By Paula Weinman | Echo
Named after a local poet, the Barton Rees Pogue Memorial Library is an unassuming gray building tucked behind the Upland Town Hall. From the outside, it looks quite still. But on the inside, the library hums with quiet activity. Pages turn, computer mice click, and entire worlds open up in the minds of the readers scattered throughout the library.
At first glance, the library appears to run without help. But if you look closely, you'll discover that the library runs on a very particular fuel: a potent mixture of elbow grease and pure enthusiasm, courtesy of the hardworking head librarian, Barbara Dixon.
"It's funny, because a lot of people think that all the library has to do is sit and read books," Barbara said, laughing. "And it's like, 'Well, that would be nice!'"
According to Barbara, a lot of the hard work happens behind the scenes. Getting new books on the shelves-and preparing them beforehand-takes a lot more time than most people realize. Before they even reach the shelves, books must be purchased, tagged and processed."I choose all the books we keep in the library, and I place all of the orders," she said. "We cover hardcover (books) with another paper cover, to make them last longer, and with paperbacks-we cover those with a special tape…then we have to stamp them show that they belong to the library. Then we have to catalogue them into the computer. A lot of people have no clue what all has to be done-you have to keep everything straight!"
There's also some good, old-fashioned chores involved.
"I really have to be ready and willing to take care of everything. If the toilet backs up, I get out there with a plunger. When it snows, I shovel the sidewalks. I do just whatever needs to be done."
Barbara says she enjoys the work, except for one thing: paperwork."That's the only part I'd say I don't care a whole lot for," she said. "But the administrative (work) is a small price to pay for getting to be around books all the time. And the people-they're wonderful. I mean, I feel very fortunate. I truly do."
And Barbara spends a lot of time with people. In fact, library customers are her main source of inspiration-especially when she's trying to decide which books to order. When Barbara first arrived at the library ten years ago, for example, the Christian fiction section of the library was extremely small. After listening to her customers, however, Barbara realized that Christian fiction was a section that she needed to grow and develop.
"People kept asking, 'Do you have the new book by this (Christian) author? Or, 'This is such a great series; do you have the next book?' And back then, it was authors I'd never even heard of!'" She shook her head. "Of course, now I know them! I think that's an area that has really grown a lot-not just here, but in other places as well. There a lot of authors willing to write Christian fiction now, and who do a really good job of it."
Over the past ten years, Barbara has more than doubled the size of the library's Christian fiction section, and now, Christian fiction is one of the library's most frequently used sections.
Mostly due to Barbara's hard work, this kind of growth has happened not only in the library's inventory, but in the number of books being checked out (the librarian term for this is "circulation.") When Barbara first came to the library, an average of 300 to 400 items were being checked out each month. Now, the average number of items being circulated is over 2,500 items per month.
Barbara believes her own enthusiasm for books has helped her to encourage that same enthusiasm in others.
"I'm a very eclectic reader," she explained. "You throw a book at me, I'll probably read it…because I've read so much, and read across such a wide variety of areas, I can tell them, 'If you like this author, you'll probably like this one.' And I'll get people hooked on different authors. It really helps."
Barbara is particularly passionate about developing children as readers, and it shows. Her six-week summer reading program had 186 kids participating. And, Barbara adds, kids can really only benefit from becoming readers.
"Reading can develop their imaginations-you can go so many places in a book. I mean, in Star Wars, you can go into outer space. And superheroes? They can rescue people! You can travel around the world and back, and into other realms-and it's fun!"
As one of Barbara's favorite stories illustrates, she isn't the only one who loves the library.
"There was one time pulling books (off the shelves) to get rid of (them), and we had stacked them all over the place," she recalled. "And a little boy came in, and he saw all the stacks of books, and he asked, 'Mrs. Dixon, is the library under destruction?'" She laughed. "He was really worried!"
If Barbara has anything to do with it, the library is here to stay. Her staunch belief in the value of reading makes that abundantly clear.
"Reading opens so many doors," she said. "Not being able to read would be like being inside a glass box-and not being able to get anywhere."
