Halftime of the Patriots game, and I had to go to a dinner
at the Library. Not just any dinner, but a jacket and tie dinner. This was a very
special special occasion because the library was announcing its plans for the
Creative Commons at Queset House. Rumors of a new idea had been circulating for
months but what was a Creative Commons?
As more folks are learning every day, the Library is the
busiest place in Easton. Various groups
meet there weekly and hundreds of programs take place annually. Also, I’ve
visited libraries in Stoughton, Raynham, Mansfield, and Norton recently and I
can tell you that, while those are all excellent libraries, the friendliest and
most helpful staff is located right here in Easton.
The new library makes use of the old space gloriously and
the Italian Garden is becoming a must see destination with plans for more work
this summer. Queset House, the other part of the library campus, has lagged a
little behind the other developments, but now it is set to take off and lift
our library even further beyond other small libraries in Massachusetts.
What is a Creative Commons? You’ll soon be seeing a trifold
that explains it in detail soon, but the idea is to build a space where people
of all ages can use new technology and old fashioned networking to spark a
creative renaissance in Easton. The
slogan is “Classic Exterior, Savvy Interior.” One of the great thrills of the
main library building is having modern library services in an extraordinary
building that is a pleasure to visit. At the Creative Commons state-of-the-art
media will be housed in a beautifully restored, elegant 19th century mansion.
Each room will be a module in a site designed to encourage
creativity and collaboration. There will be a recording studio, a lab devoted
to digital imaging, and a studio for video editing. Creativity needs more than
media and the Creative Commons has set aside a room for craft activities, two
meeting rooms with TV capability, and a quiet reading area. While I love the
technological whiz bang, my favorite room concept is using the house’s original
library as the quiet area with the books from the library’s original collection
lining the shelves. The modular idea carries through into the old dining room that
can easily be converted into a sophisticated new dining room or a high tech
meeting area.
The point of this grand idea is to get you, dear reader, to
be a media creator not just a consumer. You’ll be able to record family
stories, convert old photos to digital ones and retouch the wear and tear of
the ages, design a color poster or piece of original digital art, build a
website, write an ebook, or simply host a meeting of your favorite group. Young
people will be able to work on multimedia school projects. And, something dear
to my historian’s heart, you’ll be able to add your reminiscences and photos to
the library catalog making them available to future residents. And, using excitedly bad sentence structure
once more, this will be a collaboration, a sharing of ideas, concepts and
skills between people of all ages. The Creative Commons at Queset is an
opportunity to build a true “artist’s” colony right here in Easton, and you can
be the artist!
Neighbors, don’t expect the landscaping at my house to
improve, I’ve gone to the Creative Commons at Queset!
You can learn more and find out how to participate by
contacting Uma Hiremath at uhiremath@easton.ma.us
or Assistant Director Jason Bloom at jbloom@easton.ma.us.
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