Upper Lake librarian retires
- JAN COOK
- Posted On
UPPER LAKE, Calif. – Linda Bushta found a great job in 2005 when she became the branch library coordinator at the historic Upper Lake branch of the Lake County Library.
She held that job until her recent retirement.
Bushta came to love the old Hammond Library building and its history, and was instrumental in putting on celebrations for the library’s 90th and 100th anniversaries.
During her time at Upper Lake Library Bushta conducted summer storytimes for children, class visits from nearby schools and worked with several teen volunteers.
The small library is the kind of place where everyone knows everyone and they’re all family. Bushta became very attached to the library and its patrons.
She reflected on what it was like to work there. “The job was never boring. I met so many wonderful people over the 11 1/2 years I ran the library: babes in arms became readers, high school students volunteered to earn graduation credit in community service on the thresholds of their adult lives, senior citizens with a lifetime of interesting life experiences wanting to learn more about today's technology; everyone came in search of information and through them, I learned something new every day. It was such a pleasure to see names of children who came to the library regularly on the honor roll in the local newspaper.”
Bushta’s retirement means that the job of branch library coordinator will open soon.
A routine day in the library includes helping patrons request books, checking books in and out, answering reference questions, shelving books, sorting deliveries of books, taking money for fines, planning displays and introducing patrons to the library’s digital resources.
Application information will be posted on the County of Lake job opportunities Web site http://jobs.lakecountyca.gov in December.
The library has a long and treasured history in Upper Lake.
In 1914 the Upper Lake Women’s Protective Club, or ULWPC, formed in response to water and property rights issues between Lake and Yolo counties.
The club also supported other civic improvements around the town and wanted Upper Lake to have a library.
Upper Lake merchant J. N. League donated space in 1914 for a library in his store downtown, but the ULWPC members still wanted a real meeting room and real library.
Two years later Amy Murdock and Lottie Mendenhall donated the building site at Main and Second streets, and Harriet Lee Hammond financed the library’s construction.
The library opened in October 1916 and was named the Harriet Lee Hammond Library in her honor.
The Upper Lake Library became part of the Lake County Library system in the 1970s. Now 101 years old, it is one of Upper Lake’s oldest continually-operating public facilities.
The Lake County Library is on the Internet at http://library.lakecountyca.gov and at www.facebook.com/LakeCountyLibrary.
Jan Cook is a technician with the Lake County Library.