Library 154: Latham Library (Thetford)
Each library a witness.
Library 154! The Latham Library in Thetford was the 154th stop on my quest to read and knit in all of Vermont’s public libraries.
I read: A Chair for my Mother by Vera Williams
I knit: a cardigan for my mother by Hannah Miller
This visit started outside with a story walk. This is how conversations go when an education professor (me, interested in libraries) goes on a story walk with a science professor (my wife, interested in nature).
Me: A story walk! Let’s read the book before we go in.
Lisa: Where is the story walk?
Me: Over there. [Points to page 1].
Lisa: Oh. By the invasive cattail.
Me: Yes. Let’s go. [Begins the walk.]
Lisa: What is the species name again…? I was just teaching about it.
Me: Oh look! It’s A Chair for my Mother! This is a great book to discuss class and money and family and community care with kids.
Lisa: Wow. This Typha angustipholia really took over.
Me: Isn’t the art amazing? [Hearing silence, looks back.]
Lisa: [Stands near page 2, takes photos of plants].
Sometimes marriage is about having a witness to your interests, not necessarily sharing the same ones.
Something we both found charming was the outdoor cork board with a sign designating its purpose: “This board is reserved for interactive community conversations. For events and public notices, please post to the board inside this building.” Prompts ranged from profound questions to simple statements. I signed my name under both sides of the t-chart for “dog people” and “cat people” which (despite the false binary) I won’t be too critical of that because I do love the simplicity of a t-chart and also a kid made it. My favorite statement on the board: “I like beans.”
Sometimes it’s just nice to have a witness. This board is a testament to our desire to be seen and heard in community. Public libraries are often the third spaces where that can happen.
Inside we found Emily! Emily’s partner is a colleague of ours at VTSU which was a rare connection. After an amazing tour of books, poets, artifacts, and plants, Emily posed with Hen Solo for a photo. This chicken got lots of attention on the visit! So many young readers at the Latham.
Emily told us this library has a unique governance structure, which I’m afraid I do not remember clearly enough to recount. If anyone can thrive in an atypical decision-making ecosystem, it is a Vermont librarian. They are champions of the weird! Extra phone calls? Odd forms? Long waits? Bring it. They’ll get it done. In time.
Something about libraries I appreciate is the tangible slow pace. Public libraries do not run on corporate pace. They honor the slowness needed to be in community with others. They honor the slowness needed to read deeply. They honor the slowness needed to get things done in an idiosyncratic governance structure.
Each library a time capsule.
A patron dropped off two books, offering a review of both: “This one made me feel good. This one did not make me feel good.” I see a new t-chart opportunity for the interactive board.
Downstairs, I was excited to find a checkerboard floor, an art gallery, and an epic bag of yarn scraps. I was even more pleased to learn these scraps are from a famous neighbor, Woolens and Nosh, who makes the very best hand-dyed self-striping sock yarn there is. What!? Woolens and Nosh yarn scraps? Waiting for me on a table?
Each library a treasure hunt.
What else is a treasure at this library? It has a free payphone. Local VTSU alumn Patrick Schlott takes old rotary pay phones, rewires them to work for free using the internet, and makes them available in rural spaces where there may be no cell signal. The Latham Library is an after school hub, but the kids may have no way to contact their parents due to lack of signal and lack of personal phones (prohibited items at the local school).
This national story about Schlott’s free phones features Latham’s very own library director, Holly! A human from Vermont making the national news is a big deal. There are only 648,000 of us, after all.
In addition to offering free phone calls, the Latham hosts multiple youth programs, including an open mic night for young people to share hidden talents they’d like others to see.
Each library a witness.
So many things to comment on...
1) A Chair for my Mother! Have fond memories of reading it every year to my first graders. Always brought great response from the kids. Wish I could remember their comments.
2) Haha re the Educ/Sci prof convo.
3) Yes to the value of having a witness. Truth!
4) Great small world connection with this librarian
5) Loved the free pay phone🤣
6) Re comment about Vermonters making the news: CBS Sunday Morning and PBS Newshour often air human interest stories featuring Vermonters---seems more often than would be expected for such a small segment of the U.S. population. Maybe bc Vermonters are more humanly interesting than the general population!
7) Eager to see that cardigan for your mother!
8) There was more, but this comment is already too long.
Before I read any further, I had a strong memory of LeVar Burton announcing A Chair for My Mother on Reading Rainbow.
I'm sitting in a library right now, noticing all kinds of things like flag with a torn corner and stars out of line (turns out it was made here and made it back from the Civil War). There is large bear statue behind me that looks almost like it's inviting people sit on its lap. Framed money of some sort ... I am supposed to do a bit of work though before I pick up kids, so I'll stop my exploration. This was my library when I first moved back to Western Mass and my card is technically through here, though I have different library listed as my home library. More library fun facts: I am newly sworn is a a Library Trustee.
Also, I LOVE the free pay phone — deep nostalgia there. I grew up with pay phones all over, calling my parents, usually collect that they did not accept, to come pick up.