Ever since I was four years old, libraries have been at the top of my list of favorite things. I have a collection of old library cards, one from every place I have ever lived. That includes Floyd County, Kentucky, even though I knew I would be there for a mere three months on a law student internship. For me, being without a library card is akin to being without a valid passport—insufficiently prepared for the next unknown adventure.
Royalton, Vermont just held its grand opening of a 1500 square foot addition to its century-old library building on Safford Street in South Royalton. Not only is there more space, there is now a street-level entrance and an elevator, the better to accommodate readers with disabilities and parents lugging kids in strollers. I’ve climbed the stairs to the old front door too many times to count. In this case, new—and stairless —is hands-down better.
Director Tyler Strong, at the helm for the previous year, was chatting up library patrons from infants to adults as he manned the new circulation desk, checking out books earlier this week. As any new director would be, he is full of plans—for kids’ story times and robotics clubs, adult book groups and a user-friendly webpage.
I would have fallen in love with the Royalton Library sight unseen and with the first ka-thunk of a due date stamp, but something happened that especially endeared it to me. When I first moved to Vermont to teach at Vermont Law School in the early 1980s, I buzzed on over to the town library to get a library card. I was warmly welcomed, but told that the library did not have “library cards.” How could I check out books, then, I asked? The librarian assured me that I had only to sign my name, and as if that wasn’t simple enough, I think the due date was pretty fluid too. “How long can I keep the book?” “Until you’ve finished it or until someone else wants it,” I was told.
This tickled me in the way of big city people encountering the trusting mores of small-towns, topped only by the surrounding farmstands with their honor-systems—cash boxes out in full view, customers making their own change. But still, I wanted a library card, something to tuck in my wallet that said I belonged to the library, and it to me.
I remarked about my library experience to Dot McLaughlin, who happened to be my secretary at the law school and, in her spare time, a civic-minded member of the Royalton Library board. I might have whined (good-naturedly as I remember it, but who can be sure?) about the absence of a library card and mentioned my lifelong collection of them. One morning Dot arrived at my desk with a gift. It was a postcard with an historic picture of the Royalton Library. “We had a little meeting last night,” she began. I can still hear her voice and see her silver hair. “I told the rest of the board about you. They decided to issue you a special library card. This is it.” The postcard was signed on the back by the members of the board.
I hung that postcard on the wall of my office. I looked at it every day, and didn’t take it down until I retired from Vermont Law School, thirty-six years later.
As a librarian, this makes me so happy. I love how libraries evolve with their communities - people are always surprised that we're so much more than books. My favorite part of my job is helping people find their passions. And Carnegie libraries are so gorgeous!
Libraries are like comfort food or hugs from a dear friend. Our daughter is a librarian in Hanover, NH and as a child the librarian told us to let her take out as many books as she wanted, whether she could read them or not so we always went home with 10+ books from all areas of the library.
Thanks for the comments, everyone. I think about Dot often, especially when I write. Among other things, she was our office grammarian.
What a great story! I remember Dot and your office in the 1980s.
As a librarian, this makes me so happy. I love how libraries evolve with their communities - people are always surprised that we're so much more than books. My favorite part of my job is helping people find their passions. And Carnegie libraries are so gorgeous!
https://melanietheconstantreader.substack.com/
Libraries are like comfort food or hugs from a dear friend. Our daughter is a librarian in Hanover, NH and as a child the librarian told us to let her take out as many books as she wanted, whether she could read them or not so we always went home with 10+ books from all areas of the library.
Wherever I travel, I try to visit the library.
Special places to be sure!