I don't often re-visit libraries, but here I am back in Weare after eight years. [Look around, you'll find the first visit documented at 220, without the "a." This library remained in my memory because it was almost buried in snow on December 26, 2013. It's not too far from where I now live, so I decided to see what it looks like, snowless.
Well, it certainly does look different!
When I went inside and introduced myself, I was amazed that the first person I talked to remembered me! At least, she remembered the visit. And the library director came out of his office and told me that the "library in the snow" picture has been put to use for "closed because of weather" signs over the years.
To celebrate STEMtember, the library has acquired many, many games and kits that can be borrowed. They are displayed on several tables.
Or in one case, hanging by the fireplace. That fireplace looks pretty clean...I think Santa will be safe dropping in to check out the backpack.
A good number of the kits are in circulation. In each case, a picture of the boxtop is used as a placeholder on the table, so kids (or adults, I assume) know what they are missing and what to request for next time. The variety of topics and age levels is amazing.
I have somewhere a picture taken by my Aunt Ruth when she was a librarian in Brooklyn, NY in the 1930s. For some reason this picture brings that earlier one to mind...and that's a compliment. [The chairs here are far newer!]
These matching boxes caught my eye. They are up by the ceiling and hold town documents of some sort. At first I thought they were decorations!
This unique wooden bench doubles as a chess or cribbage board. It was created to honor a former library director whose name I wrote down as "Mr. Mike." My understanding is that Mr. Mike was very popular and died after a too-short tenure as Director. At the end of this post, you'll see another chess board in his honor.
It is clear that when folks had no space for the family's grandfather clock, they commonly thought of the library. In the early days of this blog I thought that all (and only) New England libraries had grandfather clocks, while midwestern libraries all had quilts on display. I soon had to give up that idea, as there were too many counter-examples. But I'll stand by the trend! This clock is special in several ways. First, it is still working! It is wound once a week, and I can testify that it bongs enthusiastically at 3 o'clock. It is also special in that the case was made locally and the works were made down the road in Concord.
Something else that just about every library has is a collection of books of interest to historians and genealogists.
Dictionaries of various vintages have their own sturdy shelves with a slanted top for ease of use. The tan dictionary on the lower right looks old, but it dates in my lifetimeso I guess it IS old. I was so shocked I forgot to write down the publication date.
The dictionary here, from the lower left shelf, is from 1907. Why keep old dictionaries? Well, some people, and I'm one of them, like to look into the history of words. I find that it's more fun to do this in a dictionary, although sometimes it might be easier on line. Sometimes.
I don't remember the shelves from my first visit, but I was told that these are new, and I have no reason to doubt it. They look very spiffy.
Downstairs it's easy to guess that this is the children's area.
There are plenty of books for the grade school crowd, and a great rug that is ready and waiting for young "drivers" with toy cars.
Picture books are on lower shelves. I like the practice of displaying books on the top of shelves like this, since their covers are usually so colorful and eye-catching.
I meant to ask about some lovely pictures in the children's area, but I must have been distracted by something else. The pictures are covered with some sort of plastic for protection.
Here's another picture in a very different style, with a beanbag chair waiting for a kid to flop down with a book. I'd always like to see kids in a library, but on the other hand if there were to be a kid on that chair, I couldn't take the picture!
First there were comic books. I've seen a few libraries that dealt in comics, but not many. [I think it was a library in Upstate New York that was having a comic book give-away.] Now there are graphic novels and manga which (in my experience) were for a while few in number and hard to find. Now they are everywhere and their apologists are coming out of the woodwork with reasons to give them respect. I have learned to like some graphic novels and non-fiction, like Alison Bechdel's memoirs, but generally I'd rather stick to words.]
Another beanbag and rug waiting for a kid.
And that's the Weare library, but let's take a look outside before we go. This sign brings back memories of emptying the bookdrop where I worked and finding many books that people probably knew we couldn't use. Once, it was a dozen or more very outdated nursing textbooks. People can't bear to get rid of books they no longer want or need, so they turn to the nearest book place: their library. And the library has to deal with them. Most libraries need books for fund-raising sales, but of course they need books they can actually sell. And they need to have room for them. [Other things are put in book returns, too. Once upon a time in Spencer, Iowa, it was a half-frozen kitten. The kitten grew up to be Dewey Readmore Books, a feature at the library for many years.]
We saw the wooden chess and cribbage board bench inside. Here is the outdoor version in honor of Michael Sullivan, the Director from 2016 to 2019. When you see memorials like this you know that the honoree made a great impression in a few years.
In Memory of Michael Sullivan, Librarian, Musician, Author. His Activities Enriched Weare's Children and Community.
9/20/2021
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