Library 136: West Rutland Free Library

I hope Jeff always has a library.

Library 136! The West Rutland Free Library was the 136th stop on my quest to read, write, and knit in all of Vermont’s public libraries.

• I read: student work

• I wrote: feedback on student work

• I knit: a 1983 sweater test knit for Maxim Cyr

---

I visited this library on Friday, March 28, 2025.

This library was quiet. As I was poking around taking photos, I walked past a patron a few times who was doing paperwork. The work was spread out across an entire table. I wondered what it was, but didn’t ask. Some people in libraries send body language signals that say “I’d like to chat.” Others don’t.

As I was knitting in the corner knitting, a patron came in whose body language said: “I’d like to chat.” Jeff was making jewelry with beads and wire. He’d grown up in West Rutland and attended the local school. Now, his hometown childhood library is a frequent stop as an adult.

Jeff’s stories made me think about how we build relationships with libraries that are different from other buildings in our personal histories. Schools are certainly important in shaping who we are, but after we are done with a school, we don’t often go back. Post offices and grocery stores can make it into our personal stories, but they aren’t places we sit and think and talk to neighbors. Coffee shops and retail spaces don’t often last a lifetime. For people who go to temple or synagogue or mosque or church, those buildings might form a place in our memories like a library. Libraries are unique. Libraries stay open for a lifetime.

I don’t know how libraries will survive the most recent blows to the IMLS. A wise person who recently joined my family said to me “I guess we’ll just have to take care of them ourselves.” I know this is true: when laws and systems and institutions are unjust or unsupportive, family and community rely on each other for mutual support. We keep alive what we value. We build local resilience.

The current attacks on the freedom to read and public institutions are so large in quantity, it will be impossible to save everything. I hope libraries are what we can save. I hope Jeff will always have a table here to make art. I hope there will always be a library nearby where an elder can go (without spending money), talk with a neighbor, and sit and close their eyes and remember a childhood of books.