NMSU Offers Safe, Calm Reading
GRANTS, NM – The New Mexico State University – Grants library may be one of the most under-utilized assets in the City of Grants. More than 35,000 physical books and seventy-one databases fill this beautiful and very quiet tuckaway in Martinez Hall on the campus located at 1500 N. Third Street. Librarian Nathan Franklin explained that “Anyone can use the library. You need to be a resident of Cibola County and have a photo ID. That’s all that you need to get an account. You can check out 15 items at a time for one month. Anyone can use the computers. They’re all set up on a public account. No password required.” If a person sets up an account in the business office, a printer can be used.
According to Library Assistant, Kaci Bratzl, “We get about two to eight people visiting per day. About half are students and half are community members.” In order to draw more folks in, the library has created an open mic poetry event every first Friday of the month beginning at 5 pm. Aspiring poets are invited to share their work with a live audience. On the second Thursday of each month at 12:30 pm in the Cyber Cafe just down the hall from the library is Trivia, a fun lunch time event to test random knowledge on just about anything, not necessarily books.
Despite the fact that the library doesn’t see heavy traffic, Mr. Franklin is not deterred, and in fact has created a new anime collection as well as a Southwest collection. “We’re always open to recommendations from people. Every month or so I try to add half a dozen books that are fairly contemporary. We do have a comment card and just verbal recommendations. It’s pretty informal, and I’m able to grant a lot of requests.”
Franklin arrived in Grants in December of 2021 after apprenticing at four different libraries in Colorado Springs. The NMSU Grants Library is his fifth library and his fifteenth year of library work after receiving his MLS (Master’s in Library Science) at the Pratt Institute in NYC. “This is definitely a change. This is the first small city that I’ve lived in,” Franklin said. “What I’ve learned here is that it’s really about wordof- mouth. You build connections with people and slowly things come together.” Franklin realized pretty quickly that just sending out a digital message like he would in a larger community is not what would bring people in. He had to build oneon- one relationships.
“As a kid, I wanted to be an inventor. That’s what I used to tell people, but I’ve always loved books. I used to memorize books and recite them. When I started high school, I lived too far from the bus route, so I’d have to wait a couple of hours to be picked up. I’d hang out at the library and read,” Franklin said. In college he majored in English and began his love affair with the library system.
One of the newest projects that the library team is working on is creating a music room/recording studio. Franklin, who has been a classical guitarist for thirty years, would train people on the basics of recording, so that they could create a digital demo. “It’s a way to introduce something new into the library, and everyone jumps at the idea.” He also foresees the space as a place where a musician could offer lessons to community members. The recording lab/music room project should be complete in approximately one year.
Another upcoming project he is creating is a digital database of a collection of topographical and historic maps. This large collection of fragile maps have been in an outof- the-way storage area, and Franklin wants to bring them into the light to share with the public.
“This library has been designated by the County as the repository library,” Franklin said. “This is the one place in the county that houses New Mexico government documents. These items are not for check out, but they’re here for research. That has probably been forgotten by a lot of people.”
The NMSU Grants Library is open to the public Monday - Thursday from 8-6 and Friday from 8-5.