Childhood Library Visits Plant a Seed || Interview with Chris Fluit, Former Penfield Public Library Board Member

Transformational Library Series #4 By Kathy Weber

1.      What was your earliest connection to libraries?

My mother used to take us kids to the local library several times a week when we were growing up.  I have been a reader as long as I can remember. There are lots of pictures of me at three or four years old curled up with a book. 

2.     I remember that you said you played “library” as a child. 

Yes, my older sister and I played it for years and years. In the beginning we played “library” with stuffed animals. We kept our books on a cart and wheeled it in whenever we wanted to play. We gave the animals names and made them library cards. Each one had interests, and we would choose books for them based on what they liked and sign them out to the animals on their library cards. As we got older, we stopped using the stuffed animals, and made up names, library cards, and interests for each person. We always tried to find books that each would like.

3.      When you look back, do you see connections between your childhood interests or experiences and your interests as an adult?

I continue to be curious, and read mostly non-fiction—biographies, history of the world, [about] different cultures from the library. I’m more likely to buy the fiction books that I want to read and keep.

Kathy:  Chris’s frequent childhood trips to the library were transformational for him. His love of reading gave him a huge background of experience. The way he and his sister incorporated the way librarians work with their patrons in their library play—recognizing the individuality of each of their “library patrons” and helping them find the what they would most want-- was a seed for Chris’s adult life.

4.      What led you to become a library board member? 

I saw a poster at Penfield Library calling for board members. I was a pastor at that time,

and thought this was a way to do something for the community. I went home and told my wife about it. (She’s an elementary school librarian.) She thought I was asking her whether she wanted to apply, but I wanted to do this myself, to support something I love.

Kathy:  Lynn Malooly and I were on the Library Board then, and interviewed Chris. Lynn asked Chris how he was using the library. Chris was, at that time, in the process of taking out DVDs of all of Shakespeare’s plays in order and watching them. We were entirely won over! 

5.      How do you see libraries as supporting individuals and their communities?

Libraries provide:

• resources and information, and make computers available

• a free space, where a person can come in and sit, meet others, read, or work on a laptop, and not have to buy something.  Seniors can get out of the house.

When I was travelling all over the county for work, I would often have a half-hour or hour between appointments and would stop at the nearest library and pick up stuff or look over the graphic novels or the music collection.

6.      Do you have a favorite library?

Yes, Penfield. I’m there two or three times a week. The staff still know me and greet me from my time on the Library Board. I’m glad to see that there is great staff retention. That says a lot about how good a place our library is.