526a Wilmot Public Library, Wilmot, New Hampshire (re-visit)

NOTE: Wilmot folks expected this to be visit 559 or 560. 

Since it turned out to be a second visit, it is number 526a.]

When I'm choosing a library to visit here in New Hampshire, I start by looking at my map. Orange dots mark places I visited during the first eight years of the blog, when I would make annual summer and Christmas visits from Minnesota. Green dots mark visits made since I moved to NH in 2020. What I look for is a place with no dots. And I found one on Monday: the town of Wilmot. No dot? Check. Open on Monday? Check, 2 to 6 pm. Reasonable distance? Check. I put the address in my gps and headed out.

There's one other step I should have taken.

When I got to Wilmot I thought to myself that these small towns with their white civic buildings are all similar. Really?

      

I was greeted by a woman who made me feel welcome and after a few moments we were joined by the library Director. I talked about the blog, and they gave me one of their very attractive library cards. It has a picture of the library, a painting by a local resident. Then the Director took me on a tour of the library. I didn't take pictures until I was on my way back, so the tour you will see is sort of backwards. It starts here in a multipurpose room that is underutilized these days, waiting for Covid to loosen its grip. When it is full swing again it will host pottery classes, other crafts, and meetings.

The room is virtually lined with cabinets that I was told hold myriad craft supplies. The room taken as a whole makes me think of the "Maker Spaces" that I saw often in the middle of the country, but not so much in New Hampshire.

      

A pass-through to a kitchen is convenient

There is a long ramped hallway between the multi-purpose room and the main room of the library. At the bottom of the ramp there are shelves of Free Books. Not a book sale? No, it seems that offering the books free (and accepting donations of money) works out for the best in the long run.

Here's the view looking back down the ramp.

The wall next to the ramp is filled with the "Library of Things," including cake pans. I first saw cake pans to borrow in a small Iowa library. I've never see a collection to beat theirs, but lending things other than books and media is fairly common, especially in smaller libraries.

Other possibilities here in Wilmot include games (popular in the summer when the grandkids come to visit), a microscope set that I would have loved when I was a kid, and a telescope, currently out on loan.

Large windows and comfortable chairs fill the end of the main library building

I couldn't resist getting a close-up picture of these fancy wooden table legs.

This alcove is dedicated the the Friends of the Library.

Poet Laureate Donald Hall lived much of his life in Wilmot.

Computers and such are available for patrons to use.

The center of the library is divided between two children's areas. This area with its soft chairs and braided rug holds books for the school-age crowd.

That white "box" beside the flag is a 3-D printer.

Across from the children's area is a place for the youngest kids. I'll add those colorful toddler-sized  "armchairs" to my mental list of "haven't seen those before!"

And here's an overview of the toddler area. Tomie dePaola has been here!

The card catalog is still available, with one caveat: "The catalog has not been updated since 2/2000." Users are advised to use the on-line catalog for anything newer.

I don't usually have a chance to take a picture of a library service desk, but in this case the volunteer had stepped away. This is where I was welcomed when I arrived.

The library guardian?

The window valences display paintings of historic Wilmot buildings. A book provides a handy guide to the pictures.

Now for the mystery. Even before I went inside I was experiencing deja vu, but I didn't listen to myself. When I got home I immediately opened the laptop and searched "Wilmot" in the blog. Sure enough, this was my second visit. Well, after 500-something libraries, I can't keep them all in mind. My visit was probably many years ago when I was starting out...right? Wrong; it was September 2020, 16 months ago. Perhaps that one visit was knocked out of my brain when I fell on my head (and a few other parts) last year? Hmmm, unlikely that I would lose just one visit. Plus, I did remember. I just didn't believe myself! 

Mystery solved! I looked at my earlier entry for Wilmot and learned that my  first visit had been on a Saturday. A little probing and I figured out that the library is staffed with volunteers on Saturday. So nobody was there for this visit who would have any opportunity to remember me. Now I just have to wonder why I couldn't convince myself that I'd been here before.

This visit is now less of a mystery. And I will be careful in the future to check the blog entries and not rely on dots on a map. 

1/10/2022