Libraries remain a vital force in our communities

To celebrate last month’s National Library Week, the American Library Association chose the theme, “Communities matter@your library.”

The designation offered an ideal time to celebrate the contributions of our nation’s libraries and librarians, but also a time to reflect on the contributions that your local libraries make to the community.

Libraries are reading institutions and provide a variety of materials for a number of different modes of reading – whether audio, visual or textual. Libraries are a link to the community – if you want to know something, the library will be able to find the information for you.

It is difficult to imagine what a community would be like without its library. Spend some time thinking about what your local library services mean to you. What would happen if the library no longer existed?

What kind of community do you wish to create for your children and in what ways does the library help? What is the role of reading in your life?

The Charles Town Library at 200 E. Washington St. is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Friday; 1 to 7 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday; and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays.

The Charles Town Library at 200 E. Washington St. is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Monday, Wednesday and Friday; 1 to 7 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday; and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays.

Thirty years ago on April 16, 1983, the Old Charles Town Library celebrated National Library Week by inviting the community to an autograph signing party for Mildred Hammond and her book, “Square Dancing is for Me,” which had just been published.

At the time, Hammond was the school librarian at Page Jackson in Charles Town.

For this year’s National Library Week, Hammond presented the library with a copy of her book with autographs from the principals involved in the production.

In presenting a scrapbook of the book’s publishing history, she explained: “I have many memories of writing this book and now I can add the memory that the hard work and the joy of writing it are preserved here at the Charles Town Library.”

Last month brought “Poem in Your Pocket Day.” The idea behind PiYPD is to carry a poem in your pocket and read it to your delight all day and to share it with friends and family.

It’s not too late to find a poem you love. A great website to explore is poets.org. You can find poems there to carry in your pocket and other suggestions for how to celebrate poetry.

– Librarian Marcella Genz writes regularly about offerings at Charles Town Library. Send feedback about this column to her at octllibrarian@frontier.com.

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