How It All Began

January 28, 2000

The Barley Sheaf School Library opened in September, 1968, with 450 books and 450 children. It was an empty room 40x60, with a cathedral ceiling, lovely globe lamps hanging high over our heads, electrically operated drapes with a light green and tangerine print. The only furniture just then was the circulation desk and the card catalog. Empty. Whether with computer or typewriter, or even with prepared catalog cards, did you ever stop to think how many keystrokes and filing motions it takes to set up a catalog? With useful cross references one book can use 6 cards easily. I had spent the summer on 3 library science courses and lots of practice with a humorously titled book, Easy Library Cataloging. Besides building the collection and cataloging it, I was to meet each of the twenty classes. On the second day a lovely black haired lady stuck her head in the door and said, 'Do you need help? " I said yes fervently and thus was started the volunteer program for the whole district. Lorraine worked all day every Tuesday for years. A friend joined her. Presently we had a volunteer for every hour of every day. In an effort to thank them I started annual parties. At first it was a tea party after school. But they were such great people and did so much work, that they deserved more. So I began carrying in the fixings for a party luncheon, held in the library. This grew somehow into a day long field trip, with coffee and pastry at some elegant place, followed by lunch here at home. I tried having lunch at a restaurant once but home was more fun. In various years we visited a lace factory, had a Chinese cooking demo, watched a flower arranging artist, all within a few miles of home. I had a grand time planning color schemes, making table cloths, buying dishes to match. This is fun but leads to a major storage problem. One year I cut flowers out of gift wrap, glued them to plastic glasses, and coated them with ModPodge or some such. One year I made tote bags with roses that matched the invitation stationery. Another year I gave them $2.00 gift certificates from each store in Milford, a town with one street of stores. The Library Aides were such good sports that they found something to buy, and made it fun. Each person had a certificate for a different store. Some years the guests brought some of the food. One year they received hand bound hard cover cookbooks with their own recipes in them. I do not recommend hand binding fifteen books. One year the favors were small pots of Wineberry Jelly. This is a beautiul color and a popular gift because the only way to get wineberries is to know where they grow and pick your own. They are an oriental raspberry with a tang, perfect from the bush at the right moment, with a shelf life of about 6 hours.
Among the recipes the Aides shared was Seven Layer Salad, served in an immense brandy snifter that I carried home from a glass factory in Ellensburg, West Virginia. This salad needs to be in a transparent server so people can enjoy the colors. Other recipes the Aides brought to their own party were Lorraine's Shrimp Cheese Balls and Ruth's Cardinal Chicken Salad which introduced me to a now favorite combination of chicken and white grapes.