Partner Spotlight - Brewster Ladies' Library

by Elise Aiello on Jul 25, 2023

This month, our Partner Spotlight will focus on the Brewster Ladies' Library in Brewster, Cape Cod, Massachusetts. The Brewster Ladies' Library is a member of CLAMS, Cape Libraries Automated Materials Sharing. We spoke with Gabrielle Griffis, Assistant Youth Services Librarian at the Brewster Ladies' Library , to tell us more about this quaint library in Cape Cod!

Tell us a little bit about the library

The Brewster Ladies’ Library is the free public library for the Town of Brewster on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. In addition to the library's twelve person staff, the library has over two-hundred volunteers, who among other things, help run an epic summer book sale. The Brewster Ladies' Library has a number of unique sustainability initiatives including a Boomerang Bags Sewing Group that upcycles post-consumer reusable bags that are given to patrons for free in replacement of single use book bags. The library also has a seed library/exchange, is a Climate Resilience Hub, and offers regular Fixit Clinics.

Tell us something unique/interesting about your library

People often ask why it's called the Brewster Ladies' Library. In 1852, when Brewster was flourishing with the wealth of homecoming sea captains and many small businesses, two young women, Sarah Augusta Mayo and Mary Louise Cobb, engaged in the ambitious project of interesting their friends in the town’s need for a library. They were so successful that twelve founding ladies established a subscription library in the home of Captain Mayo, at the site of the home now at 1772 Main Street. It opened to the public on January 29, 1853. (Men were allowed to borrow books, but they had to pay more than the ladies. That rule was dropped in time.)

How does being a part of the open source community help the Brewster Ladies' Library?

Being part of an open source community helps the Brewster Ladies' Library circulate library materials in a flexible, cost-efficient software system!"

Learn more about the Brewster Ladies' Library here!