News & Blog

Broadmead’s Multi-Faceted Library

By Pat van den Beemt

Broadmead’s library would make Einstein happy, relatively speaking [pun intended]. It uses both conventional library practices and some that are tailor-made for residents. Its book offerings include fiction, biography, and non-fiction, including some in large print.

To check out books, readers are asked to simply fill out the card in the back of the book and leave it in the small box on a library table. When done with a book, return it to the designated wooden bin near the non-fiction section. In 2024, residents and staff borrowed 719 books.

Unlike public libraries, there are no due dates. There are no fines. There is a section of paperback books that don’t even need to be checked out. Simply take one. Take a handful. Donate your own. Feel like leisurely leafing through a newspaper? Several residents donate their copies of the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Baltimore Sun for others to read.

An extremely popular section of the library is the nook where large white binders are filled with residents’ profiles. Resident Joe Nietubicz keeps them up to date. The binders are not to be taken home, but can be read on site.

Today the library has about 2,000 books, and Broadmead’s library collection grew by 180 books last year. The library orders about 20 titles of new large-print books each year. Residents donate additional books during the library’s book collections, held on the second Thursday of each month. These contributions are either added to the library’s collection, sold at the Old and New Shop, or sold at the semi-annual Barn Sale.

Last year, the Old and New Shop sold 363 books, while the two Barn Sales saw 347 books go to good homes. Those 710 books brought in $2,465 for the BRA. Free books will now be offered occasionally as a result of storage limitations, unanticipated large donations or withdrawals from the library. Most days, you’ll find a member of the Library Work Group keeping track of checkouts and returns. Other members get new books ready by attaching call labels, covering the books in plastic, and inserting checkout cards in pockets affixed to inside back covers.

Broadmead residents can appreciate Columbia University professor Mason Cooley’s remark, “Reading gives us someplace to go when we have to stay where we are.”