Plumb Library Celebrates ‘Library Awareness’

The trip to the library was the highlight of my week as a kid, well before I was able to read on my own. I loved walking up the concrete wheelchair ramp, my fingers lightly skidding up the iron black cold handrail to the door that pushed open. In the vestibule, a long corrugated clear vinyl mat delighted me with the sound it made as I shuffled my feet across it, dragging my toes behind each step.

That scent of bound paper and ink, woodwork, potted plant, and must is a smell I still clearly recall as an adult. The children’s department was to the left, where my mom would leave me to choose my up-to-eight books while she browsed the adult fiction section for the two books she would devote her time to over the next seven days.

My mother loved to read books. She mostly checked them out from the library, but she had a small bookcase of her own that I would sometimes “play library” with at home, pretending to be the librarian who got to use that groovy machine that would stamp the card with the date and due date when pushed into the metal slot. “Ca-chunk.”

It was a place where people said “hush” and had to be quiet. It felt sort of sacred, like in a church.

Books and the library were such a vital part of my growing-up experience. In the libraries of the 21st Century, there is a little bit less of the old “shushing” going on. Libraries now offer so much more than books, with children’s events and activities, computer access, and still the good old-fashioned book club.

Part of the reason for all these fun activities, says Plumb Library Children’s Librarian Lisa Fuller, is to get people into those library doors so they can actually see what is in store for them at their local public library. “Library awareness,” Fuller called it.

On Saturday, February 6, the Plumb Library participated in a national tradition now in its fifth year: Take Your Child to the Library Day.

Held on the first Saturday of February, the Plumb Library hosted its third such event, giving itself the opportunity to show patrons and community members that the library is more than just a building full of books.

“We’re sort of a community center in some ways, and we would love to see some new faces,” said Fuller. “Our struggle is that we feel we have a decent-size community and we feel that people forget that the library isn’t just a place to check out a book.”

For Take Your Child to the Library Day, Fuller said she chose a number of performers for the purpose of showing patrons just that, having them link their performances in some way, shape, or form, with the library books.

Children were treated to a story read by Alice of Alice in Wonderland, a performer from Encore Entertainment of Mattapoisett. Library patron “Professor Trelawney” of Hogwarts School read fortunes for the kids, and Mr. Vinnie from Toe Jam Puppet Band put on a puppet show created just for the Plumb Library’s event.

Library staff also gave demonstrations on other offerings at the library, such as their online services that offer e-books and intensive research applications for older students. The library showed off its video game and movie collection, magazines, and introduced its children’s activities such as storytime hours, Lego club, and junior friends club.

“We tried to give the people a feel for what’s in-house and what’s available online,” said Fuller. “There’s just so much that’s available and, importantly, at no cost.”

Fuller said the Plumb Library website is new and improved for 2016, making it easier to navigate and find information more efficiently. With the help of a local computer-savvy library patron, Fuller said, the website is now up and fully running.

“We’re trying to make connections. Bring people in. We’d like to see some new people.”

It is no wonder that the results of a survey of patrons over and over turned up one consistent key phrase: “wonderful staff.”

The library staff is constantly coming up with new ways to entice young would-be patrons of the library to come inside, said Fuller, and is devoted to making the library a part of the lives of community children. For more information, visit www.plumblibrary.org.

By Jean Perry

PClibrary_0166 PClibrary_0171 PClibrary_0182 PClibrary_0189 PClibrary_0192 PClibrary_0201 PClibrary_0209 PClibrary_0213 PClibrary_0293 PClibrary_0302 PClibrary_0312 PClibrary_0315 PClibrary_0334 PClibrary_0341 PClibrary_0344 PClibrary_0349

Leave A Comment...

*