HARDWICK – As school administrators and faculty begin preparations this week for the upcoming school year, I hear echoes of my teachers from long ago as they prompted my classmates and me to write a composition on “How I Spent My Summer Vacation”. Year after year I struggled to inject excitement and drama into the weeks I had spent biking along my daily paper route, fishing, playing whiffle ball, listening to baseball games on my transistor radio, and what else? Perhaps more interesting content would have come from a different assignment – “The Summer Vacation of My Dreams”.
That is exactly the summer that the Jeudevine Library has lived. As our exceedingly wet and cold spring gave way to beautiful summer days, the last items on the construction punch list were checked, various inspectors approved their respective systems, and the pass-through between the original Jeudevine and the addition was opened to traffic.
Even before the completion of the pass-through, volunteers had navigated their way around the
old stacks and through the drapes of plastic sheets to pile dozens of boxes of books into the new addition. The original Jeudevine stacks were dismantled so that the red oak flooring could be refinished. The floor of our enormous new children’s section was covered in boxes, such that it was difficult to walk a straight line for more than two steps.
Any thought of maintaining order among the boxes as this task unfolded was abandoned as available floor space diminished.
And then, the volunteers hit “Reverse” and moved many of those boxes back into the original library, or unpacked them and gradually slotted them onto shelves in the new addition. Two dozen volunteers worked to achieve this goal during the week the library was closed.
The result? Please come and see for yourselves. There is an expansive children’s section, bathed in natural light through large windows along the south wall, with inviting individual chairs and diner-inspired booths for small gatherings. There is a magnificently-refurbished original Jeudevine that glows on a sunny day, as light streams in through the stained glass onto the red oak floors, now freed from the imprisonment of mid-twentieth century linoleum and the narrow lanes and shadows that were products of the original stacks.
The West Church Street entryway leads into a wide area for easy navigation, with the new circulation desk on the right, allowing Diane, Kevin and Rachel a vastly improved workspace.
The downstairs affords the library staff more office space, and our townspeople meeting space,
including a spacious community room, providing us with the largest room in town outside of
our schools. A small kitchen is to one side, along with two rest rooms. A large pull-down screen
is available for video presentations. Please speak with Diane or Kevin if you are interested in
reserving the space for a public meeting.
Since the library has reopened, traffic has approximately doubled from previous use. However,
the expansive space has easily absorbed the increase in usage such that our Jeudevine
remains a tranquil and welcoming retreat.
As another school year begins, our children’s librarian, Rachel Funk, has a slate of youth activities lined up for September. Story Time continues on Thursdays at 10:30 a.m., for those aged 5 and under. A kids’ chorus for ages 8 to 12 who love to sing, will meet on Thursdays at 3 p.m. The Jeudevine Players will meet on three Tuesdays in September (Sept. 2, Sept. 16 and Sept. 30) at 3 p.m., for ages 6 and older, in preparation for presenting an original show.
On Tuesday September 9, at 3 p.m., there will be a presentation on foraging for mushrooms with Malaky. Lastly on Wednesday, September 10t, at 3 p.m., Rachel will hold a workshop on making bookmarks, ages 12 to 18.
In light of our area’s recent history of devastating floods, the town of Hardwick has organized a series of seminars on watershed management, beginning September 3, on four Wednesday evenings through early October, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. In order, the topics will be: “Dredging Rivers”, “Beavers and Natural Infrastructure”,“Dam Removal” and “Climatology and the Future of Vermont’s Watersheds”. These presentations will provide us with an opportunity to learn about how water shapes our world, and how our choices around water management shape our future. The knowledge we gain from this series should prove valuable.
As hints of autumn chill creep into the evening air, as children and parents prepare for the new school year, our library emerges from a summer well spent, hoping that more townspeople will visit and discover for themselves the wonderful resource in our midst.
