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Thirty-four years ago in the summer of 1972, a lady knocked on my front door. She was Louise McArdle, trustee of the Fairfax Free Library. The board was in need of a new librarian and since my name, Sharon Horr was on every book in the library (all 100 of them), it was decided that I would be the new librarian. And so began my long career as the town librarian. I worked for 2 years then resigned when expecting my third child. Four years later the librarian (Peg Stewart) was moving and the position was available again. Late August of 1978,1 was hired as the town librarian along with Joy LeBaron who was the new school librarian.
The Fairfax Free Library was housed in a small room behind the town clerk's office located in the front of the old section of BFA. The school library was a tiny room upstairs in that section. In 1973 the library received a $25,000 grant from the Department of Libraries to combine the two libraries into the Fairfax Community Library. The school was under construction at that time and the new library was given a huge space located between the old and new sections of the school. It was an exciting time for the library to have this space and to order new books for both the town and school. In the early 1990's a second floor was constructed over the library and half of the library's books were put in storage in the Red Barn in Georgia. During the yearlong construction, the library was housed in "The Dungeon" which was in the basement of the old section of the school. A dragon was painted on the wall in the hallway going into the library that is why it was nicknamed "The Dungeon". The library was located next to the old coal bin where it was very damp, so damp that frogs lived there along with a mouse or two. There were many lunch hours where a mouse would sit and watch us eat.
The library has seen many changes over the years, hi 1978, the library owned 9,640 books with a circulation of 11,651. In 2010, there are 42,659 books and other materials in the library with the circulation of 70,055. hi 1979 the average cost of all hard covered books was $7.13 and children's paperbacks were $1.36. In 2010, the hard covered books are $25.00 to $28.00 each and children paperback books are $8.95. hi 1978, the town library budget was $3,301 and in 2010 it is $63,978.
Computers have been a big change for the library. In 1982 the library had one computer located in the AV room. The elementary students were introduced to the computer with a few high school students trained to assist them. Townspeople used the computer in the evenings and twelve different families took advantage of this opportunity. Now the library has 12 computers with Internet access and on the average 35-40 townspeople use the computers per week.
After 34 years as the town librarian, I will be retiring August 27, 2010. It has been a long rewarding career working with books; children and adult patrons and seeing the changes that have taken place over the years.
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