By Marla H.
When I was a child back in the 60’s, our library was in a very small house 4 blocks from my grandmother’s home. I loved going there in the summer and checking out as many books as I could then taking them to Granny’s house. I would spend lazy afternoons in her porch swing, reading about many different places and people. During the school year, I did the same thing only I used our large school library. I read nearly all of the books in the elementary library by the end of the 6th grade. Our Librarian, Miss Barker allowed my into the high school’s library but she always check to make sure it was appropriate reading for me. During my high school years, I was a volunteer in the school library for 2 years.
When I grew up and had my own kids, I passed on the love of reading to them. Our eldest daughter worked in the library at Eastern KY University as part of her work-study program there. A few years ago, she worked at the Christian County public library in Hopkinsville, Ky and help to get the literacy program that Dolly Parton sponsors into their library. Our youngest daughter has had her hand in the library field as well. She started out as a substitute teacher one school year and ended up being the assistant librarian for the next 2 years. While she was there, she updated the reading materials, had all kinds of student based activities to encourage the K-12 student body to read recreationally and to use the libraries resources for their studies.
This summer, our youngest granddaughter spent a couple of weeks with us. While she was here, she got in the Summer Reading Program at our local library where she was rewarded with 2 books of her choice, a T-shirt and entries into a drawing for an electronic tablet. That meant that she read 40+ books during her summer break!
Obviously, the library has played a large part in our lives over the decades and through 3 generations of our family. We have all greatly benefited through our local public and school libraries.Jordan