Winter Mashup & New Years Celebration – Save the Dates!
Please hold December 15^th from 10-11:30am for my Winter Mashup. We will wrap up 2015 with a look at the challenges we faced and celebrate the accomplishments of the year. And this year in lieu of a holiday party when everyone is so busy, I will be hosting a New Year’s Celebration on Thursday, January 14^th. I could use some party planners to help, so if you are interested, please let Jean know.

Also, as you know the University has a Winter Holiday Celebration which is Friday, December 4th. The Babbidge Builders will once again be representing the Libraries in the Gingerbread House Decorating Competition so I encourage you all to join in the festivities and cheer on your colleagues.

Book Fair/Huck Scarry Visit Wrap Up

The week of November 9th we had two great programs, starting with a week long visit by Huck Scarry, Richard Scarry’s son. Huck has been drawing the Busytown characters made famous by his father since he was a young boy and now works at continuing the tradition. He spent four of those days working with the students in Professor Alison Paul’s illustration classes. He also engaged the public through a lecture on his fathers work, spoke to over 400 students at Coventry Grammar School, and met fans both young and old as he signed books for hours at the CT Children’s Book Fair. In between all of that he had the opportunity to meet with some of our donors, other children’s authors and illustrators and attend a performance at the Jorgensen. It was truly a lovely week and he was very pleased with the visit. In speaking with him on Saturday evening, he said he was energized by the visit and overwhelmed with the welcome he received at all of the many activities. We look forward to working with him in the future regarding more collection materials for the Northeast Children’s Literature Collection and perhaps seeing him again when he returns to the states.

The visit by Huck Scarry was in part coordinated on behalf of the CT Children’s Book Fair. Celebrating its 24th year, we were joined by over 20 talented authors and illustrators over the course of the weekend. Veterans such as Wendell Minor and young authors such as Steven Savage had a wonderful time and had the opportunity to meet their fans. There were several staff that helped to make this happen and I would like to thank them – Jean Nelson who co-chaired the Book Fair committee and organized the weekend with Suzy Staubach, Kristin Eshelman who not only filled in at the last minute to help coordinate volunteers, but also represented the library and the Northeast Children’s Literature Collection with great respect and knowledge of how this program is a stewardship opportunity for the archives, and the many folks who Jean tells me helped with the details that may seem small, but were and important part of the weekend – David Avery, Kathleen and Brian for helping with moving furniture, Holly for volunteering at the Fair, and Kristen Jones for bringing her family out to dress up as costume characters on Sunday. Thanks to all for your help.

Happy Thanksgiving
There will be no VPC Open Forum this week due to the holiday. I hope that you will enjoy the short holiday break with family, friends and colleagues.