New Jersey State Library

Caldwell Public Library
Contact Person: Karen Kleppe Lembo, Director
973-226-2837
klembo@caldwellpl.org

Last year the Caldwell Public Library participated by hosting a wide range of area volunteer organizations to be at our library (Rotary, our local first aid squad, Seeing Eye Dogs, CASA volunteers, a new ESL program, Autism Awareness, among others), and some younger patrons manned an "Alex's Lemonade Stand" to raise $130.15 for pediatric cancer research. The interaction and networking between patrons, volunteers and staff made for a very exciting day.

This year, we are commemorating September 11th by "GOING LIVE" with our membership in a consortium of libraries as of Monday, September 12th. Our staff, board and volunteers have worked diligently for months (really, almost a year!) to get to this day. We picked September 12th as our start up day with the September project in mind, along with September historically being "Library Card Sign-up Month" - but for Caldwell cardholders, the card will be even MORE valuable this year, for we are becoming a part of a much larger community of libraries.

Further, our historic building, built in 1917 as an Andrew Carnegie library, will step even further into the 21st century by offering those who enter the building "WIRELESS ACCESS" as of September 12, 2005 as well as the computers available in the library for their use.

And, so as to not forget our rich heritage, we hope to have a portion (albeit small) of our local history collection available for review by patrons by September 12th.

All of the above seems to be in keeping with Peggy Cadigan's vision from the New Jersey State Library last year (as noted on their website): "We believe that there can be no more fitting tribute, no more appropriate commemoration of September 11th, than for libraries all over the state to simply be there doing business as usual: facilitating communication, fostering citizenship, promoting understanding, guaranteeing freedom of access to information, and above all, standing with doors wide open as a remarkable symbol of our freedom."

Thank you for providing the impetus to "do more sooner" so as to be able to surpass in 2005 what we believed to be an excellent "day of engagement" in 2004!

Clifton Public Library
Contact Person: Jackie Alectoridis
Senior Circulation/Reference Librarian
973-772-5500
gallojackie@palsplus.org

The Clifton Public Library will remember the heroes of September 11, 2001 with programs planned for Saturday, September 10, 2005 at the Main Memorial Library at 292 Piaget Avenue. Events will include a morning children’s program about heroes, an invitation to teens to decorate the library’s windows on the ground floor between 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m., and a live concert of patriotic music scheduled for 2 p.m. in the Community Room.

The theme for the day is “Honoring Heroes.” Posters made by members of the Saturday Conversation Club will be on display and book displays will be located throughout the building.
The concert audience will be limited to 75 persons due to local fire codes.

Cranford Public Library
Contact Person: Director John Malar
908-709-7272
Johnm@CranfordNJ.org

Remembering the Twin Towers
September, 06 2005
7:30 p.m.
Cranford Community Center, 220 Walnut Avenue.

Dr. Angus Gillespie, Professor of American Studies at Rutgers, and author of Twin Towers, 1973-2001: The Life and Death of New York City's World Trade Center, will present a history of the Twin Towers. Admission is free and all are welcome. The program is offered through the Horizons Speakers Bureau of the New Jersey Council for the Humanities.

Dwight D. Eisenhower Library Contact Persons: Director Joan Krautheim
973-790-3265
krautheim@palsplus.org

Kathy Papastavrinoudis
973-790-3265
papastav@palsplus.org

Book Display

The East Brunswick Public Library
Contact Person: Cheryl McBride
732- 390-6950
CMcBride@EBPL.org

Book Display

Glen Rock Library
Contact Person: Director Roz Pelcyger
201-670-3970
Pelcyger@bccls.org

Book Display

Hasbrouck Heights
Contact Person: Michele Reutty, Director
201-288-0488
reutty@bccls.org

This year the library and the clergy have partnered to present a ceremony which will take place at The Circle in Hasbrouck Heights. It will be a Candle Light ceremony at 7 p.m. on 9/11 featuring a speaker who was one of the heroes of that day. He and another man carried a handicapped woman down many flights of stairs to get her out safely.

Highland Park Public Library Contact Person: Valerie Drach Weidmann
732-572-2750
valeri84@hpplnj.org

Sunday, September 11 at 6 p.m.

Professor Eric Davis, author of Memories of State: Politics, History and Collective Identity in Modern Iraq, will speak at the Highland Park Public Library, 31 North Fifth Avenue in Highland Park, about Problems with American Foreign Policy in the Middle East. Davis, former director of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Rutgers University, has traveled extensively for two decades to Iraq and this year to the University of Sulaymaniya to meet with Iraqi academics.

