Preview

In an orange-painted corner office sits Rachel Baker, the library’s executive director and the person responsible for keeping the wheels of the library turning. She has been working in the library for 15 years.

Although every day is different, Baker’s first daily task is to ensure that the library’s staff has all of the resources and tools they need to do their best work. Apart from that, she stacks books, handles maintenance checks and organizes a book club. On one occasion, she washed pumpkins to help her staff prepare for a pumpkin painting event for children.

Before becoming executive director, Baker worked as a children’s librarian. Working with children became her passion, and she was able to form ties with them and their families.

“Rachel nurtured these kids,” said Mary Ellen MacCoy, a circulation librarian with Baker for the past six years. “They would actually confide in her.”

For Baker, teenagers are her favorite age group to work with since they’re just discovering who they are in life. She urges people to just listen to them.

“Young people see the world so much clearer than my generation,” said Baker. “They see people for who they are.”

As Baker walks through the library aisles, she points out some of her favorite books. But as a child, she was not drawn to reading. She actually despised books because she felt her parents were always reading and she needed something to keep her busy.

Books eventually became a part of Baker’s life once her grandparents and parents began reading to her every night. Even today, she prefers being read to, and she gravitates toward audiobooks.

Baker, as a librarian, has heard many children express their hatred for reading and their unwillingness to do so. She faults the education system for making students always accountable for what they read, which she believes takes the joy out of reading.

When a child who dislikes reading walks in, Baker hands them a stack of books that the staff has read and enjoyed. If they don’t like a book, she asks them to put it down.

“Life is too short for terrible books,” Baker said. “But try it; you might just find the next great book that can make an impact on your life.”

Growing up in a close-knit community like Canterbury in the 1970s, Baker has a special connection to the town and its families. She envisions Elkins Public Library in Canterbury as more than just a library; it’s a place for the community to interact with each other and get to know themselves better.

During one of resident Emily Burr’s visits to the library, she brought her foster girls along with her. Baker was compassionate and helped them find the books they liked, she said.

“After the girls left, whenever they came back to visit, they always wanted to visit Rachel at the library,” Burr recalled of Baker’s lasting impression on them.

The library shuttered when the pandemic struck, but its services continued.

Baker was not about to abandon the library’s customers. She launched a YouTube channel and posted videos of herself telling stories, singing and dancing. She even organized live Facebook events and had presenters perform puppet and magic acts.

“I was genuinely worried about the effect of the pandemic on children and the isolation of older adults,” said Baker.

In a small town like Canterbury, diversity is limited, and Baker says books are the best way for children to comprehend the lives and experiences of others.

Baker’s way of giving back is to serve the needs of the community through the library.

“Library work is the best because you’re constantly around books and people and learning,” Baker said. “What could be better?”