“Obliging librarian keeps Island’s avid readers happy” from the June 3, 1971 Door County Advocate
Obliging librarian keeps Island’s avid readers happy
By KETA STEEBS
Jane Greene smiles a bit wistfully when I tell her how impressed I was with my visit to the Washington Island library.
“You know more about it than I do,” says Door county’s head librarian, “I haven’t even seen it yet.”
It is, I assure her, something to see. Fully carpeted, tastefully paneled, cheerfully decorated, the Island’s library is an integral part of the new community center. Used extensively by pre-schoolers, students, Golden Agers, summer residents, visitors, and Mr. and Mrs. “Average” Washington Islander, its books circulate faster than those in any of its comparably-sized counterparts.
“Islanders do love to read,” affirms Mrs. Greene. “Their librarian, Charlotte Meyer, rotates most fiction and popular non-fiction about every two months. Every time she attends a staff meeting (held once a month in Sturgeon Bay) she arrives with boxes of books to be exchanged.”
Mrs. Meyer, a former city girl who decided a few years ago to forsake the asphalt jungle for trillium-sprinkled-woodland, is an exceptionally accommodating young woman. Accustomed to catering to the whims of authors, she has, on several occasions, besieged the county branch with requests for odd, strange, curious and out-of-print material.
“If we don’t have it, we get it for her,” says Mrs. Greene stoutly. “We know how important research material is for writers and, even if it means sending to Madison, my staff can usually fulfill her requests.”
Resident writer Conan Eaton is one of Mrs. Meyer’s steady patrons as was Rita Ritchie, prize-winning children’s author, and her husband John. The Ritchies, who found Island life particularly conducive to writing everything from short stories to anthologies, now live in Fort Atkinson. John has recently had a story accepted by a movie studio and Rita’s reputation as a children’s author par excellence rises with each review.
Eaton’s “Island Series,” well researched accounts of Death’s Door and the pristine islands dotting its passage, is a MUST for history buffs. To some extent Mrs. Meyer and her fellow librarians, have aided and abetted the birth of each book.
I casually mentioned a book I thought I’d like to read (based on a Life review) and Charlotte snapped to attention.
“Which issue was it in? What’s the title? Can you tell me what it’s about?” she asked. “I’ll order it this week.”
I hated to say it’s a gory mystery about twin brothers (a good guy and an absolute rotter whose evil deeds make the antics of the Marquis de Sade seem like parlor games) so I feebly muttered something about it being “The Other One” but I wouldn’t be around to get it when it arrived.
“Too bad,” she sympathized. “It usually only takes three days to get a special request from the Sturgeon Bay library. Otherwise, if a book isn’t in stock, it may take a week to 10 days. This being a new publication will probably take longer.”
I explained I was leaving on the five o’clock ferry but that I would place my request with my own ever-helpful librarians (who can’t help shuddering at my literary tastes) and we’d compare notes on my next trip. She dutifully noted the title in an already well-filled order book and agreed.
As I was leaving Charlotte was engrossed with the needs of a small patron, Michelle Gunnlaugsson, who had definite ideas as to what she wanted to bring home. Judging from the stack about to be returned little Miss Gunnlaugsson is, like Mr. Eaton, one of the library’s better customers.
I’LL TAKE THIS ONE, says Michelle Gunnlaugsson, checking out one of the Washington Island library’s new books. Librarian Charlotte Meyer makes sure there’s always a good selection of children’s books (fiction and non-fiction) on hand. —Advocate
“We’ve had an Island branch since 1950 when the county system was first established,” says Jane Greene. “You can still see the house where a small community library, furnished by the Island women, served the entire Island. Some 5,000 books form the permanent “core” of the new library and many of the old time favorites are literally worn to shreds before being replaced.”
“Yes,” she muses, “Islanders are the readingest people around. I hope to get over there this summer to see the new building for myself.”
Give my regards to Charlotte, Conan and Michelle, Jane. And find out, if you see her first, how Charlotte likes “The Other One.”
Courtesy of the Door County Library Newspaper Archive
Articles by Keta Steebs
https://doorcounty.substack.com/t/keta-steebs
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