THE LIBRARIES TRANSFORM CAMPAIGN
Designed to increase public awareness of the value, impact and services provided by libraries and library professionals, the Libraries Transform campaign will ensure there is one clear, energetic voice for our profession. Showcasing the transformative nature of today’s libraries and elevating the critical role libraries play in the digital age.
Well, what first brought me to the library was that I needed a quick copy for something. We moved out here…oh, at the end of the month it’ll be seventeen years. And I hadn’t been in a library since back in the seventies when I was going to college! But the local Xerox machine was here in the library, so I was here for that.
The first time that I really extensively used the library was back in the summer of 2012. I found myself unemployed after how many years, and they no longer put the ads and stuff in the paper so much anymore, it’s all online. I was talking to my best girlfriend, and she said, “Bonnie, just go down to the library. You can get a free Gmail account down there, and search online,” – she gave me a couple of ideas as far as the websites. And I said, what the heck? Let’s give it a try! I would come here almost on a daily basis to check my email, etc. and even posted my resume on the job sites. Everybody was so helpful and as far as, “OK, now how do I post my resume?” ‘Cause you know, I’m not real computer-savvy. I redid it, and printed it, and then was able to put it on the job sites. And it took me…well, three or four months, something like that, to find a job.
And then I had picked up another job only by word-of-mouth, not through a library search, and I had an accident at work. I had to have like 10 days off for my hand to heal, and that was part of my decision to leave that job, because no one was really concerned, and I was just very disgusted with the job generally. So, I spent most of the 10 days down here actually, back on the websites. And I have now had the same perfect job for seven months. So it worked out very, very well. It’s amazing what you can do with a computer. Most of my computer background had been work-related, you know their own little websites for purchasing as well as messaging and training, and I don’t have a computer at home. I never thought about coming to the library to look for a job! Very pleased. I still stop by and say hi to Deb. We formed a relationship during all those months of job searching. Now I’ll be in at the post office, and I’ll think, “Well, I’ll see what Deb’s doing, see if she’s in…” and I’ll pop in and say hi, or run into her at the grocery store.
I love books, LIBRARIES, and reading. I started very early, about age 3, reading. All my life, I have only ever wanted books for presents.
Fine-free teacher cards are huge. With the comprehensive literacy model, every lesson in the school is based around books – whether it’s science, social studies, reading, writing. Teachers are always looking for a great “mentor text” that can catapult their lesson. You have to have a great book. With our school library being the size that it is, I might have one or two copies of a text, but with four teachers doing the same unit at the same time, we might need eight. Beyond that, when the students have their free choice read, they want a wide variety of books on the topic that they’re learning. They’re making connections to what they’re learning about, and they think it’s cool. Especially the little ones, they’re just like, “Oh my god! Remember we just talked about this? Here it is!” And the teacher’s heart swells…”You get it!” Having the whole South Central Library System to pull from has been very powerful. Without it, I don’t know how our teachers would have managed.
In early September Columbus Public Library, working in partnership with the WorkSmart Network, hosted a Work Local Job Fair. Julie Enloe of the WorkSmart network, who did the groundwork of inviting businesses to participate, said once they starting advertising to the public many employers reached out to say they wanted to be part of the event.
One participant said, "I think it's a great thing the library is hosting this. You've got a good variety of employers here and it's nice to see."
Marilyn Green, Director of The Meadows Assisted Living in Fall River, WI, said, "It's great to do something different than just put an ad in the paper. I'm appreciative of the opportunity to meet people face-to-face, in a central location everyone knows about."
We remember back when it was in the fire station, then the old Park School where we went to Kindergarten (I loved that library!) and now it’s the crown jewel of Cross Plains!!!
One afternoon Patricia Butler was in the library looking for some old articles in the McFarland Thistle (formerly McFarland Community Life). Patricia had stopped by on her way home to Minnesota to see if she could find something about her sister, Marie Udulutch, former publisher of McFarland Community Life, and the fire that destroyed the building where the newspaper was made one fateful day in the 1970’s.
She didn’t have much more than that to go on, but with the help of Newspaper Archives database and the bound back issues of the McFarland Community Life newspaper that are stored in the Local History Room at E.D. Locke Public Library, information was found. The articles were forwarded on to Patricia and will be used in her sister’s retirement party presentation this fall. Newspaper Archives and the Local History Room newspaper archives certainly guided and transformed Patricia’s research.
When I was a freshman we moved from Brooklyn to a farm south of Dayton, and I think probably the first time I came into town I came and got my library card. I had had a card in Brooklyn – they don’t have a library anymore in Brooklyn – and I read every Bobbsey Twin book that was ever written. That’s where I began.
The library here was the old building, in Library Park, up those stairs, those rickety stairs. It wasn’t open every day, but I know it was Wednesday nights and I think Saturday nights. Possibly some daytime hours, but being from the farm you could really only generally come in Wednesday night or Saturday night. When I got a teaching license and taught in Attica. The librarian and I worked out a plan that I could bring students in every two weeks so they could check out books – because at the rural school there wasn’t a very big library. We didn’t have that many kids either! The school clerk and I packed ‘em in two cars and came and got books.
And then later on in the years I moved into town and was appointed to the library board, was Treasurer of the library, and at that time that meant that I paid the bills, including the payroll and so on. But it was always fun. On December 31st I’d come in and knock on wood, and every year it balanced to a penny. I think I skipped all the way home, just so happy. I helped organize the first Friends of the Library. We had a quilt raffle and we tried to have some activities, but you know, as things go in cycles, people moved away, and got older, and it kind of fizzled out. But now it’s reborn again. I worked here for 10 years after I retired from teaching.
And now I volunteer at the Senior Center, which for a while there was just across the hallway. That’s actually how I got started. The director there said one morning, “We need a Meals on Wheels driver. Can you work it?” And I didn’t work in the library Wednesday mornings. It’s surprising, amazing how many connections you form. One of the current library board members, when her daughter was little she saw me on the street. And it was a shock that I wasn’t in the library, so she yelled, “There’s Library Bob!” That’s how I got my nickname. My feelings about the library…warm and fuzzy. And it’s exciting to think what you might find there. It’s a friendly place. I look forward to coming to the library.
