It was SRO at the Town Council meeting at the GCTV studio on Nov. 20. Some people even sat on the floor. A large group were in the distinctive green Greenfield Public Library shirts (I forgot to wear mine but sported a large button that said, “Imagine a New Library”). A raft of speakers eloquently offered reasons and rationalizations why our fair city needs and would benefit from a new library. It was heartening to hear.
For someone like me, a writer, an editor and an avid reader, libraries are indispensable. When I worked in New York, first for HarperCollins then Columbia University Press, my calls to the reference librarians at the New York Public Library were frequent. Imagine my surprised appreciation when I moved to Greenfield and found that the librarians at the Greenfield Public Library were every bit as knowledgeable and helpful as those in the Big Apple — despite their cramped albeit historic working conditions.
Now that I’m in my ninth decade, my visits to the library are still frequent, as are my phone calls and emails, which is why parking at the library would be such a benefit. Yet that’s only one of the many needs that a new building would fill.
Yes, imagine a new library. It will be a valuable asset to Greenfield and stand proudly with the other sparkling buildings, from the new courthouse to the Jon Zon Community Center-Senior Center and the high school.
Hazel Dawkins
Greenfield