By Carol Fisher-Linn
Librarians are some of the nicest people you want to know. They seem to get nicer the longer they know you because librarians seem to have a sixth sense about what you might be looking for, or what they can recommend for you.
Ellicottville has one librarian, Laura Flanagan, two library assistants, Cathy Lacy and Samantha Hurst, and a handful of talented and dedicated support staff who keep our library the beautiful, relaxing, enriching place it is.
Perhaps some of you remember when the Ellicottville Library was in the 1887 Building, or even earlier (1960’s) in the building that now houses the Historical Society. Some may even know the history further back to the1940’s when the library moved from place to place, (even houses) much as our children’s classrooms did. Finally finding a home in 1961 at the current Historical Society Building, it moved again in 1978 to the 1887 Building (where my kids remember going to the library) and moved again in 2006 to its current location on Maples Road.
What I find mind-boggling are the statistics Laura submitted: In 2024, our library circulated over 24,000 item, 8,100 which were digital. They held 573 programs with a total of 5,700 people in attendance. They willingly and skillfully provide technical assistance (computers, wireless devices – Wi-Fi access is available 24/7 in the parking lot), Google search assistance and efficient access to books and materials held elsewhere in our county system. Technical as it is on one level, our library has never lost its personal touch. I have always experienced a willingness to find even the most obscure materials as Laura reaches over to the computer and begins a hunt. How much easier it would be to say, “we don’t have it,” and be done with it. Everyone reading this knows what I am talking about. It takes a bit of effort to be courteous and helpful. Unfortunately, in today’s world, so much of that is lacking … but not at our library.
With this gem in our community, we should celebrate our library every day, but there is a special week dedicated to highlighting the valuable role libraries, librarians and library workers play in transforming lives and strengthening communities. National Library Week is this Sunday, April 6- Saturday, April 12.
You may wonder how we got public lending libraries to begin with. The oldest library in continuous use in the US is in Franklin, Massachusetts. The story goes that the town, originally called Exeter, needed a bell. Renaming the town Franklin to incur favor from the then rock star Ben Franklin, someone suggested asking Ben Franklin for the bell for the town, now named after him. Ben’s nephew got into the act and is reputed to have said, “the people of Franklin were poor, and they needed a bell like a toad needs a tail.” Ben Franklin, instead of sending a bell, did give the town a collection (116) of his own books in 1790 (delivered by his perhaps reluctant nephew), making that small collection the first public library in the United States. When it was first established, the town voted that all citizens could borrow the books and the library was stored in Franklin’s meeting house. In 1904, the library moved into a separate, permanent building for the library collection. Though the library has moved from its original building, the books donated by Benjamin Franklin are still on display inside. So, one need not battle crowds and traffic to go to the Smithsonian or Library of Congress to view these old treasures. Just take an 8-hour drive and be sure to stop and see all the historical sites in Boston while you are there! Matter for consideration: a man by the name of Consider Ewell emigrated from Massachusetts to Ellicottville in the early 1800’s and his thirteen-year-old daughter Julia taught school at the house of my could-have-been past neighbor, Nathaniel Bryant, in the summer of 1820. Could she have possibly borrowed a Franklin book and never returned it to the Franklin library, using it to teach Franklin style, out-of-the box thinking to our ancestors? Perhaps that’s why our founders were so clever!
Events are ongoing at the library. Choose from a middle school book club (1X month), Story Time with Dr. Kate Wednesday mornings, knitting, crafts, exercises … Check out their website at ellicottvillelibrary.org for information on all upcoming programs and events. Don’t forget to clear your shelves for their book sales, the next one begins on Friday May 23.