543 Wadleigh Memorial Library, Milford, New Hampshire

 My sister Jean was treating me to a birthday breakfast at a favorite spot in Milford, which gave me a perfect chance to visit a library. My past experience with Milford had been either (in my childhood, when someone else was driving) the town square that had to be negotiated on the way to ice cream, or the busier town square, as a passenger, on the way to breakfast.  On this occasion, I used my gps to find my way to a street off the town square, where a puzzle awaited me. The gps said I had arrived "on the right," but a building with a LIBRARY sign caught my attention on the left.

Minor mystery solved: the "new" library is on the right. It was so satisfying to figure this out, I never did take an exterior picture of the library, except for the little bit you can see below.  A long walk up the to the building provides a Storywalk; I learned that a new storywalk would be installed soon.

I was a bit past the library when I realized I needed to park. I had missed the driveway up to the parking lot, so I parked on the street and walked up the drive.

Here's my excuse for not taking exterior pictures: I was charmed and intrigued by the "doorbell" provided for patrons coming for curbside pickup and looking for a touch-free option in these days of COVID-19.

Just about every library I've visited in the past year or so has found a way to maintain programs beyond the basic lending of books. Here's a set of take-and-make activities for all ages.

The best place to be this past year has been out in the fresh air, away from groups of people. "Explore the Great Outdoors Bingo" is an intriguing activity that will fill a good chunk of time for an individual or family group.

New books are spread out face-front on these long shelves, giving maximum exposure and appeal.

I've often seen revolving racks like these used to display paperback books (especially romance novels, for some reason). Here they are used for DVDs

The adult stacks go on and on.

The physical reference books are a dying breed, but almost every library I've been to has retained at least a  modest collection.  

The current periodicals in their plastic covers reflect the camera's flash. Like reference works, physical paper periodicals seem to be a dying breed, but digital versions have not replaced them yet. A scan of the periodical collection in any given library is an interesting guide to the interests and ideas of the local patrons.

Every time period has its controversies, and a library worth its salt will provide material for patrons of all stripes. And hopefully those patrons will accept the idea that all sides of an issue will be represented. I liked this sign in the non-fiction stacks

A companion piece on the end of a nearby stack reminds users that "Our Library has SCIENCE ONLINE." And one advantage of a library is that there will be staff who can help you find reliable answers to your science questions.

Now we enter the children's area of the library. This extensive Hogwarts model is made of light cardboard by someone who spent a lot of time and took a lot of care. I have cut-and-glued some smaller buildings, just for fun and I have immense respect for whoever did this project.

Here is an interesting solution to a modest problem. Let's say you want to display the nominees for a book award. No problem, just put each book on a rack. But then readers start to check out these books, leaving the display rather bare. But here, each rack holds a laminated copy of the book jacket that stays on the rack when the book is taken. Several of the titles caught my attention, and I now have them on request at my home library.

I had a young co-worker at my post-retirement job as a library page. He was a very bright high school kid. Nice boy. But he and I had one big point of difference concerning children's series books. He, who had probably been reading by the age of three, thought series were totally lame, boring, the same characters over and over. Why would a kid waste time on them? I did not have access to series in my childhood, at least not until I was able to read Walter Farley horse stories. I tried to convince my young colleague that kids for whom reading did not come so easily as it did to him were aided by those familiar characters, similar plots, common vocabulary. We agreed to disagree...or maybe we just dropped the subject. This was quite a while ago.

Well, all of that just to tell you that here at Milford the series books are shelved with the rest of fiction. And title lists are posted on the shelves to lead kids to their favorites.

[Disclosure: I like series. My "Covid-19 project" has been reading all of Robert Parker's Spenser novels in order. I have just about six left to go.]

I believe that this started as an adult program during the long months that browsing in the library was not allowed. Here it's been extended to elementary school kids. Give the librarians some hints about what you like to read, and they'll come back at you with a box of books, yummy snacks, and "fun items." A great way to maintain the library habit for kids (and adults).

Here's an example of a shelf marker for readers of series:

Outdoor amenities include these picnic tables with umbrellas.

As we saw in the adult section, new picture books are displayed with the bright covers forward.

This unusually-shaped table provides several workspaces. I've never seen one like this before.

This mural is on the wall above the wavy red table.

Graphic novels have their own space. I am learning to enjoy graphic books but so far I prefer non-fiction, like Alison Bechdel's books, to novels.

My sister met me at the library and we walked to our breakfast. I'm glad we did, because that walk took us past these children reading on a boulder in the park.

      

8/9/2021