In 1972, a 14-year-old Mount Airy High School student named Pat Johnston needed to raise some money for a class trip to Washington, D.C., so she walked into the Mount Airy Public Library and asked for a part-time job.
She got the job, which turned into far more than a simple way to raise a few funds.
This weekend Pat — now Pat Gwyn — walks out of the library for the final time as a staffer. In between was a more than 49-year career that Gwyn describes as her dream job.
“I have enjoyed every minute of it. I’ve never wanted to do anything else.”
Today is her last official day as head librarian at the Mount Airy Public Library — her official title is branch manager for the facility, which is part of the Northwest Regional Library System.
She’s seen plenty of changes over the years, from a time when getting a book at the library meant asking the librarian to look through a massive card catalog to determine if the book was in the library’s collection to today, when nearly every book printed over the past century, or two, is available in some form with a simple click on a smart phone.
Through it all, Gwyn has never lost her love of two things — books and people.
“I don’t know anywhere else you could put those two things together, books and people, like you could at a library,” she said recently, exuding an enthusiasm that shows Gwyn is one of those rare individuals who finds her true calling early on in life, and then gets to spend that life pursuing her chosen career.
When she was 5 years old, Gwyn’s family moved to Pilot Mountain, where she recalls making one of her first visits to a public atheneum.
“We walked all the way across Pilot Mountain, to the library,” she says of what seemed like a long, and special, journey to a 5-year-old. “We went in the door … I looked straight across the room and I saw Ruth Stone sitting there, surrounded by books,” she said of the long-time librarian. “I thought, ‘This is the place to be.’”
And that was the place she often frequented during her childhood and teen years, calling herself a “regular patron” of the library after that.
Along the way her family moved to Mount Airy, and she got to know the staff at the city branch of the library, which led to that first job.
“I went to (librarian) Frances Tharrington and asked if she could use any help. … She did let me work there. I think she even paid me out of her own pocket for about a month,” Gwyn said, still thankful after all these years for that kind gesture by a woman who would become a mentor.
She remained on the staff past the summer job, working whatever odd tasks needed to be done there, eventually finishing high school, then going to Surry Community College.
Except for one summer job trying her hand at a mill, she never left the city library, moving up from one position to another — as well as moving to the current location in 1982 — until she was named head librarian in the late ’90s.
While many in the library field end up with degrees in library science or related disciplines, Gwyn said her education came via “on the job training.”
She credits three people in particular for her development — Frances Tharrington, Mary Combs and Julia Sharp, her predecessors at the city library.
“They were all wonderful. I learned different things from each of them. I hope I’ve carried on what they started, what they taught me.”
One of the things she recalls from her days working for each of those libraries is the family atmosphere they all instilled among the staff, something she’s worked hard to continue.
“We really do work as a team,” she said. “We’re really family. That family has changed over the years,” but, she says, the group always seems to work well together, genuinely wanting to help one another and help their patrons.
Library’s importance
In reflecting on her career, Gwyn doesn’t talk easily about herself, instead wanting the focus on her life’s calling — the library itself.
“I’ve always believed the library is for everyone,” she said.
Living up to that ideal has presented challenges. First, the potential field of library patrons is wide-ranging, including children not yet able to read, teens, adults busy with jobs and family, and senior citizens looking for fulfillment in their latter years.
Add to that the fact that the world has changed rapidly, as has what’s available at the library. When she started, folks would come in, ask the librarian for help finding a book, which often meant spending a couple of minutes poring through the voluminous card catalog, which in turn would direct them to the shelf holding the book in question.
Now? A quick Google search and individuals can have the collected knowledge of the world on seemingly any subject.
And that, Gwyn says, leads to one important function the library services for some — access to the digital world.
“Not everyone has access to the Internet,” she says, which is particularly true in rural communities such as Surry County. Thus, the library has computers available for free access to the internet for anyone with a library card.
A few years ago, she said when the textile firms began closing, leaving thousands jobless, the library was ready to play a role in helping those folks.
Many, she said, were now faced with going to school for retraining, an intimidating task since much of the work would be on computer. “Many of them came to us, said they don’t know how to use a computer.”
So, the library began holding basic computer classes — something it still does on occasion, or at least did before the COVID-19 pandemic,
The library also has a significant emphasis on children’s programming, including story time for those who can’t yet read, youth activities, summer reading programs, and other activities.
For adults, she said in addition to the large and ever-growing catalog of physical books, patrons can borrow ebooks, and take part in a number of activities — reading clubs, author talks, computer classes and the like. The library has also offered printing services for certain items, help with resume writing, voter registration, tax preparation for lower income individuals, and a vast array of other services.
The library, she said, serves as a way to “level the field” for local residents who might not have access to, or be able to afford, paid professionals offering those services.
With all of those services available in the constantly-changing world, Gwyn still comes back to her first experiences in the library in describing what she hopes the library remains.
“When I was young, no matter where we lived, we always went to the library. That’s what we want people to realize now, the library can be a regular part of their lives.”
Now that she’s handing the leadership over to someone else, Gwyn said she’s ready for the next chapter of her life, whatever that might be.
“I’m kind of excited to see what I’m going to do,” she said, with no concrete plans. Gwyn said she and her husband, John, have no particular yearning to travel a lot, and while she enjoys a garden, it’s her husband who does most of the actual gardening work.
“I have grandchildren, I do look forward to spending more time with them, perhaps helping with their school. … I have two sisters who have retired, with the pandemic we haven’t been able to get together. I’m hopeful we can spend more time together.”
It’s also a good bet whatever direction retirement takes, she’ll be walking through a familiar door quite often, becoming a “regular patron” of the library once again.
Source: https://www.mtairynews.com