Destiny, a new library management system software program has been installed as part of the automation of the library’s circulation and cataloging procedures.  Two online public access catalogs are available to guide patrons to the collection.  Ten computer workstations are available for word processing as well as online research.  The library now provides access to JSTOR, Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center and LitFinder, a database of literary criticism.

A new screening room, which includes three individual viewing stations, will enable students and faculty to view, individually, DVDs and VHS films from our ever-expanding film library.  An InterWrite Board has also been installed in the library for group viewing and instructional purposes.

The library’s periodical collection has also expanded and now includes subscriptions to over 50 magazines. As part of its collection development, the library welcomes student/faculty input as we continue to add  contemporary fiction, paperbacks, literary classics,  reference works  and general non-fiction to the collection.  As always, textbooks are available for student use in the library.

As the recipient of a 2007 City Council grant, The Beacon Library recently completed a major renovation which included the redesign of the physical space as well as an upgrade of library technology. To celebrate our grand re-opening, the 2008-9 school year saw an array of events to celebrate reading including Angela's Ashes author Frank McCourt. A week-long literary festival took place the week of November 17, 2008 with some fabulous guest speakers, including THREE Pulitzer Prize winners. During the year, we were visited by numerous writers, artists and performers including Dame Eileen Atkins, British actor and screenwriter.

Previous Guest Speakers:

Marshall Berman is a distinguished Professor of Political Science at City College and the Graduate Center.  His books include, All that is Solid Melts into Air, a highly praised examination of progress.  It explores modern architecture to reveal how modernism has fostered and responded to change.

Sarah Burd-Sharps is Deputy Director of the United Nations Human Development Report Office.  She is the author of The Measure of America, a compendium of data on how Americans live.
It tackles the specifics of quality of life in every part of the U.S. – and finds many places lacking in what it takes to flourish.

Rachel Cohn is a highly acclaimed author of young  adult fiction.  Her books include Gingerbread, Shrimp, and Pop Princess.  Her recent collaboration with David Levithan, Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist  is now a major motion picture.

Erin Einhorn is a reporter for the  Daily News where she’s covered New York City’s  government and the public schools.  Her latest book, The Pages In Between,is a unique holocaust memoir –part testimony and part detective story.

Bart Gellman was a Washington Post reporter when he received a Pulitzer Prize for his stories exploring the Cheney vice-presidency.  In Angler:  the Cheney Vice-Presidency, he explores the behind-the scenes story of Cheney’s influence, how he operated, and what he wrought.

Jonathan Gould is a jazz drummer and a writer whose book, Can’t Buy Me Love:  the Beatles, Britain, and America, is a masterful work of group biography, cultural history, and musical criticism.

Suketu Mehta is a journalist and fiction writer from Bombay a city he left in 1977.  He returned to see how things have changed and the result, part memoir, part journalism, part travelogue is Maximum City:  Bombay Lost and Found.

Rick Sammon, an  award-winning photographer, has published 28 books.  His latest include:  Face to Face:  Rick Sammon’s Guide to Photographing People and Travel and Nature Photography. 

Elissa Schappell writes the “Hot Type” column for Vanity Fair and is a founding editor of the literary magazine, Tin House.  Her fiction debut is a novel, Use Me, told in ten stories that resonate with the profound experiences in the life of a young woman.

Gary Sick is a senior research scholar at  the Middle East Institute of Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs.  He served on the National Security Council under Presidents Ford, Carter and Reagan and was the principal White House aide for Iran during the Iranian Revolution and the Hostage Crisis.  He has written All Fall Down:  America’s Tragic Encounter with Iran and October Surprise:  American Hostages in Iran and the Election of Ronald Reagan.

Nilaja Sun wrote the play, No Child, based on her experiences as a teaching artist in the New York City Schools for nine years.  She won an Obie for her portrayal of a multi-ethnic cast of characters at a Bronx high school.

Tim Weiner is a reporter for the New York Times and has written on American intelligence for over twenty years.  He has won a Pulitzer Prize for his work on secret national security programs and has traveled the world to investigate CIA covert operations firsthand.  Legacy of Ashes is his third book.

Andrea Weiss is a documentary filmmaker and non-fiction author of Vampires and Violets, In the Shadow of Magic Mountain, and Paris Was a Woman.  She received an Emmy for her work on Before Stonewall and will be showing her latest film, U.N. Fever, at Beacon.