46.0°,
Light Drizzle Geeking Bellmore-Merrick libraries
Four local libraries help residents find their passions through national campaign
Bellmore Memorial Library Director Maureen Garvey “geeks” mysteries, red wine and chocolate. North Bellmore Director Tom Bazzicalupo geeks Chihuahuas. And for Merrick Library Director Ellen Firer, it’s family.
To geek something, Firer said, means you’re passionate about it. All four Bellmore-Merrick libraries are taking part in “Geek the Library,” a national program to raise awareness about and passion for local libraries and all they do for their communities.
“There is so much that we do in libraries today –– such a variety of things –– that we can fit into [the] passionate interests of people,” Firer said. “Whether it’s in a technological way, in a one-on-one type of way … we’re all passionate about libraries and what we do.”
The Online Computer Library Center, Inc, a nonprofit library cooperative supported by a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, partnered with Leo Burnett USA, a Chicago-based marketing communications agency, to create the Geek the Library campaign. Bellmore-Merrick’s four libraries enrolled in it for free in June.
The campaign aims to inspire a conversation about the importance of the nation’s public libraries, as well as the need for increased financial support for libraries. The Geek the Library website offers resources for patrons interested in advocating for greater funding.
Staffers at the four libraries that serve the Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District saw the campaign as chance to collaborate. Over the coming year, each Bellmore-Merrick library will host a program that will be open to patrons from the other three area libraries in conjunction with the Geek the Library initiative.
Bellmore will host the first event on Oct. 25, a mini-comic convention, inspired partly by popular science-fiction shows and graphic novels like “Doctor Who.” From 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. that day, the library will host a series of events, from a screening of “Phineas and Ferb: Mission Marvel” to a comic-book creation workshop to a light-saber show and a scavenger hunt, among other activities. The library is also seeking creative works from students and patrons for a juried fan art exhibit. The submission deadline is Oct. 10.
