60 Years of Library Service: A Conversation with Jean Lythgoe

Jean Lythgoe began her career at Rockford Public Library at just 18 years old. Six decades later, she's become a beloved fixture and true legend of the institution. In this episode, we sit down with Jean to explore how libraries have transformed and her perspective on the importance of libraries today. 

Note: Jean retired shortly before this episode was recorded, capping off an extraordinary 60-year career in public service.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

So if you could go back and give advice to yours to yourself on your first day at the library, well, what would it be?

SPEAKER_00 0:08

Relax. One of my uh supervisors said I'd been there for six months, and it wasn't until I was like really off my probation period that I said anything besides hello and goodbye.

SPEAKER_01 0:44

Get your ears ready. We're here with a local legend and my favorite, Jean Lithko. This year she celebrates her 60-year anniversary at the Rockford Public Library. Jean is a purveyor of local history and has helped Rockford residents find more than just books. She's helped them find belonging. We'll hear her reflections on how libraries have evolved and what it means to devote a lifetime to one place. Whether you're a lifelong library lover or just someone who appreciates a good story, you're in for a treat. Let's begin our conversation with Jean. Let's go. Welcome, Jean.

SPEAKER_00 1:24

Good morning, Laura. Good to see you.

SPEAKER_01 1:26

Good to be with you today. So, one question I had is like, what drew you to the library and what was it like when you first started 60 years ago?

SPEAKER_00 1:39

Well, I was already a library fan. Um early on after we'd moved to Rockford and I was attending grade school, someone from the library came out to talk about the library. And uh I came home and told my folks about it, and I was excited because before we came to Rockford, we'd been living out in the country in another state. And I said, Rockford has something called a public library, and you can check books out for free if you bring them back on time. And for me, that was the magic that is the library, and some of the magic is still there. Uh, and of course, when you're that young, you don't understand about taxes, but it's still, if you live in the city limits, you can get your library card, check your materials out, enjoy them, bring them back for the next guy to enjoy. And it's it's a wonderful concept of sharing.

SPEAKER_01 2:35

So, what year did you start?

SPEAKER_00 2:36

1965. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 2:39

Mid-century. Like it was a different time. Um, so do you remember your first day on the job? And what stands out about that memory?

SPEAKER_00 2:51

Well, I don't remember all of it. I do remember my boss, Miss Helen Norris. Um, when it was time for morning break, she bought me a 10-cent cup of coffee. The uh maintenance crew made the coffee in the morning at that point. And as I said, it was only 10 cents. So she uh she bought me my cup of coffee. Uh when I started, my first supervisor was Polly Saunders. Um, her husband, Fred Saunders, worked in the post office and was, I believe, the first African American to become a foreman of a team in Rockford. And his brother was Joseph Saunders, the uh who published the uh Crusader newspaper.

unknown 3:33

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 3:34

That was pretty, pretty heady stuff. Um but uh my job in technical processes was with the other girls, as we were, uh were to type the catalog cards because we were going to be moving into the edition, which had just been finished, and there would have to be card catalogs on each floor. So we were typing the subject headings for those, and others in the department were typing the new catalog cards for the new materials as well. So basically, I typed seven hours a day, and the eighth hour of my workday, I arranged the cards in alphabetical order after Polly Saunders had proofread them to make sure I had typed them correctly.

SPEAKER_01 4:19

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 4:19

So that's what I did first.

SPEAKER_01 4:21

How many were there more than one branch at the time?

SPEAKER_00 4:26

There were six branches.

SPEAKER_01 4:27

Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_00 4:28

Um, let me see. On the west side, Rockton Center, West End, Montague, on the east side, Highland Branch, Southeast Branch, which eventually becomes Rock River. And we did have a bookmobile back then. Oh, too. Yes, it was one of the big old fashioned bookmobiles, and it was doing pretty well. Although in its later years the brakes got a little wonky, and sometimes the driver would come back with, Well, I was going down the hill on Central Avenue.

SPEAKER_01 5:11

Awesome. So, what are some of the biggest changes that you've seen in the library?

SPEAKER_00 5:17

Well, technology, of course. Um now our catalog is on the computer. People come in and use computers without thinking about it for most people, you know. We still have a few people that they they're they're getting there.

SPEAKER_01 5:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:33

But uh, it's very nice to see that people have become very comfortable with the computers, and we all we all know that it it was a learning curve for everybody in Rockford, so that was kind of fun. And of course, things like podcasts, you know, nothing like that. There were there was a librarian who I think sometimes went to the radio station to record book talks and things like that. So it's kind of like some of the things are similar, we're just using different technology.

