In Our Range: Lynne Wiercinski – Historic Ironwood Theatre

Stay tuned for In Our Range on the way next, brought to you by Westgate Nursing Rehabilitation and Assisted Living Center.

Good morning and welcome to In Our Range.

Our guest this morning is Lynn Worszynski, director of the Ironwood Carnegie Library.

The Ironwood Carnegie Library was built in 1901 and is the oldest continually operating Carnegie Library in the state of Michigan.

In 2011, the Ironwood Carnegie Library was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The mission of the Ironwood Carnegie Library is to strive to provide equitable access to materials and services that support the educational, informational, cultural, and recreational needs of the entire community.

Lynn Worcinski has worked at the Carnegie Library here in Ironwood since 2008.

She's been director since 2016.

She also used to work here at WJMSAM.

Good to have you back, Lynn.

Welcome to In Our Range.

Nice to be here.

So libraries are more than just storehouses for books.

They're vital hubs for our communities.

And that's especially true for the Ironwood Carnegie Library here.

And besides access to all of the information in the

world.

What are some other services that the Ironwood Carnegie provides?

Oh my goodness, so many, Mike.

Of course, as you said, the books.

We have everything that you can possibly imagine as regard to bestsellers and everything that you're seeing out there on Amazon and in your bookstores.

But we also have a complete digital collection.

We work closely with our library cooperative, the Superior Land Cooperative, who curates the entire online collection.

So we have audiobooks and e-books.

and magazines that you can access online.

We also have a contract with Canopy so you can stream thousands of movies online with our library card.

We have patrons that we've never seen who hold a library card and use it daily to access all of the online resources.

So libraries have changed a lot from just walking in the door and picking up that book and checking it out.

The other, of course, major change that you see in libraries today is the amount of direct programming that happens within our walls.

You know, we're much more than just coming in to read a book or to read a newspaper.

Our programming is really a priority and has been, man, since I started.

You know, we started with really concentrating with our children.

We have a very robust children's programming department, which really consists of just one very part-time person and some volunteers.

But with that, we do everything from early childhood literacy programs on a monthly basis to our summer reading program, which you see usually at least four programs a week going on in addition to the reading portion itself.

We do a homeschool, young authors and illustrators group.

We have our staff going into the school to reading to the younger kids every single week.

We also do just a variety of other things when it comes to the programming part for our kiddos.

Until very recently, we also were one of the facilitators of the awkward stage drama club where a lot of our young adults were part of.

We're very proud to say that the drama club recently became their own 501c3 thanks to a lot of

hard work with its members.

So we're saying goodbye to one of our kids, I guess, is how we look at it.

And they're moving on to be their own entity.

So we're really proud of that for them.

But along with the programming for our kids, we don't forget people throughout the whole lifespan.

And a few years ago, we received a grant through the American Library Association.

With that grant, we decided to really concentrate on serving the older adults in our community.

And not just our seniors, but older adults who might be caregivers, people who are caring for or about an older adult.

So the first thing that we did with that grant was put on a first floor accessible restroom, which our library has never really had.

probably the best investment we've ever done.

It's been wonderful.

So along with that, we created a whole series of health and wellness programs for older adults, which has now continued into its third year.

You know, it concentrates on everything from health, mental health, physical health, financial health.

We usually conduct programs.

about once every week or two throughout the winter months and we see really good attendance at that.

We also have a caregiver resource library, so we have a wide assortment of kits, games, puzzles, kits put together for people who may be working or living or taking care of somebody who has some memory loss issues.

These things can help with social time, with kind of jogging someone's ability to talk about things they're interested in.

So we're really proud of that.

That came through a grant from the United Way.

We also do a reading group with people with disabilities.

It's called the next chapter book club.

It's a national group and we have a local portion of that.

We have two volunteers who come in and work with people, adults with developmental disabilities.

So that book club, you don't even have to know how to read.

You can be a reader, but you can also shadow read or help, you know, someone else can help you with that.

It's a wonderful little group.

