Checking out church libraries

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Today is Tuesday, October 17th. You’re listening to WORLD Radio and we’re so glad you’re along with us today.

Good morning. I’m Mary Reichard.

PAUL BUTLER, HOST: And I’m Paul Butler.

Coming next on The World and Everything in It: A battle of books! Communities around the nation are facing off against public library systems. At issue: inappropriate books and behavior in children’s sections, and the lack of response to parental concerns.

REICHARD: But not every debate is being hashed out in a town hall or school board meeting. WORLD’s Myrna Brown has the story of a mom in Florida who’s discovered a way to pass on her love for books without ever stepping inside a public library.

SOUND: [Aluminum foil folding]

MYRNA BROWN, REPORTER: Standing in front of a hot stove with her hair pulled back in a ponytail, Maureen Rugullies wraps a batch of homemade goodies in foil.

MAUREEN RUGUILLES: Every year I try to make pumpkin muffins for the library.

Rugullies is a homeschooling mother of five. She’s been making muffins and weekly trips to the library since 2002, when her oldest three were babies. That’s when she says she first realized the public libraries she visited as a girl were very different from the public libraries her children were experiencing.

RUGULLIES: And I remember reading a story to Caleb in which the father was lying about the child’s age to get them into the fair. So the morals were questionable. And it’s so much worse today. It is so much worse today.

NEWS REPORT: Commissioners talked at length about what kinds of books should be allowed on shelves saying they have concerns about what they called woke content.

NEWS REPORT: What’s wrong in your opinion with drag shows for kids at libraries?

NEWS REPORT: Tense moments and heated exchanges at Dearborn school board meeting Thursday night as parents, residents and community stakeholders sounded off on LGBTQ books in the district’s library system.

Though deeply troubled by the growing changes in the public library system, Rugullies still yearned to share her love of books with her children.

RUGUILLES: I mean I read a book a day. I just loved books. But I could not afford to buy that many.

So she reached out to a friend who was a member of a large church with two campuses, three services, and its own library.

RUGUILLES: I went and I said look, I can’t come to this church because my husband is ministering in another church, but boy I would really love access to this beautiful library.

Through a system of referrals, the library director invited Rugullies and her kids to become patrons of Olive Baptist Church Library.

RUGUILLES: Oh, I have startling, clear memories of my first time at Olive Baptist Church. Because it is one of my most precious memories, being a book lover. I was overwhelmed. When I walked in, it was like a dream come true. Things that were older Christian literature, plus the newest things that had just been released. I was just so excited.

That was two decades ago. Since then, Maureen’s youngest two, Elsie and Autumn, have also become book lovers. Today, they’re making their weekly library run.

AUDIO: We’re ready to go? I have actually two Cats in the Hat and I have one Tiger book and it’s about Noah and the Lion’s Den. I think his name was Daniel, baby.

SOUND: [CRANKS CAR AND DRIVES OFF]

The campus of Olive Baptist Church sits on the corner of a busy intersection. At the door, 4-year-old Autumn struggles with her white plastic bag, filled with the books she’s returning.

AUDIO AT CHURCH LIBRARY: Ok, come on. It’s not that heavy… I’m not strong enough.

Once inside, Maureen hands over her special delivery of muffins.

RUGUILLES: Those pumpkin muffins are for you.

The library, now called the Resource Center, is about 3000 square feet of wall to wall books. The lighting is fluorescent and the floor is covered with gray carpet. Little wooden chairs surround a square puzzle table. World globes sit atop bookcases and a huge cross covers most of the wall behind the circulation desk. That’s where Hoyt sits.

AUDIO: You’re checking these in, correct?

Hoyt says the Resource Center looks like a typical library and with 20-thousand books on the shelves, it certainly smells like one. But Hoyt says there is one big difference.

JOAN HOYT: We are not a quiet library. And that’s by design. Well we don’t have the space to be quiet. If we did, the children would be behind glass.

AUDIO: Stella come on, pick up the blocks.

Instead, kids like Autumn play freely with blocks at the puzzle table.

AUDIO: Have you read this one? That was Seth’s favorite.

Teens like Elsie chit-chat between the aisles about the latest offerings.

AUDIO: And that’s how Joy and the geranium lady started turning frowns upside down.

And moms and grannies sit criss cross applesauce reading aloud to their toddlers. Hoyt has been a member of Olive Baptist Church since 1979.

JOAN HOYT: This is a calling. I feel as called to be here as the Pastor does in the pulpit. You’re growing their Christian life. For a child to see the wonders of the world through the library, through the Christian library.

She says the library was established at least 30 years prior to her arrival.

HOYT: I want to say it started in the fifties, Pastor’s secretary at the time started it in the closet.

As the library expanded, Hoyt began serving as a volunteer. Then in 1998 the library’s director resigned.

HOYT: And he said, "Joan why don’t you do it?" And I said, pastor, I’m not qualified. Because I did not have a library degree and I did not have a college degree.

But what she did have was faith.

HOYT: God promised me that if I would take it, he would provide for me. And He has provided for me.

As director, Hoyt has two assistants, all paid positions. It’s what she calls an uncommon commitment from a church.

JOAN HOYT: If a pastor doesn’t support, it’s not going to be. Even though it’s a large church, we have generous people, it takes a lot when you are sending people on missions to bring Christ to them. So for them to realize this is a value to the people here and the people in the community, then, to me, that just blesses my soul.

It’s a blessing she says she never takes for granted.

HOYT: Some churches don’t even have a $500 budget. When we go to library conferences, we see how blessed we are here.

Tomorrow, part two of this story: a trip to a library conference, and why some people say church libraries are vanishing.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Myrna Brown in Pensacola, Florida.

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