Above: Rebekah Sopher— fondly called “Ms. Rebekah” by the children she serves as a librarian at the BPL’s Codman Square branch— is shown at her desk last month. Photo by Nevaeh Berenato
By Nevaeh Berenato, Special to the Reporter
For about six months last year, the Codman Square branch of the Boston Public Library was missing a key staff person: a children’s librarian. The void has been filled by 30-year-old Rebekah Sopher— fondly called “Ms. Rebekah”— who has quickly become a familiar and welcoming face at the BPL’s branch on Washington Street.
Sopher grew up in Baja, California, with her missionary parents. The eldest daughter among six siblings, she came to know her way around a reading circle— and other activities.
“I remember one time my brother said we were going to the library later, and then the time came, and he decided to take us to the gun range instead,” Rebekah recalled. “I was so pissed.”
For her part, Rebekah loved to read. When her mother would read stories at night, she’d end up “taking over,” thinking her mother was taking too long.
When asked how she ended up in Boston, her response came as a bit of a surprise: “It actually started as a joke with my friends,” she said in an interview with The Reporter. The “oversaturation” of the West Coast made for a tough job market, so Rebekah’s friends were determined to ship her up to Boston, where they “would send me jobs” in the area.
Once in Codman Square, Sopher fell in love with the library and the community around it. She’s a fan of the Neighborhood Council and the members’ commitment to fight for their neighborhood, and local businesses have become an integral part of her summer plans for the kids.
“There’s a lot of things, like neighborhood scavenger hunts,” she said. “So, like, putting up a stuffed animal where the kids go out [to local businesses] and see them.” She hopes to bring some of her ideas— including but not limited to scavenger hunts— in front of the neighborhood council in the next few months.
The all-ages Dungeons and Dragons Club that Sopher once ran at a small library in the state of Washington is another program she hopes to start in Dorchester. With a younger age range at Codman, maybe summer break will allow for children to attend more club meetings.
“More slime!” seems to have become the default response to what children want to see more of at Codman, according to Rebekah. And while school glue and laundry detergent are important things when working with little ones, she recalled requests she has gathered from parents since beginning her time at the branch.
“More after school programs” is one of them, she said. “I’ve been trying to put on more afternoon programs and see what’s coming in… you know— trying to gauge whether people are going to work with that.”
With summertime creeping up, kids and parents alike are beginning to keep an eye out for vacation time programs, reading events, and more. The Codman branch currently has a range of different book programs aimed at encouraging kids to read, or to make more specific topics easier to work with.
First, she went through all of the books that had not been checked out in over three years. “But then there’s also topics, collections, or even books that people just don’t know about,” she said. “So it’s a matter of promoting and making sure I’m putting them on display or making the shelves look neat so people are more likely to browse.”
Madga Morris, teen librarian at the Codman Square branch, noted that Rebekah kept “Family Story Time” at the same day and time— so as to not disrupt the schedules of the regular attendees.
Added Morris: “Everyone is really enamored with Rebekah “In her absence, we did the best that we could,” but oftentimes, we had to “downplay” the ages of her teen events to cater more to the children.
Adaptable and open to feedback, Sopher is toying with the idea of placing a “comment box” on her desk that children and parents can use to leave questions, comments, concerns, and book recommendations.
If Reporter readers have any ideas for the Children’s Section at the Codman Square branch to consider, please contact Rebekah Sopher at rsopher@bpl.org.
