I have been employed by the State Library Institutional Services department at the branch at Western State Hospital for nearly 27 years.  Annually, this state psychiatric hospital houses 900-1000 citizens in western Washington.  It is reputed to be one of the larger psychiatric hospitals “west of the Mississippi.”

 And lately, I’ve been reminiscencing a great deal.  Before 2004, the hospital’s branch library was staffed by a professional librarian (folks, a professional librarian has a Master’s in Library Science from an accredited university.) and two library paraprofessionals (an assistant may have a high school diploma or a college degree).

Ah, those were the days!  I used to visit every ward in the hospital to meet and greet patients and staff and put on a little “dog and pony show” to encourage library patronage.  And it worked like a charm. Library attendance and statistics climbed steadily.  One day, I was entertaining on a ward when an old man beckoned to me.  He told me a most amazing story.  He claimed that his father had unearthed an ancient city and had been famous.  He offered to share his father’s story with others at the hospital.  Now, I am well aware that some of those stories my patrons tell me may not be completely accurate (wink).  I smiled sweetly and told him I’d be honored to hear more about the subject at a later date.  Yeah, sure.

A day later at the library, there was a phone call for me.  It was the patient’s wife and she verified that his husband’s father had indeed been an archaeologist.  Not only that, the archaeologist belonged to a team that uncovered ancient Petra.  Would we care to host a library program and learn more about this historic dig?  My mouth dropped open and I handed the phone to my boss Neal.  One thing led to another and the game was on.  We hosted that special program that filled every seat in the library. 

The patient’s wife spoke to the group while her husband looked on.  At one point, tears of happiness slid down the old man’s cheeks.   My boss Neal–a history major–was her enthusiastic assistant who showed the audience artifacts from the Middle East of the 1900s.

 

Staff and patients talked about that library program for years.

 

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