SPEAKER_01 6:02

Yeah, it's evolved in a different way. And um, let's see what innovations or programs are you proudest of witnessing?

SPEAKER_00 6:14

I think one of the things that impressed me the most, uh, starting in 1996 when Illinois started the library systems.

SPEAKER_01 6:22

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 6:22

And we were, of course, at that point part of the Northern Illinois library system. And there were probably eight to ten systems without within the state, I believe. We could borrow from within the system and we could borrow further apart, further afield for interlibrary loan if we needed to. And it has grown over the years to the extent that the systems have combined.

SPEAKER_03 6:48

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 6:49

And so now it's Rails reading across Illinois libraries, and we can all still borrow from each other, and that's exciting too.

SPEAKER_01 6:57

Yeah, that's so interesting. So uh if not a library can't hold every book that's printed. So the Rails helps in tran like if you've ever done an interlibrary loan. If people don't know what an interlibrary loan is, would you share?

SPEAKER_00 7:17

Uh it's it's a wonderful service. And and yes, I use it a lot too. Uh we can't, no library can have the entire collection of the world. Uh, but very often another library 200 miles away downstate might have the book you're looking for. You can fill out your interlibrary loan request. You can phone us, uh, and we'll do it over the phone. You can show up in person and we can start the pay, I'd say start the paperwork, start the work on the computer. And uh then the request is set out. And if there's a library that has the book and is willing to lend it, they'll send it up to Rockford. Uh the length of the loan is dependent on that lending library. Well, it is their book, you know. So you usually have two or three weeks to read it, and uh it's a great way to uh utilize our our tax dollars wisely.

SPEAKER_01 8:12

Yes. I and I remember being like looking through our catalog and like, oh my goodness, I I can't find the book that I want. And then I learned about the interlibrary loan, and I just I've started to, I have so many that I've gotten from just usually it's like those one-off like gardening books or right, yes, or the third book in the series that's missing from our library. Um so in your years, do you hear, do you have a story, a favorite story about helping a patron or something that comes to mind, like in what ways um well the this one is a little bit weird.

SPEAKER_00 8:59

Um this is a his local history question. Uh back in the oh golly, in the 1800s, we've we've late 1800s, early 1900s, we've seen photographs, early 1900s, of the uh riverside of the Carnegie Library. And then down at the foot of Mulberry Street, just before it hits the river, uh, there was what was a Civil War cannon. It was called a parrot cannon, I believe after probably a general or something like that. Anyhow, one day somebody who's a local historian said to me, So what do you think ever happened to that parrot cannon? And I said, I don't know. Um there's, you know, it's it probably disappeared during World War II when they were collecting metal for the govern for the government war for the war effort. So some time went on, and we both learned over the years that uh that it at one point it had been moved up to uh the east side of Memorial Hall and was up there for a while. And then 10 years later, from your initial question, I was looking up something else, and right next to the column of the article I was actually looking at was something about the cannon being taken for the war expert. So I called, so I called him up and said, Hey, guess what? I finally found the answer. And I wasn't even looking for it. And that's what happens when you're doing research. You go, oh, thank goodness I remembered who who wanted to know that.

SPEAKER_01 10:43

Yeah. Yeah. So is that as you know, your job has evolved. Yes. So you are now mostly in local history. Right. So what are the aspects of local history? Like, can you share what local history is and what you enjoy or love about it?

SPEAKER_00 11:01

Well, it's it's going to be specific to Rockford and Winnebago County with a little bit about Stevenson and Boone County. And both of those uh counties, for example, the Freeport Library uh in Stevenson County has a wonderful local history genealogy collection. So we don't have to have a lot of what they would have, but we have little bits. And the same with Boone County because they've got the Boone County Museum and things like that. But uh so it's going to be specific to the county. Uh I mean, generally speaking, the the history goes back into the recorded history goes back into like the 1830s or so, when you have uh the Black Hawk War, you have Germanicus Kent, Lewis Lemon, and Thatcher Blake coming to Rockford in 1834, the county being formed in 1836. This little town halfway between Chicago and Galena, where all the Galena lead mines were, uh, was calling itself Midway. And then they decided maybe that's not very dignified, and they named it Rockford instead because of the ford where you could cross the river. And then uh later on they put the dam right where the ford was because they knew it was a solid bottom.

SPEAKER_01 12:26

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 12:26

And and now it's exciting to learn that there's a I guess they're gonna try for a hydro project uh at the dam and and try and uh use it to uh electricity for the down the some of the city, some of the homes in the downtown area. So it'd be interesting to see if that could comes to fruition.

