FORT RILEY, Kan. -- There isn't a month that goes by something family-friendly and fun isn't going on at the Fort Riley Post Library. From parties to story time and movie night, as well as many things in between, staff there work to keep the library a place of comfort and care. Those events and the environment would not be possible without the hard work and dedication of Terri Seaman, contract manager at the Fort Riley Post Library.
Seaman began working at the library in 1999 as a clerk. At the time, she said, the number of patrons they had was low. Upon seeing how ambitious Seaman was, the head librarian at the time tasked her with the challenge of increasing the number of patrons who visit the library.
"When I first got here, I was a clerk and the library patronage was like 200 a month and my boss at the time, the head librarian, said 'how can we get patronage up?'" Seaman said. "So she kind of tasked me with that. And I thought let's start getting people know were here for one … We need to get people in here to know that there's a library, to know where we are and to bring patronage up."
Story time born
That's when Seaman came up with the idea of story time.
"We started doing a small event -- we started doing story time," she said. "That got people in, and then I got the contract for the library and was actually in charge of library as a whole and I'm like 'we need to step up our game. We need to get everybody on Fort Riley onboard and seeing what we have.'"
Story time turned into a hit, drawing families with young children in for a time of imagination and play. From there, Seaman developed a movie night where families could come in and enjoy a family-friendly movie and snacks.
"Then we involved movie night and that was a once a month event showing a movie, letting the kids and families come in, watch the movie and get popcorn and something to drink and then watch a kid friendly movie," she said. "And it was free. Everything at the library is free."
Seaman continued to push herself and her team to come up with more ideas for patrons of the library. One month they were short on movie night options, so the first what would be a regular tradition came to fruit -- the library party. In 2003, Seaman and her staff put together the first library party to include a visit from Santa Claus.
"We decided, 'well, it's Christmas, let's go ahead and have Santa Claus come,'" she said. "So we did that and then it was such a hit that we just started going with that. Going with story time every week, a movie every month and then a party every month."
Today, story time, movie night and library parties are regular events. Seaman said she and her team brainstorm ideas for themes and activities and bring them to life. Without her staff, she wouldn't be able to do it, she said.
During some events at the library, patrons can find notes tucked away in books and hidden about the facility. These notes lead to free prizes such as an extra movie to check out or a candy bar, Seaman said. It's just one more way she and the staff try to add a little more joy to the library.
"We had little golden tickets for a while when it was Willy Wonka's birthday," she said. "Every now again we'll just hide something in there (inside a book) and you just bring it up and get something special -- an extra movie for that month, a candy or something … We're always looking for something new and interesting to do here to involved the patrons."
Seaman focused on creating family-friendly events and activities geared toward younger children because she said she didn't see enough on the installation for them to do.
"For the adults, you have all the bowling and that kind of stuff," she said. "For the single Soldiers you have the Warrior Zone. Teens you have (Child and Youth Services), but for the smaller kids and the young families, there really wasn't anything out there for them to do and there really wasn't anything out there for them to do for free."
A Place of learning
However, the library isn't about kids and families alone. She and staff members work hard to help each patron with everything from education needs to leisure reads, and even provide a shoulder to lean on and ear to listen.
"If you don't know and you can't Google it, then come to the library and we'll tell you everything we know and find out about it and put you on the path to find out everything you need to know," Seaman said. "We do proctoring, so we spend usually spring and late winter doing a lot of that."
Seaman recalled a patron she once had who came in focused on education. She said he was a young Soldier working on his degree and he made ample use of the resources available to him there. Seaman would try to coax him into finding a book to read for enjoyment, but he always declined. When he received orders for a deployment, she told him she would put together a care package of books for him to read. He'd finally agreed on some leisure reading.
Each week she would receive an email from him as he finished another book and he wrote her a list of other books he would like to check out and read when he got back.
"He would email me back because we gave him our military email and he was like, 'oh, this is really good. When I come back, I want to read this and this,'" Seaman said. "He ended up sending me an email toward the end that had a list of like 15 books on it that he wanted to read when he got back."
But that day never came. With a shaky breath, Seaman said he was killed in action. It's patrons like that Soldier who make her job worth it. The emotional connection and closeness she develops with those he visit the library is part of what drives her.
"Then one (of the members) of his unit came back and said that he had been killed in the war," she said. "You get so attached to some of our patrons. I mourned that young man because I knew him."
It's those close connections, regardless of if they're joyful or painful, that drive Seaman to do what she does. She said she wants to turn libraries into safe, comfortable environments for everyone to enjoy. Even during her vacations, she visits other libraries to see what they're doing to make the area more inviting, so she can get ideas for the Fort Riley Post Library.
A Family environment
"Somebody who has never set foot in a library can come in here and they won't be judged and they won't be looked at any differently than somebody coming in here with several Ph.Ds," Seaman said. "I want them to come in here and say, 'hey, I found what I needed to find. The staff was helpful.'
"You get so involved with them that they stop being patrons and they just become an extension of your family and to me, that's what the library is. It's just an extension of my family. Most of my clerks and librarians have been with me since I got the contract."
Seaman views her staff as part of her family too, she said.
And for Courtney Winton, library clerk, that feeling is mutual. She said Seaman supports the entire staff and pushes them to aspire to be more, but doing it by example rather than force or requirement.
"She makes you want to do better," she said. "She makes you feel like you can do anything."
Winton said seeing how hard Seaman works and how willing she is to tackle any challenge has helped to inspire her to better herself. She added the environment of comfort Seaman creates for patrons of the library extends to the staff too.
"She's always making sure we feel safe," Winton said.
That's exactly what Seaman wants too, she said.
"Let the kids see the library as a fun place to be -- it's not intimidating, it's not scary," she said. "You're not going to be shushed like the school libraries a lot of the times … Here the kids can (be) kids. They can make noise. They can go in the children's room -- sit down, read to each other and have fun.'
"And that's what the library should be. It should be a fun place to learn and find the things they want to do and find the information that they need … We want the library to be a fun place and everybody to be comfortable. It's not an intimidating place."
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