By Hank Nuwer, Archives
“Books…are like TV for smart people,” actor Robert Redford declares in the film “A Walk in the Woods.”
“Would you say you grew up poor?”
“Oh, we grew up poor. But not impoverished.”
“What’s the difference?”
“The library.”
— Pete Hamill
Patrons from Union City, Indiana and Darke County, Ohio have borrowing privileges that few other border communities can boast.
With but a little paperwork to get through, any Darke County resident with a Greenville library card can check out books at the Union City Carnegie Library and vise versa.
This particularly is a splendid benefit for those living on the Ohio side of the state line who are too young to drive or without a car, according to Union City director Lawrence Sexton. His sparse, greying beard is hidden by a mask as he chats.
Sexton stresses that he is particularly eager to outfit boys and girls with library cards.
The library’s director since May 2018, Sexton personally drops off application forms at Darke schools and returns to pick them up after they are filled out. His voice fills with enthusiasm when he discusses why libraries are so important in instilling a culture of reading in youth.
The arrangement was hardly a slam dunk. It took years of effort by staffers at both libraries and a series of compromises by legislators from both states to seal the arrangement.
My visit on an overcast Tuesday lunch hour was arranged by appointment. The Union City library has limited curbside book delivery until further notice due to the Coronavirus. Unlike some large libraries, this Carnegie library has insufficient room for social distancing.
The stately white library situated on a large grassy patch is the city’s crown jewel.
Above the stairs leading to the building’s entrance is an inscription noting that this a Carnegie Library.
That means it was one of more than 2500 libraries (and many concert halls) funded by wealthy benefactor Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919). An immigrant from Scotland who made his fortune in steel, Carnegie believed that education and book learning were essential to bettering conditions for “the wretched refuse” crowding the entry docks to Ellis Island.
Carnegie foundation dollars also paid for library buildings in Canada and many other countries.
Because blacks were excluded from libraries in the racist, segregated past, Carnegie funded “colored libraries” to counter the gross injustice. One library for black citizens, now demolished, was in Evansville, Indiana.
The Union City library was funded with a $10,000 Carnegie grant. A local builder was commissioned by the architects Wright and Duncan to put up a compact building that opened in 1905. (I was surprised and pleased to see that the staircase leading from first floor to basement resembles exactly the staircase in our newly purchased 1900 Union City house).
All the Carnegie libraries have an imposing European look, but they actually have a range of different architectural styles. The Union City cupola, for example, is made of solid copper. “I have never been up there,” Sexton said.
In short order, the library became a beehive of educational offerings, community meetings, and teenagers gathered on the lawn and steps.
Sexton earned a degree in art education from Buffalo State College, also my alma mater, and a master’s in library science from the University of North Carolina, Greensboro. Before settling on a career as a library director, he worked various jobs as a teacher, Earlham instructor, and laborer in general construction. “I can wire your whole house for you,” he jokes. (Columnist’s note: Hmm, good to know when our power goes out).
Sexton and his future wife have traveled together and separately to Europe. A highlight of his life was a semester spent as an undergraduate studying in Sienna, Italy, and he exults in how many European cities he was able to visit on a former unlimited train mileage program.
Asked for the name of his favorite author, the librarian pauses and pauses before naming Robert Ludlum, the creator of the Jason Bourne thrillers.
Here only two years, Sexton has no chance to set records for longevity. I did a Newspapers.com search after my interview and found a criminal case that floored me.
For 54 years, Bernice Lena Keffer served as librarian and eventual head librarian at the Carnegie Library. She began work as a high school student and during her time personally checked out as many as 19,000 books in one year. She told a newspaper that she destroyed books that remained unchecked after some time.
Not too many years after retirement, Mrs. Keffer, a frail 85-year-old, was raped, robbed and suffocated in bed with her own pillow.
The murder terrified South Columbia Street neighbors.
They told police during a townhall meeting that they feared a fellow neighbor had committed the crime. The case remained cold until 1998 when a Texas convict and onetime Indiana resident was charged and eventually, upon a third trial, convicted of homicide and sentenced to a 60-year-prison term.
The Union City police force was widely praised in the press for obtaining justice for Keffer, a city icon, and widow of a local Oak Street dentist. May she rest in peace.
How was it solved?
An ex-wife and brother of the accused were finally conscience stricken and fingered Anthony G. Hernandez, a former boyhood neighbor of Keffer’s who had told family he had possibly killed “an old lady” the night of Keffer’s death.
He later was alleged to have told his family that the murder was to punish the librarian for what he termed prejudice against his Mexican heritage.
Upon leaving the library after a two-hour visit with director Sexton, I left two books I had authored for shelving. My wife and I also obtained library cards..
The Union City Carnegie Library will be our favorite hangout when the pandemic ends.
No TV for us!