Peter Brown, author and illustrator of several award-winning and delightful childrens books, signs a special copy of his book, “The Wild Robot,” for one of Whitefield Librarys young readers. (Photo courtesy Cheryle Joslyn)
“What’s happening at the library?” you might be asking, so we’ll start this one off first by expressing our enormous gratitude!
Support is something that we have felt many times over as our library has taken root, and on March 16 we once again witnessed an outpouring of unanimous community support at Whitefield’s annual town meeting. All hands were in the air supporting our request to fund our three staffing positions and to allow us the use of American Rescue Plan Act funds to purchase a standby generator to keep our power on if/when the electric ever goes off.
This funding is amazing in our small town, and it speaks volumes to the value which its citizen place upon the services that our library has provided in its short life span. Our goal is to continue offering library services and expanding “community” to all who walk through our doors. With our remarkable volunteer crew and our salaried staff, we are now firmly engaged in doing “real library” right here in Whitefield. Thank you, residents of Whitefield!
We also will remain forever grateful to our volunteer, George Fergusson, for everything that his technical expertise has given us these past two years. He has been our “startup” guru, and we never could have gotten on the “technological highway” so quickly and efficiently without him. He zipped us right into venues and avenues that we had no idea where we were going, but discovered how significant and important every aspect of technology is in today’s world and especially in a library. Thank you, George, for bringing us into the beginning of some important transitions for Whitefield Library.
George now happily passes the baton to a new technology coordinator; salaried this time! It’s with many thanks to Whitefield residents for funding this third position, and we will begin the search soon. We hope to have a new staff person in place Sept. 1.
Our library director, children’s program coordinator, and a multitude of volunteers in every capacity have had a busy start to our new year. Besides an ever-growing number of patrons and visitors to our library borrowing books, we have seen a huge increase in participants in our weekly/monthly programs and events. Storytime is hopping every Friday morning with books and activities for “littles,” Jungle Night with “The Jungle Book” shared with monkeys and elephants amongst the pillows was a pure delight (thank you, Sally Wattles, for your enchanted jungle design), and Music and Movement really gets the 1- to 4-year-olds clapping and dancing on Thursday mornings.
Whitefield Librarys second floor renovation project has just completed the painting of the main room walls and the beautiful coved ceiling. (Photo courtesy Cheryle Joslyn)
The Wild Robot Book Club had a wonderful visit from New York Times bestselling author, Peter Brown. What a thrill it was to watch him draw the main character, Roz, on our library’s easel! That inspires young readers!
Each of these past two months have seen our main room walls proudly showcasing local artist, and our “First Friday” art night events have brought in many visitors. Many of Barbara Vanderbilt’s beautiful pastels created a serene feeling to the library throughout the month of February, and Bill McKeen’s Whitefield Historical Society’s historic program posters have educated all of us during his display in March.
Join us April 5 to view Rachael Richmond’s beautiful watercolors and to meet this talented artist from Jefferson.
Our library director has arranged an author talk on Saturday, April 13 with bestselling author of the Mike Bowditch crime novel series, Paul Doiron. If you were one of the lucky ones to purchase a ticket, you are really going to enjoy this Saturday event. There will be more authors coming to Whitefield in our future.
If you missed any of these programs and events, there’s plenty more on the way. Many of them are free with a few that we ask for a small donation to cover our expenses. Our goal is to provide “opportunities” to our community, so please join us for any and all that we have to offer. We have knitting, yoga, book clubs for youth, teens, and adults, games, music night, free passes, and wonderful books!
If you’re asking, “What else?” get ready … we are blooming this spring! Every Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m., we will be hosting a movie. If the raised bed is still frozen, or the ground is too soggy to dig your paws into the dirt, come over to the library, and relax with our lineup of great movies. You’ll find the April list on our website and social media posts.
“What about the second floor renovation?” you might be wondering. That, too, is exciting news at the library! The rough wiring is all done, the ceiling and walls are snuggly insulated, the new drywall, plaster, and paint makes the main room look brand new again, and we’re getting ready to begin the carpentry upgrades to the stairway, vestibule, and hallway.
It’s amazing to see the “old” young again, and we’re pretty sure it’s enjoying the changes. We even have some underbelly work going on with a vapor barrier being installed in our crawlspace with grant funds from the Association for Rural and Small Libraries. This will help control the moisture under the old timber framing.
Our plan is to restore, use joyfully, and preserve well into the future. When our renovation is finished, it will be celebration time. We appreciate so very much what everyone has contributed to this adventure.
(The Whitefield Library & Community Center is at 1 Arlington Lane in Whitefield. For more information, call 549-0170, email info@whitefieldlibrary.org, go to whitefieldlibrary.org, or find the library on Facebook.)
