We are a not-f0r-profit, privately funded organization. In addition to providing patrons with a great selection of books, the Waban Library Center offers a wide array of classes, exhibits, and programs. It is staffed by volunteers and fully depends on your donations and class registrations to keep running!

The library hours are :

Monday, Tuesday, Thursday:  1:00 PM – 6:00 PM

Wednesday:                                  10:00 AM – 1:30 PM

Friday, Saturday:                        10:00 AM – 1:00 PM

We are seeking volunteers who are able to work any time Mondays or Thursdays from 1-6:00 pm. If interested, please contact the Waban Library Center at wabanlibrary@gmail.com or Alice Jacobs at (617)-244-0700.

Waban Library Center Happenings

~ Knitters Night Out – Please come and join our Knitters Night Out group of knitters and crochet people, meeting once a month. Novices and old hands are welcome! Just bring your projects and your friends. Some knitters will be coaches to help when we “drop a stitch”, and others can just enjoy a night out at the cozy library. The Knitters will be meeting the second Tuesday of each month at the WLC. Bring your projects, your yarn, wool and needles, novice and pro, all are very welcome!
Light refreshments will be served. Knitting books will be available. All interested parties can contact Monique Byrne at pmoniquebyrne@comcast.net, or Alice Jacobs at alicedjacobs@gmail.com

Next Knitters Night Out:     Tuesday, March 8th at 7:30 PM

~ Read the Boston.com article on Waban Library Center

~ We had our Family Game Day last Saturday, January 22nd and 60 kids and adults had a blast. The food and food demos presented by Whole Foods Market were superb, as were the wonderful prizes they donated for all our game winners!

~ We are planning a Volunteer Art Show on April 16, with a soft opening a week before – between our art exhibits we have room for a show of art totally created by our own talents. All Volunteers who have paintings, or other pieces they would like to have in an art exhibit at the WLC, please contact Alice Jacobs at alicedjacobs@gmail.com. Anyone who still has art work they would like to see in the library please come forward. Thanks!

~ Registration is now open for 2010-2011 Winter classes at the Waban Library Center!
Click on this link to see our class offerings, including Music Making, Writing, Guitar, Kids Yoga, Hip Hop and a new creative dance class for preschoolers!! Classes start in January. Check back often as more classes may be added!

Instructions on how to register are in the catalog.  Print and register today!!

~ HOT~ New Titles:   The Waban Library Center has many popular new books not readily available at other libraries. Some of those books are:

• Nemesis by Philip Roth – 2010 newest novel by this famous, prolific author
• Moonlight Mile by Dennis Lehane – newest title by celebrated Boston man of mystery
• Barefoot Contessa How Easy is That ? by Ina Garten – Her latest,
• Zeitoun by David Eggers, 2010 novel that’s being read by many book groups
• Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand by H. Simonson, our second copy
• The Confession by John Grisham, the most recent
• At Home A Short History of Private Life by Bill Bryson – his 2010 book
• Great House by Nicole Krauss, National Book Award Finalist, 2010
• Worth Dying For by Lee Child
• Room by Emma Donoghue
• The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan
• Fair Game” My Life as A Spy, My Betrayal by the White House by ex-CIA Valerie Plame Wilson
• A Gate at the Stairs by Lorrie Moore
• Listen To This by Alex Ross
  …and coming soon – John Grisham, Dennis Lehane, and David Baldacci’s newest best sellers!
• The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, et al, – all books by Stieg Larsson
• The Cookbook Collector by Allegra Goodman
• Fly Away Home by Jennifer Weiner
• Mockingjay and all the ‘Hunger Games‘ series by Suzanne Collins
• Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese
• The Help by Kathryn Stockett
• The Widowers Tale by Julia Glass
• The Thousand Autumns of Jacobs de Zoet by David Mitchell
• The Little Bee by Chris Cleeve
• Freedom by Jonathan Franzen (recently hailed as one of the major literary events of the decade in the NYT Book Review).
• Fall of Giants by Ken Follett
• Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk by David Sedaris (comic author)
• Listen To This by Alex Ross (New Yorker music critic)
• Painted Ladies by Robert Parker

Non-Fiction -

• Unbearable Lightness by Portia deRossi (biography)
• Life by Keith Richards (biography)
• Cleopatra: A Life by Stacy Schiff (biography)
• Just Kids by Patti Smith (biography)
• The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin
• The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
• Have a Little Faith by Mitch Albom
• Stones into Schools by Greg Mortenson
• Game Change by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin

New Children’s Books -

• The Snowy Day by  Ezra Jack Keats, Random House
• The Big Snow by Berta and Elmer Hader, Caldecott Award Winner
• The Snow Day by Komaki Sakai, Scholastic, 2010
• Snowflakes in Photographs - a classic, first published in 1960

The new books list in alphabetical order can be found here.

Children’s picture books have had some brand new renditions of beloved old titles.  All here at the Waban Library Center!

Come visit us! We are open to the community’s suggestions for new books if we don’t have them yet, and will buy them. Feel free to buy books you feel will add to our growing collection, and we will place one of our WLC book marks with your name on it on the front page.

Check out more new popular books for different ages at our “New and Popular Titles” page!

~ Waban Library Cook Book: This home made product will be on the shelves of the WLC for purchase. So, come on by and enjoy the feast, cooked up by co-editors Deborah Coppa and Louise Freedman, and Lauren Paul.

~ Story time is still on Wednesdays and Fridays at 11:00 AM.

~ Every Saturday come and enjoy free coffee provided by our neighbor Starbucks!

~ Volunteers - We are thrilled to welcome back our veterans! and, we would like to invite more people to inquire about volunteering at the WLC. Inquire at the library, or online to: alicedjacobs@gmail.com

~ Are you an Artist?

Would you like to see your work displayed at the Waban Library Center? Apply to have your art exhibited at the Waban Library Center during its 2011 season! Download the application here.

~Saturday, Sept. 25th was a very big day at the Waban Library Center. We celebrated our first year of operation, the 80th birthday of the building itself, and first and foremost, the incredible effort and talent of the 50 volunteers and WIS Board members who helped bring the library back to life. During this auspicious year, 2009-2010, we accomplished the following:

• added hundreds of quality books to our standing collection of 15,000
• inaugurated several popular classes for adults and children, running the gamut from Hip Hop and Yoga, to Creative Writing and Short Stories
• added the Newton Family Singers
• enjoyed classical music concerts by students from the Boston Conservatory, and
• reveled in many happy  events enjoyed by lots of Newton families.

Saturday was also a day on which we could take in the art work of our fine Waban sculptor, Tom Fitzgibbons, whose pieces will be on display at the library for the next month. The library has already had other  noteworthy artists on display, and looks forward to this being an ongoing part of its operation.
Over the summer the WLC had a very popular reading program for kids, “Chilling With Books,” and looks to keep on developing programs that attract all readers in our community.
Our neighbor from across the street, Starbucks of Waban, graciously provided a stunning array of their fine coffees and pastries. Thanks, neighbor!

A great day was had by all!