by Sheila Schofer

Over the last decade, the library’s role as community gathering space has becoming increasingly clearer.  As e-books and downloadable content took off and libraries’ digital collections grew, some wondered whether the library would continue to exist. I always reassure people that libraries will always be relevant.  While collection formats change and evolve, the physical book won’t go away completely and more importantly the library is so much more than its physical collection.

Libraries are also about space.  Free space, accessible space, programmed space, gathering space, and critical “third spaces” for all ages, but particularly for youth.  Libraries serve a role as a safe space where people can feel a sense of connection and belonging outside of their worlds of school/ work and home.  Librarians foster that role by engaging with customers, helping them to find answers and pursue new interests, and simply lending an ear when people need someone to listen.

Libraries build community through space too. Caregivers connect after storytimes to share tips and celebrate milestones, book club members anticipate monthly meet ups, people bump into old friends and neighbors as they pick up books, and program participants excitedly discuss ideas sparked by a lecture.

Librarians understood this critical role and embraced it. The community saw it too, at libraries across the country and certainly here in Ames.  In FY19 Ames Public Library saw 61,396 people attend 2,731 programs and 46,314 people used our free meeting and study rooms.  We were on track to match or even surpass those numbers in FY20 when the pandemic hit and the Library closed its physical space. 

The Library staff immediately shifted gears and library “space” took on an entirely new look. We increased our online resources and helped our customers more easily access them.  The community saw the Library’s friendly and familiar faces through video book talks and reading challenges, watched storytimes on Facebook Live, and joined numerous programs and lectures via Zoom.  It was great to still offer programs, and library staff found other creative ways to connect through social media, curbside pickup, and offering access to holds, grab and go bags and browsing through our lobby service.  We maintained a community connection and served our public, but that vibrancy of people gathering, lingering and mingling was certainly impacted. 

This spring, we were finally able to open both floors of the building more fully and offer broader access to our collections.  Customers were thrilled to be able to browse the shelves, sit down and read a newspaper, chat with the staff and spend more time on the computers.  It was wonderful to see more people using the library, but things remained a bit transactional and we were missing some of our usual vibrant bustle. 

This is why it is wonderful that the library space is getting more active!  We launched the Summer Reading program and are excited to have kids and adults working through their reading challenges, picking up prizes and best of all attending in-person programs.  We are still on a phased journey as we adapt to the pandemic, but we have dozens of programs in the library courtyard and in parks around the city.  Hundreds have come to these open-air programs, stopped by pop-up book sales, or grabbed a lunch at our weekday Summer Meals program. Recently over 20 people attended the first of three public trainings on Mental Health First Aid.

The library is getting back to its old self!  We’ve returned the comfy chairs, toys are beginning to reappear, and we’re planning for more in-person programs for this summer and into fall. 

In more BIG NEWS our meeting rooms are available for reservations, along with new technology to facilitate hybrid (in-person and online) meetings!  We’ve also added two study rooms to our list of spaces that can be reserved in advance based on feedback from customers who needed to schedule Zoom job interviews and other one-on-one meetings. 

Your library is back in action!  If you haven’t come in to see us yet, stop by.  You are bound to bump into a friend or two and probably makes some new ones!