September 27: visiting libraries in CKLS

Jim Swan, director of the public library in Great Bend, and CKLS director, invited me to drop in at a trustee workshop he was doing at the public library in Agra. He focused on the topic of libraries and social capital, and how important libraries are as the community space for many towns.






The next day, we started a tour that included libraries in Prairie View, Phillipsburg, Kirwin and Plainville. The Sunshine City Library, below, is in Prairie View. Their board members and library director gave me a tour and a look at the new cookbook they have recently published.















Lots of things were happening at the Phillipsburg library, and thanks to a grant, new carpet was one of the renovations being undertaken. Here's the team at the Phillipsburg library who are making it all happen!

















Our next stop was at one of the most interesting library facilities I have ever see. The Kirwin City Library building was a former fire station and is in the town square. Melissa Johnson, the director, works hard to make the library the center of Kirwin. Melissa is posing in the "historical" section; the library as it was many years ago.















Our final stop was in Plainville. A beautiful sculpture flanks the front door of the library building. The children's area inside was decorated for the summer reading program, and looked so good that the staff decided to keep it up throughout the fall. Notice Humpty Dumpty on the wall!















On my way home from the tour, I drove by some wonderful old stone fence posts in Russell
County. It must have take a number of hardy pioneers to set these posts!

And further on down the road, I finally found the answer to the question of "where's waldo".










Thanks, Jim Swan, for making this tour possible for me!