features

By Lucy Maulsby

The Lincoln Public Library may be small, but its reference librarians are always busy. In addition to answering routine questions (over 100 a week) about the library’s holdings, directing patrons to “a good book,” and assisting with research on a variety of topics, they’re also teaching people how to access and effectively use the expansive electronic library of books, journals, and other media — all of which are transforming the ways in which we engage with news, entertainment, and information.

“My work has always involved helping people find what they’re looking for, helping them use the tools available, and solving problems,” reference librarian Kate Tranquada said. But those tools and problems have changed a great deal. When she first started working as a librarian in Waltham, “the card catalog filled the lobby and we had a few computers in use at the library — for staff use only. We were just getting everything barcoded — lots of data entry. Checkout still involved punching cards and pockets in books. Music and books on cassette had not quite replaced the vinyl record collection.”

The library offers both the old and the new, subscribing to a rich array of electronic resources even as it continues to build a robust print collection. These resources include subscriptions to national and local newspapers such as the New York Times and Boston Globe as well as the millions of news, magazine, and journal articles available through General One File.

Digital books, audiobooks, and movies can be accessed through the library catalogue as well as through Hoopla (movies, music, audiobooks, e-books, comics, and TV shows), Overdrive (e-books, magazines, audiobooks, and videos), and Kanopy (documentaries, classics, and independent films).

Helping patrons learn about and use these resources is central to the library staff’s work. “Although the market for print books is expanding, publishers are no longer printing many reference books. These resources are now available only in digital formats,” reference librarian Laura Paryl noted. She and the other reference librarians help patrons understand what is and isn’t available online (from social services to movies) and how to access that information. They’re also experts at helping patrons evaluate the quality of information available through online platforms.

In order to provide technological assistance, reference librarians answer questions via email, phone, and, as always, in person (on the first floor to the left of the entrance in the reference room).

“The library has always been a place for the public to get their hands on the latest dominant technology. We work with people who can use help getting up to speed on current tools,” Tranquada said. “We also provide equipment for experts whose computers and printers are temporarily on the blink, or for people away from home. Next to meeting so many people, my favorite part of the job has been learning how to use all the new gadgets and programs as they become available.”

To better help resolve technical issues and set up accounts through which patrons access digital books, Tranquada holds 30-minute drop-in help sessions on Thursdays from 3–5 p.m. She helps people install apps and download materials onto their personal devices including iPhones, iPads, Android devices, and Kindles. In addition, she makes regular visits to The Commons and can sometimes be found at Bemis Hall during their computer drop-in sessions on Thursdays at 1:30 p.m.

The library’s core collection now includes a wide range of digital subscriptions that allow patrons to research diverse topics. Subscriptions to Britannica Digital Learning and World Book open doors to learners of all ages on an expansive range of topics.

“The online versions are much easier to use — no need to consult multiple heavy volumes just to find the magazine article you need,” Tranquada said. “Sometimes it’s been hard for old-timers like me to part with the gorgeous volumes that were once as valuable as gold to us. The challenge is letting people know we still offer many of the same expensive reference tools. But now they’re more invisibly digital: there are no bookcases full of volumes reminding people what the library offers.”

Since space is not as much of a concern as it once was, the reference material at the library has expanded to include new kinds of resources. For patrons interested in family history and heritage, online databases such as Heritage Quest — which includes federal censuses, books, and bank records — offer access to extraordinary collections. In addition, digital copies of some local public records and archives are available through the Lincoln Archives. For information about accessing these, patrons can email Lincoln’s archivist, Lisa Welter, at archives@lincolntown.org.

The library also subscribes to indexes that offer practical information about and ratings of goods, services and investments such as Consumer Reports, Consumer’s Checkbook, Morningstar, and Value Line.

The secret to finding all the digital riches available is through the library website: www.lincolnpl.org. Under the Services tab, select Research Tools to see resources listed by subject. If you have a question — any question — you can bring it to a reference librarian. And if the librarians can’t find the answer, they’ll refer you to someone who can.

Lucy Maulsby is the Lincoln School Committee’s appointee to the Library Board of Trustees.

By Linda Hammett Ory

Five girls from Lincoln Girl Scout Troop 72886 who have been Scouts since kindergarten — Lia Darling, Ashley du Toit, Alison Dwyer, Anya Elder, and Audrey Ory — attained the honor of earning their Gold Award, the highest achievement in Girl Scouting.

All five graduated from high school this year (du Toit, Dwyer and Elder from Lincoln-Sudbury High School, Darling from Beaver Country Day School, and Ory from the Middlesex School).

The girls were recognized at the State House on June 14 along with 88 other awardees from across Massachusetts. Lincoln had the most number of girls at the ceremony of any town represented. The girls received special commendations for their accomplishments from multiple sources, including the Massachusetts State Senate and House of Representatives, their local state representatives, U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Edward Markey, and Gov. Charles Baker.

To earn the Gold Award, Girl Scouts must identify an issue in their community they’a passionate about, and then complete a project to address the issue that will continue to operate in their absence. Each girl created her own project plan and team, and then devoted at least 80 hours to implement the plan.

Darling’s project was designed to address the lack of information about mental illness in her school and community. She formulated a plan and a team that used facts and stories to educate herself, classmates, and teachers about how to be mentally healthy and informed about types of mental illness and prevention.

“Girl Scouting is where you can challenge yourself to do things that you thought you couldn’t do,” said Darling, adding, “it’s a way to make incredible bonds with girls that will always support you throughout life.”

Du Toit focused on bicyclist safety in Lincoln. She worked with Lincoln’s local government and a special committee to successfully install road signs around town letting motorists know that “bicycles may use full lane,” and then wrapped up her project by organizing a bicycle safety event for children. 

