Can't wait until our libraries re-open


At top, the Scott County Library in Eldridge, Iowa; in the photo above, the daffodils are hanging their heads, a bit, because of the recent (April 17) snow.

My mom started taking me to the local public library when I was just a little girl.

We'd walk several blocks from our house, and mom would hold my hand while I balanced on a stone wall that rimmed the 50th Street library property in Edina, Minn. After we chose the books, we'd get a treat at Clancy's, a drug store with an ice cream fountain.

Edina is a "first-tier" suburb of Minneapolis and where my family lived the first eight years of my life. That library is gone now. I still remember some of my favorite books, especially one that featured ponies. Like many little girls I loved horses, and ponies looked especially inviting. In retrospect it was probably a literary precursor to the "My Little Pony" movement in the 2010's.

When I moved to Tipton, Iowa, in 1969, we lived kitty-corner from the Tipton Public Library. That library was built in 1902-04, with the help of a $10,000 grant from industrialist Andrew Carnegie. An excellent website (all libraries seem to have impressive websites) lists Iowa's libraries built by Carnegie: dsps.lib.uiowa.edu.

The site was set up a few years ago, by students from the University of Iowa School of Library and Information Services, and a consortium of other interested parties. It lists information -- including building architects, first librarians, and other fun facts -- on all the Carnegie libraries built in communities like Tipton, the governmental seat of Cedar County.

This is to say, public libraries have been a big part of my life for almost 60 years. These days I am an active member of the Scott County Library in Eldridge, Iowa. I get many of my Book Club choices through the library's sharing system, I've used the public computers there, and I buy many inexpensive paperback books to binge read. In addition we joined the library's "Friends" group.

According to the April 15 North Scott Press weekly newspaper, the libraries in the Scott County system are closed and the famous Bookmobile service is suspended because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

But online services are very active, including staff members providing story times on the Facebook page, tutorials and other choices.

The web site offers eBooks, digital magazines and streaming music. It also has a large selection of research sites and databases to help those in education. A Scott County cemetery search is available, and the genealogical service, Ancestry.com, is offering access to library patrons for a limited time. This website: https://www.scottcountyiowa.com/library

One need never feel bored, even during a historic pandemic.

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