Historic School House Summer Library

About Deering Public Library

The petition to the Senate and House of Representatives in Portsmouth to incorporate a library in Deering was granted on 6 December 1797.

"To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives in general Court at Portsmouth November 1797 Humbly sheweth [sic], That Robert Alcock Thomas Merrill Thomas Aiken William Forsaith James Sherrier and others their Associates Inhabitants of Deering have purchased a number of Books, for the purpose of a social Library in said Town, but finding it necessary to be Incorporated, in order to realize the advantages thereby Intended, by purchasing books in common, your petitioners therefore pray that they may be Incorporated with such priviledges [sic] as are usually granted in such cases, and they as in duty bound will ever pray
Robert Alcock for himself and Associates"

The Deering Library's Mission is to create a vibrant community center that inspires curiosity, personal growth and opportunities for life-long learning.



To view our policies, agendas and the minutes of trustee meetings please visit the library, or use the link to the Town of Deering website.



Deering Public Library is located in Southwest New Hampshire's glorious Monadnock Region. Deering is a quintessential New England town with a white clapboard church, a town hall at its center and a population of approximately 1800 people. The library is located year round on the second floor of the town hall. Our seasonal school house library is open during the summer.

DOINGS IN THE LITTLE LIBRARY

"What's going on in Deering's Little Library (aka Summer Library)?" If you saw a bid for some painting and other work in the local paper, The Messenger, you might be asking yourself this question.  Know what I"m talking about? It's the cute little one room school house depicted at the top of this blog.  Sorry, I don't know its history except that many of the books it contains are a lot older than I am and the most recent charges of books were around 2005. The poor little place has not gotten a lot of use in recent years. The library trustees have a responsibility for maintaining this little building and, sad to say, it's been neglected. This is the year for some work. We, the trustees, want to get people into our Little Library this summer, but first we need to clean it out, make some space and create a reason to come. Here are some of our plans. First off, there is a lot of 'stuff' in there. Mainly boxes of books, many donated or maybe leftovers from the book sale of two years ago. Assorted papers that don't seem to have much relevance and more furniture than is consistent with a floor space that is little
Inside Deering's Little Library
bigger than a bread box. To begin, we have to clean the place. Get rid all those boxes of books and, while we are at it, clear the shelves of some of the popular fiction that is now quite old. To this end, we have culled a lot of vampire books from Ann Rice and mysteries from Patterson, Truow, and so on. There are also many, many older works of fiction or school books (more than a few works on Latin grammar). These will all be available for purchase at our REALLY BIG book sale, which will be held on 21 June. We will then  have to  physically  clean the room and a date of 8 June has been set for that. Anybody  who wants  to volunteer to join the trustees in this will be welcome, just let us know and we will keep you posted.  The building needs some repairs. Look closely and you will see how much  in need of a paint job it is. Inside there are 'issues' with the ceiling plaster that must be fixed and, in general, the place needs a coat of paint. This explains the request for
Boxes of books and assorted junk in the Little Library
 bids. We hope to have this work completed, or at least the interior work completed by the end of June, in time for the book sale.

We would very much like to have some kind of summer reading program this year. It is critical that kids continue reading and thinking about books during their summer break from school. We know that there has been a reading program at the Little Library in the past but for the past few years there has been none. This year the national cooperative reading program is directed toward Science and we would love to develop something with Science as a theme. This is where we could use your help. Who out there would be interested in, say, a drop in reading program during July and August? What ages are your kids: how can we tailor a program? The program could be as basic as a drop in reading. There are actually quite a lot of interesting books with a science theme, both non fiction and fiction, in the 'main' library and in the Little Library. I've always loved to be read to and can imagine a program where kids read to each other, or report on what they have read to other kids. In the end, if we want to plana reading program we really need to know who would be interested, what age groups. Please contact  a trustee if you are interested, including interested in reading to kids or performing demonstrations as a part of a program.

But in addition to a reading program for kids, we want to open the library one day a week for general use. There are actually a lot of good, old books in there. Classics like James Fennimore Cooper's Leatherstocking Tales, Steinbeck; history; biography, gardening. The books in the Little Library offer a different kind of summer reading, a chance to rediscover authors and re read old favorites. For example, last week I cried at the end of Paul Gallico's 1940 'Snow Goose,' and before that I read a beautifully illustrated and very old book of Oscar Wilde fairy tales. Among the art books is one dedicated to Lotte Jacobi's photographs. Lotte Jacobi was born in Germany and lived and worked in Berlin until about 1935, when she came to the US. She lived and had a studio in Deering.  Her portraits include those of famous artists of the day, such as Paul Robeson, Albert Einstein, and the somewhat less famous children of Roberta and Arthur Walmsley.

We invite you to come in and explore the shelves of the Little Library for yourselves this summer!