Library Space is Your Space

November 16 2023 Day 16

There’s a sign in Boston’s Central Library that reads: “If you appear to be asleep, we will interrupt you to do a wellness check.”

A recent feature in the Boston Globe pointed out that this message serves two purposes - it tells patrons that the library cares about their well being and it also highlights the fact that the library is a space for everyone.

Whether it’s Boston, one of the largest library systems in the country, or whether it’s my own community library here in New Hampshire, the message is the same, and perhaps somewhat overlooked.

And that is, one of the most important services a library provides is simply its space. We offer the community a place to be. For free.

This played out recently at our own little library here in Auburn. Space played a role for a local father whose daughter was building a diorama for school and they needed craft ideas and space for her to do her homework. Or the patron doing research work on her high school class who needed internet access and ideas to help track down former classmates. Or the patron who stopped in and spent the afternoon learning how to play the library’s ukulele.

We are small, but mighty!

The one element missing in all those examples is, of course, books. And while our print circulation continues to expand and remains the backbone of everything we do, the role of the library in a community has well surpassed that of a dusty book warehouse.

If you need something. If you need to figure something out. If you have questions about anything. If you just need a place to sip coffee and gaze off into the middle distance for a few minutes. We can do that. We can help you with all of that.

We’re not a quiet place anymore. We are a heart, beating in time with the needs and loves and hobbies and desires of our community.

Our space, as small and crowded as it may be, is YOUR space. Come in, stay a while, spread out. Use it!