Right after Thanksgiving, the Glen Ridge Public Library began a $1.2 million renovation that's been in the planning since 1988. It shuttered its doors, packed up and went to live in the basement of the Women's Club of Glen Ridge.
Now the work is almost done. A few weeks ago, library director John Sitnik gave a private tour, showing off improvements ranging from special shelves for the library's collection of musical scores (shown), to modernizations of lighting, heating and air-conditioning. Most of the improvements are things you wouldn't notice unless you and your children have frequented the library for years, but seeing the great vaulted ceiling of the library's main circulation room (see photo after jump), made me happy to see this gem painstakingly restored.
As an author, I've come to appreciate libraries even more than I did as a reader. New novels, it is frequently said, have the shelf-life of a carton yogurt. If you can't make a dent in your Amazon rankings or get on a best-seller list within the first few weeks, you may as well forget it. A new wave of books will overtake yours. The process is as relentless as the ocean.
But the library, that's a different thing. There the collected wisdom of the ages accrues gradually. Yesterday's book is not forgotten. It lives on.
So I felt a great honor when the Friends of the Glen Ridge Library asked me to be the speaker at their annual meeting tonight. Please help support this wonderful institution. The business meeting begins at 7:15 pm, followed by my talk about being a contemporary social satirist. At the Glen Ridge Train Station, 228 Ridgewood Ave.
Nicely done!