It was an ordinary day. Standing in front of the old Lancaster Free Public Library which was located at 125 N. Duke Street in the center of the city of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Had many happy memories of the old library from my youth.
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Will no longer be a library |
Can still remember checking out books to read while on vacation at Crystal Beach, Maryland during the summer months with my family and my two Aunts and Grandmother. We had the best of times jumping in the water at Crystal Beach, Maryland with my bother and two cousins. In the evening, at dusk, we would head to the small area along the water where there were children's rides and a place to buy ice cream cones. Later in the evening I would grab one of my newly checked out books I had picked out at the Lancaster Free Public Library and read a few chapters before I would head to bed for the night. Well, today when I stood in front of the old Lancaster Free Public Library, I was once again flooded with the many happy memories from my youth as well as the memories of bringing my own children to the library when they were once children themselves. As I stood in front of the old library on N. Duke Street today I wondered what will become of the once happy building where memories were created by opening a book and beginning to read it. The current library will soon be moved across the street about a block to the West. Hopefully the memories of picking out that one special book and checking it out to take home with me will follow to the new library. The professional librarians who have earned master's degrees in library and information science will still be there to help the many new visitors to the library.  |
| The new Free Public Library |
Once the materials have found their proper space on the new library shelves, librarians and support staff will be able to help patrons find what is appropriate for their reading skills. The library has been an essential resource for all Lancastrians in the past and will continue to do the same in it's new location. The freedom to read is essential to our democracy. Reading is a foundational skill, critical to future learning and exercising our democratic freedoms. And we, individuals devoted to reading and as librarians responsible for disseminating ideas, wish to assert the public interest in the prervation of the freedom to read. The Lancaster Free Library has always been a safe haven for me and my children and I feel certain that the new location will still do the same for following generations of Lancastrains. I plan to stop and walk through the new library once it is open in the near future. Have to find my old library card which has no expiration date on it. May try to find a book or two to check out and spend some time reading. I'm sure you will know about it when it happens. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.
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