Happy Retirement to Miss Binnie Anderson – Librarian

Happy Retirement to Miss Binnie Anderson – Librarian

7/22/2020

by Brian Coll

I am so happy to be writing this little article…. if you really want to know the reason…. it’s this. I’m going to gush over my friend Miss Binnie. Sadly, so many times I want to tell someone what they mean to me, all the good they have done in the community and so on, and sometimes I am sadly writing those words once someone passes away. So today. I am thrilled to be able to talk about Miss Binnie. Maybe she’ll call me once she reads this….

Conshohocken is and has been so lucky to have amazing librarians in Miss Binnie and Miss Lorraine and up until today, I have been able to say their names side by side when I talk about the current librarians… as of the end of the month… Miss Lorraine will be holding down the fort with the rest of the talented staff including head librarian Sydney Mason.

Let me say this, I am not the smartest card in the Dewey Decimal System, and when I was younger and actually using the Dewey Decimal System at the library, Miss Binnie, well, she never made me feel dumb, she was always so helpful. Librarians like her, are the reason young people can go to the library, ask questions and feel like they belong. I know kids today… the internet is great and all, but have you ever watched a librarian do their job? Out of thousands of books and hundreds of movies and stacks of periodicals throughout the library, they can pinpoint just what you are looking for, long before google and bing, there was the librarian. I was lucky as were generations of kids who grew up going to the Conshohocken Free Library. We had Miss Binnie.

I spoke to her today. She is going to miss all of the patrons…. she’s going to miss asking what you thought of the newest book you took out. You know that old stereotype about the librarian who is always hushing people? Well, if you ever heard Miss Binnie laugh, you know she wasn’t the one to be hushing people in the library. She knew the library is like a living place, full of curious young minds and older minds who need to be challenged or to grab a new book and disappear into a different world.

Miss Binnie, or maybe you know her as Lavina Anderson…. she grew up near the library, always loved it and I know she is going to miss it…. Thank you for about 35 years of serving the community through your work at the library. I’m going to miss your laughter. I’m going to miss trying to take your picture…. I hope other people can share memories of you in the comment section on Facebook….