David's Library

November 21 2023 Day 21

I’d like to tell you a short story today about my library and about why what we do matters. After a long budget hearing, after a week’s worth of math and taxes and line items and construction costs - where in the end, things didn’t exactly go our way, I still find myself energized and eager to get to work.

Why? Because of a four-year-old. A patron. A tiny lover of books. I’ll call him David.

As the library prepares for expansion, we’re challenging our littlest of patrons to tell us what THEY want to see in a children’s room. We give them a little worksheet and they draw us a picture of what they want. We’ll post the drawings.

It gives our library community a sense of ownership, a way to bring them along for this ride. Plus, it’s just fun. We have a pile of these worksheets.

But here’s the thing. If everything goes well, David will be in second or third grade when the new library opens. When that new children’s room opens it will be a space where David will see puppet shows, and hear stories, and be transported to a place of imagination and education. That space will be the space where David grows up, where he might take his kids, where grandpa David will come for story time with his grandkids.

And what is it that David wrote down that he wanted for his new library? Of all the world’s imagination, of all the possibilities spread out before David, what did he want HIS space to be?

I’ve posted his worksheet below.

David wanted a flower. And David wanted a best friend.

The legacy we leave for David, and David’s best friend, extends beyond our time here. The budgets and the politics; that’s all noise, challenges to overcome on the path to David’s flower and David’s best friend.

I try not to lose sight of this. What we do here matters, both today and a hundred years from now. Keep pushing. I’m here for it, I want a flower and a best friend too. Who doesn’t…

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Would you like to learn more? In general, I keep my work and this little space separate (though I do like writing about libraries!) But for just today, if you or anyone you know would be interested in learning more about my library or our plans for expansion, I’m including a QR code below that will take you directly to our fundraising and information page. You can also see those plans here: Griffin Free Expansion Hub. Onward!