The Milan Library seeks mascot to celebrate 90 years as ‘bedrock of civil society’

Amidst festivities to celebrate its ninetieth birthday, Milan Library has decided it needs a mascot.

The call for mascot submissions went out at the library’s birthday party March 15, alongside speeches from the library board president, a city council member and a speech entered into the Congressional Record.

Already the library has compiled a list of more than 50 nominations – ranging from llamas to octopuses. Barbara Beaton, Milan’s assistant library director scrolled through the list from her reference desk, seeing recommendations for a chimney swift, dragon, ceiling fan, ferret, hippo, kingfisher, ostrich, pigeon, and red fox, among many others – all alphabetized in a neat list online. 

“We are librarians here,” Beaton smiles. “In the next few days we’re going to narrow it down and then let people vote. It’s going to be tough because there are so many great ideas.”

People can still go online to vote for an existing submission or submit their own ideas and there are paper slips in the library. 

The library is also doing a prize drawing people can enter every time they visit the library all month. Prizes are Friends of the Library boutique items, including vinyl stickers, decals, tote bags, bumper stickers and reading lanyards.

Big Impact

Last year, the library offered 200 programs with more than 4,000 participants, in addition to the summer reading programs. People entered the doors of the Milan Library 26,888 times.

The library serves all its patrons with a total budget of $475,000, which covers the cost of nine employees, facilities, books, and everything else. The library has a fulltime director, three quarter time employees, and five part-time employees.

“We’re small, but mighty,” said Library Board President Larry Biederman.

“Our staff does so well with building beautiful connections with patrons,” Biederman said. “They take the time to understand the needs and interests of individuals. I have seen many joyous forms of praise for all that they do for the collection, events, and other aspects of our operations.”

Beaton, Milan’s assistant library director, has been working at the library almost 15 years, since just after its 75^th anniversary. Previously, she was a reference librarian at the University of Michigan and prior to that worked at the Library of Congress in Washington D.C.

Beaton loved working at University of Michigan much of her career, but said the sense of connection in Milan is special.

“A large research library has lots of resources, which is nice,” Beaton said, “but you don’t get to know the community like you do in a smaller town like this — get to know families, watch kids grow up, know people by name.”

Birthday party

At the library’s birthday party, Milan City Councilmember Josh Kofflin – who said this is his 25^th year coming to Milan’s library — read a city proclamation honoring the library’s role in creating better informed citizens.

U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell’s office was represented by Cal Kirchen, who read a speech put into the Congressional Record, that included some of the library’s history.

“Public institutions such as the Milan Public Library encourage freedom of thought and expression and are a bedrock of civil society,” Kirchen read. “The invaluable contribution the library has made to the greater Milan area is worthy of commendation.”

In his speech, Biederman – wearing a shirt printed with library due dates – said the library has something for everyone, regardless of age, gender, religion, or political perspective. He then read some of the comments they’ve been collecting about what people like about the library. 

“I love my library because I can read all the Dog Man books,” wrote one resident. Another called the library, “the great resource and community partner, the heart of Milan.” A third response said: “I love that you are doing summer reading programs for adults, too — nostalgic of my childhood summers.” Others mentioned the library was “full of potential adventures, friends, provoking ideas, thoughts, colorful book covers and décor.”

History

The Milan Free Library opened its doors March 14, 1935, on the second floor of the Milan Fire Station in the same year Henry Ford representatives reached out to the Village of Milan to establish Ford Industries, according to a history by Martha Churchhill. Just more than a decade later, Ford’s operation closed and the Village of Milan purchased his property, using it as a police station, with the east half of the Ford Powerhouse becoming the new location for the Milan Free Library sometime between 1949 and 1950. With the help of a federal grant, the Village of Milan constructed and dedicated a new building for the public library in the mid-60s. In 1967, Milan voters approved its first city charter, converting the municipality to a City under the Michigan State Constitution.

Expanded offerings

Today, the library offers far more than books. They loan out puzzles and magazines, exploratory kits and learning tablets, cake pans and cookie cutters, audiobooks and eBooks, movies and music CDs. Patrons can also access free resources including Consumer Reports, Mango Language Learning, and tutor.com. In addition, there’s a Library of Things available for checkout, including yard games, craft kits, an ice cream maker, tool kits, Chromebooks and even radon and thermal leak detectors.

As two children trail behind a woman walking into the library, Beaton said while they serve everyone, probably the biggest demographic at the library is families.

“Well, I’d say we get a lot of families, parents with kids who come for programs like storytime and who use the collections related to youth.”