Programming is something we really believe is important, not just for the social aspect and the learning aspect, but just because it helps us create a community feel at our library that is so

important.

you're not reading is sometimes only sort of viewed as this sort of solitary activity whereas really when people are enjoying books separately they can get together and talk about them the way that we would talk about the news or talk about events going on in the community but what you're doing is kind of taking what happens in books and saying okay

the mission of our library isn't just simply to put books in front of people.

It's to empower them with knowledge, create this sense of community that comes through skills building.

And then by taking that even a little deeper, you're digging into very specific sets of skills that support people because we do have a large population of elderly people.

Exactly.

And coming with that as a large population of caregivers who could be empowered with skills and support, you know, in these programs.

And on top of that, you've got the children present.

in the library down in the basement for the kids.

It just really

is, it's wonderful.

Exactly.

It's a

wonderful resource to raise kids

here and have them.

We chuckle because we always tell people we're the noisiest library in town and we are, when those kids are down there, we hear laughter and giggles and talking and no one complains a whole lot about that.

It just creates a vibrant feeling in that library that we love, we absolutely love.

It's warm and welcoming and wonderful.

Yes.

Yeah.

place

like

that, especially if they're getting excited about sharing stories

and reading.

Absolutely, and that is the goal of all of our programs.

People sometimes look at what we're doing and ask us what does that have to do with being a library or what does that have to do with children reading or learning so much, because even if that program doesn't seem to have anything to do with the book.

The more you can have a child walk in our doors and feel good about being there and happy and wanting to come back again.

they're exposed to those books all around them and eventually our goal is to have them pick up one of those books and start reading it.

So, you know, that feeling of wanting to come to a place and that place is the place where those books are, that's our goal and it works.

Yeah.

I mean, you just get them in, get them used to being there, get them comfortable and they'll start exploring with that curiosity that kids are

really known for.

Absolutely.

Incredible.

Yeah, so many and there's a poetry club.

We

have an adult poetry group.

They took a bit of a hate as this winter, so we're looking at this spring kind of kicking in again and getting started.

Our writing group right now is our young authors and illustrators, which consists of the homeschool group that comes in on a monthly basis.

Last year, we concentrated a lot on poetry, and we still do, but we've expanded out a little bit with that.

Again, they're learning.

They're learning about creative writing, they're learning about poetry, but mostly they're learning about the fact that it can be fun.

Poetry is fun and writing is fun.

And if they can feel that, the learning comes along with that.

So sometimes again, you may look at what we're doing and go, huh, that seems a little, yeah, password and a little scattered, but at the end they're creating something they're proud of and they want to come back and do it again.

Wonderful.

And so moving along, I guess, because we do have a limited time here on in our range.

In February 2024, the library was awarded a $750,000 grant from the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity.

And this was meant to assist in creating a space that supports our community in areas such as early childhood literacy, senior services, and workforce development, which we've just been talking about.

So how

can we make this bigger and better for the community?

That grant and donations from local businesses and community members.

With that, we're able to see the addition coming up.

And it looks incredible from the outside looking in.

It's architecturally, it fits, time-wise it fits.

They've done a wonderful job.

It looks seamless from the outside.

How is the project coming along and what can folks expect when the edition opens up this spring?

Well, it's coming along nicely.

Building projects are always interesting, so we're learning a lot with that.

Especially here.

Especially here with weather and all the things that go along with it.

In about

two weeks to do it.

Exactly.

You know, it's going well.

We're hoping to see our grand opening being in May.

That's what we're targeting.

And I'm sure that's going to happen.

The original grant that we had written was for about $2 million.

So we had really anticipated our hope for something much larger.

The state decided to give more grants for less amounts, which was fine.

So we ended up with $750,000.

And so we scaled back what our dreams and goals were.

And this is what we have, which is beautiful and we're thrilled.

So with the thousand square feet and then the breezeway, the foyer in between the two buildings, we have created a space that, as we told our architect and the State Historic Preservation Office, looks like the library had a baby in the backyard, which is what the goal had been.

We are in the State Historic Register and we are required to

have their approval on much of what we do to make sure that it is in keeping with the historic value of our library and I think we've accomplished that with this building.

