Autumn Years Spring 2023

The outdoor memorial garden.

events that showcase and offer sam plings from local restaurants. The library is home to approximate ly 50,000 circulating items, including nearly 20,000 volumes of adult fiction and non-fiction, 17,000 books for chil dren and teens, 10,000 DVDs for kids and adults, music CDs, video games, 3,000 magazine and newspaper titles, and ESL materials and media. It also has growing collections of local history documents, photographs and other ma terials. As part of the Bergen County Cooperative Library System (BCCLS), the library also gives patrons access to several databases for business and job support, curriculum support, language instruction, and downloadable e-books and e-audiobooks. And, thanks to sup port from Te Friends of the Library, pa trons can also access additional databas es and online print and media resources including Mango languages, Ancestry. com, Hoopla, Kanopy and Acorn. Although the library has no IT de partment and Martha has no formal technology training, her extensive on the-job experiences over the course of a career that has seen technology evolve

from floppy disks to CDs to flash drives to cloud storage have equipped her to lead the library’s technology develop ment and to provide technology help to library patrons. Martha and her team can help someone sign out a hotspot, laptop or projector and, if needed, show them how they work. As individuals’ technology knowl edge and comfort have increased, says Martha, the library has adjusted to a decreased need for classes that intro duce people to computers and an in creased need to learn about apps. With access in mind yet again, the library has transitioned its class offerings to in clude free, readily available software like the Google suite. And, as large desktop computers and monitors have reached their useful lives, the library has re placed them with laptops. People still use the library, but how they use it has changed, says Martha. “Years ago, someone may have come to the library looking for a book about how to fix a car or how to crochet. Today, they come in and ask how to access free how-to videos on YouTube and other re sources that may not be in the library’s

Martha holding the plaque that will be placed in the outdoor garden in memory of Shy Touba.

she has also integrated mobile furniture, including wheeled bookcases, that allow for more flexible use of library space for its varied programs and events. The library’s outdoor gardens have also evolved during Martha’s tenure. Over the years, several memorial gar dens have been added, and maintaining these gardens is yet another way Martha connects the library with the commu nity. The Friends of the Library volun teer Garden Club often hosts up-keep events. Garden Club members have also become active participants in a library speaker series, like a February 2023 Backyard Beekeeping program present ed by local beekeeper Sherif Tosuni. The Friends of the Library conducts significant fundraising to help finance many special programs, concerts, ESL and early literacy resources and other services the library provides, primarily through their used book sales, mem bership drives, and Taste of Westwood

40 AUTUMN YEARS I SPRING 2023