Glasgow Branch Library’s Glow-Up

Posted on: Mon, 09/16/2024 - 09:50

On a mid-September morning, I drive just about 20 miles out Route 60 from the Main Library in Downtown Charleston, passing Malden and Rand, Chesapeake and Diamond, Chelyan and Cedar Grove, to Glasgow Branch. Late summer, early fall heat singes the air through my cracked windows as burnished leaves, already crisp and crinkled, whip across the road and bristle against the pavement.

Glasgow Branch has been closed since 2023 due to ongoing maintenance issues at the Town Hall, in which the Branch is located, but today happens to be the Branch’s reopening. Pulling up to the curb on 4^th Avenue, I’m greeted by some lovely balloons and a bubble machine, as well as by Eastern Region Manager Gabrielle Cochran, out taking photos. Inside, I say hello to Library Assistant Kayla Hudnall, who holds down the circulation desk, and Program and Outreach Coordinator Nina Bess, who sets up a table full of tempting crafts for kids and adults.

The first visitors to arrive after me check out a few cool nonfiction books on dinosaurs with their brand-new library card (Mothman design, of course). Over the course of the late morning Kayla signs several more people up for new cards or helps them update their card to a new design. As a part of National Library Card Sign Up Month and KCPL’s Cryptid Month, she sends them on their way with free cryptid lanyards, too.

Nina, Kayla, and Gabby catch up with every patron that walks through the door, even a Mountaineer Gas employee out for maintenance. The Eastern Region staff are based out of Riverside Public Library in Belle, but also work at the Marmet Branch, the Glasgow Branch, and the Bookmobile. Riverside has been a hub for Glasgow area patrons over the past year, and everyone that drops by that morning and into the early afternoon comments on how nice the library looks, how glad they are to see it back up and running again, and how excited they are to have a library closer.

The Branch was established in 1976, and a few people remembered coming by the library in high school and college during that time. From cruises to clumsiness, patrons and staff swap stories. Everyone leaves with at least one book, oftentimes two or six. A family sits down to color bookmarks and paint wooden ornaments, and Nina sends them away with temporary tattoos and keychains. From the Dairy Queen or the Taco Bell or the Sheetz that used to be this, that, or the other over the decades, we talk our way from Clay to Boone to Jackson County, from Hinton to Montgomery to Kelleys Creek, and every holler in between.

Spending time with Nina, Kayla, and Gabby at Glasgow Branch illustrates once again that the strength of KCPL’s front-line staff is in their capacity to build relationships with their patrons—knowing them by name, sharing space with them in communities outside of work, and helping them find exactly what they’re looking for. The labor of love is not just pulling books off shelves or designing displays, but making everyone feel welcome, heard, and valued.

Glasgow Branch Library will be open Thursdays from 10:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Service will include Children’s Storytime programs, led by Nina Bess, on the first and third Thursdays of each month. Come on down and see us!