When you see the inside, also the lighting, the windows, everything pulls from the historic part of our library into the new addition yet it's got a bright and fresh and beautiful flavor in there.

It's beautiful and it's very bright.

There's many many windows in that building.

So our our goal is to bring our children up from the basement Our basement we have tried to make as cheery and airy and happy as possible And I think we've done that but we're going to be bringing our children up into that new addition The basement what we're doing is adding a wheelchair lift from the outside basement exit So it will be accessible should we need to do that and then utilizing our basement continued for our teens collection, but also for

quiet space for people who need to work, for some programming, for job interviews, just for a variety of different things.

So we're going to be reconfiguring our space a little bit as things move along.

We're hoping to do some refiguring upstairs to make a little bit of a senior niche in a corner with a small grant we got from the Mary Thompson Foundation.

So just again, making the entire library more user friendly, more relevant to what we're doing and what our community needs and

wants.

along and as usual folks are maybe a little slower than originally hoped for or thought but it's coming along steady I got a chance to see it from the inside this last week and it does it just it just fits

it

just it just looks beautiful

it really does it's it's gorgeous and we've got bookshelves and

With the historic look of that new building, we're also adding some touches in there to bring that lighthearted feeling for the kids.

But we're also making certain that it's done in a way that, for example, with bookshelves, most of the bookshelves will be mobile.

So we'll be able to push those bookshelves aside and use it for, say, senior programming, should we do, I don't know, say a senior exercise class or an art class or whatever it might be.

So we want to make sure the decor is welcoming to those kids, but also able to transform a little.

bit if we're doing it for another age group.

So it's been fun and a challenge to do that but it's a lot of fun for all of us that night sitting at home and looking through websites on how we can make it look that way.

Well yeah

certainly I mean when you've been in a space that's small for a long time you really get used to being able to make something multi-purpose.

you know and so then when you get a thousand square feet you just keep applying that same principle to the new space and now you can provide multiple things for all kinds of different people instead of having a singularly dedicated space.

You know we were fortunate because along with the grant we worked with the Friends of the Library actually conducted an online fundraising capital campaign through patronicity and MEDC matched that so we were able to raise almost over a hundred thousand dollars in fact with

that grant and people were so generous I mean it was just amazing to me to see that happen so with that we were able to take the original plans for that building and do some my some upgrades that have made it amazing you know even the the foyer the entryway with the glass has just changed the whole look of it and was well worth us saying let's do that yeah so we were really thrilled you know it's been

It's been such an honor, really, to see people come forward from our community, not just patrons, you know, but people who just recognize the value of having the library as a library and as a historic cornerstone come forward to support it.

And people who haven't lived here for 50 years, who are sending donations or even just letters saying how wonderful to see you still exist.

you know, there's not a day that goes by that we don't feel our heart, all of our hearts warmed a little bit because of that.

What a joy.

Yeah, it really is.

It makes you realize it's all the work is well worth it.

It's well worth it.

Incredible.

Well, Lynn, is there anything else you'd like to share with our listeners today before we get out of here?

Well, I tell you, just stop by and take a look.

We're always welcome to have you come in and we'll give you a sneak peek of the new edition until it's open.

And just come in and browse around and see what we're all about.

You know, you're you're welcome to come in and get a library card.

And if you don't want to have a library card, that's fine, too.

You're always welcome to come in and just sit and relax and and read a book, read a newspaper or just come and chitchat with our librarians.

They're always willing and able and happy to have conversations with people.

So, yeah.

Well, that it sounds really wonderful.

It sounds incredible.

Yeah, come check it out, folks.

Come come wander through.

leaf through some old pages, you know, see some of the groups and the activities that are going on.

Lynn, thank you for joining us on In Our Range

this morning.

Thank you for having me.

Yeah, have a wonderful day.

Our guest this morning was Lynn Wrasinski with the Ironwood Carnegie Library.

In Our Range is brought to you by Westgate Nursing Rehabilitation and Assisted Living Community in Ironwood.

Thank you for joining us this morning.