Woodridge Public Library celebrated its 50th Anniversary
Woodridge Public Library celebrated its 50th Anniversary - by Natalia Dagenhart
"A man only learns in two ways, one by reading, and the other by association with smarter people," said famous American actor, humorist, and newspaper columnist Will Rogers. Patrons of the Woodridge Public Library use both of these ways of learning by reading smart books provided by this great institution and by communicating with the friendly, educated, experienced and extremely helpful Woodridge Public Library staff.
This great collaboration between the Woodridge villagers and Woodridge Public Library marked its fiftieth anniversary on Saturday, April 22. The celebration started at noon and lasted three beautiful hours full of fun, laughter, smiles, shared memories, and truly magical moments. It united people of different ages, backgrounds, socio-economic status, race and nationality who don't only live in the same geographical area but also have one very important mutual feature - love to reading.
"I'm estimating attendance at four hundred fifty people," said Patti Naisbitt, Public Relations and Program Coordinator at Woodridge Public Library. "We really had a fun time and I enjoyed seeing younger patrons enjoying the party activities and adult patrons seeing old friends and neighbors and sharing library memories."
The library's fiftieth birthday celebration started with an official ceremony where Democratic State Senator Pat McGuire and Republican Representative David Olsen jointly presented the library with Illinois State recognition of its fifty years of service. Each state official demonstrated his personal respect and connection with public libraries and expressed his support and personal pride in being avid readers. Senator McGuire said that the two most important cards that he carries are his voter card and his library card, while Representative Olsen highlighted the importance of a public library to its community.
One of the most touching moments was when the library's past and present came together. Four library directors, Pam Dubé, Susan McNeil Marshall, Mary Sue Brown and Laurie Kagann, shared the stage with the first Children's Librarian, Carol Ifflen Todd, and with the current Children's Librarian, Kelly Girard, who is the longest serving staff member with forty years of work at the Woodridge Public Library. Among honorable employees also were: Denise Farrugia, longtime Children's Librarian, Carol Leveillee, retired Business Manager and active Friend of the Library, Debbie Such, longtime Children's Staffer, Georgene Jarecki, Sheri Daun Bedford, retired Children's Department Head, Brenda O'Brien, longtime Readers Advisory and Reference Librarian, Julie Lombardo, longtime Head of Circulation, and Amy Weiss, longtime Collection Services Department Head.
Interestingly, during its fiftieth anniversary the Woodridge Public Library also didn't forget about Earth Day that was observed with Library Trustees Judy Bloom and Jane Whiteside. Commemorative "Fifty year" anniversary tree planting became a big part of the celebration. The tree is expected to be growing strong when the library celebrates its 100th birthday in 2067.
Another intriguing part of the day was a time capsule ceremony when items and objects that demonstrated the history of the library and symbolized the most important moments of it were put in the time capsule. The capsule is supposed to be opened fifty years from now and contains a letter to future generations. A humorous letter to the Woodridge Library of 2067 was also inserted into the capsule and included a list of predictions of the future such as using self-driving cars, portable personal control, personal drones and many other interesting things.
However, the most exciting part of the day for the young Woodridge Public Library attendees became singing the "Happy Birthday" song and enjoying nearly four hundred fifty servings of cake, cake-pops and cupcakes. Children also appreciated magician Christopher George who entertained young boys and girls with his tricks and even seemingly made one young partygoer float on a magic carpet.
Meanwhile, the rest of the guests had a chance to enjoy a beautiful presentation by a talented singer Chris Colletti who took the crowd back to 1967, performing songs from the likes of Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Junior, delighting attendees who fondly recalled the days of the Rat Pack.
The fiftieth anniversary celebration at the Woodridge Public Library is over, but the memories about this event will come to its attendees again and again. The significance of libraries in the lives of American citizens is impossible to overestimate. As The Washington Post reporter Christopher Ingraham mentioned in 2016, "the percentage of American adults who read literature … fell to at least a three-decade low last year, according to a new report from the National Endowment for the Arts. In 2015, 43 percent of adults read at least one work of literature in the previous year. That's the lowest percentage in any year since NEA surveys began tracking reading and arts participation in 1982, when the literature reading rate was 57 percent."
Interestingly, in the same article Ingraham also noted: "So if we're reading less literature, it stands to reason that we may be becoming a less empathetic country as a result." Whether the Woodridge Public Library staff and directors ever read this article, they are already working very hard on helping our citizens to become more empathetic, knowledgeable, understanding and kind. They know that their job is very important and therefore they devote their lives to it. The main secret that every librarian knows is that the library is a place of peace for mind, body and spirit. Good books teach us the main values of our life. They teach us to be humans.
Natalia Dagenhart