SPEAKER_01 12:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:46

So things come around again in Rockford a lot too.

SPEAKER_01 12:50

Yeah, and I've and I love going to you and being like, so what was here? I think a some of the staff know to go to you and ask you, because there the homes here are like they're still, they haven't been renovated a lot of them. And um you are able to find out who owned them before.

SPEAKER_00 13:15

And yeah, we we have things like we have Rockford City Directories back to 1857. So it sometimes it takes a little digging in the older ones because there's no house numbers, people. You have to uh backtrack and use other sources, including the digitized version of the newspaper news bank, which you can use here in the library, or with your Rockford Public Library card, you can do it at home and have lots of fun falling down rabbit holes. So there's a lot of good information out there that can be found. Um, we have a subscription for use in the library for ancestry.com, so people can work on their genealogy as well. And we we help people with they'll hit a brick wall or they'll have a question and or they'll go, where was Pete Street? What is Peach Street? Well, I'll tell you what, Peach Street is now called West Jefferson Street.

SPEAKER_01 14:08

Oh, so interesting.

SPEAKER_00 14:10

So there's lots of streets that uh the names were changed, and you get to learn that too.

SPEAKER_01 14:16

Yeah, I I always think of you and the other local history staff as detectives. We are always sleuthing, always discovering, um, just putting puzzles together of Rockford's past. So that's I've always admired that about you guys.

SPEAKER_00 14:39

Well, we get to have a lot of fun doing it. I mean, it's it's sometimes it's frustrating where you go, we should we should be able to find the answer to this. And we have maps, of course.

SPEAKER_01 14:50

So yes. So, in with your perspective, what role do you think libraries should play in today's ever evolving society?

SPEAKER_00 15:02

Well, I think we still have a very important role to play. Um, first of all, I I've often thought a lot of what libraries are about is sharing information. And you're sharing information either by books, you're sharing knowledge as well. Um, and that's the whole point of it. You share it. You check out your materials, you bring them back. The next person gets to read that. That's called sharing in my book.

SPEAKER_03 15:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:30

And it's a wonderful way for people that you don't always know who's going to be the next person reading their book, but you might run into them later on and say, Hey, I read, I read this series at the library. They go, Oh, I do too. And the next thing you know, you're talking about it. But I think you can use that information not only for personal enjoyment, but uh a new recipe that might just make everybody happy, especially ones with chocolate in them. Uh learning about what has to be done around the city, things that need fixing, you know, and people being able to help out and share. And we all want to be nice if we could all get along. It'd be that'd be fun. That'd be another little another part of library sharing.

SPEAKER_01 16:14

Yes. And I like the whole idea of like sharing is community building. It is. Like I've always enjoyed our conversations about recipes. What and I've all am like, oh, what but like for being me being able to see um the books that are on hold, I'm like, dang, Jean's got all the good ones. So I've always been taking photos of the books that you have on hold because I'm like, okay, I gotta put in my well there there's some, there's some, there's a still a lot of wonderful writing being done out there these days.

SPEAKER_00 16:54

Yes, yes. And you're on top of it. Well, sometimes. Maybe when I since I'm retiring, I might have a chance to be more on top of it. I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 17:04

And there's this one thing you've I I've heard you share about like diversifying your genres of reading. Um do you want to share that? Like how like I feel like it you've said something to where it helps shape our mind.

SPEAKER_00 17:21

And I don't well, I th I I think it does. Um I I I know it, I feel it reading uh particularly if you're reading history or about the culture in other countries, it's kind of it's not the same as actually traveling and going to it, but it's a lot of fun because you get to learn it, or as I like to say, you can go traveling in your armchair and there's no mosquitoes. You know, so it it helps understanding how and why people do things. And that's that's true also if you were say doing genealogy research in that um they say read when you know the period of time when your ancestors came over, read a history book of that time period. Find out what was going in that going on in that country. Uh lots of times young men came to America because otherwise they would be drafted into their European uh army, whatever country it was, and some of those countries, their draft was 25 years. Oh wow, you know, and the chances of a soldier surviving that long weren't very good.

SPEAKER_01 18:32

Yeah. I yeah, so that's really interesting because like context is everything. Right. So it's like you can't you can't just say like this time period versus this our current time period are the same. It's like this completely different mindset. Right. So yeah. Um so what does it mean to you to have spent 60 years in one place?

