"We're tough girls!"

"We're tough girls" chortled one of my lady-like librarians as she faced her evening shift after a two day blizzard. And indeed we are. In spite a day of shoveling out driveways. In spite of roads still covered in 15-20 inches of snow. In spite of a yearning to cover our heads in our quilts and pillows. A full staff opened the libraries of Campbell County on Day 3 of the blizzard of 2009. Now the city and county tell us that it will be another week before all the roads are cleared, but we "tough girls" showed up with smiles and welcomed library visitors with good cheer.

And there were plenty of visitors -- lots of men snowed out of their construction and mining jobs, lots of small group meetings who had missed their Monday - Tuesday gatherings. Everyone trying to catch-up. And that's one of the reasons the "tough girls" made the effort to get to work. We are needed.

The Post Office has nothing over us. Through rain, sleet and snow, library workers know that we are a necessary service when other organizations are closed -- evenings and weekends we still have a notary service, FAX, copy machines, internet access.

We have free books, magazines, newspapers, videos. We have meeting space, study space, reading space. All the amenities of your office, when you can't get to your office. Those are all reasons the "tough girls" get to work.

We are grateful every day for road workers who clear the main arteries of our community -- and our parking lots. If they were not working all night, we could not open the building to rescue the other stranded residents and visitors.

Spring blizzards are not unusual for us. It a challenge of wit and wills, and the tough girls came through with flying colors -- again.