This month started off with the celebration of National Library Week, and the entire month is the celebration of School Library Month. We do a lot of celebrating here at Lincoln Library; much of it goes on after the kids get here after school! A library cannot function well without staff members who care. We are fortunate to have some good ones at Lincoln Library!
We have Judy McCullough! She’s coming up quickly to her 12-year anniversary. She stays up with the interlibrary loans, and there are a lot of days that the process can be challenging. Never is this so clear to Malorie and I than the days Judy is sick or on vacation, and the job becomes ours. Nearly every book or video added to our collection is done so by Judy. We may occasionally tease Judy about being an offshoot of the Energizer Bunny. If she sees things that need to be done, you better get out of her way, because she will do them. Although she is a priceless staff member that we value, we do refuse to discuss retirement with her. We are squeezing her for all the time we can get!
Malorie Rausch has been here for almost two and a half years. Her duties and responsibilities are many. One of her weekly responsibilities is doing the Story Time programming. We are fortunate to have amazing families coming to Story Time and Malorie stays engaged in planning the events. She is involved in the cleaning, the creating, the decorating and the very most important time of our day, when the kids come in. She searches the shelves for books for those we deliver to, and stays up with who is reading what series. There is never an end to her “to do” list, as planning for future events is one of her most important jobs. There is no boredom involved in Malorie’s position.
We have Emma Sawyer and Josey Austin! Emma works both evenings we are open late and works every other Saturday, trading off with Josey. They both work more hours during the summer, helping with the activities of the summer reading program. The girls came on board during the summer of 2020 amidst the confusion and chaos and thankfully, they have stayed.
Emma is a senior and will be leaving us this summer. She’s going to be extremely difficult to replace, as Emma is Emma. She’s great with the children, loves to keep busy, and constantly glides around the library shelving books, cleaning, and straightening. It is evident that she has put a lot of thought into her future and has backed those thoughts with much effort and hard work. We will hate to see her go, but all of us are excited to see what she’s going to do when she gets there!
Josey is a junior this year and is heavily involved in many activities, and does them all well. In constant motion, she dances, cheers, and runs. Her practice of self-discipline will serve her well as she tackles her future.
Sharon Bishop is in the background! When we need something designed or our rotation of SCKLS books entered into our system, she gets a text. Her creative flair is apparent in the t-shirt designs and our promotional materials. She may not be behind the counter, but we are grateful she always has our backs when we need her.
We also have a couple of high school seniors who are involved in a work program, and they do their hours at Lincoln Library. Hayley Durbin and Taye Carrico work a few hours during the week and help us out with shelving books, organizing, and working with the children.
We are extremely blessed to have an Arrowhead West crew clean at the library. Headed up by Terry Woodward, John Wright and Chad Hellman are busy finishing up every Tuesday morning when I arrive. I so appreciate their time. They reset our cleanliness, free our hours for other duties, and keep the library looking well cared for.
We have fun, but we work hard. We love our patrons, and will do whatever we possibly can to help them with what they need. We are a library; we want to be your connection. Whether you need to connect with a great book, magazines, Wi-Fi, a good movie, information, or someone who cares, Lincoln Library is the place to be, and our staff are the people to talk to!
We live in a world that sometimes seems so very superfluous and superficial. It makes me wonder if some very important aspects were left out through the years as each generation was driven to make life easier for future generations to come. Did it make us all happier? Did it make us healthier? Did it give us more mental, emotional, spiritual, and financial stability? Or, did it just give us more options on how to take the path of least resistance. Sorry, I’ve had Covid and the extra time gave me way too much time to think. I won’t go into my opinions, but I will share with you where the wanderings of my mind took me.
Besides taking care of the home, she’s a business partner with her husband. She is also the caretaker of a multitude of animals; she’s the first on the list when someone in the area has the need for a petting zoo. Now all of this is awesome, but I say it just to assure you that she is a busy woman and has not chosen the easy path in life.
I grew up in a small town, and like most small-town youth, I thought it would be so much cooler to live in a city. I did eventually end up in a city, and yep you guessed it, I missed living in a small town. Returning to small-town living is something I’ve never regretted, and I’m so glad we landed in this small town. Writing for The Gyp Hill Premiere gave me a condensed compilation of the history of the area, and the people who settled here and kept the community viable through the years. One of these families was the Rickard family. Little did I know during the times I talked with Dub Rickard about some story, that years down the road I would become acquainted with one of his grandsons, Arron Small.