414. Littleton New Hampshire Public Library

This was going to be fun. My nephew Scot had told me about a nice river walk involving two bridges and a mural. I'd get a nice walk and a library visit. Well, something like that. First, I slept too well in Montpelier, VT, with the result that I was a bit late getting on the road. I programmed the address into the GPS, but somehow managed to turn 82 Main St, into 270 Main St. No explanation for that. Gremlins, maybe. At any rate, the GPS said that I had arrived, so when I spotted a parking place without a meter, I parked. And then I looked. And then I walked. After finally asking a local, I found I was pretty much right across the street from the handsome building you see below.

Next step, exterior pictures. Except my camera won't cooperate. New batteries? Maybe. They're in the car, back at 270 Main. Walk back, change batteries, return to library. Now the visit can begin. After I mention the diner on Main St. with two benches in front, one labelled "Democrats" and the other "Republicans." Neither was occupied.

As you may have guessed from these two pictures, this is a Carnegie library from 1906, making this year its 110th birthday.

This picture might need more explaining. I found this information on the library website: "Littleton's jubilant bronze sculpture tributes hometown author, Eleanor H. Porter (1868 – 1920) best remembered as the creator of the world's most optimistic character, Pollyanna, 1913." This explains banners throughout town that proclaim Littleton as the "Glad Town." The example I remember from the story was when the missionary barrel arrived, not with something Pollyanna wanted but with a pair of crutches. After a moment of disappointment, she averred that she was glad she didn't need them.

The library houses a significant collection of paintings. I did not give them the attention they deserve, which I think disappointed the librarian. For reasons mentioned above, I was feeling somewhat frazzled and really couldn't enjoy them. Perhaps my nephew and his wife will stop in and have a look some day.

OK, no more pictures here. (The batteries didn't entirely cure the camera.) Let's look around. The front room to the right has a grandfather clock (de riguer in New England libraries and rare elsewhere, in my experience), easy chairs, and periodicals. A display of Beatrix Potter figures reminded me of the similar display in the Morris, Illinois library.

To the left of the entrance a room holds three public computers, reference material, and DVDs. WiFi is available throughout.

The children's area is upstairs. Two chairs and a small table are on the landing, under a couple of attractive stained glass pieces. When I went up, a young girl, perhaps a teen, was curled up in this spot, totally engrossed in her book.

A children's program was just breaking up, and a small boy showed me the Pete the Cat figure he had made with a clothespin. His concentration as he tried to make it stand up was a good example of what these programs can provide, intended or not. A table about the size of a card table held a large poster from Scholastic with the heading "Tell us what Harry Potter Means to You." Ah, yes, Pottermania is upon us again. I'm a fan, up to a point; I own copies of the first seven books, and I've read them, some for than once. For the this new one, I'm on the request list at my home library. Rather far down the list in fact.

This level also holds the collection of Young Adult books, a catalog computer and an Internet computer, and a really clever tic-tac-toe game made of a slab of wood with twigs for lines, shells and stones for markers. I talked briefly to the busy children's librarian, then left her to her line of eager customers and slipped away.

The girl was still reading on the landing when I left.

7/19/2016