The charms of a small-town library

Modern libraries may have up-to-the-minute technology, but they lack the friendly, nostalgic feel of their older counterparts.

from the April 14, 2008 edition

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Our library, which started as a village reading room more than 100 years ago, has never received public funds. It is supported by con­tributions from residents, with some sizable bequests from "summer people." Yet it is surely a public in­stitution because it caters to the public.

The librarians are familiar with everyone's tastes and know what customer service is all about. Their buying budget is based on readers' requests. And they know their readers' interests.

When a 92-year-old patron stops in for his weekly visit, he finds several books on World War II waiting for him on the corner of the circulation desk.

Another man who reads to residents at the county care center mentioned that novels presented a problem. Many of the folks couldn't remember the previous week's chapters. The librarian got busy and soon had a stack of short-story anthologies, so the reading could be completed in one session.

A sign over the metal return chute beside the outside entrance requests that readers hand deliver their books if the library is open. But one doesn't just place the books on the circulation desk and leave.

The librarian will ask, "What did you think?" or "Did you like this?" Engaged readers march in the door voicing a positive or negative review before plunking down the books.

A straight-back chair is always positioned beside the circulation desk for chats with the librarian.

If that chair is occupied, a three-way conversation about the book ensues. Often a voice from back in the fiction section chimes in about the book or about another by the same author, and soon an impromptu book discussion is in full swing.

I often descend the stairs with books recommended by the librarian or by another reader, sometimes a stranger to me.

And although I may have headed for the library with a particular book or author in mind, I'm often ambushed by a discovery on the shelves of recent acquisitions. And it's as likely as not that when I get the books home, I will encounter chocolate smudges on the pages of my next reading adventure.

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