Hastings Children’s Library manager Pauline Crouch has retired after 40 years’ service. I spoke to her about her decades of experience and plans for the future.
| Three generations of Hastings children have come through the doors of the Children’s Library since Pauline Crouch began working there in the 1970s. Some people Pauline signed up as toddlers now bring their own children and grandchildren to the library. I can see one of the reasons they kept coming back: Pauline’s enthusiasm is infectious. Her eyes twinkle as she recalls the events she’s run over the years. “One of my favourites was the ‘Libraries are Magic’ day I put on about ten years ago,” she says. “There were competitions all day, craft workshops, a Harry Potter family quiz with a Harry lookalike, magic show, puppet show and a fancy dress parade.” Pauline also used to run trips to Bodiam and Pevensey castles during the summer holidays, with author talks, craft workshops, face painting and high-energy games. “My abiding memories are of struggling to put up gazebos in the pouring rain, wearing publicity t-shirts several sizes too big and screaming maniacally at over-excited children playing parachute games!” Pauline shows me a photo of herself dressed up as the Good Fairy from the children’s book Little Rabbit Foo Foo. “Scarily, this is probably how I will be best remembered!” she says. This is hardly the stereotypical image of a stern librarian, hushing and tutting children into meek silence. It’s clear from the passion she exudes that library work was Pauline’s vocation - although she laughed when, in 1971, a careers adviser told her as much. “I didn’t believe them at the time!” But after completing her A-levels, Pauline began working as a library assistant. A couple of years later she got a job in the Children’s Library, and there she remained until 2015. |  Pauline as the Good Fairy from Little Rabbit Foo Foo - with cake!  One of Pauline's mice - with cake! I sense a theme here. |
Forty years of change: fun, filing and funding
So, what’s changed over the years? For a start, Pauline has noticed a dramatic shift in the reading habits of her young customers. “Reading used to be one of their main sources of entertainment, but now there are so many other things to do.” Children also demand more from story time. “Someone sitting on a chair reading a pile of picture books doesn’t cut it any more,” she smiles. “That’s why I was always trying to include other activities, games, crafts - something to catch their attention.” But children still come to the library, and Pauline believes that one thing has remained constant: everyone loves a good story.
Library work has also changed considerably since the 1970s. Back then, the Children’s Library didn’t open until after school hours. “People often wonder what I did during the day, but you have to remember that everything was done manually back then,” Pauline explains. “Placing reservations was time consuming and keeping the catalogue up to date was a laborious task. Each book had its own numbered card and it all had to be filed - accurately! - by hand. If one card was out of place it took hours of searching customers’ tickets to sort out the mistake.” When the first computer system arrived, staff spent days sticking barcodes into books. At the end of each day, lending data was recorded onto a spool of tape and sent off to the main computer, which Pauline recalls “looked like a big washing machine.”
Funding levels for the library have dipped and peaked over the last few decades, too. “There have been good times with plenty of funding to promote reading to children of different ages,” Pauline tells me. Hastings Children’s Library has also been fortunate to have a separate location since 1979, which has meant more space and flexibility for activities. “But with every tough time, we’ve had to reduce activities and services,” notes Pauline. “And I’ve never witnessed it as bad as it is now.” Are the current restructures and cuts one of the reasons she’s leaving? “The honest truth is that I probably wouldn’t have retired quite this early had the situation not been changing at work,” Pauline tells me. “But the job brought me a lot of satisfaction and pleasure and now I am about to embark on another adventure.”
Library work has also changed considerably since the 1970s. Back then, the Children’s Library didn’t open until after school hours. “People often wonder what I did during the day, but you have to remember that everything was done manually back then,” Pauline explains. “Placing reservations was time consuming and keeping the catalogue up to date was a laborious task. Each book had its own numbered card and it all had to be filed - accurately! - by hand. If one card was out of place it took hours of searching customers’ tickets to sort out the mistake.” When the first computer system arrived, staff spent days sticking barcodes into books. At the end of each day, lending data was recorded onto a spool of tape and sent off to the main computer, which Pauline recalls “looked like a big washing machine.”
Funding levels for the library have dipped and peaked over the last few decades, too. “There have been good times with plenty of funding to promote reading to children of different ages,” Pauline tells me. Hastings Children’s Library has also been fortunate to have a separate location since 1979, which has meant more space and flexibility for activities. “But with every tough time, we’ve had to reduce activities and services,” notes Pauline. “And I’ve never witnessed it as bad as it is now.” Are the current restructures and cuts one of the reasons she’s leaving? “The honest truth is that I probably wouldn’t have retired quite this early had the situation not been changing at work,” Pauline tells me. “But the job brought me a lot of satisfaction and pleasure and now I am about to embark on another adventure.”
A new chapter, a new adventure
For Pauline, this adventure includes time painting in the little studio at the bottom of her garden. She cites Helen Oxenbury, Michael Foreman, Inga Moore and Barbara Firth as influences, and she hangs Quentin Blake illustrations on her walls. Pauline is also inspired by the natural landscape, getting out for long walks around Hastings and the “truly wild” places of the Peak District and Yorkshire when she can. Her pencil and watercolour illustrations appear in Glenda Quinnell’s The Tooth Recycler, as well as Pauline’s own Find and Seek Trails, a series of Hastings walks with clues and puzzles for children to solve. She is typically modest about her publications, but they have been popular among customers. Her sweet pictures of mice are also much-loved by her friends and colleagues, who hope she can find a publisher for them. Pauline also has plans for art shows, craft projects and charity events.
But the Hastings Children’s Library will always hold a special place in her heart. Pauline still remembers the shiver of excitement she felt when she first picked up The Snowman by Raymond Briggs back in 1978. “At that moment I just knew that sharing the love of stories and illustrations with children, being able to encourage them to read for pleasure and introducing them to new authors and illustrators was what I wanted to do. Imagination fuels discovery, invention and creativity. That’s why the library service is so vital. It’s not just about the books, but the expertise, the encouragement, the enthusiasm you find there.” Indeed, I think. These are qualities Pauline has in abundance.
I ask Pauline if she has a message for all the people she’s inspired over the years. “Where did all the time go and how can I possibly be old enough to even contemplate it?” she says. “Thank you to everyone, staff and customers, who have made my almost forty years at the Children’s Library so wonderful. I hope I have instilled a passion for stories in several generations of children. Keep reading, everyone!”
But the Hastings Children’s Library will always hold a special place in her heart. Pauline still remembers the shiver of excitement she felt when she first picked up The Snowman by Raymond Briggs back in 1978. “At that moment I just knew that sharing the love of stories and illustrations with children, being able to encourage them to read for pleasure and introducing them to new authors and illustrators was what I wanted to do. Imagination fuels discovery, invention and creativity. That’s why the library service is so vital. It’s not just about the books, but the expertise, the encouragement, the enthusiasm you find there.” Indeed, I think. These are qualities Pauline has in abundance.
I ask Pauline if she has a message for all the people she’s inspired over the years. “Where did all the time go and how can I possibly be old enough to even contemplate it?” she says. “Thank you to everyone, staff and customers, who have made my almost forty years at the Children’s Library so wonderful. I hope I have instilled a passion for stories in several generations of children. Keep reading, everyone!”
Addendum, November 2018: Sadly, Pauline died this month. She will be missed.
Thank you to Pauline for sharing her story! A shorter version of this article titled "New chapter for librarian Pauline" first appeared in Hastings Independent, Issue 29, 1 May 2015, page 11.
RSS Feed
