This summer, our Four County Library System came up with an idea.
There are 42 libraries in the system. Urban libraries. Small town libraries. Libraries in historic buildings. At least one library that will turn 200 (the library, not its building) next year.
The idea: visit as many of the libraries as you can between July 1 and September 2 and win some (small) prizes. They called it the 4CLS Road Trip.
Despite me loving libraries, and occasionally visiting libraries when I visit somewhere, I had been to the grand total of four of these libraries. Why should I? I'm comfortable with the ones I'm used to.
But, I soon realized it was time to get out and when I approached my spouse about it, I thought he would run in the other direction. He winces every time I mention the word "library". He knows I wanted to be a librarian when I grew up. He's a reader, just not someone who might live in a library if given the chance.
Reading? GoodReads? Here's my GoodReads story.
To my shock (and it's hard to be shocked after 49 plus years of marriage) he enthusiastically said "let's go!"
So we started our road trip this week, although I'm not planning to visit all 42 (the Four County area is big and itinerary building can be a bit of a challenge, given the hours some of them are open).
I plan to do posts on some of these libraries in the near future. In the meantime, here are some things I have learned.
1. Librarians are proud of their libraries. Two of the libraries I visited gave me history printouts or tour guides. In fact, one of them gave spouse and me a tour EVEN THOUGH THEY WERE CLOSED THAT DAY. (Yes, I'm going to blog about that library.)
2. Libraries care about their patrons. They care a lot. At a library that is in a suburb (although I don't think of it as a suburb) of Binghamton, New York, I saw the librarian greet every patron who came in by name, asking after their family,or their pet(s), or something else. Another library bragged about their Large Print collection, the largest in the system, although those books are a lot more expensive than regular print books. Why? Because most of their patrons are elderly and need them. How do you pay for them, my spouse asked? The librarian shrugged. Dare I wonder what that shrug meant?
3. Some of those libraries are repositories of history. The blend of old and new can be amazing. There are paintings, portraits of the founders of the library, and one even had a 100 year old desk where you checked out your books. Others have local artifacts on display - one library I visited had the shoe of an enslaved person found in the basement of an area home that was known to be a stop on the Underground Railroad.
I do wish something, though. I wish that Binghamton still had its Carnegie Library. I spent many happy lunch hours there until it closed at the end of October, 1999. The building was vacant for many years and was saved by SUNY Broome for a culinary college that opened in 2021 but I'm not even sure the public can go in and tour it even during the public cooking classes. The current building just isn't the same.
Whoever thought this idea up has a winner, at least for me. I just hope they keep in mind the residents who don't drive, because this tour can't be made easily without public transportation. Perhaps for next year, a virtual road trip could be prepared.
Has your library system ever held a Summer Road Trip?
My first post of the #4CLSroadtrip.
