WriteNowblog.com: news and musings about whatever seems interesting at the moment

by Jacqueline Watts
editor@baltimoreguide.com

The Canton Library is 121 years old, and it is beginning to show its age. The heat and air conditioning is creaky, the front door sticks, the building doesn’t even come close to meeting Americans with Disabilities Act requirements, the lighting does not illuminate much and the plaster will need patching after the roof leaks are attended to.

Don’t worry, though. Carla D. Hayden, Director of the Enoch Pratt Free Library, called the Canton Library “the cornerstone—we hope forever—of the Pratt system.” And she announced that the Pratt would go for a bond issue to repair and renovate the branch.

When old Enoch Pratt presented the Canton Branch to the city along with three other branches, a central library and a million-dollar endowment to maintain it all, he envisioned a quiet, restful place where the working man would pursue self-education, a place where young and old, black and white, poor and not-so-poor, would strive to better themselves by reading literature, history and science.

Nowadays we have different expectations from our public libraries. We want popular fiction as well as the classics, games for the kids, movies, magazines, how-to books, computers to keep up with Paris Hilton’s latest chihuahua, designer coffee, art classes, storytimes and a safe, comfortable place to drop the kids while we hit the gym.

Oh, and a quiet, restful place where we can better ourselves by reading literature, history and science. That too.

So the Enoch Pratt Free Library, armed with an adequate cashbox for once, is going to invest in the Canton Library, the first major investment since it was spruced up a bit for its centennial in 1986.

And so the question becomes, what do we want from the Canton Library? About 40 people gathered at the “Du” Burns Arena Monday to consider that question. The main answer was, we want it restored to the lovely building it was before the dropped ceilings and linoleum were installed a half-century or so ago. We would like to have the fireplace back, but it wouldn’t necessarily have to be a working fireplace.
(Did you know the Canton Library had a fireplace? Neither did I.)

We would like to have the multi-purpose room used more frequently, perhaps even converted to the children’s area of the library, leaving the front of the building open for computers, DVDs, audio books and the like.

Bathrooms, please, bathrooms.
Comfortable chairs.
More computers.
Wi-Fi—tech-hip lingo for wireless internet, so we can bring in our laptops and hook up to the Internet.
A place to use our cell phones.
A home for the Canton Historical Society and a painted screen collection.
More children’s programs.
More grownup programs.
Maybe some visits and book signings by prominent authors.

Though many people made it to the charette Monday night, there were probably more that stayed home because of the thunderstorm. So the question is, for all of you who didn’t make it to the charette:

How can the Pratt renovate the Canton Library to meet your needs and desires for the next 100 years?

Head on over to the website, www.baltimoreguide.com and give us your ideas in a comment on this blog, or email editor@baltimoreguide.com. We will print them on our website, and place as many as we can fit in a future column.

Thanks! Everyone who contributes is helping the Pratt Library and the Friends of the Canton Library to make our little community library a better place. Try to get your comments in this week, okay?

Congratulations to the winners of Graceland Park-O’Donnell Heights Elementary School’s annual spelling bee: First grade, Horacio Contreras; second grade, Bryan Soriano; third grade, Francise Martinez; fourth grade, Sharhonda Whitfield; fifth grade, Raymond Jefferson; sixth grade, Kaitlyn Moss. Finishing second and third were: First grade, Gabriel Paul and Deria Brunson; second grade, Robyn Williams and Tyla Ross; third grade, Lauren Stansbury and Brandon Carter; fourth grade, Raymond Forbes and Christiane Mushagasha; fifth grade, Demetrius Clark and Justice Hartley; sixth grade, Richard Carter and Wendy Guzman.

Congratulations to all, from all of us who ever got tongue-tied when called on to speak in front of the whole darned class. Good job, all of you.