As the old adage goes, “Home is Where the Heart is.” For sure, the Sewickley Public Library has more than a small part of our heart for my family. The SPL is like our home in the heart of Sewickley. It’s a safe meeting place where we always feel welcome.
When we were looking to move to the outskirts of Aleppo from Mt. Lebanon, PA with 3 pre-school and grade school aged children, our first visits in Sewickley were to Osborne Elementary School and the Sewickley Public Library. Neither visit was a disappointment.
Our children were invited to spend a school day among the students and teachers and our mid-day tour of SPL was equally fulfilling. We appreciated the computer access, the airiness of the children’s library and the rolling stacks of books, movies and music.
We met Beverlee Blair at the front desk who greeted us with friendliness and enthusiasm and were soon introduced to Children’s Librarian, Ingrid Kalchthaler. The library staff quickly became our family friends. Even still Ing sometimes reminds us of our beginnings here saying, “I’m so glad that you moved to Sewickley.” We are too!
From the Children’s Programming, stellar research access (like Ancestry.com), a great lending program throughout the county, the tutoring help with Tutor.com, the Teen Advisory Council, Wi-Fi access, college planning, and meetings and forums of all sorts, our library has been a place of productivity and growth. In many ways we’ve grown-up here. And we’re still growing!
Most days of the week you can find at least one Redcross here, somewhere within the walls of our library. What, with Levi working here, and me on the library board, it’s hard to stay away. And we wouldn’t want to. Our family always knows at the end of the day when we’re getting ready to return to our house after work, school and play that we’ll be meeting-up at the SPL. It’s our home away from home. It’s a safe place; it’s our library. True story.
Autumn Redcross, Library Board Member
