Ask ten people what a library is. Nine will likely say, “a place to get books and read.” While this isn’t incorrect, ask a librarian and you’ll get a much different answer. Ask this board member and this is what she’ll say:
A library is a haven, a refuge, a rescue, an escape. Sometimes I think lastly it is an education…that comes after, for many patrons.
I attended the grand opening of the Kodak branch library yesterday, a library I never believed would get off the ground. I have served on the board for eleven years and the need for a bigger library has been a topic at almost every single meeting for the entirety of that time, and for years before. There were problems concerning location that held the building up for over a decade. Of course there were funding concerns. There was the push of, “but is it REALLY needed? Don’t people just buy books at Books a Million?”
But here’s what I’ve seen with my own eyes.
I saw a single dad fighting for custody. He was granted supervised visitation in a neutral space a few hours a week. He could have taken his baby (then toddler, as the months stretched on), to McDonalds. But he chose to take him to the library: a safe place, a welcoming spot. Somewhere to interact and play and learn.
I saw groups getting together to make crafts or learn chess or sew or participate in chair exercise or just discuss books.
I saw teens hunting a place to do homework because they don’t have printers or internet at home.
I saw older people with their newspapers and dropping off cakes for a bake sale fundraiser.
I saw connection, physical and wireless.
Eventually I saw a squeaky floor in a doublewide trailer and squirrels inhabiting the insulation, but above it all I saw a NEED.
So when an unsuspecting soul asked me this morning if Kodak needed a five million dollar library I began my lecture with, “if you had been there yesterday, you wouldn’t be asking me that.”
The Kodak community raised $1.2 million dollars towards the five million dollar price tag. They sold property, they took friends to lunch to plead their case, they nicely asked businesses to donate a percentage profited (Texas Roadhouse accomodated them several times), they hosted yard sales, bake sales, chili suppers, and presentations where donations were accepted, but not required for attendance. Because the library is one of the few places you can go and it doesn’t cost you a dime.
Maybe the murals in the Childrens Room aren’t strictly necessary. Maybe the lighting fixtures are a bit more decorative than purely functional. Maybe the elegant skylight in the center of the building letting the blinding sunshine in yesterday was a tad bit extravagant. But you know what? The Kodak community is deserving of fancy. They’ve outlived and outgrown their mobile home many times over. And sometimes I wonder if the library isn’t one of the nicest places some people will ever visit without it costing them a few Franklins. People deserve better.
There’s a pavilion outside for gatherings, and meeting space inside for 135. There’s a walkway with pavers dedicated to individual veterans. There’s a wall of 400 ormamental tiles designed by the children of Kodak last year (the installer donated his time and materials, forgive me but I have forgotten his name already). There’s books, Lord there are books, and room for many more. You can donate $20 and put your name (or anybody’s you choose) in there as dedication. There are computers and games and classes. There are compassionate and knowledgeable librarians. There is LOVE.
This library was built on many prayers and it’s fitting it was anointed above the door yesterday before we began the ceremony. I don’t know that the news will report that, but I will. May the Lord bless this space and the people within it forevermore.

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Thank you to the late Catherine Gilreath and her family for the naming donation and proactive involvement to see it through. Thank you to the county and commissioners who saw the need and stepped up. Thank you to the many generous donors across the county who whipped out their checkbook and pledged. Thank you to the Friends group- with a hat tip to Dwight Shepherd, Emma Ruth Catlett, and the late Marye Rose- that worked tirelessly and never gave up. Thank you to the library staff for their hard work and being stretched so thin getting it open. I know it probably pained you seeing the space marred yesterday after getting it juuust right- no doubt there was punch spilled or paint scuffed from an errant child– but you saw it being used, the end goal. Thank you to all past and current board members who fought for this space, attending committee meetings to ask, and ask again (Or did we ask three times? I forget).
Thanks for everybody who showed up in support. I’m sorry if I forgot someone.
The location feels like home. It’s in the community, not to be blemished by the tourists passing through, even though they would be welcomed just the same.
Thank you to the citizens of Kodak who use the library and keep it alive. Thank you for reading.