Jodé Millman
As a kid, I remember my parents bringing me to the musty Children’s Room in the basement of Adriance Memorial Library in Poughkeepsie, New York, our hometown, and where I still live with my family. Back then, there were no Kindles or iPads, and kids did not own books except an encyclopedia, if they were lucky. If we wanted to read a book, we borrowed it from the library.
I was an avid reader—Nancy Drew books and A Wrinkle in Time—were just two of my favorites. I was there a lot.
But my real friendship with the library blossomed while I attended Forbus Junior High School. While my friends became candy stripers at Vassar Hospital, I became a volunteer at Adriance Library. I stacked the shelves, and I especially loved the Children’s Room, where I read to the kids and traveled around the city in the library’s bright yellow Story Bus.
Somehow, I think I knew back then that literature was going to play an instrumental role in my life.
During high school, if my assignments required more in-depth information than could be found inside our white and green leatherette World Book Encyclopedia, the library was the place to go. And yes, I occasionally used a trip to Adriance as a subterfuge for hanging out with my friends.
And while in college and law school, you would find me in the stacks studying. My first assignment as assistant corporation counsel for the City of Poughkeepsie was, fittingly, Adriance Memorial Library, where I worked with the director on various legal matters.
My sons fondly recall visiting the Children’s Room for story time and the summer reading program. And while researching my Poughkeepsie-inspired Queen City Crimes novels, I have finally mastered the microfiche machines.
Eventually, as a library trustee when the town and city library districts united, I helped champion a proposition for sustained library support. That was an exciting time.
For the past fourteen years, the library has provided guidance in operating our family foundation’s free summer movie program, Movies Under the Walkway, and has organized children’s activities and been onsite to enroll a new generation of library goers.
As you can see, the library has been a very good friend to me. And I have tried to give back whenever possible. And I guarantee that there is not one person reading this essay who would not consider their library as a family friend.
Jodé Millman is the multi-award-winning mystery author of the true-crime inspired Queen City Crimes series, which has won Clue Awards, the Independent Publisher Award, and have been finalists for the Silver Falchion and Daphne du Maurier Award for Excellence in Mystery/Suspense. She’s an IP attorney, reviewer for BookTrib.com, and creator of The Writer’s Law School. Jodé lives with her family in the Hudson Valley, where she is at work on her next legal thriller. Visit her website at www.jodemillman.com
