125 plus years have brought many changes to our town library. Yes, the Meekins Library has been evolving for many decades. Some things—like the beautiful granite façade of the 1896 building—or having wonderful books in the collection—remain the same. Other things, like the old card catalogue gave way to generation after generation of computers—that change with unnerving frequency. Who remembers when the early version of ILL delivery—the bookmobile—would arrive and park on the street—and librarians would carry books up the steep stairs of the old library building? Now virtual books can be delivered directly to your phone via Libby.
What about the old Bakelite rotary phones that had only one line and a real person picked up and said hello? The Library has modern phones
now, but a real person still answers. Remember those small drawers full of cards—where your fingers did the walking to find a book or, when you checked a book out by signing your name on a card and getting a date stamped in the back of your book? How about computers that took up more space than people?
Did you come to Meekins to watch a film that played on a movie projector with reels that buzzed in the back of the room and made that flapping noise when the reel was done and off the spool? And what about that portable screen that was set up to hide the portrait of Stephen Meekins? Now you can watch movies online at home via the Meekins website with Hoopla and Kanopy! What do you remember? Share it here! Daria D’Arienzo, Meekins
Archivist. #throwbackthursday; #tbt.
Posted to Facebook 10/12/2023