SPEAKER_00 19:00

I can't believe it happened. I I I will tell you a story that I've probably told far too often. Uh when I started here, the personnel clerk came around and explained after I'd worked at the library for eight years, I would be vested in the retirement fund. Well, when you're 18, that doesn't mean a lot of anything. But I did thank her politely, and my brain was going, how could anyone possibly work in the same place for eight years?

SPEAKER_01 19:30

So what kept you here?

SPEAKER_00 19:34

Um, I think the people, the questions, you know, it's it's it's been a good place to work, you know, and people are respectful of each other, and that's important too.

SPEAKER_01 19:44

Yeah, that's awesome. So if you could go back and give advice to yours to yourself on your first day at the library, well, what would it be?

SPEAKER_00 19:54

Relax. But one of my uh supervisors said I'd been there for six months, and it wasn't until I was like really off my probation period that I said anything besides hello and goodbye.

SPEAKER_01 20:13

So um were you nervous that day or or just oh of course, yeah. And like how old were you? Like, do you 18. Okay. And so was it, I think, is it a time when a lot of women were out there working, or is it was it Oh yes.

SPEAKER_00 20:35

Okay, it was it was well accepted by then. Okay. My mother and my two aunts both worked before they were married.

SPEAKER_01 20:45

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 20:46

So I already knew that there was a generation ahead of me that was you just you just did that.

SPEAKER_01 20:51

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_00 20:52

You you got out of school and you went to work.

unknown 20:54

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 20:55

Cool. Um, so what has been a memorable, like we love your recommendation, a book recommendation. What's been a memorable book that you've read this past year?

SPEAKER_00 21:08

Well, there's been a lot, but uh I think one of the ones, well, there's one I'm currently rereading on a regular basis. It's called Through a Stranger's Eyes. It's by Will Bonsel. It's set in a post-apocalyptic world where the country he goes to, Hesperia, is sort of the one utopian country in the rest of a dystopian world. So, and they uh use solar and wind power. They're vegan.

SPEAKER_03 21:45

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 21:46

Uh they're uh and uh they have you don't just have rules set down on high, you have consensus. Everybody has to agree to the rules before they can actually put the rules. Rules into effect. So it's it's it's it's a fun book, and so and there's a lot of sharing in that book, so that's probably why I like it.

SPEAKER_01 22:09

Oh, that's so yeah. Post-apocalyptic, yeah, things change. Yep. Um so what's been your favorite section of the library?

SPEAKER_00 22:22

Oh, there's so many. Um I'm a big fan of mystery books, um, cookbooks, gardening, history, of course. You know, those are some of the major ones, but I I read others too. So uh there's a lot of really good writing these days in the young adults section.

SPEAKER_01 22:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:43

And I'm enjoying some of their books as well.

SPEAKER_01 22:47

I love that you read so many genres and that you're you're in step with everything that's going on, and I and I feel really behind.

SPEAKER_00 23:00

I think you're I think you're doing fine, really, really.

SPEAKER_01 23:05

So is you know, as we wrap up our time, is there anything else you'd like to share to the Rockford community?

SPEAKER_00 23:16

Well, I think that libraries are all about sharing knowledge and information, and I think we need to avail ourselves of the wonderful services we have. A lot of our databases you can read at home, and you know, whether you're working on getting yourself a job or you're wanting to know more about the makerspace or the digital uh fan that we have nowadays, those that's all things to help help us learn more so that we can help other people as well. And I'm hoping we can all share things and work together as a community and that things go well.

SPEAKER_01 23:54

Yeah. Thanks, Jean. I I really enjoyed having you. I'm glad I got this chance to like ask you all these fun questions.

SPEAKER_00 24:02

Well, thank you, Laura.

SPEAKER_01 24:06

So um, thank you so much for sharing your time and your stories and your journey with us today. And it's rare to meet someone who's given so much of their life to one place, and even rarer to hear from someone who's done it with so much heart. So I appreciate you. And I I just remember like the when I first started at the library and I heard about you, and you're so easy to talk to. And we and our conversation probably started mostly um in the beginning with gardening. Probably. So I'm gonna really miss you. I'm so hold on.

SPEAKER_00 24:51

It's okay. Well, I'm going to miss all the wonderful people that work here, and I'm gonna miss some of the reference questions. But I'm going to get to be a library user. I mean, I've always been a library user, but I'll be able to come in and look at the new books and say, oh, I want to take that one.

unknown 25:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:12

So just so glad to have this moment with you. And so wish you the best with your retirement.

SPEAKER_00 25:22

Well, thank you very much. I it's gonna be different, that's all I know.

SPEAKER_01 25:26

I'm gonna miss visiting you as much as I do on a daily basis. So wishing you the best, and thank you all for listening.