I am retiring at the end of December as the Director of the Roscoe Free Library after a bit more than 15 years. In leaving a place that I’ve loved, I wanted to write about the absolute joy (and sometimes terror) of running a small rural library. How do you encapsulate and compress all those busy and sometimes crazy years, especially when my first job was quickly learning how to unblock a temperamental toilet?

There’s been so many changes in this small rural library since 2008.  Public computers were a very bit draw here since e-mail was just starting to catch on.  We had patrons, adult and kids, waiting for their half-hour turn on the five public computers. At that time, a lot of homework was done here, especially since all the computers were hooked up to a very nice color printer.  Social media was in its infancy…I know it’s hard to imagine life without Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, but most patrons used e-mail.  Large print books were just becoming popular since they were and still are so easy to read. (Book companies were using the smallest font!)  Forget extensive DVD collections…all the libraries had VHS tapes.  We learned how to repair those, too.  Each library got a huge box of VHS movies every six months, boxes that rotated through the Ramapo Catskill Library system and very welcome they were, too.  

Summer reading was fun to plan and then watch children listen to a story being read, followed by a craft, cookies and juice. (Oreos are still my favorite!) We raised Luna Moths one summer, and Monarch butterflies the next.  All of us loved the State Symbols of New York programs, held in the park. Of course, there were state summer reading reports to write, getting more complicated year after year, which made my Oreo consumption go way up! Over the years, I learned that kids really like to sit and have a story told to them, even better than having one read out of a book.  Watching these same kids graduate from high school, knowing I was part of their journey, has been a privilege.  

In 2009, we had a baby water dragon named Handsome living with us but he had to go back to the Museum of the Hudson Highlands as it was too cold here. So, the museum gave us Cutie Pie, our Western Hognose snake.  She lived in her tank by the window for 9 years, becoming very popular with the children who admired her, and generated many programs on reptiles and amphibians. Two years ago, a tiny yellow kitten was abandoned in back of the library.  Sunshine, known to all as Sunny, moved into the library and into our hearts. He is often the first thing we are asked about when a patron walks in the door. 

Libraries now have free WiFi, often extending out to the road.  But in the beginning, you needed a password, and hoped it worked for the patron. (Nope!!) I learned how to navigate the intimidating Dewey Decimal System non-fiction section, and was able to produce a book on most subjects.  It was not uncommon for a trout fisherman in waders to stomp in asking for a book on fly-fishing, also a learning curve.  Having a patron who was a master in fly tying really helped.

During these years there were two in-house floods, leaky roof episodes, mice, and a vole that used to stroll by the circulation desk at night. I still miss so many patrons that came in every week, shared stories with me, talked about books, and then sadly passed on. I lost two valued employees, leaving a hole in the library’s fabric and in my heart.  But there have been so many happy memories, too.  The volunteers that created the organic box garden on the library’s side, where we grew corn, string beans and peas.  We put the fresh string beans on the desk for folks to taste. (Kids wanted to know if our microwave was broken!) The fantastic barn quilt over the library’s front door designed by the late Jack Yelle, the trout turtle project, and fun nature programs in the park, Then the stunning front panels done by brilliant volunteer artists, leading folks to think we left the books outside!  

 I have been given an awesome gift of a fifteen-year journey into the wonderful and magical world of a library. I have had a wonderful time!