By Dan Tortorice
April/May 1999
Have you seen those rankings of “Best Places to Live” or “Most Liveable Cities?” Madison typically finishes near the top of these lists in which experts compare various factors that improve quality of life for everyone. One of the items these people look for is the quality of community libraries.
That local library, hopefully a walk or bike ride or short drive from home, connects us to the world of knowledge. Knowledge can be practical, scientific, philosophic. Its faces are infinite. The public library connects us to this world from the first day we can print our own name on the card application to that time of life when we may need a volunteer to bring us books because we are elderly and homebound.
This summer Northsiders will be celebrating the 40th birthday of our Lakeview Branch Library. There are some neighborhood residents who remember the days before we had a branch library and what the outreach of library service meant to them and their families. Marie Fox remembers the early 1950’s, when many Northside residents were Air Force pilots called back for the Korean War. Many young wives and their children used the weekly visit of the Bookmobile as a social occasion. “It was our weekly gathering spot and it meant a lot to us with our husbands gone all the time flying somewhere.”
Grace Shaw remembers the morning of the Bookmobile visit as “the highlight of the week.” Grace was a full-time mother and says the Bookmobile “saved my sanity — I don’t know what we would have done without it.” Shaw has helped to pay back the library by serving for many years as a member of the “Friends of the Lakeview Library.”
John Toussaint, another longtime volunteer, proudly remembers visiting the new library with his young son on the first day of operation. The library was located then on Northport Drive in what is now the Jung’s building. He remembers librarian Alice Locke asking his son Greg if he could print his name on a card application. Although only four, Greg proudly completed the task and began the flood of a long stream of books through the Toussaint children’s household. The Toussaint family has supported Lakeview throughout the years and has been very pleased with the staff’s performance at Sherman Plaza.
Barb Karlin, President of the Friend’s group, began her association with Lakeview as a patron in the mid-1960’s. She then worked at the library for a year and a half before returning to graduate school and becoming a mother. Besides her many contributions to the Friends, she has a particular “claim to fame” in that she recruited Barb Dimmick as a volunteer. Dimmick now heads the Dane County Library System.
Over the years the Friends have funded a number of special programs for children and adults at Lakeview. Children have benefitted from an enriching array of performances. The Friends underwrote some sesquicentennial events, and some members assist the elderly by participating in the citywide program to deliver books to homebound people.
Fortieth birthday celebrations will take place June 9-12. The Friends plan to put on a program for seniors, focusing on Northside history on Wednesday, June 9, a children’s program on Friday, June 11, and a family event on Saturday, June 12. Watch your June “Northside News” for more information.