The political science professor has been a featured speaker at the State Department and has written op-ed pieces for the New York Times and other major news outlets.

Professor Davis’ talk is part of the New Jersey Libraries September Project, sponsored by the New Jersey State Library, to create a day of Engagement, a day of conversation, a day of Democracy.

Hillside Public Library
Contact Person: Joyce Goldberg, Director
973-923-4413; fax: 973-923-0506
jgoldberg@hillsidepubliclibrary.org

A display honoring the victims of September 11th will be placed in the Hillside Public Library. The Library's security guard is presently stationed in Irag and has sent the Library mementos from the Middle East. These articles will also be on display.

Jersey Shore University Medical Center
Contact Person: Catherine Boss, MSLS, AHIP Coordinator, Library Services
732-776-4266; fax: 732-776-4530
cboss@meridianhealth.com

The Booker Health Sciences Library, Jersey Shore University Medical Center is sponsoring an art exhibit: Celebrating America through the Eyes of a Child. The library will be collecting artwork and poetry from employee's children in grades 1 - 8 to display in the library and in the hallways of the Medical Center beginning the weekend of September 11. The artwork can be a drawing, painting, collage, poem or any other style that demonstrates how the child feels about our country and the freedoms, rights and privileges they enjoy. The library staff is supplying the paper. All participates will receive a flag pin and be entered into prize drawings.

Long Branch Free Public Library
Contact Person: Rachael Scalise
Phone: 732.222.3900
rscalise@lmxac.org

The Long Branch Public Library will offer book displays on Voting, Freedom & Democracy and will distribute “Bill of Rights” bookmarks in Spanish and English.

We will offer book displays in our World Languages Section on learning English, citizenship preparation, social security, getting a job in the U.S. and job skills.
A local artist will hang two pen and ink drawings with a multicultural theme.
We are currently working with the League of Women Voters to have a voter registration day in the library and we hope to offer information in Spanish & English.
We will also have a display case with information and books about the struggle for women's right to vote in NJ.

Monmouth County Library
Contact Person: Judi Tolchin
(732)431-7220
jtolchin@co.monmouth.nj.us

The 389th United States Army Band will appear at the Monmouth County Library Headquarters location, 125 Symmes Drive, Manalapan, NJ, at 2:00 pm on September 11.

New Brunswick Free Public Library
Contact Person: Jackie Oshman, Library Associate
732-745-5108
joshman@lmxac.org

The New Brunswick Free Public Library will have a display about our city's fire department for the month of September. Two of its Urban Search and Rescue members responded to the WTC site and helped search for survivors for 10 days. Along with information and photographs from the attacks, we are also saluting the entire department for constantly showing their heroism. A part of the display will honor New Brunswick's late Deputy Fire Chief James D'heron who responded to a house fire without gear last year and was killed.

Ocean County Library
Contact Person: Scott Rodas, Program Coordinator
(732) 349-6200 ext. 5912
Rodas_S@oceancounty.lib.nj.us

Sept 11 Programs at Ocean County Library

Lakewood Branch- Ocean County Library (732) 363-1435 Sunday, Sept. 11, 1 – 5 pm Silent Memorial commemorating Sept. 11, 2001

Tuckerton Branch- Ocean County Library (609) 296-1470 Help us create a memorial wreath by writing messages on a "star" and attaching it to the wreath. On September 10th, from 10:30 to 12:30, the Girl Scouts of Troop 162 will assist with adding more decorations to the wreath, this time with a personal message written on a "liberty bell".

Little Egg Harbor Branch- Ocean County Library (609) 294-1170 Wednesday, September 14th, 6:30-8pm Patriot Day.
By a joint resolution approved December 18, 2001 (Public Law 107-89), our Congress designated September 11 of each year as "Patriot Day." President George W. Bush asked us to remember and honor those who died in the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. We are inviting leaders from the community to participate by sharing patriotic stories with children as part of a mini-readathon. We will be playing patriotic music throughout the evening and sharing refreshments. Children will also be making traditional red, white and blue crafts -- decorations, flags and banners. We invite the community to remember September 11th and those we lost and the heroes that were born.

Beachwood Branch- Ocean County Library (732) 244-4573 Sept. 11, Drop in and sign our Tower of Remembrance... and receive a ribbon of remembrance.

Island Heights Branch- Ocean County Library (732) 270-6266 Sept. 11, Drop in and sign our Tower of Remembrance... and receive a ribbon of remembrance.

Lacey Branch- Ocean County Library (609) 693-8566 Display Collection of photographs and memorabilia from Sept. 11, 2001---courtesy of Mike Egolf.

