The Librarian

Today marks the first time in 28 years my bride will show up at Red Oak Elementary and not head to the library. And she loves the library. She loves everything about it. With over  10,000 books under her care, audio visual equipment, computers, the list goes on, she kept it straight and usable all this time.

But the love of the children's library ran much deeper than the space, now called the learning commons. Each year she would read hundreds of children's books to get an idea of content, of level, of story. We had them stacked all over the house, on the coffee table, the nightstand, on the kitchen island. She could tell you what was in each one. She has a vast and long history of knowing the authors and the way each one fit in the library and who would most benefit. The greatest joy that she mentioned day after day, week after week, school year after school year was the joy she felt when she matched a book with a young reader and the young reader would find new places, new ideas, new horizons. Those stories lit up her eyes and lifted her voice like nothing else.

Occasionally when I was in town I would pick up lunch and we would camp at one of her library tables and visit. But those visits would be interrupted with some student coming into the library looking for a particular book or topic and she would leave our lunch and guide this seeker of books to the correct section or the correct book. It was amazing to me that she never grew impatient or let the interruption spoil her mood. These times would be what made her the happiest.

Then there were the years of working the book fairs. There was always a PTA meeting or an open house that coincided with the book fair. This made for a lot of traffic and noise and chaos. But we found that if I worked the register it freed her to work the book fair, making recommendations, finding the right book at the right cost for each student/buyer. The set ups on Sunday afternoon were just the two of us, me supplying the brawn, she the brains (not a huge shift from the rest of our lives). Then the take down on Fridays and getting all the furniture for the library back in its place, set for the schedule first thing Monday mornings.

I have never met anyone more suited to what they did than her in the library. It was both her job site and her home. She was comfortable with the way it was set up and run. And while she grumbled about Education's shift away from books in general, she still found a way to place the right book in the right little hands to create the perfect match. It distressed her when the books were not returned, or were damaged. In recent years, because the administration would not back her up, it made her job more difficult because she was firm in demanding return or payment of books.

It saddens me that they took this away from her, when it was not necessary. She will retire in the next year or so, but not from the library. While the administration may have a sense of academic intelligence they do not have any level of emotional intelligence. And the sadness extends to the students. How will they learn the value and the love of books? Can the new librarian do it? Perhaps, but it has not been a lifelong mission.

It is my hope that she can look back and realize all the good she has done and have that as her legacy in this elementary where she dedicated over a quarter of century to introducing the love of books to multiple generations of young readers.

Godspeed to the best librarian this little elementary will ever have. Love your passion, Beverly Jolly, you were a godsend to the hundreds of students you taught to love books.
Don