When you don’t know, PCPL Reference is the place to go

Banner Graphic/Chelsea Modglin The reference department at the Putnam County Public Library offers patrons help on everything from learning to read to avoiding a scam. From left: Cheryl Hayes, adult literacy coordinator; Ann Provine; Sarah Myers, director; and Wednesday Reese. Not pictured: Kristina Monnett.

Some people say it’s better to start college with an undecided major. It is also better to start research with the reference department at the Putnam County Public Library.

They can tell you what you didn’t know you didn’t know.

All you have to do, if you come in by the main entrance, is to just keep walking straight up and back until you must stop at a desk. That desk is the home of reference.

Four people live there -- Ann Provine (the veteran), Kristina Monnett (an instructor at Ivy Tech) and Wednesday Reese (a recent addition from IU) -- who are led by Sarah Myers (also from IU).

They help with everything from finding books with similar authors, to answering random questions, to knowing scam when they see it, to help with finding long lost friends and relatives, to finding the right government forms and helping you fill them out.

On one bizarre occasion, they went so far as to call the UN to help a student avoid deportation.

“We were on the phone with the UN for several hours,” Myers related. “I had another one, he was not a native speaker and he needed to write a letter to a judge because his car had been impounded and needed to get back to California. So I would type out the letter and read him what was there and have him sign it. We’re sort of a last-ditch effort and they’ve been through all the channels.”

But when they’re not doing any of those things, the reference department runs a small host of programs. Its newest one, PALS (Putnam Adult Literacy Services), is focused on helping people move beyond a fourth-grade reading level for a better future.

“It’s the brainchild of both myself and Barbara Timm (Programming Director),” Myers said. “Two years ago we started looking into a service to help adults who want to read because when you’re an adult and go, ‘I can’t read,’ where do you think to go to? You think to go to your library.”

The library is partnering for the program with other local organizations like the Area 30 Career Center. While some patrons have practical needs (getting a driver’s license or HSE), others’ needs are more emotional.

“It’s that one thing that can help someone make a difference in their life,” Myers said. “There was one man who came in and wanted to be able to read to his daughters because they were getting old enough to read the books, and he couldn’t and that was breaking his heart. So he came in after his factory job once a week and they would work on reading picture books.”

The latest stats for illiteracy in Putnam County are from 2004, and reported 11 percent.

“You can graduate and still be illiterate,” Myers explained. “And you can not graduate and still be able to read and function. It’s very difficult to know.”

PALS has been in the works for some time, but it is finally ready to get on its feet with the recent hire of Cheryl Hayes, adult literacy coordinator. As part of its effort to make readers more comfortable, reference has also created PALS Pups, a group of dogs that love to hear you read to them.

For more information about the reference department at PCPL, contact Myers at smyers@pcpl21.org or 653-2755 ext. 116.

“It’s not because it’s a glamorous job,” Myers said. “You do it because you love it.”