Library 152: Weathersfield Proctor Library (Weathersfield)

Where one shall see no taxidermy

Library 152! The Weathersfield Proctor library in the unincorporated village of Ascutney was the 152nd stop on my quest to read and knit in all of Vermont’s public libraries.

• I read: Chapter 1 of A Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Newton Peck, and the last act of Hamlet, which was printed in its entirety on a poster in the bathroom.

• I knit: a cardigan for my mom

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I visited this library on July 3, 2025.

I wanted to stay in this library well past my welcome due to notable staff personalities.

Judy (who embossed my passport) is a knitter. She is currently working on a cardigan for her great grand baby and a large-collar sweater for herself. Because Judy grew up near “precision valley” (this region of Vermont is known for highly specialized tools, some used for war) her childhood contained a disproportionate number of duck and cover drills.

Because of this abundance of precision, the citizens of Weathersfield love their telescopes. Local “star parties” and astronomy clubs help fundraise for the library.

I learned this from director Mark, who can tell a story. I had to pry myself away from storytime to explore the children’s space and basement, where I found “A Day No Pigs Would Die” in the Vermont section. This was on my mom’s bookshelf throughout my childhood, so I recognized the spine. A book about Vermont farming would not have appealed to me then, but now I was intrigued to read the first chapter.

What a doozy. Riveting. Gross. Violent. Thoughtful. Tense. Suspenseful. It tells a story of a kid chasing a cow through the woods trying to help it give birth under great stress. I rarely read fiction this intense. I have the news for that.

Back upstairs, Mark was still telling Lisa stories worth hearing (his YouTube channel Richardson Reads has more).

My favorite story was about a patron, enraged by VTSU’s attempt to shutter our academic libraries, who came here to practice her dissent speech upon hearing the news. The speech was audible from the time her car door opened. She stomped all the way up to the front desk, practicing as she went along. That rage is why VTSU still has a library. Thank you, readers full of range, who will not accept the closure of your libraries.

I noted that the library had no taxidermy, to which mark replied: “Nor shall it ever.” Some people just don’t like the marble eye vibe.

When Mark interviewed for the director job in the grand room of this library, he sat in the dark. The lack of light concealed the fact that the library did not have a bathroom. A port-a-potty sat outside for a few years, but on one unfortunate day deep in the heart of a Vermont winter, it was crushed by falling ice from the roof. Mark, standing inside the library just on the other side of the wall, heard the crack of the ice and the sound of the port-a-potty crushing. After the shock wore off, he walked outside nervously, hoping to find the port-a-potty empty. It was.

The library has since been through a major renovation that included a bathroom, thanks in part to Mark’s ability tell a good story, I have no doubt.

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Action alert: if you feel the same sense of rage as the patron who came marching into the library to save VTSU, please take action to save the IMLS funding:

“The House Appropriations Committee will begin to markup the Fiscal Year 2026 budget over the next several weeks. The Subcommittee overseeing funding for the Institute for Museum and Library Services is on deck for Monday, July 21, at 5 pm Eastern Time, with the full Committee markup scheduled for Thursday, July 25, at 10 am.

What this means is there is no more crucial time than now to speak up on behalf of libraries and the IMLS than now.” -Book Riot, 7.8.25

Please call and write members of the appropriations committee this week and tell them to fully fund the IMLS: https://appropriations.house.gov/about/membership