New Jerusalem Public Library - 630 Boggs Street

New Jerusalem's Public Library has always been overshadowed by the much more extensive University library. Still, the town library holds its own with approximately 50,000 volumes and a thriving circulation of popular titles. A growing media collection rounds out the collection. Supported mostly by private donations, the New Jerusalem Public Library was founded in 1845 by philanthropic citizens concerned for the betterment of the community. Hours are 11 A.M. to 7 P.M., Monday-Friday, and 10 A.M. to 3 P.M. Saturday.
The building was extensively refurbished three years ago and a spacious, sunny children’s room added two years ago thanks to state grant funding. Weekly children’s and seniors’ events are held, as are talks and classes by local experts and interested persons. Last Fall’s talks on author Betty Smith by M.U. English professor William Sinnes were well attended, as was an income tax seminar held last Spring by a representative of Boggs & Associates. Currently, the library is staffed by 3 librarians, 5 part-time clerks, and 6 New Jerusalem High School student workers. Misplaced behind other works in the library is Rev. Ward Phillips' Thaumaturgical Prodigies in the New-English Canaan, findable but not easily so.
The youngest librarian on staff is 26-year-old Donna Booth. Her blonde good looks, friendly demeanor, and professional competence have earned her many outspoken admirers, particularly among the male patronage. She has a great love of cats and dogs. She has been known to occasionally smuggle her Yorkshire Terrier, Kevin, into the library in her purse, an act strongly disapproved of by the head librarian and adored by all the others. Kevin is bookish and a bit sheltered but an active and honest young fellow.
One of the strangest individuals who uses the library as a daytime sanctuary is Richard Phillips, known only as "The Mumbler" to the library staff. Years of crumbling sanity and self-inflicted physical neglect have left the relatively young man looking decades older than his actual 36 years. Phillips was not always like this; years ago in a series of fever-induced hazes, Phillips somehow found his consciousness transported to a great and beautiful city in the Dreamlands. Inspired by these visits, Phillips turned to strong narcotics in attempts to visit the city once again. He has failed to return with every attempt. Now out of work, out of luck, out of shape, and almost out of his mind, Phillips is a hollow man, haunted by a place he cannot find and trapped in a comparative hell of everyday mundane existence. Phillips sometimes wonders if death will transport him to the once-traveled realm, but he is too cowardly or incompetent to realize suicide. Strangely, during his dream visits he was befriended by a number of cats in the Dreamlands and picked up a fair competency in their secret and purring tongue. He is one of the few, if not only, people in New Jerusalem who can understand the language of cats and often overhears their conversations, a fact that has not helped stabilize his already crumbling sanity.

Type

Library

Parent Location

Downtown