Worthington Library, Worthington, Massachusetts
While rambling around Central Massachusetts, Greg - and his wife Wendy - spotted the Worthington Library. Pulling their camper to the side of the road, he popped on his hazard lights and dashed across the street to the library. Worthington is a small town of fewer than 1,000 people, on the eastern flank of the Berkshire Hills.
The community built the library in 1915. On this visit, Greg saw photographs of townspeople working hard on the building. It’s a simple white-frame structure in the Dutch Gambrel style. The site once housed an inn where General Lafayette stayed during his 1825 farewell tour.
The library sits on a corner lot with a large parking area in the rear. The grounds are neat and well-kept, with a few seating areas. A ramp leads to a back door, where Greg found a charmingly rustic structure for returning items or picking up holds.
Inside, he found a large room with the adult collection, public technology, and the service desk. Jo, the librarian, was on hand and very helpful. She told Greg about the library’s three book clubs, a quilting group that meets twice a month, and a spinning group that meets twice a month as well. He was impressed by that level of community engagement. That increased on October 1, when - at the request of patrons - a writer’s group started.
Looking around the floor, Greg saw two rockers in front of a fireplace, a respectable collection, and a surprisingly robust Library of Things. It was amazing that patrons could borrow a loom and spinning wheel. The library has been independent for most of its history, but starting on October 1, it became a part of the CWMars network in Western Massachusetts.
Jo pointed Greg up a small set of stairs to the attic. She explained that because it isn’t accessible, it isn't technically open to the public, but he could take a peek. What a peek it was! A real view of the library’s long history.
The space is divided into three rooms. The first room, at the top of the stairs, has a long rectangular table with chairs. Older volumes line the walls. The second room, whose door is partially blocked by a rough-hewn beam, contains an oval table with chairs, and old books and ephemera. Finally, the third room, also obstructed by a beam, is used for storage and holds some furniture and the old card catalog.
Returning to the main floor, Jo encouraged Greg to visit the children’s area in the basement. That section is very bright, with yellow walls and sliders on the sunny south wall that lead to a patio and grounds. The section also had public computers and comfortable seating. During this visit, two catalogers from CWMars were working on updating the entire collection, a big task, but they were in the home stretch.
Jo said children, teens, and adults use the library heavily. During this necessarily short visit (remember, there’s an RV sitting outside!), people came and went. One of the nicest things about small-town libraries is how familiar and friendly everyone is. It’s a real reminder of what community can look like.