A Cornucopia of Thanks for Libraries

 

From an Altitude of Gratitude,

 

(Part 1) A Cornucopia of Thanks for Libraries

 

by Alice Jane-Marie Massa

 

 

NOTE: During this season of Thanksgiving, as in 2014, my Wordwalk blog will feature a series of four blog posts focusing on more items in my cornucopia of thanks. Join me at this altitude of gratitude and notice your own blessings during this month of November.

 

Thanks to a $12,500 grant from Andrew Carnegie, the small Hoosier town of Clinton placed the cornerstone of the Clinton Public Library in October of 1909. On November 22, 1911, the Clinton (Indiana) Public Library opened its doors to readers for the first time. On that first day, 104 years ago, five hundred books were checked out. In 1947, the year my older sister was born, the library expanded its children’s section. In 1953, three years after I came into the reading world, a meeting room was added to the library at 313 South Fourth Street in Clinton.

 

Thanks to my Uncle Pete’s driving each weekday the seven miles from Blanford to Clinton to go to Comba’s Bakery for fresh, crusty Italian bread which my uncle sold at Lanzone’s Grocery Store in Blanford, my cousin Carole and I had a regular ride to the Clinton Public Library almost every day of the summer. Each of us checked out the maximum of five books. Selecting the new books to read was so much fun! The gray- and white-haired librarians (Mrs. Munsen and Mrs. Richards or Richardson) were always so nice and helpful to us. Although I have not lived in Vermillion County for over 25 years, I easily remember my library number from those childhood years–JR 1109. Of course, the library’s summer reading program was an important part of our summer.

 

In my mind’s eye, I can clearly picture the layout of the children’s section in the lower level of the library. I distinctly recall the location of the shelves where the Nancy Drew books stood with spines ready to be pulled from a temporary resting place. The fragrance of the fiction and nonfiction books, the magic of the myriad of books, the rare gift of a free bookmark, made the library a spellbinding place for me. Ever since those early visits to the library in the 1950s, libraries have had me in their spell. The quiet, neat, and friendly atmosphere of a library has always seemed like a second home to me–no matter where I have lived.

 

At Jacksonville Grade School (where I went to school from grades one through five and from where my mother and her siblings, as well as my sister were graduated) was a meager, but special library. The books at this rural school’s library were from the Clinton Public Library and changed periodically to give the township students a variety of reading material. These awesome books were lined up on a table in the back of the school’s auditorium. What a treat to go upstairs to the auditorium and choose a book to take home to read!

 

Eventually, as the reading years rolled by, I, as a high school student, enjoyed the privilege of perusing the large collection on the upper floor of the Clinton Public Library. With the Dewey Decimal System spinning in my head, I fondly recall all the stacks and shelves of books, as well as a wonderful collection of magazines and journals. Since Clinton High School was catty-corner from the library block, I frequently went to the library to wait for one of my parents to pick me up after I had stayed at school late. When my mother went to town to get her hair fixed once a week, I went to the library to explore, read, and/or do homework. When my dad had to go to town for something, I often went to the library while he did his errands.

 

Due to diminishing vision, I could not read as many books as I would have liked; but I was engrossed by this land of books. At Clinton High School, I was honored that librarian Miss (Florence) Salaroglio asked me to be a student librarian. My first volunteer job in a library led to my attending a week-long convention for student librarians at Purdue University, during the summer before my senior year. The book which we were asked to read before traveling to Lafayette, Indiana, and then discuss at the conference was Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451.

 

In 1968, I began to explore a much larger library–six floors of stacks–at Indiana State University. By the time I worked on my master’s degree, the university had a new, modern library where I delved further into research.

 

In 1980, I learned about a different type of library whose services I could fully utilize. By way of the cooperating library in Indianapolis, I received audio and braille books and magazines from the National Library Service, Division for the Blind and Physically Handicapped. Suddenly, I was able to read all the books that my diminishing vision had not allowed me to read. Cassette books, recorded on four tracks and at a slower speed, came through the mail directly to me in plastic containers. By flipping over a pre-addressed index card on the plastic container, I could easily mail back the borrowed audio book (unabridged) to the library in Indianapolis. Thirty-five years later, I still thoroughly delight in receiving the special plastic containers from the Talking Book and Braille Library of the National Library Service, here in Milwaukee. The one difference is that the great majority of books I receive from the regional library now are on a special digital cartridge. Instead of receiving magazines on flexible discs or cassette, recorded magazines are also available on the digital cartridges. Additionally, using my computer, I can download the recorded books on a personal cartridge. Although my townhouse still has nine bookcases and the top of a half-wall full of both print and braille books and magazines, I am enormously thankful for these audio books and magazines from the National Library Service (NLS). For many years of the past 35, I have kept notes on the books which I have read. In 2013, one of the years after my retirement from teaching, I read the most books in one year–eighty-four.

 

Even my guide dogs have loved libraries! While I was on the campus of Western Michigan University to earn a second master’s degree from 1990 to 1991, my first Leader Dog Keller and I had to learn the route to the campus library where we often met a sighted reader who assisted me with research. During my teaching years at Milwaukee Area Technical College, my Leader Dog Heather and then Zoe quickly learned the command “Find the library.” Hearing this command in the east hallway of the Main Building’s third floor, Heather or Zoe took me directly to the college library’s entrance door and then to other strategic points in the library. They, too, seemed to relish the atmosphere of a library. Sharing my enthusiasm about libraries and books was a highlight of my years of teaching, with one of my three guide dogs at my side.

 

During this season of Thanksgiving, I give a cornucopia of thanks to all the libraries and their librarians and books that have enriched and enhanced my life. From my altitude of gratitude, libraries hold an extraordinary place on life’s map.

 

POST-SCRIPT: Please leave a comment which shares the author and title of a book (or books) which you have enjoyed reading recently. My favorite read of this autumn is studying Wisconsin: The Life of Increase Lapham–Early Chronicler of Plants, Rocks, Rivers, Mounds, and All Things Wisconsin–written by Martha Bergland and Paul G. Hayes (copyright 2014, Wisconsin Historical Society Press, 410 pages, DBW 09406).

 

Happy reading! Happy November!

Alice and Zoe

 

November 4, 2015, Wednesday

 

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