The White River Valley Herald

Adventures Await Holders Of Vermont Library Passports



Fresh off the energy and wanderlust of the 251 Club (see separate story), Randolph resident, librarian, and technologist Jessamyn West has worked to rekindle the summertime Passport to Vermont Libraries program, which looks to entice Vermont library patrons to visit as many libraries as possible between June 1 and September 1.

The program, now in its fourth year, after taking a year-long pause last summer, sprang out of the 2015 New England Library Association (NELA) conference when a similar program in Connecticut was a topic for discussion, West said.

With the help of fellow Vermont librarian and vice president Virgil Fuller, who once served as director of the Chelsea Public Library, West hopes the tiny passport books will renew interest in small-town libraries across the state.

“I was really excited about the 251 Club and I thought ‘I’m really excited about libraries, but there aren’t libraries in every town,” said West, as she recounted the program’s inception. “I’m just going to start my own very exciting checklist.”

Working in tandem with a small committee of other librarians and, this year, alongside the State of Vermont’s Department of Libraries, West is eager to remind Vermont of the civic role that libraries play in communities of all sizes.

It’s Glorious’

“For me, that kind of stuff is super fun. It’s anticapitalist; you don’t have to buy anything,’” she said enthusiastically. “These libraries are here to help people get smart so they can make decisions that affect their own self-determination and governance. It’s glorious. It’s frickin’ glorious.”

According to Virgil Fuller, West’s partner-in-crime when it comes to setting up and coordinating the statewide program, the Passport to Vermont Libraries also presents patrons with the opportunity to see how each of the state’s libraries, despite their shared mission and goals, can be remarkably distinctive.

“Vermont libraries are just so unique. All of them are very different, all of them have something a little different to offer,” said Fuller.

“People just like seeing these different places and seeing the architecture because some of them are old buildings,” he said. “The building I currently work in was built in 1909, the last library I worked at was built in the 1890s.”

Fuller was also careful to note that driving patrons to visit more libraries carries a two-way benefit, particularly during a time when budget-conscious towns are looking for ways to save.

“I think Vermont libraries have a lot to offer. I think when towns and cities are looking to slash budgets, libraries are one of the first things they look at” he said. “I think that’s totally wrong and I think this is one way to see that libraries are totally relevant in this day and age.”

“We can go to Google and search for an answer,” he added, “but we can also go to a library and get the right answer.”