Day in the life of ... Selinsgrove's Gelnett Memorial Library

Dec. 17—SELINSGROVE — Six days a week, the Rudy Gelnett Memorial Library in Selinsgrove is a bustling place of activity where patrons mingle with staff and one another, catch up on the news, conduct personal business and check out materials.

The lure of public libraries "is access," Snyder County Assistant Librarian Mitch Alday said.

"The most visible thing we offer is books, but it's also about (seeking shelter with) air conditioning, heat, bathrooms, internet or legal services," he said. "If you have questions, we have answers."

David Bauman, executive director of the county's library system which also includes community facilities in Middleburg, Beavertown and McClure, said libraries provide a host of services that go beyond entertainment.

"It's the one place you can come spend time and you're not expected to spend money," he said. "Sometimes people will come in needing to fax a document to PPL so they won't shut off their heat. We provide information or resources to everybody regardless of how much money they make, their political affiliation or color of their skin."

Before opening

The Daily Item visited the Gelnett Memorial Library at 1 N. High St. in Selinsgrove about 90 minutes after Lubow Frey opened the doors so she, finance assistant Janice Gemberling and facility cleaner Stephen Kahler could get work done before the public was allowed entry at 9 a.m.

As usual, this day Frey arrived at 7 a.m. and began pulling books requested by patrons.

"I like it. It's quiet and dark," she said of her early morning arrival at work.

When Kahler showed up at 8 a.m., the pair turned on the lights of the Christmas trees decorated for the 20th annual Tree Fest of Children's Books Festival.

Frey, who serves as manager of children's programs and storyteller, said she especially likes the holidays when the festive trees light up the library and attract visitors.

"For me, the (draw) is the people, and the kids," she said of the work she's been doing since 2007.

About 10 minutes before 9 a.m., she took a phone call. As she did, 40 second-grade pupils from Selinsgrove Elementary School waited with their teachers, Jen Brown and Allie Rahauser, and teachers' aides in the hallway near the library doors.

When the doors to the library were opened a few minutes later, the kids walked in a line down to the lower floor where the children's library is located. The group spent about 30 minutes playing before they checked out the dozens of trees and wreaths decorated in a children's book theme that are on display through December.

"We're exposing the kids to the county library," said Rahauser. For the next two weeks, all Selinsgrove Elementary School students will visit the library.

It's visits like these that make the work more enjoyable for staff, like AmeriCorps worker Toni Dilks, who typically arrives for work at 9 a.m. with Bauman, Alday and Jeff Kuehnert, one of the longest-serving library employees.

Dilks worked as an aide at the Selinsgrove Center and medical assistant at other facilities before joining AmeriCorps and taking a position at the library in March.

"I'm still helping people," she said. "I love the teamwork and the atmosphere. It's laid-back and welcoming."

Laid-back doesn't always mean quiet. In this library, people don't speak in hushed tones. Children are not cautioned to keep it down by staff.

As a child, Bauman said, "I was terrified of librarians. They were always telling you, 'Shush' and they were taller than me."

He worked for years in radio broadcasting before enrolling in Bloomsburg University with the intention of getting a teaching degree.

A visit to the Joseph Priestley House in Northumberland around 2012 changed his career path and in March, after working in the library field for about a decade, he was hired to oversee the four Snyder County libraries that employ four full-time and 10 part-time workers, plus about 15 student and AmeriCorps workers paid by outside sources.

"It's like being in public education," Bauman said of his role at the library where he plans to make it an even more active environment as he proposes more children's activities and programs.

Alday was a high school English teacher in Georgia before he and his wife moved to Selinsgrove in 2017.

"I needed a career change," he said of his decision to join the library staff. "It was something I could do that involved kids and books and not parents and administrators."

The best part of his job?

"There is no such thing as a typical day," he said.

Some days Alday is helping solve a patron's technological problem and another he may be cleaning vomit from the floor of the children's library.

Alday enjoys regaling patrons with absurd stories, like the day he walked into the library and was greeted with a loud, "Shut that door. You'll let the goose out."

When asked to explain how a goose found its way into the library, Alday shakes his head. "We can get bogged down in that story but then you'll miss all the other great stories."

Listening nearby, Frey recalled the morning in 2018 when she took the elevator to the basement and was confronted with a flood.

The water damage closed the basement children's library for months while renovations were completed.

A year later, on May 13, 2019, Wood-Mode Inc. in Kreamer abruptly closed after 77 years, putting out of work nearly 1,000 people. Dozens of them lined up around the library later that day waiting for a chance to update their resumes.

