The Linden Carnegie Library Director Kathie Watkins and Children’s Director Amy King spoke to the Crawfordsville Kiwanis Club on March 30.
The Linden Carnegie Library was a small, unassuming building on the corner of Main and Elm streets in Linden when it opened in 1922, funded by a $7,995 grant from Andrew Carnegie, and it has been a fixture in the town ever since. When the library opened it had a total of 197 books and library articles on the shelves.
Today the library holds over 29,600 books with the ability, through its Evergreen Library partnership, to connect with over 120 other libraries throughout Indiana to get specific books or information that a reader may want.
The library became a popular spot for children and adults alike. Today the library offers arts and crafts days for children with special pumpkin painting in the fall and this past year held a “Stuffed Animal Sleepover” where children could leave their stuffed animals at the library overnight and when they came back the next day the children could see pictures of all of the things the stuffed animals did during the night. What a story they told.
The library also offers a summer reading program which, last year, brought in more than 100 children to the library to participate in crafts and reading. The Crawfordsville Kiwanis Club has become a sponsor for this program over the last few years.
It has a wide variety of books, magazines and newspapers, as well as a small collection of computers and internet access. The library also offers a variety of programs and events, including story time for children, book clubs for adults, and computer classes for seniors.
The Linden Carnegie Library is a place where people could come to learn, to grow, and to connect with others. It is a place where people can find a sense of belonging. It is a place where people can make memories that will last a lifetime. If you would like to see more about the Linden Carnegie Library you can check them out on their Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/LindenCarnegiePublicLibrary or you can visit them at 102 S Main St., Linden.
To find out more about the Crawfordsville Kiwanis Club visit https://k00404.site.kiwanis.org/ or come on out and visit us any Thursday at 11:30 a.m. at the Crawfordsville District Public Library in the Donnelly room on the lower level.
