Campbell County Public Library, Gillette, Wyoming

Here's something you may not know about Wyoming: It is a Pretty, Pretty Princess. SO PRETTY. Sure, it is full of trucks and cowboys and antlers and beer, but damned if it isn't just the finest young lady you'd like to squire to the dance. You've already seen the Tetons and Yellowstone, but there is a great deal more...none of which I captured along my very vigorous route. But I did manage to capture this.

I love a freaky lamp.

It says nothing of the multitudinous ranges and buttes, soft hills gleaming in the long grass...it was just. Just. [Sigh] What are words, anyway? Mouth manacles, brain barriers. Phthpt.

I reached Gillette, Wyoming about an hour and a half before the Campbell County Public Library was set to close. It was just enough time to take some pictures, talk to library staff, and do some photo editing and research for the next blog entry.

As I mentioned before, I've gotten really good at guessing the ages of libraries. You get accustomed to certain aesthetics, and the more a library retains its original carpet, furniture, and decorative flair, the easier it is to zero in on a birthdate.

I ignored the plaque on the way in, but as I walked around the Campbell County Library I became aware of two things: This library was born in the mid-80s and it had been kept in almost pristine condition ever since.

If you are a regular library patron at all, you have to know how impressive it is to find an almost perfectly preserved public library. It is a rare and special thing. Even in the most well maintained older libraries, chairs are scuffed, tables are marked, the edges of things are worn bald and chewed up. It's just what happens when humans inhabit a public space for years...then decades.

I am sure if I went over every square foot of Campbell I would find signs of wear and tear, but the parts of the library I did see were in excellent condition. Was this due to a thoughtful public or a rigorous devotion to upkeep? Or the perfect, blissful marriage of both? And how do we teach it to every library, every community?

I set up shop mid-library, somewhere in the Be Quiet zone, and a staff member asked if she could help me with anything. I asked her if she knew when the library was built and she said, I should know that, let me check. I ventured that it had to be 1984 or 1985 based on the design and furniture. And after a quick check she said hey, close! 1983.

Told ya. Don't ask me to guess your age. I will say 70 no matter who you think you are. Aren't we all 70 in some form or another?

My vantage point.

Meeting room.

Shhh.

While I spent very little time in the Campbell County Public Library, it left a great impression. As did library staff who were generous, kind, and helpful.

 Nnnooo govt docs nnnnoooo.

Welcome to 1983, where that Maneater will chew you up, so you gotta run
Down Under where the women glow and the men plunder...
or end up blessing the rains down in Aaaafricaaa.