Legal Research

A Library Story

A close friend shared this story with me and I think it's marvelous.

There are a thousand stories in the naked library!

"I know you love library stories, so here is a very sweet one from my friend, Rita, who you would have met years ago. Her maternal grandmother's spinning wheel was brought from Hungary (where her mother's family was from) to Austria (where her father's family was from) years ago, was painstakingly taken apart and all the pieces numbered by her paternal grandfather for transport to Canada. Once here it was put away and not thought about for years.

A few years back Rita had it shipped from Ontario to Edmonton, where she tried to find someone to put it back together for her. No luck as the numbers had largely become faded or peeled off and even the spinning guild could not help her. Rita's dad has a friend who is a talented woodworker here in Toronto and agreed to give it a try. She sent all the pieces to him plus printouts from the Internet she thought might be helpful, but he couldn't get it together. Finally Rita phoned a friendly Toronto librarian who found just the right book for the job.

Her dad had to go and get a library card after many years. When he picked up the book the librarian was the same one who had talked to Rita on the phone, and had a conversation with him about Rita, the spinning wheel etc. The book was perfect, and the friend, with help
from her dad, got the spinning wheel back together.

So after a journey of 3 countries and many years, it was a librarian who saved the day. Yay!"

Isn't that a nice story? A family memory was restored and a link to the past from a pile of wood with just a call to the library.

This happens thousands of time a day in today's library. Cherish these stories but collect them, blog them, share them. Libraries don't just store stories or just tell them, we make them too.

Stephen

Full post as published by Stephen's Lighthouse on June 12, 2009 (boomark / email).