Transformation

It has been a busy year. Not only did we partner with our taxpayers to replace our failing and inefficient heating and air system, and with the City of Greenwood and RDC to replace our crumbling parking lot and sidewalks, but we’ve also made great progress on the dreams we told you about last year for our teen room and lobby. Tonight we want to give you, our partners and supporters, an update on those dreams.

. . . and the lobby after.

We have come a long way, and we have been empowered by your investment in us.

If I asked you what comes to mind when you hear the word “investment,” many of you would probably respond in financial terms. But when you think about it, don’t we first invest ourselves in things that we believe in? We invest ourselves in our families, in organizations and causes we believe in, and in our own futures. Those of you who are parents can probably recall many times when you invested in your children. When my daughter was two or three, there were days I wondered what on earth was wrong with that kid. Such a tiny person, and some days she could single handedly exhaust the entire family. I’m sure that none of you have kids who were ever like that. Like every child she needed limits and boundaries, but sometimes, she needed me. I’d realize that I’d been too busy or distracted for her. And I’d sit down, and spend an afternoon playing on the floor, and by dinnertime I’d have a different kid. Sometimes the problem wasn’t my nutty kid – it was that she just needed some investment from me.

You see, investment is always transformative. It is transformative for organizations, but most importantly, our investment has the power to transform lives.

If you have visited our teen or children’s rooms or met some of our families, you may have witnessed the transformative power of investment firsthand. It is the result of conscious decisions to invest in the lives of our community: decisions by library leadership, individual staff, library friends, and library supporters.  It has taken all of these working together to make that investment truly transformative.

A decade ago, you would not have recognized teen services at GPL. Our upstairs teen area was unsupervised and too close to quiet adult study areas. As a result, most of our interactions with teens were negative, and the situation went from bad to worse. Jesse was one of our casualties –  Jesse was smart. Jesse was a reader. But you’d never have known it, because like many kids in junior high he was hanging out with the wrong friends. Eventually he was banned from the library along with his friends, and suddenly the kid so full of attitude was upset at the prospect of losing access to the books he loved to read. I think that was the moment when I realized how badly we were failing the teens of Greenwood. Given the fact that I was a once a Jesse, and was banned from my jr. high library, I’m not sure why it took me so long to see it. I guess I grew up and forgot what being a teen is like, because I remember very clearly saying to the teens “If you cannot behave like adults  . . . “

Not long after that we reached a crossroads. Either we would turn the teen room into a computer lab and give up on teen services altogether, or we would need to do something radically different. We decided to invest.

We hired a full time teen librarian for the first time. Emily Ellis was two classes away from finishing her library degree and herself had once been a library teen. When her previous employer told us that the teens just wouldn’t stop hanging out in her office, we knew we’d found the right person. That was eight years ago. And even though we hoped for success or at least a reduction of our stress, we couldn’t have imagined the transformation that initial investment would bring. From less than 300 teens engaged in programs in 2008, involvement grew to 3,595 teens in 2014. You’ve heard of “If you build it they will come” but in our case I think it was our investment that created the transformation.

Of course just like my toddler so long ago, the investment we’ve made doesn’t solve all of our problems. Our teens are still messy, loud, and even difficult. But we reach more kids than we lose. The transformation comes when they realize that we want them here. That this is their place and that being themselves is ok. Even when they have a bad day, they can come again tomorrow. We see the transformation when a tough kid softens just a bit when we really listen, or when we notice that he’s hungry or has some other need we can meet. We see transformation when a teen who is “different” is accepted and not bullied in these walls. They are safe here, they are engaged here, and they are absolutely still a crazy bunch of half-formed adults. And these days they are some of our favorite people. Once again, investment is transformative.

Many in our community have helped with this transformation. This year we have created a teen room that is functional, flexible, and engaging and it could not have happened without the help of our Friends of the Library organization, groups like Sertoma and individuals like Ben Roberts who created the interactive wall funded by our partners at the Johnson County Community foundation. Each of these partners invested time and money with us because our vision for the teens of Greenwood resonated with their own values of community investment.

Of course your investment in GPL transforms more than just messy teens

From young families to teens to adults and seniors, we work to accomplish our vision for the community of Greenwood. All of the services we provide represent an investment in our community. Many of these services are sponsored by local supporters and all of our programs are funded by the Friends of the Library. In everything we do, we are focused on our vision.

“We see a community where every citizen is reaching their
potential for success and enthusiastic about the future.”

Ben Franklin called the public library the most democratic of all institutions – where all citizens, no matter their income, race, religion, or politics find resources and a place that is truly their own.

I’ve realized recently that the work of transformation is addicting. And I think the reason for this is that the power of investment to transform makes problems into possibilities. If you’ve known us for long, you know that GPL has had its share of problems. But looked at through this lens, we simply have many possibilities! We are dedicated to our community and we hope you’ll imagine with us:  What if we, as a community, invested wholeheartedly in the success of every citizen? What if every citizen had tools and confidence they needed to be enthusiastic about the future? What could we accomplish?

Community organizations, businesses, service groups, volunteers, and individuals – from CEOs to retired teachers and stay-at-home moms; these are the people who have invested in us. Transformed us. There are those who have volunteered many hours,  sponsored programs, served on boards,  or given gifts to enable our work. We could not make it without you. I want you to know that your investment in us has transformative power – it is not merely a tax deduction or money in the bank. It is not passive. It is actively changing the course of your community into the future. I can’t wait to see what that future holds!