While watching a friend play Farmville online recently, I heard her say, “Look, I have a schoolhouse…but I don’t have enough money for the library.”  We laughed about it because she works in one, but it made me think.

When I was a child, I spent many hours in my community library for summer reading programs and, later, for research and entertainment.  As I grew and my interests and needs changed, so, too, did the library.  This simple, civic building was always able to anticipate each new interest and the kindly librarian would always point me in the right direction:  easy reader, junior, young adult, fiction.

Today, while working toward the final design of the community library the Hesston, Ks., I listen to the conversations of librarians gazing into their crystal balls, divining the interests of the future and it makes me smile.  These people divine the future.  They dream about the ways people will access and use information; how communities will gather together for interest or recreation.

It was in Mark Twain’s The Prince and the Pauper, where he stated, “Learning softeneth the heart and breedeth gentleness and charity.”  This is truly the legacy of the public library; it’s gift to a community.

When I think of a public library, I think “small, rural community.”   It focuses not only on the time-honored teachings of past generations, but also the new and exciting visions of the future. It is a permanent reflection of pride that lends a sense of commonality and wellbeing among its citizens.  One example of how the new public library project in Hesston supports this higher learning and companionship is by integrating a small coffee bar just inside the front door.

It functions as a common gathering place for those who just want to sit and have a chat with their neighbor or simply relax with a good book. The space is warm and inviting yet trendy enough to attract the local teens who want to gather around to read the latest “fad” book.  The city of Hesston consistently strives to enhance it’s community by implementing innovative thinking and camaraderie throughout the town.