Seekonk, Massachusetts

Seekonk is a town in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States, on the Massachusetts border. It was incorporated in 1812 from the western half of Rehoboth. The population was 13,722 at the 2010 census. Until 1862, the town of Seekonk also included what is now the City of East Providence, Rhode Island. The land in the western half of the town was given to Rhode Island by the United States Supreme Court as part of a longstanding boundary dispute with Massachusetts.

History

Early years

The earliest known inhabitants of Seekonk were Native Americans from the Wampanoag Tribe. The name Wampanoag means People of the Morning Light. This name refers to the geographical area of the tribe. Living in the East they would be the first people to greet the sun each morning. The area now known as Seekonk and Rehoboth provided agricultural and water resources with abundant food supplies. During the warm summer months the Natives spent time near the rivers and oceans in what is now Southeastern Massachusetts. In the winter months the Natives lived inland, including several locations in Seekonk. At one time there were three Native American villages in the area we now call Seekonk.

Public library

For public libraries in North America, see Public libraries in North America.

A public library is a library that is accessible by the general public and is generally funded from public sources, such as taxes. It is operated by librarians and library paraprofessionals, who are also civil servants.

There are five fundamental characteristics shared by public libraries. The first is that they are generally supported by taxes (usually local, though any level of government can and may contribute); they are governed by a board to serve the public interest; they are open to all, and every community member can access the collection; they are entirely voluntary in that no one is ever forced to use the services provided; and they provide basic services without charge.

Public libraries exist in many countries across the world and are often considered an essential part of having an educated and literate population. Public libraries are distinct from research libraries, school libraries, and other special libraries in that their mandate is to serve the general public's information needs rather than the needs of a particular school, institution, or research population. Public libraries also provide free services such as preschool story times to encourage early literacy, quiet study and work areas for students and professionals, or book clubs to encourage appreciation of literature in adults. Public libraries typically allow users to borrow books and other materials, i.e., take off the premises temporarily; they also have non-circulating reference collections and provide computer and Internet access to patrons.

Public Libraries (journal)

Public Libraries is the official trade journal of the Public Library Association, a division of the American Library Association. It is devoted exclusively to public libraries. The print edition is published six times a year and is a delayed open access journal, with older issues available as PDFs on the journal's website.

Early history

Public Libraries' first issue came out in May 1896. According to its Prospectus, the magazine came about as a response to "many letters of inquiry...which the larger libraries receive from the smaller ones in every part of the country" about the "small details and elementary principles of [library] work."<ref name=""Prospectus">Public Libraries 1.1 (1896): 3."></ref>

[Public Libraries] will deal with all phases of library work in a concise, simple way, such as will give the best aid to those who need it." To that end, the Prospectus outlined what the magazine set out to cover in 1896--"a large variety of items of news, such as will encourage and inspire small libraries as well as large, to put forth their best effort to accomplish something of value to the library world." The first issue contains the outline of a future ALA publication, the "ALA Library Primer" which concerns itself with both practical and philosophical concerns about establishing a library, such as suggestions for selecting books ("Every library building should be planned specially for the kind of work to be done, and the community to be served" and the qualities that should be looked for when hiring a librarian ("The librarian should have culture, scholarship, and executive ability.")