How The Library Has Changed My Life

Sinclairville Free Library…A Whole New World

          It was a sunny fall Saturday in late 1999.  Community residents, County and State dignitaries and local media were all gathered in our small town.  We were about to break ground for our new Sinclairville Free Library.

          I listened as speeches were given and acknowledgments were made.  I watched as my two young daughters grabbed shovels with the politicians.  Little did I know that this ceremony was more than just the turning over of some dirt.  It was the opening up of a whole new world.

          A world where my life as mother, community member and writer would find nourishment, fulfillment and encouragement.  A world of resources, people and fun.  A world for family, friends and community.

          As a mother, I watched with pride as my three and seven year old daughters went forward to help break ground.  Never shy, they dug right in!  The youngest was assisted by our State Senator as she was so little and the shovel so big.  Since that day, the girls have grown as has the programming available to them.  From story hours and family nights to leader teens and teen volunteer, they have learned and had fun and then given back in service to their community.    

          Operated with the assistance of volunteers and open to groups for meetings, our library provides an inviting sense of community.  As a community member, I enjoy volunteering for the summer reading program and serving as a link from the library to the local elementary school.  I have met many friends since the opening of this “community center” and find it a great place to sit and chat – quietly of course!  My entire family got in on the communitywide contest naming of the newsletter.  I was thrilled to have won with the title, Check It Out!  I am now the proud owner of a lifetime library card (there were some other goodies too!).

          One day a trip to the mailbox changed my life.  I retrieved our new issue of Check It Out and thumbed through it.  A writer’s group was being formed and all were invited to join.  I was intrigued and went.  Six of us met around the table and so began my journey from writing as a hobby to writing as a career.  As a writer, my fellow group members are a source of accountability, information and friendship to me.  The library provides our meeting location as well as resources which aid in my writing career.  It was also the forum for our first, but hopefully not last, recitation.  

          It’s been six years since that sunny fall day.  Today is a day much the same in weather.  But today I went to that same spot and there stood a state of the art library.  My nine and 13 year old daughters in school, I returned their books, discussed the summer reading program and met with my writer friends. 

More than a home for books, The Sinclairville Free Library is a place for families to grow, friends to share and community members to gather.  Sinclairville is the Heart of Chautauqua County, NY.  Its library is the heart of the town.