The bad thing about not being consistent in my writing is that unless I look back at my previous posts, I can't remember if I've written about something already.
One of the benefits of retirement for me has been the ability to volunteer my time for things I love. At this moment, I'm working at our community library. Ten years ago, this was a real library with funding from the county and it was considered to be part of the county library system. For reasons unknown to me, it was decided to defund this library and distribute the support to the remaining few libraries in the area. Ten years ago, I didn't realize that there even was a library in this area - it is quite rural and there is a larger library in a nearby town as well as a huge library and several University libraries a mere 20 miles away - Since I was able to walk to the library at lunch, I used the ones closest to my work.
When this library was 'closed', some of the local patrons decided to create a library and operate it on a volunteer basis. It was clearly needed as many of the patrons were Amish and to travel so far away to go to one of the remaining libraries wasn't practical. The location of the library moved about 3 miles away from where it was originally into an old school. The old school houses several other offices such as the historical society and the municipal office. It's fairly easy to get to by foot, car, or horse and buggy with plenty of parking. We have a number of regular volunteers who manage to keep the library open with books from the original collection as well as hundreds and hundreds of books donated to us by the public. In fact, we are donated so many books that a great deal of our funding comes from a semi-annual book sale.
I love this little library that really isn't so little anymore. I can remember when I was young - before I hit my rebellious teen years - the only other thing I wanted to be more than a cowboy was a librarian. How I wish I had followed that path! But yet here I am, fulfilling that dream in a different fashion.
1 comment:
How interesting that the community managed to keep the library operating! In my experience as a librarian, it's not inexpensive-- but staffing was the biggest cost. And sharing a building certainly cuts down on costs too. Good on you for volunteering!
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