Helen Whitman, a rising junior at Slippery Rock Area High School and a library volunteer, stands behind the front desk Saturday, June 24, 2023, where she greets patrons. Helen volunteers three times a week during the summer and said she plans to study library science in college. Irina Bucur/Butler Eagle

In the beginning, it was a fledgling paperback library, no more than 278 square feet and “smaller than a bedroom,” said Jan Forrest, former board president and member of the Friends of the Library.

Its evolution from a paperback exchange to the Slippery Rock Community Library, in its 2,240-square-foot, 5-year-old building at 465 N. Main St., and its 18-year founding anniversary were honored Saturday, June 24, as board members, volunteers and Friends of the Library gathered over cake, cookies and conversation.

Forrest, who was instrumental to the library’s founding, said her vision for Slippery Rock has been fulfilled.

“The library is an adult at 18 years old,” said Deb Kye, board president. “We just thought it was a good time to celebrate and honor our donors, our volunteers and the people who have helped us get here.”

The library’s origin story and the reason Forrest advocated for its growth and development can be traced to a love for reading.

During her childhood, neither Slippery Rock nor Forrest’s hometown of Chicora had a library. Instead, Forrest said she recalled checking books out from a bookmobile.

Despite not having close access to a traditional library, she was always reading, she said.

“My fourth-grade teacher wrote on my report card: ‘Reads too much,’” she said. “I used to tuck a reading book inside my math book.”

The love for books persisted when Forrest returned to Slippery Rock after marrying her husband, Sumner, and traveling while he was in the U.S. Air Force. It motivated her to help get a library started in Slippery Rock, she said.

The Slippery Rock Community Library, which began as a small paperback library in the mid-1980s, is celebrating 18 years since its founding. The new library opened at its current location in the fall of 2018. Plans for expanding the teen area are underway, according to Melissa Shulz, interim library director. Irina Bucur/Butler Eagle

These days, Forrest’s love of reading is shared among staff, volunteers and patrons who visit the library in Slippery Rock.

Helen Whitman, a volunteer, also joined the 18-year celebration on Saturday. Like Forrest, so many decades earlier, Helen attends Slippery Rock High School and describes herself as an avid reader.

At the Slippery Rock Community library, Helen said she works the front desk, moves books throughout Butler County and connects people to what they want to read. When it comes time for college, Helen said she knows exactly what she wants to study.

“Library science,” she said. “This place has given me such an opportunity to figure out what I really love about books and the humanities.”

As a volunteer, Helen said she enjoys talking to patrons and seeing what everybody is reading.

Messages from individual patrons describe what they love about the library are posted on the front desk. Irina Bucur/Butler Eagle

From providing people with opportunities to connect with each other to providing information, the library is a gathering place, Forrest said.

“There are so many ways that (libraries) change communities,” she said.

The event was marked by a month-long raffle to raise funds for the library, with baskets donated by volunteers and board members. A separate quilt raffle will also run through Nov. 18.

The library offers a summer reading program for all ages, as well as other programs including Story Time, Toddler Time, Magic Treehouse Club, Dungeons & Dragons, Magic the Gathering, senior exercise program, Geri-Fit and a Books & Brews Book Club.

Other services, such as veteran career counseling, help unemployed veterans, job seekers and employers connect, said Melissa Schulz, interim library director.

Free access to critical services is what makes the library so important to the community, Schulz said.

“Books are important. But we also want everybody to know that there’s more to the library,” she said.

“There’s, you know, other things in the community that might have a barrier to access. There’s no cost to join the library. There’s no cost to use our computers. We do have a lot of people who come in for job searching, doing job applications, rent assistance,” Schulz said.

“We’re not what you think of as a traditional library, where you have to come in and be quiet,” Schulz said. “We’re a place to gather and just be part of the community.”

The Slippery Rock Community Library is not federally funded and relies on donations from local municipalities, businesses and patrons, Schulz said.