freethoughtandmetaphor

. . . in a small pond.  I was surprised and pleased to receive an honor this past weekend.  The Friends of the Thomas Branigan Memorial Library made me an honorary life member.

It was a surprise because I haven’t done very much with them (in my estimation).  I’ve been busy serving on the Library Advisory Board, which serves as liaison with the City Councilors, for the last eight years.

True, I did encourage support and pay attention to the Friends, come to book sales and every other event I could get to, and work toward a closer connection between the two organizations. (The Advisory Board can’t raise money; it advises and supports the Library Administrator on financial and other matters.  The Friends do raise funds and receive a wish-list from the Administrator for items beyond the city budget.)

So they decided to thank me. In the bio I wrote for them I did stress the importance of libraries in my life.

Libraries have been important to her from her childhood in Campbell, California to taking her sons to the Ardmore library in Pennsylvania, to research in the Philadelphia Free Library and the Library of Congress.

I didn’t mention that when I had a career module in early high school, I didn’t have the courage to find a writer to interview, so I interviewed our local librarian.  It has always seemed to me the next best thing.  If you can’t write books, take care of them.

I’m sure I’ll be hearing from the Friends of Branigan Library about further support.  That’s how these things work.  That’s just fine with me.

For more on the Branigan library, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Branigan_Memorial_Library