366. Hanska Community Library, Hanska, MN



A historical marker stands on the corner by the Community center.

Walk to the right past the Library sign...

 

...and you will come to the entrance on the lower level. This totally reminds me of the library in Enfield, NH, that I visited last summer.

 

Inside, I found a tiny library with some very clever ideas. Perhaps the best is that all shelves that are not against the walls are on heavy-duty casters, allowing them to be pushed aside to maximize space in the multi-purpose room. [Go to the Facebook site, link below, to see these moveable shelves.]

 

My timing was fortunate, as a music program would start in about 15 minutes, and parents and children were starting to gather. I needed to head home (no music program for me!), but I had time to visit the back room, which houses four computers, the adult non-fiction collection, a selection of YA books, and shelves of plastic boxes neatly labeled for seasons and themes. One shelf holds high school yearbooks (The Viking) for 1941 to 1977 and Community School yearbooks from 1970 to 2003-4.

 

Back in the large room where musicians were preparing to perform and kids were gathering on the alphabet rug, I looked at framed pictures of veterans. I learned that the local paper had archives of these pictures at one time, but a special project had them all reproduced in the same size and mounted in frames, for display. Most are from WW2; others are from Korea and Viet Nam. I was told that a start has been made on preparing pictures from "more recent conflicts" for display. It was sobering to realize that so many men and women from this tiny town had been involved in war.

 

And with that, I headed back to St. Paul.

 

The library website is http://cityofhanska.com/community-library/.  They also have a Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/pages/Hanska-Community-Library/718216844915775?fref=ts.

 

8/26/2015