Opinion

The library: A haven and a home

Eds’ note: Bill Wilbur shared with NGX his letter to town leaders about the library budget.

| Bill Wilbur |

     My name is Bill Wilbur. I am a writer, but even more importantly I am a reader, have been my whole life.  Until the age of seven, I lived in a financially depressed small town in Massachusetts. There wasn’t much disposable income floating around, in the town or in my home. My parents were both readers as well, so we had books, as most households did, but after having read them all several times over, I switched to cereal boxes. We just did not have money for new books.

What saved us was our public library. As a family we’d walk to the town library once a week and spend the day perusing the shelves, visiting with the librarians and whatever friends were there. My father always found a willing victim to challenge in a chess match and once in a while found a worthy opponent. The library was always more than a repository for books, it was the pulse of the town. The library is the place you go to find out what’s happening in your community. It was a warm place of knowledge, comradery, and information. I am fifty-five now but I still have that library card.

     As Angela Clarke once wrote, a library is a place for the vulnerable. From the elderly whose only remaining human interaction is with library staff, to the isolated young mother who relishes the support and friendship that grows from a baby rhyme time session, to a slow moving 30-something woman collecting her CD’s. Libraries are a haven in a world where community services are being ground down to nothing. Libraries, and indeed the people who choose to serve in them, are vital. Their worth cannot be measured in books alone.

     A few years ago, I moved to New Gloucester to care for a sick relative. Coming from Los Angeles, it was a big change of pace for me. I found myself alone in a town where I knew nobody. The day I stepped into the New Gloucester Public Library was the day the town began to feel like home. Sue and Carla are the heart and soul of the place and I spent many hours learning from them, not just about books and authors, but also about the town and its happenings. Your library saved me. It is the lifeblood of your community and an important resource for the people you serve.

Thank you for your time,

Bill Wilbur