Librarian on the Roof!

Librarian on the Roof!

Picture book
If you've got the stereotype of the timid, shushing librarian in
your head, feel free to ditch it once and for all. When it comes to
providing services for and protecting the rights of their patrons,
librarians are some of the most hard core women and men around. Take
my BFF, Barbara McDade. A lot of people were not pleased when she
provided safe camping space and wifi access for the Occupy movement a
few years back. When her library needed a new pricey copper roof she
plunged into the fund raising with a can do spirit that would have
impressed Bob the Builder.
Another gutsy librarian hero, Rosealeta Laurell, is the subject
of M. G. King's Librarian on the Roof. When she became the head
librarian of the Dr. Eugene Clark Library in Lockhart Texas it didn't
take her long to realize that the historic building was lacking in
resources for children. She decided there needed to be a comfortable
place in the library for children to access books and computers (which
many families could not afford).
There was only one problem. This would take a lot of money.
Letters to businesses and well off people didn't pan out. It would
have taken far too many bake sales to go that traditional route.
RoseAleta decided to go straight to the top, of the building
that is. For a week, despite some pretty inclement weather and city
official negativity, she camped out on the library roof, promising to
not come down until the money had been raised.
This is one truly inspiring story, very well worth reading and
reading aloud.
On a personal note, I'm going to need a lot of spunk and inginuity in
2016. There are four projects I really need to get started. As
school committee vice chair for Veazie, Maine I need to start a town
wide visioning team, change the town charter so the town council
doesn't have too much power over the school budget, and develop a
student (not lawsuit prevention) centered transgender policy. The
project closest to my <3, though, is starting an organization to
provide help for people who can't afford life saving surgery for their
beloved companion animals. Yikes!
A great big shout out goes out to those rock stars who are our
librarians and to my fellow library volunteers who help them take care
of business.
Julia Emily Hathaway


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