"They kept coming for about one and a half weeks," said Alday.

To handle the turnout, extra computers and volunteer staff were brought in to assist the displaced employees.

Today, the library has six computers available for the public's free use for 45 minutes at a time.

Mid-morning

Sri Murphy, a native of India, made his usual visit to the library at about 10:30 a.m. to make use of the free computer access. He's a regular, Dilks said, visiting several times a week for an hour or more to connect with relatives or his culture via the internet.

When Murphy's 45-minute limit on the computer was up on a recent Wednesday morning, he removed his headphones and asked Dilks for a one-hour extension which she granted since the other computers were not in use.

On this day, Murphy was listening to music being sung in Telugu, a southern Indian language he grew up speaking before moving to Pennsylvania about 30 years ago.

"I get on the internet and I can print off the music so I can practice it at home," he said.

As he listened to the music with headphones, a group of Selinsgrove first-graders sat a few feet away on the floor near a decorated tree and listened to their teacher, Mara Diehl, read a story.

A little while later, Katie Heintzelman sat near one of the decorated trees and read a book to her 2-year-old son, Carson, as his six-month-old sister, Kiera, lay snuggled in a carrier next to them.

"We usually come on Wednesday for the Mother Goose reading program," Heintzelman said before descending into the lower level to attend the popular program.

Twelve-year-old Kamden Mitchell checked out a stack of books and DVDs while his two younger siblings spent the morning in the children's library one floor below.

All are homeschooled and visit the library regularly.

"I use the computers to play games," Mitchell said.

During her second-grade class's tour of Tree Fest, pupil Freya Probst stopped at the service desk to tell the staff how much the library has changed since she last visited in the summer.

"I like how it has all this cool stuff and toys," she told Alday.

Nearby, frequent library visitor Hope Spigelmyer was checking out a mystery book when she stopped to chat with Melissa Laniewski who held her 1-year-old grandchild, Rosalie Huss.

Longtime friends, Spigelmyer said, they hadn't seen each other in person for a while and were catching up.

The chance meeting demonstrates how libraries are a conduit for connections.

"We're lucky to have this," Laniewski said of the library.

Pointing to a bicycle that was once owned by the library's namesake, Francis "Rudy" Gelnett, that now hangs on a wall near the service desk, Spigelmyer said the community is fortunate for his generosity.

Following Gelnett's death in 2010 at 95, most were surprised he was a rich man who had left most of his wealth — $5.8 million — to the borough of Selinsgrove.

"No one would have guessed it," Spigelmyer said of the "frugal" Gelnett who always bicycled around town and would stop at her grandmother's Water Street house and ask to clip roses from her garden.

Opening a box of newly arrived books shortly before noon, Kaylee Rathbone, a Susquehanna University student worker, said she enjoys "being surrounded by books and good people."

Minutes later, Roger Rathfon stopped by the library to catch up on the news.

Retired from the Selinsgrove Center since 2010, Rathfon said he never set foot in the library until he stopped working.

Since retirement, he's been a regular visitor, stopping "three to four times a week" to read newspapers.

"It's a very important asset that provides a lot of services," said Rathfon, who especially appreciates the library for the connections he's made with staff and other residents. "It's not overly noisy, but people feel free to talk."

Sara Maul also stops in regularly to read newspapers and check out books. On a recent visit, she was looking for a copy of the "The Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post: A Novel" chosen by her book club.

"I pop in about once a month. It gets me out," said Maul, a Selinsgrove borough council member.

Early afternoon

For four years, Ed Brennan was an AmeriCorps worker at the library. He left the job only because his term was up, but returns on a regular basis.

This afternoon he stopped to see Alday for help with a cellphone problem.

"I can receive emails, but I can't send them," Brennan said, holding his iPhone in his hand. "Mitch can fix it."

He was right. After several minutes, Alday diagnosed the problem.

At about 1 p.m., Kuehnert returned to the library after restocking each of the other three libraries, a job he does three days a week. He makes home deliveries to private residences, assisted living facilities and hospitals twice a week.

"They give me a list of their favorite authors and I pick books for them," he said of homebound patrons.

Marc Angstadt is another familiar face in the library, working primarily at the main counter.

"It's a low-stress job for the most part," he said.

Evening

Angstadt said he's seen a decline in the number of patrons who require the library for internet access due to smartphones and improved broadband, but said people still rely on the facility for news and other resources.

"People are still reading papers, or copying the crossword puzzle," he said.

At 7 p.m. Angstadt, locks up the library for the evening. The doors will reopen 12 hours later, giving new and regular patrons a chance to connect with one another and the world at large.