If you’re reading this, it is pretty clear that one of the ways you connect is with the ‘In the Know’ column in the Scarborough Leader. For years the publication has been such a perennial presence in town it is easily taken for granted and overlooked. The same could be said for Scarborough Public Library or the plow drivers who you hardly notice until they make it real easy for you to get out after every snowstorm and stay connected.
Think for a minute about all the ways you stay connected with the world. Roads, gas stations, mobile phones, libraries, offices, and the internet are just a few of the things in the “infrastructure” category. But what about our friends, family, co-workers, and neighbors? How do we connect with them — and where? My friend who walks her dog in the neighborhood twice a day can usually tell me more about my world than the TV news.
Since COVID, even octogenarians are connecting via Zoom, Facetime, and the library catalog Minerva. When older people and youth are not connected, it can be a real problem. It has been documented that fear and social isolation have been responsible for a surge of anxiety and depression since the pandemic started. Connections are part of the glue that reduces isolation and builds community.
Connections and a sense of community also make living more meaningful. Last year, the Pew Research Center asked people all over world where they find meaning, fulfillment, and satisfaction in their lives. Mentions of friends and community were the top responses for those under age 30. One respondent said he draws meaning from “spending time with other people — not digitally, but in real life. The friendships I have.”
In Scarborough, one central place people stay connected with the Internet, broadband, computers, programs, classes, books, movies, video games, and in an ice-storm with electricity, is through the Scarborough Public Library. In 2021, there were 89,532 visits to the library including 900 curbside book pickups. That number doesn’t even include home book deliveries or numbers of people who attended virtual programs!
Events have always been an important connecting feature at the library. With events, people don’t even have to be a book reader to enjoy the library. Roughly a quarter of American adults (23 percent) say they haven’t read a book in whole or in part in the past year, whether in print, electronic or audio form, according to a Pew Research Center survey1 of U.S. adults last year. At the library before COVID, the number of events topped 750 annually. Now with the area’s COVID infections on the decline, in-person events can resume at the library.
To kick off 2022 in-person events, the Scarborough Public Library is holding an open house on the first day of National Library Week, Sunday, April 3, from 2 to 4 p.m. If you haven’t been “connected” to the library — ever or in a while, the open house is a perfect time to see what’s going on, enjoy refreshments, meet members of the SPL community, and get a change in scenery during mud season!
One definition of community from commentator David Brooks is that it is “a bunch of people looking after each other, seeing each other … and to depend upon one another …” An impressive 78 percent of Americans feel that public libraries help them find information that is trustworthy and reliable. Connection and a sense of community has been at the heart of the Scarborough Public Library since it was founded over 100 years ago. That’s dependable.
Keep a look out for the library’s newsletter with more information on the many ways you can connect and details about National Library Week, the upcoming open house, and the Library expansion plans. Read the newsletter online at www.scarboroughlibrary.org/newsletters/footnotes or subscribe at https://www.scarboroughlibrary.org/newsletters. The Library Trustees and Director, Nancy Crowell look forward to welcoming you to the Library at the open house, if not before.
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