Stafford Branch- Ocean County Library (609) 597-3381 Put your mark on our international mega-map display -- "I Live in America and I am from..........."
Add a photo of your hometown if you like !

Plumsted Branch- Ocean County Library (609) 758-7888 Saturday, Sept. 10 10:00am -1:00pm Join us for patriotic videos throughout the day (10-1). Cookies will be served. This is a drop-in type program. Patrons can view the postcard display, donate food, watch videos, and eat cookies.
Discovering America, Helping Americans
We are collecting postcards from patrons of places they visit this summer. Those who submit a postcard will be entered into a raffle to be drawn on September 10.
From Sept. 6-10 we are requesting canned food items. They will be distributed to a local food bank. Those donating food will also be entered into a drawing.

Point Pleasant Branch- Ocean County Library (732) 295-1555 All Month – Origami Cranes for Peace Stop by any day in September to fold an origami crane for peace in remembrance of September 11.

Thursday, 9/8, 4:00 pm
Cranes for Peace
Listen to a story about the peace crane and learn how to fold your own origami crane. For ages 8 and up.

Thursday, 9/8, 7:00 pm – Meet the Author: Gwendolyn Bounds Gwendolyn Bounds, a writer for the Wall Street Journal, lived across the street from the World Trade Center on September 11. While searching for a temporary home following the attacks, she found Guinan’s, an old Irish bar in Garrison, NY. In Little Chapel on the River: a pub, a town and the search for what matters most, Bounds captures the essence of Guinan’s and the small town where she and her partner now reside. Author Discussion and book signing.

Manchester Branch- Ocean County Library (732) 657-7600

The day will be celebrated on September 12(Monday). At 10:00 we will have a tree planting memorial outside(all patrons invited) and a memorial table will be set up in the library promoting freedom in America, voter registration, bill of rights in USA, and books that honor those lost in 9-11.

No sign-ups are necessary, an information sheet will be provided in the Adults Programs Book.

Barnegat Branch- Ocean County Library (609) 698-3331

September 10
Join us at Barnegat Township’s Pirate Day! We will be there to hand out special Ocean County red, white and blue buttons !

Jackson Branch- Ocean County Library (732) 928-4400 Visit us during the month of September and write your response to the following statement:
“I am glad I live in the United States because…” on our map of the US.

Paterson Free Public Library
Contact Person: Mary Wilson
973-321-1223
wilson@palsplus.org

We will be holding a remembrance on Sunday, September 11th at our Southside Branch from 12:00 to 4:00 with a guest book for visitors.

South Orange Public Library
Contact Person: Melissa Kopecky, Library Director
973-762-0230; fax: 973-762-1469
mkopecky@sopl.org

Last year we stayed open for 24 hours on September 11. It was an incredible experience from start to finish. It was during those 24 hours that we first heard the question “What are you going to do next year?” All of us at the library felt as though those 24 hours were a precious once-in-a-lifetime event for all who participated (and even for some who were not physically present – I had Thank you’s from people who were just pleased to know that such a thing was happening in their community).

So, working off the fact that September 11 falls on Sunday this year, and on, always, the place of libraries in bringing to life the ideals of democracy, especially freedom of speech, we have come up with the following plan:

Honoring Differences
a September 11 commemoration at the South Orange Public Library

interfaith panel and discussion
September 11, 2005 3pm

moderators

Rev. Charles Thompson, 1st Presbyterian and Trinity Church
Melissa Kopecky, South Orange Public Library

panelists

Rev. Roy Butler, First Maplewood Baptist Church
Rev. Lawrence E. Frizzell, Seton Hall University
Rev. Karen Hybertsen, Ridgeview Community Church
Peter Kurczynski, Resident Teacher at Dharmachakra Buddhist Center
Imam Ashraf Latif, National Islamic Association
Leader Boe Meyerson, Ethical Culture Society of Essex County
Barrie Peterson, Institute on Work @Seton Hall University
Rabbi Francine Roston, Congregation Beth El

Join these stimulating panelists and other community members for a commemoration that will freely investigate some hard questions. Examine the beliefs, commitments, values, and practices that define who you are. How do you live out these beliefs alongside those who think and live differently? Where is the line between adhering to beliefs and respecting the right of others to hold opposing views? How does one respond to the conflicts that arise among varying lifestyles and differing commitments? Is it possible to move beyond tolerance for various beliefs and lifestyles to valuing them? How can we demonstrate the honoring of differences?

Each of the panelists is inviting their community and we are publicizing it through regular library channels as well. The chief concern among our panelists is that we will run out of time before we run out of thoughts and words. So we are leaving the door open for a follow-up in a month or two…