Mardi Gras Hoopla Celebrates Library Love

Glittering bead necklaces, feather boas, whimsical hats sprouting purple tulips, and — finally! — masks that cover the eyes and the top of your face instead of the nose and mouth were spotted in profusion Tuesday night at the Mardi Gras love-fest for the New Haven Free Public Library.

The Laissez les bon temps rouler party was sponsored by the New Haven Free Public Library Foundation (NHFPLF) and drew about 150 library lovers to the elegantly decorated atrium of the Ives Main Branch on Elm Street.

And the calendar was cooperating, said NHFPLF President Michael Morand, who noted the city’s public library was established 136 years ago on Feb. 21, 1887.

While the library had convened two Zoom versions of the annual Fat Tuesday friend-raiser and fundraiser, this was the first resumption of in-person bibliophilic hoopla since the pandemic, and it showed.

“It’s a kind of reunion,” said NHFPLF member Lindy Lee Gold. A masked Elsie Chapman with her daughter Sarah said the event, especially the opportunity to be in person, warmed her heart.

The theme of the evening, in officials’ public comments and in private conversation was: New Haven Free Public Library, How Do I Love Thee Let Me Count The Ways.

The evening’s flowing good feeling included love for the critical and often under-appreciated work of librarians, and a passionate appreciation for how the 21^st century library has become so much more than books and computers but a kind of democratic public commons/community center playing an increasingly critical role in the life of the Elm City.

Before partygoers went through the curtains to the Business Section, transformed, for the evening, into a New Orleans-esque space to samba and turkey-trot, and to cut rug to Cajun/zydeco rhythms, they shared with this reporter their thoughts about NHFPL:

Michael Morand: ​“Between Christmas and New Year’s I was at all the branches, just as a reader. My staycation. At the Wilson Branch I was there and at 10:00 a.m. people were [already] lined up. Patrons came from many circumstances and backgrounds. Many users of the library face many challenges, but the staff greeted everyone by name and treated everyone equally. It’s a public good and it is a Good Space. That’s the best thing about the library this year, and throughout the 136 years.”

Maryann Ott, the new executive director of the NewAlliance Foundation: ​“It’s a completely democratic resource. They serve all; no one is turned away. It shelters [bodies] and stimulates your mind. It’s a huge partner in our community life, like none others. We’d be a lot poorer without it.”

Lisa Brandes, retired graduate school dean at Yale: ​“When our kids were little we always went to Stay and Play [sessions] at Mitchell [Branch Library, in Westville]. And Lego activities. It’s one of the [city’s] anchors. Right on the Green, it’s the front door and the living room of the city, where people find a warm place, read, bring their kids. You can even check out cake pans. You never know what you can get.”

Scott McClean, a board member of Downtown Evening Soup Kitchen, and whose mom was a librarian: ​“I love librarians! I know of no other profession who spend their days waiting to help.”

Haley Grunloh, a library technical assistant since 2016, said she spent an hour earlier in the day reading to three and four-year- olds at the Mitchell Branch’s Story Time from David Ezra Stein’s Dinosaur Kisses. Here’s how she described the plot: ​“A baby T‑Rex comes out of her egg. She wants to kiss the other animals but doesn’t know how and she ends up eating them instead.”

Mmmm, what can we learn from this tale?

Looking back at this particular year in the life of NHFPL, long-time Stetson Branch Librarian Diane Brown said that the new Stetson, finally installed last year in the reborn Q House on lower Dixwell Avenue, ​“is all that I imagined it would be, and more. Children at the library no longer have to be quiet, because we have a children’s room. Children are free to be children, on their own first floor. The teens and adults have their maker space and game room; there’s a learning classroom; and an open floor for multiple events. It’s a real 21^st Century library. We’re thriving.”

Addressing the crowd from the balcony high above, Morand, beside Acting City Librarian Maureen Sullivan. summed up the library love: ​“Great collections and great services but first and foremost the library is people.”

“This library is the heart of this community,” said Sullivan. ​“It is the social network of the community. Welcoming everyone means the staff is challenged. And they rise to it. Two hundred years from now it will be even more vital than today.”

To that end they said the NHFPLF is asking the city for more funding in support of library salaries and, in particular, to raise the salary of the City Librarian, for whom a search is underway, in order to attract a permanent leader worthy of the enterprise being celebrated.

They also announced that a cocktail, named after the much loved former City Librarian John Jessen, who died last year, is being concocted next month at Ordinary, proceeds from which will all be dedicated to the library.

“Let’s make sure John can hear us,” Morand bellowed, ​“Let’s make some noise.”

Click here to view the full program for the evening, including the more than 40 individual and business sponsors.