Around Town

Internationally Acclaimed Climate Scientist To Speak at New Canaan Library’s Inaugural ‘Oldham Nature and Environment Lecture Series’

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When a generous New Canaan Library supporter suggested a lecture series in recognition of former director Lisa Oldham’s contribution to the building, the team there had just finished its sustainable new structure. It was early 2023 and the library was working with “many groups in New Canaan that were concerned with the environment and climate change,” Oldham recalled. “Tying this together with our mission to foster learning in the community, we decided the lecture series would focus on nature and the environment,” she told NewCanaanite.com. 

Fast-forward about 18 months. 

The “Oldham Nature and Environment Lecture Series” will kick off at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 15 with world-renowned climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe (register here). 

As chief scientist for The Nature Conservancy and author of the bestselling book Saving Us: A Climate Scientist’s Case for Hope and Healing in a Divided World, as well as presenter of TED Talks viewed by more than 5 million people globally, “Hayhoe reveals a remarkable talent for translating complex climate issues into accessible public discourse,” library officials said in a press release announcing the Lecture Series. “Katharine Hayhoe will discuss how the key to tackling climate change is to begin by understanding how any change to our environment naturally connects us,” the press release said.

Around Town

New  ’Green’ at the Library About 8 Weeks from Completion

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The widely anticipated “green” taking shape at Main and Cherry Streets is about eight weeks from completion, according to New Canaan Library Executive Director Lisa Oldham. The hardscaping of the green has been underway since the library-owned 1913 building shifted 115 feet to its new location at the western edge of the library’s privately owned property, and new footpaths along Cherry Street have been poured. “You’ll notice they’re double width, so there’s one width of footpath similar in size to what was there before, from the street inwards, and then another as deep again as that, which is where the benches will go,” Oldham told NewCanaanite.com. 

“And then seven tons of stone has been delivered for all the stone work that’s going to be done in the next month. Planting is supposed to start this week, if the weather cooperates, and they’ll be starting on the Main Street frontage. There’s a lot of shrubbery and other types of plantings that have to go in.

Around Town

New Canaan Library Director Lisa Oldham To Retire at Year’s End

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New Canaan Library’s executive director for the past decade plans to retire at the end of this year. In a message sent to library donors, Lisa Oldham said she has been “so privileged to lead the New Canaan Library through this wonderful period of change for the past ten years.”

“Thanks to your extraordinary support, by the time I depart the entire project for the Library and Green will be complete,” Oldham said in the email, sent Tuesday afternoon and obtained by NewCanaanite.com. “I am very proud of the Library, our team, and the vision you have helped us realize.”

Though the centerpiece of Oldham’s legacy is the hugely popular and well-received new library that opened in February, her achievements go far beyond the remade building and campus. Under Oldham’s leadership, the library has forged stronger relationships and partnerships with the town, local press and nonprofit and business communities, made several key hires and overhauled the organization’s programming, launching popular new series and learning experiences for patrons. Asked about Oldham’s tenure, New Canaan Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Laura Budd said, “As a wise man once said, ‘Try to leave this world a little better than you found it,’ and Lisa Oldham has certainly done that for New Canaan Library and in turn our entire community.

Around Town

1913 Library Move Expected To Start Friday; Time Capsule Unearthed

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The original New Canaan Library—a grid of steel beneath it, hovering five feet in the air—is expected to start moving Friday toward its new destination on the organization’s campus, officials say. The move likely will take a few days, meaning it could be on its new foundation next Tuesday, according to Keith Burton, project manager for Wolfe House & Building Movers. “Initially we were going to be moving it on dollies, which is a different type of move,” Burton told NewCanaanite.com. “In this case here—because of ground levels, grade levels, that sort of thing—we’re going to be using a ‘slide steel system.’ Beginning on Friday we’ll start the move off of the site. And it will be a multi-day process.

Around Town

Podcast: Moving the 1913 Library Building 

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This week on “0684-Radi0,” our free podcast (subscribe here in iTunes), we talk to New Canaan Library Executive Director Lisa Oldham about the relocation of the legacy 1913 building on the organization’s campus. Here are recent episodes of 0684-Radi0: