To the Editor:
We moved to Greenfield in 1976. I attended Lincoln Park Elementary. My siblings attended the junior high and high school. From an early age, toddler years, my mother would take me to the library, wherever we lived. Greenfield was no exception. And about 4th grade, I started going to Greenfield Public Library after school by myself. My mother worked downtown so I would go there and wander till she was off work.
I wandered the stacks, played in the kids’ area, and established myself as a responsible library patron…even as an elementary and 7th grade kid. The librarians let me go in the basement where the old newspapers and magazines were stored. Me and my library card had the run of the library. I read through the kids’ section. And I read the YA shelves twice!
We left Greenfield in the summer of 1983. In the early 90s, I became a librarian — my dream job. I’ve worked public and private sector. I’ve been a law librarian, a children’s librarian, I’ve worked the public service desk in the branches of our public library, and the university archives. I spent time in maps and government documents as well as a university reference desk.
Public libraries are a gift. There is so much information there and the expertise to find it and share it is in the librarians. I am who I am because librarians at my school and public libraries nurtured me.
So, I’m writing to say how grateful I am to those librarians at Greenfield Public Library, from 1976 to 1983. They showed me the world. As did the librarian at Lincoln Park Elementary. Libraries are my happy place…and my career.
I’ve been a librarian for almost 30 years. And my experiences at Greenfield Public Library were my first ventures into the realm of information on my own. I will be forever grateful.
Enid G. Wohlstein
Lexington, KY
