As You Like It: Library Love Letter

This is a love letter to our library. I know it’s not Valentine’s Day, but I’m writing it all the same. This is nothing new to my faithful readers. I’ve written about my relationship with libraries as long as I’ve been writing my column, which is over 25 years now.

A young Joan Florek Schottenfeld reads a book with her mom.

I’ve written about my earliest memories of being taken to the library by my mom — walking to the Eastern Parkway library in Brooklyn hand in hand, eagerly approaching the large stone staircase.

I couldn’t read, but Mom would let me roam the children’s stacks choosing books. Then we would sit together, the sun pouring in through the windows, and she would read to me. She had a lovely, lyrical voice and I was hypnotized by reading.

The day that I could finally write my name to get my very own library card was magical. I clutched it in my little hand, only surrendering it to the librarian when I had to check out my books. It was my key to a world that had opened to me with my mother’s voice.

Throughout the years, libraries have been home. I remember going to my college library for the first time and crying because there was no way that I could ever read all the books that surrounded me. It was then that I was introduced to the library as research center. I spent years working on analytical literary papers, searching for information to prove my theories.

Later, my kids and I spent hours in libraries, listening to story times, roaming the stacks, and dragging home too many books. And they too used the library for research. But then things changed.

Suddenly the internet became part of everybody’s life. You could find things quickly online, but computers were expensive, so libraries became computer centers. I enjoyed the speed and the breadth of the internet, but I confess, I missed the stacks and the treasure hunt through old texts.

Slowly through the years, libraries evolved. They were no longer a place to find books, attend story time, do research, or simply sit quietly with a favorite book. Librarians formed book groups, curated film series and clubs, and invited speakers. Adults, teens and children all had specialized programs.

You could learn to knit, draw, speak Italian, repair household items, or play chess.

New citizens learned how to speak English in ESOL (English for speakers of other languages) classes; job seekers attended seminars and used the library computers for their job hunt; patrons studied for licensure exams. People could order passports and enjoy cooking classes. The library world was expanding.

And then COVID hit. Life became smaller as everything around us closed. But the library remained open. Brave librarians came in to work in person while the world hunkered down, and they took book orders every day, putting books and children’s craft kits out for patrons to pick up and delivering books to shut ins.

The library’s trustees met outside or via Zoom to try and figure out when it was safe to offer more to the town, when we could safely open parts of the library. We never shut down.

And that was when the trustees began to realize that the library had become a community center — the one place in town where almost everyone came to connect, to learn, to widen their interests.

Once the immediate danger of COVID has passed, we began to see our teens and tweens crowding the youth room after school. The library was the haven where they could come if their parents were working. This was where they did their homework, socialized and read. Our YA librarians responded to the need, creating imaginative programs for the kids to keep them learning.

Early release days were the busiest and the noisiest. This became a challenge for the library.

We responded by collaborating with the schools and other town organizations. The schools sent pizza for the teens on early release days, since they did not offer lunch on those days and many of our children depend on that lunch. They also arranged for Isabelle Nolan, program manager for the Canton Alliance Against Substance Abuse, to have office hours at the library every day from 3-5 p.m. to keep an eye on our tweens and help them handle life.

We in Canton are lucky to have a vibrant, healthy library. If you check our website (library.canton.ma.us), we offer programs and services for the entire population. Our problem now — and it is a good problem — is our popularity. We need to reconfigure our space to ensure that the library has a place for everyone.

We do not need to enlarge the physical footprint, but we do need to rearrange things. We need more quiet spaces for people to work and study. We need a more efficient space for our librarians to welcome the public at the entrance and provide services. We need insulation from the constant sound that vibrates throughout the building. We need more meeting rooms. And we need a place where our teens can work, study and relax after school without their enthusiasm encroaching on the rest of the space.

With your support, we can achieve all of that in our library. Please help us enhance our community gem so that everyone can find their place at the library. Come to the Annual Town Meeting on May 12 and vote ‘Yes’ for Article 13, Motion 4, which would fund a significant portion ($2.168M) of the planned interior renovations at the library — phase 3 in our “Next Chapter” initiative. For details on the capital spending plan, visit tinyurl.com/atm25-library. For more information on the Next Chapter project, go to library.canton.ma.us/582/The-Next-Chapter.

Short URL: https://www.thecantoncitizen.com/?p=131501

Posted by Joan Florek Schottenfeld on Apr 25 2025. Filed under As You Like It, Featured Content, Opinion. Both comments and pings are currently closed.