What’s Community Got To Do With It?

The epigraph to E.M. Forster’s novel Howards End is “Only connect.” While there may be more than one way to interpret this phrase in connection to the book, I like to believe that Forster, a self proclaimed humanist, was emphasizing the significance of social connections between people.  Only connect: overcoming the barriers of race, age, religion, language, background, and a multitude of other differences to create meaningful ties, relationships, and networks. Only connect: breaking superficial barriers of stereotypes and prejudice.  And, if we would only connect, we could lead happier and healthier lives without the mental and physical risks associated with loneliness and isolation.

Nowhere was that more apparent than at the second annual West Windsor Community Day, Celebrating Unity. At a time when everything feels so divided and fraught, what better place to bring everyone together than Community Day; and what a perfect stage to promote the resources of the public library? 

Held at Duck Pond Park, Community Day, was a free event sponsored by the West Windsor Recreation Department and the Religious Leaders of West Windsor. Since this was an outdoor event,

the weather was an important factor and the predictions seemed rather ominous. Neither Barbara (who had been strong-armed into attending) nor I were keen on being outdoors during a thunderstorm, which seemed to be looming on the horizon. Though the day dawned rather gloomy and overcast, it did not rain. So we packed Barbara’s car with tables, chairs, a tent, informational brochures, program calendars and various giveaways such as packets of crayons and bottles of hand sanitizer.  For good measure, we took some tootsie pops and coloring bookmarks (donated by Barbara). We were also armed with four concrete “weights,” thoughtfully provided by our maintenance staff member Ken, in order to anchor the tent and prevent it from flying away and/or flying into people!

As we put up our displays, we could see other community members and local vendors around us doing the same and there was great sense of camaraderie. People called out to one another, joked about the weather and offered a helping hand if required. It was a hive of activity: for the kids, there was a petting zoo, face painting, games, pony rides and merry-go-rounds; for the adults, local organizations, like the West Windsor Branch of the Mercer County Library, and various commercial vendors offered informational tables.

In spite of the overcast sky, the event drew a large crowd. We were at this event to increase awareness of library services and to reach out to the people who were not utilizing, or underutilizing, library resources. People go to the library to fulfill a variety of informational and/or recreational needs and somewhere along the way they manage to form a community. We felt cheered on as we heard comments such as “we just came from the library,” or “we are headed to the library and just wanted to stop by your table and say hello.” It was touching to hear people comment about how much the library mattered to them. We also appreciated all the questions and feedback that we received.

Barbara and I enjoyed talking about the upcoming Summer Reading Program, computer classes that we offer and the Museum Pass program. One patron had no idea that we offered a program by which he could go to the selected museums with his family at no cost to him (all thanks to our Friends groups). We had to reiterate that information twice as he had just gone to one of the selected museums and had paid quite a bit for four tickets! It was very gratifying when I counted up the tally marks and saw that our table alone had drawn over 260 people.

At the end of the day, as we packed up and left with cheery goodbyes to other participants, I felt a wonderful sense of belonging. It was uplifting to share the day with a group of people from very disparate backgrounds who came together because of shared values and a shared commitment: to highlight the resources of the community; to draw attention to the vital role that we play in this community; and to underline the network that makes this community a comforting and supportive place to be.

It had started pouring by the time I headed back home and I found myself thinking of a terrific quote by R. David Lankes, author, director of the University of South Carolina’s School of Library and Information Science, and an ardent advocate of libraries and their crucial function in today’s society: “Bad libraries only build collections. Good libraries build services (of which a collection is only one). Great libraries build communities.”

- Rina B.

[1] Initially we felt these would not be popular, but they turned out to be bestsellers. Right after the petting zoo, people made a beeline to our table for, what else? The hand sanitizer!