am President of the West End Library Friends (WELF), and I am testifying on behalf of the Executive Committee of WELF which is in strong support of EastBanc’s Square 37 PUD (Zoning Case No. 11-12).
WELF is a non-profit organization, incorporated in 1990 under IRS Code Section 501(c) (3), to support the West End Library Branch, its various activities and programs. It is registered with DC’s Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs. In 2011 our group had approximately 80 dues paying members almost all of whom live in the West End/Foggy Bottom neighborhood.
From 1990 to date WELF has been the only Friends’ group supporting the West End Library Branch. I have been a member of WELF since 2005 and President since 2007.
In September, 2007, WELF established a Stakeholders Committee, made up of business and residential representatives of the West End, Foggy Bottom, and Dupont Circle neighborhoods. The purpose of this Committee was to establish a set of principles to guide the quality, sustainability, integration, and functionality of a new or renovated West End Library Branch. This group conducted a collaborative process that included a survey and a public meeting to gather input from local residents and other interested parties. Our WELF Committee took into consideration the District of Columbia Public Library (DCPL) building program for branch libraries; the educational, enrichment, and service needs of the neighborhoods; the best use of resources and meeting rooms; and the need to maintain an efficient physical plant and optimum location.
The WELF Stakeholders Committee forwarded its final report on July 18, 2008, to the DCPL Board of Trustees and Chief Librarian, as well as to the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development, the DC Office of Planning, and the DC Council. This report included comprehensive recommendations for an ideal branch library that contained recommendations for the footprint, the physical plant and its maintenance, and the exterior design of a new West End Library.
WELF realizes that some users of the West End Library may have a different point of view than ours, but we have been involved in this re-development process for many years. Based on this extensive experience, we believe the EastBanc proposal provides the best opportunity for a new, revitalized library in West End. We believe EastBanc has met the prescriptions and recommendation of the report of the WELF Stakeholders Committee. As such, allow me to again say that we, the Executive Committee of WELF, strongly support EastBanc’s Square 37 PUD (Zoning Case No. 11-12). Thank you for allowing me to present this statement.
Susan B. Haight
More than eighty students from a dozen high schools in Washington, DC, jammed the community meeting room at the West End Public Library on November 14th for the information forum on the Trachtenberg Scholarship program. This latest forum was “by far the biggest yet” in comparison to sessions that have been held since 2004–according to Susan Haight, president of the West End Library Friends, the current sponsor of these information sessions.
For more than an hour, high school students and many parents asked questions of past Trachtenberg scholars, who have gone on to college, and of admissions officials from George Washington University, which offers the scholarship. The lively question-and-answer session covered topics ranging from what students wanted to be doing in ten years from now, to clubs and other campus activity available at GWU.
Students in the DC Public Schools as well as in Charter Schools are eligible for Trachtenberg Scholarships, which are full scholarships. Candidates are nominated by their guidance counselors based on various pertinent factors which include leadership abilities and community service.
As the turnout for the event at the West End Library clearly demonstrated, the Trachtenberg Scholarship program is going strong–as is the information forum that supports it. As Ms. Haight noted with some pride, “This forum has become a signature event for the West End Library Friends and one of the many community building programs that the Friends enthusiastically sponsor throughout the year.”
