FIVE STARS: LIBRARIES BUILD COMMUNITY

20 Mar FIVE STARS: LIBRARIES BUILD COMMUNITY

Barb Brattin, director, Wilkinson Public LIbrary (and Finn)

Editor’s note: Year after year, the Library Journal Index of Public Library Services, a public library rating system, has designated Telluride’s Library a five-star institution. And in 2012, it earned its fifth star in a row, which puts The Wilkinson Public Library into an elite club of 30 libraries that have seen stars five years in a row and third in the nation among public libraries with annual budgets of $1 – 5 million, hence the name of library director Barb Brattin’s semi-regular column, “Five Stars.” This week the library’s head honcho talks about our library’s major role in building community.

Project for Public Spaces (PPS.org) is a nonprofit planning, design and educational organization “dedicated to helping people create and sustain public spaces that build stronger communities.” I’ve been interested in this group since the Risk and Reward conference we at the Wilkinson Public Library hosted here in September 2012.

As one of the leaders of the Abundant Community track, I missed Cynthia Nikitin’s two-day immersion into design of Creative Spaces at that conference. I’ve regretted my absence ever since, because I’ve come to understand that a public library isn’t just about the information inside, but about the community that’s developed when people come together around information and learning.

You see it every day when parents bring their young children to storytimes or pick them up after work, pausing to talk with old friends and new friends they’ve met through their children’s activities. You see it when community groups get together in the library’s meeting rooms to collaborate on new projects or create solutions to shared concerns. You see it at our adult programs when people learn and discuss ideas together in community, then arrange to meet later to keep the conversation going. Library programs have inspired innovation and collaborations in the community that improve the place we live, make us stronger and more sustainable.

And so it should come as no surprise that when the library responds to budget cuts by closing on Sundays, the community feels a great disappointment. It is the loss of that comfortable public space, so warm and welcoming, that “third place” beyond work and home that both inspires and relaxes you and provides a welcoming space to spend your leisure hours. We get it.

To everyone who has shared their story of loss with me, I thank you. To some, the community’s disappointment may look like criticism or anger, and often the disappointment is expressed in a very angry way. But underneath that anger lies this truth: What we’ve created at the library is a wonderful thing we all cherish.  I promise you we will continue to do everything we can to give you a great experience every time you visit. No matter what happens with our budget, community will continue to flourish within our walls. I invite you to participate.