God bless our library watchdogs, like Beth Scaer, Cindy Bennett, and Arlene Quaratiello, just to name a few who have written multiple Grok pieces on libraries. I’ve tagged them in quite a few of my own library articles, but a hat tip to Beth for bringing a near future public comment opportunity to my attention. If you’re available on August 6 and in or near Nashua, this is your invitation, in their own words:
“Help us reimagine our library building by sharing what services, collections, and spaces are essential to you! We’re examining options for renovating the current building or constructing a new space, and the costs for each approach. Your voice plays a critical role in guiding the vision of these proposals.
Join us to learn more about the study, ask questions, and tell us what you’d like to see at your library.”
Not near Nashua or busy that night? No problem, there’s a survey in this link.
The Nashua library is not a dinosaur in need of expensive renovation. In fact, it’s younger than me! Nashua just has a thing for spending. Except for the newcomers, the locals should be familiar with the recent history of reckless city hall spending and woke agenda that’s been “set in” the budget items. I use the words “set in” like you would hear in a commercial for a stain remover and former Alderman Jan Schmidt claimed to be a laundress, so that comment is for her.
Though I wasn’t living in Nashua during its library’s earliest years, it’s part of my oldest memories because people employed in Nashua, which included my parents, could get a card. My young view of any library was as innocent as the next person’s at that time, but this is 2025, not 1975. I suggest downsizing. The Nashua library’s extant predecessor, the Hunt library, was built in 1903, the birth year of my favorite author, Louise Dickinson Rich. Louise became famous for her 1942 bestseller, We Took to the Woods, but let’s talk about her 1955 memoir, Innocence Under the Elms,(ISBN#s 0940160226 and 978-0940160224).
Louise’s formative years were spent in Bridgewater, MA. One chapter, which she titled, “The Little Dickinson Girls,” was about her sister being “pressed into service” with her upon a family emergency requiring the librarian to suddenly leave town while the assistant librarian was on vacation. They did a good job, for the most part, but they eventually got fired. One might think they were fired because their employment was temporary and the staff returned to work, but they were fired for telling their patrons which books to read. It’s true. If you want to fact check it, even though Rep Moffett dislikes me telling readers to do their own fact checking, you will have to read Innocence Under the Elms.
I suggest reading that chapter because it refocuses everyone back to what libraries once were. Too many libraries have lost their way in trying to become adaptive enough to survive the times. Think of private businesses that have offered new and different goods and services because of declining demand for their ones that were once popular. The library is no exception, except that it’s funded by tax dollars. In many of the Underwood books, Ian takes the reader back to 1918, when the Hunt library and Louise Dickinson Rich were only 15. His frequent comment about rounding up all the local kids and shipping them off to the schoolhouse for the day was because of the expenses and scarcity of resources, mainly teachers and books, in 1918. He also regularly points out how the internet has made it no longer necessary to spend lots of money (books, bus service, etc) to share resources (books, teachers, etc).
Now apply what he said about schools to your local library, which is probably more interested in promoting Marxism than making sure everyone has enough to read and enough of what the patrons want to read. Drag Queen Story Hour and daytime indoor homeless camp were never part of any library’s founding mission. There will be people who will remind us that a place for reference materials is still needed. Move them into the Hunt library and employ a small part-time staff with limited hours of operation or by appointment.
Someone wants to use an internet cafe? Send them to the Arlington Street community center and tell the staff to put to good use the millions of city dollars in their budget. Someone wants to reserve an activity room? That should also be possible in a community center. Someone wants to check out a book? Store the out of print ones in the Hunt library. If the desired book is still in print, it’s probably available for the consumer to buy, online or in person, cheaper than the total custodial costs of having the same book in the library.
Cut the Nashua library’s budget the same way that that Croydon did to its school budget. Downsize and keep only the items found in a library 100 years ago plus a computer system instead of a card catalog. Lay off most of the staff and liquidate most of its inventory. Sell the property AT MARKET PRICE to anyone with the highest offer, except a sinister developer wanting to build a “Gate City Cabrini-Green.”
