Kelly Bridges

To the editor,

A while back I saw a poster in a restaurant titled ‘Building a Community’. Sandwiched between ‘Coach a youth sports team’ and ‘Organize a town-wide penny sale’, was ‘Start a book club at the library’. And I thought to myself: ‘Assuming you have one’.

But that’s the thing isn’t it…libraries are taken for granted all over the country. It is shocking for most of my friends to hear that my town doesn’t have one. And I’m not just talking about a room with books you can borrow. I’m talking about the library as a research center, with Internet access. I’m talking about the library as a community center, with opportunities to meet others who are interested in similar activities you are. I’m talking about the library as year-round. (Why would we need a library only in the summer? It seems to me that the dark and shut-in days of winter are when we need a library the most!) The poster is right. A library is essential to building a community.

As young adults, my husband and I moved to Gilmanton loving its quaintness and easy access to hiking and skiing. We were surprised, however, by the lack of public meeting space. We felt a strong sense of community, but it seemed there was nowhere to make it happen, nowhere for the potential to go. In the short six months that the library has been opened, I have met as many town residents as I have in the previous six years of living in Gilmanton. As someone with children in my future, I can’t imagine living in a town without a library or community center. We have a treasure in the fact that the Gilmanton Year-Round Library is both! Everyone knows the economy is in a difficult place right now, but I would argue that this is another time when we need libraries the most. Open access to books, Internet, magazines, newspapers, children’s programs — this is so important when personal access may be lost due to lack of finances. Our beautiful new library is an incredible resource that would be a shame to lose. It seems to me all the quibbling about who said what and where and promised how in regard to this resource is silly compared to the enormous benefit such a resource would bring to our town. We should consider it a blessing that we didn’t have to pay for the enormous cost of building, and we should now take advantage of this chance to make it our own: A community resource that isn’t funded by the community doesn’t really belong to the community anymore.

If you haven’t been to the library, please visit! I think you will be charmed by the buildings welcoming feel, I think you will be surprised by the excellent children’s section, I think you will note it’s room to grow and expand, I think you will be intrigued by the selection of programs offered, I think you will be delighted by the number of people — young and old — finding a comfortable place to enjoy each other’s company, and I know you will be sure to vote ‘yes’ with me at town meeting on March 13 to keep the Gilmanton Year-Round Library open.

Kelly Bridges

Gilmanton