Perhaps the longest overdue article I should have written for the last couple of years involves our Kutztown Community Library, located on Bieber Alley.
The three librarians that help make the place go round and a pleasurable experience are Joanne Englehart, Charlotte Hoare, and Janet Yost (Director).
I’m sure they have gotten some press in the past, and well-deserved, but I cannot express how invaluable they, and the vast resources of the library, have been to me in my quest to retain as much of our local history in writing for the public at-large. A perfect refuge when I need a fresh setting away from my work office or from my (newer) home office just to catapult new ideas into articles, expand upon thoughts, incorporate a new angle to text, or conjecture on possible theories on our Pennsylvania Dutch folk art (motifs) under-explored or like Colonial bread shipping overseas.
I’m not sure if they know what I do, who I am, read my column, or have caught a glimpse of historic photographs I have scanned, and that’s ok because I love flying under the radar while I’m tunnel visioned on my work; but am sure they noticed the number of hours spent on certain days, not nearly as much as months before with an established home office now.
Most of all, I have certainly appreciated the respect, smiles, and space they have given me in fulfilling this quest of mapping our unique Pennsylvania Dutch culture on paper and Internet for a newer generation, too, whom I’m hopeful are reading this weekly column.
These three wonderful ladies have given me all the extra time past the allotted 30 minutes on the computer needed, sometimes without me even asking, and have moved a person or two so I could use “that scanner on computer 1.” Even if my thank you’s became monotonous after awhile or sounded mundane on certain writer’s block days, I had never forgotten all they have done to accommodate me. Being able to work without someone over my shoulder has been so invaluable to not losing a train of thought that could go on for pages, only to be cut short and lost forever at the simplest of interruptions; they have always been respectful to me, and sometimes hearing a softly but friendly, “Mr. Orth.” There has been many a day I have spent a four to five hour block plastered in the same seat.
There have been continual upgrades over the years that certainly help people like me, as I’m sure it does others, but improvements can always be made and updates on periodicals. My request to our readers is that maybe keep our public libraries in mind when it comes that time of year to make a monetary contribution. This particular public library is an active one with movie nights that my family has attended, and my daughter still loves a good reading time and author or illustrator visit, that’s also offered, and for multiple age groups throughout the week.
I believe libraries to be an invaluable part of our community and place of interest for those who just take the time to visit with their vast array of books, even a nice assortment of historical ones of local significance, movie rentals for families, and a desirable variety of something for everyone, even if only to sit and read the newspaper.
There’s also an assortment of weekly and quarterly magazines on display for use, including the Historical Review of Berks County, Pennsylvania Magazine, and a pleasing selection of audio books (closer to adult computers) to change things up like I do to promote imagination in my household with our kids, likened to the older generation’s use of the radio before the invention of the TV, when they visualized the events of a broadcast.
But the Kutztown Community Library, and probably others now, are places to go to even get one’s passport, tax forms, printers to make copies, get a fax sent, and include a local staff from here in town or close-by that know the area and our rich heritage. I have even overheard them pointing people in the right direction whether a recommended place to eat, who in the community they could talk to concerning a subject, or just general directions for folk coming to see their children during college homecoming; and as always, helpful to those new to a printer or this technology thing!
My many thanks and appreciation go out to these three ladies, as well as the numerous interns and helpers I’ve interacted with over the years or yet to; they certainly set the tone. Again, when charity time is brought up at the dinner table, might I recommend your local Public Community Library. Donations can be made at this link: http://www.berks.lib.pa.us/sku/support/index.php, by phone at 610-683-5820, or by stopping in-person at 70 Bieber Lane (alley behind CVS). Many, if not all, of the Library events of Kutztown, Brandywine, and Fleetwood Community Libraries are listed on latter pages within Kutztown Patriot, and special events like garden walks, wine tours, and holiday bus trips offers something special for adults, too!
Richard L.T. Orth is assistant director of the American Folklife Institute in Kutztown.