“Girl Scouts teaches girls how to speak out and be bold without fear of being criticized,” said du Toit.

Dwyer’s project focused on increasing residents’ participation in Lincoln’s town government. She conducted several studies to identify best communication practices about how town decisions are made, and she developed a curriculum about local government that will now be added to the middle school social studies program.

Through the process of earning the Gold Award, “I discovered I enjoyed working with people I never thought I’d talk to, and I learned from others in the process,” Dwyer said.

Elder aimed to reduce cyberbullying by creating a program that will now be offered annually at her school to educate and bring awareness around the topic, with the aim of reducing the frequency of this damaging online behavior.

Girl Scouting “taught me not to shy away from opportunities or challenges, but rather, to embrace and appreciate them,” Elder said.

Ory developed and taught a financial literacy curriculum for middle school girls to foster both knowledge about finances and the confidence to pursue their interests in related fields. She pinpointed this critical developmental age as an important way to help address the lack of women in the finance industry.

“Without Girl Scouting, I wouldn’t be the person I am today, and I never could have done what I have been able to achieve,” said Ory.

In addition to learning all these life skills, Lia Darling reflected that “Girl Scouting is a way to make incredible bonds with girls that will always support you throughout life.”

Research has shown that girls who earn their Girl Scout Gold Award display a more positive sense of self, participate in more community service and civic engagement, and reach higher levels of education and income. If your daughter is aged 5–18 and is interested in joining the Lincoln Girl Scouts, contact Heather Coughlin at hmcoughlin@gmail.com.

By Alice Waugh

America recently observed the 75th anniversary of D-Day, but 98-year-old Lincoln resident Patricia Warner was serving the country as a wartime spy years before the invasion — and she was finally recognized for her efforts in May with a Congressional Gold Medal.

Warner had been married for only a few months when she learned that her husband, Robert Fowler, was killed in action at Guadalcanal while serving on the U.S.S. Duncan. Out of a sense of duty but also seeking a measure of revenge, the newly widowed Warner left her infant son (who never met his father) in the care of his grandparents and signed up with the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the precursor to the CIA. She traveled for two years as a spy during World War II, working in New York, Washington, London, and Madrid.

“I was devastated, of course, and I wanted to help the war effort as best I could,” Warner said in an interview with the Lincoln Squirrel. “As a widow, nobody seemed to want to take me on in America, so I went over on a troop ship to London.”

Although she was listed as a secretary in Spain, her real job was to communicate with the French underground to get downed American pilots out of the Nazi-occupied territories while also socializing and gathering intelligence from Nazi sympathizers in Franco’s Spain, which was neutral in the war.

“I’d be sent to watch people they thought were very iffy and giving secrets to the Germans,” said Warner, adding that she didn’t speak Spanish when she began. “I found out the flamenco dancers were all involved in German activities, so I signed up for flamenco lessons.”

“She was really beautiful. She could go to a cocktail party and get the ear of some high-ranking diplomat as well as staying in contact with those behind enemy lines,” her son Chris Warner said. “But she didn’t really talk about it that much — I just got impressions of going to bullfights and flamenco dancing. We got the romantic side of things.”

The only real danger Warner faced was not from the Germans, but from a black widow spider that bit her. She had to be hospitalized, but her fellow Americans made sure she didn’t suffer alone. “They thought if I were incoherent, there was no telling what I might reveal, so my friends asked if they could be with me in the hospital in case I said anything that I shouldn’t and give away any secrets,” she said.

OSS “mercy missions” at the end of World War II saved the lives of thousands of Allied prisoners of war. At its peak in late 1944, the agency employed almost 13,000 men and women; today, fewer than 100 are still living.

In December 2016, the OSS was collectively honored with a Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian award in the United States (along with the Presidential Medal of Freedom), but Warner was unaware that she was eligible for the award. With the help of her son Chris, Rep. Katherine Clark’s office secured the award and surprised her with her own medal as she was surrounded by her family and friends during Lincoln’s Memorial Day observance in May.

Post-war career

After the war, Warner returned to New York and earned a B.A. from Barnard College in international relations in 1949. She was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship in 1951 but turned it down to marry Charles Warner, a history professor, with whom she had five more children. Her daughter Cecily was diagnosed with anorexia around the time the family moved to Lincoln in 1972 and endured years of involuntary hospitalization and forced feedings.

Warner immersed herself in the issue, founding Anorexia Bulimia Care in 1978 (later the National Eating Disorders Association), which was named one of George H.W. Bush’s Thousand Points of Light in 1991. She later earned a master’s degree in independent studies (specializing in eating disorders) from Lesley College in 1985 at the age of 64. Just two years ago, Warner published Will You Love Me When I’m Fat?, an autobiography focusing on her family’s struggles with Cecily’s anorexia.

During her varied career, Warner was also involved in the civil rights movement, taking part in one of the Selma-to-Montgomery marches, and was a painter and board member of the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston.

Warner’s 1939 high school yearbook entry was prescient, noting that her goal was to be a spy or the first female director of the FBI but that she was more likely to be a diarist like Samuel Pepys. In her recent book, she’s modest about her war exploits. “I like to think of myself in the OSS, skulking around darkened bars draped in mascara and allure, dropping truth serum into Nazi officers’ champagne. But I’m not sure I made any meaningful contribution to the war effort,” she wrote.

But others would beg to differ. “It was an incredible honor to celebrate Patricia and her fearless patriotism at the ceremony,” Clark said. “Patricia represents the best of American values: bravery in the face of injustice and an unrelenting commitment to our country’s democratic cause.”