40 Years of Service

Comments for 2009 Annual Dinner
In Honor of Peggy Weikel


40 years sounds like a long time. However, some of you here may tell me that it seems like a blink of the eye.

The last 40 years could be described as the Golden Age of Library Service. It can also be called the age of great change. And to survive the last forty years working for the library is an amazing feat in and of its self.

To prepare for this speech I admit, I had to do a little research. I spent a few afternoons reading library annual reports and trying to get a picture of what the library was like then and how it has changed.

Admittedly, some things have not changed. Libraries are about reading, research, children and sparking the imagination and yes about books.

I was amazed at the fact that the library offered so many of the same types of services. Inter-Library Loan was highlighted;

reference was carried out in person and on the telephone.

There were also all kinds of materials, books, including large print….audio visual material, however they were called phono-records, films, filmstrips and microfilm instead of CD’s and DVD’s, newspapers, magazines and maps and the Bookmobile.

However, many changes have been made. In 1969 the library was open 46 hours a week, today the headquarters is open 66 and ½ hours per week.

We circulated a less 60,000 items in 1969 and more than 600,000 in 2008. There were 18,472 registered borrowers in 1969 and we have more than 60,000 today. Then the library added 4,000 books; in 2008 the library added 18,000 books.

Libraries have been and will be about books for decades and will be for decades to come, however, the most noticeable change is that computers are every where.

40 years ago every thing was done with cards. Cards in the book, cards to look through in the Card Catalog, paper cards for check out, and typewriters. If something wasn’t on the shelf, you had to assume that it was checked out. Reserve lists were cumbersome and hit or miss.

Today we track all of materials and check outs with the computer. We maintain all of our patron records and book records on the computer. The computer is our primary tool for answering questions. People come to the library to read a flashy web page on how to write a resume or how to cook an artichoke.

There has been a great of change in the last 40 years.

While reading annual reports, I saw that in 1971, the library held a public meeting with the title, “What responsibility does the community have to the library.” This title struck me very strange. This is a concept which I do not understand. The responsibility is to the Library to be there for the community. The library needs to be able to adapt quickly to the needs and wants of the community.

Today, the Adams County Library System is looking to make sure that we will be as relevant to the community in 40 years time as we have been the past 40 years. The Library will be here providing the services and materials that the community wants. That is our responsibility.

That is what Peggy Weikel has been dedicated to for her years here at the library. During these forty years, Peggy has seen a lot of changes in the library. The library moved. We went through three bookmobiles. She saw the change from the Adams County Public Library to the Adams County Library System.

When she began working here some of her most important daily tasks were typing patron library cards, filing the book cards from the day before and looking up the book cards for returned books.

Today, Peggy checks out books to patrons using the computer and barcode scanners and plastic cards with card numbers. The books are checked in with a simple scan of the barcode. The Library is a solid institution which will be here for decades to come as more and more people recognize the value and economy of the public library.

Peggy , like the library, checks out a lot more books, registers a lot more patrons and sees a lot more customers than she did when she started working here, however, Peggy continues to do HER job with the same style and grace which has made her the Library Lady to so many residents of this wonderful county. Few of us will ever be able to say that and it is a great testament to her commitment to the community.