A glimpse inside the Fayetteville Library

By Debbie Upson, reporter

If your mind can flip open history’s pages to the 1930s and see into those images filled with shanty towns, withering crops, and the blank-eyed stares of hunger, then you can grasp the teenaged world of American fiction writer Ray Bradbury. With empty pockets but an unyielding determination to learn, Bradbury was often found educating himself in the public library until he said he had read every book on its shelves. For any modern-day Bradburys who are willing to go beyond the ordinary and possess the same insatiable desire to learn, the Fayetteville Public Library goes far beyond the dusty pages of Bradbury’s age.

In the FPL’s Center for Innovation, you can slip inside the enclosed cockpit of an FAA-approved Redbird flight simulator, use 3D printing to replace your lost Monopoly game pieces in the Fabrication and Robotics lab or grab the controls on the Caterpillar backhoe simulator. If the backhoe doesn’t interest you, you can learn to drive a forklift, a commercial truck, or your first “car.”

Kathleen Lehman, the library’s circulation manager, said all current NorthWest Arkansas Community College students, regardless of where they live, can get a free card. “The main point is that you are an NWACC student,” she said. She confirmed that even NWACC students who live in a neighboring state like Missouri are eligible. The policy on the FPL’s website states that “students enrolled in schools, colleges, and universities in Fayetteville and students enrolled at Northwest Arkansas Community College” are eligible for a free card. Lauren Hosteter, a recent graduate of the University of Arkansas returning for a second degree, said she easily obtained a card even though she lives in Benton County.

This card offers access to resources not available in many libraries. The Center for Innovation doesn’t stop with multiple simulator, fabrication and robotics opportunities. It also hosts a full video production suite complete with Black Magic cinema cameras, switchers, teleprompters, professional-level lighting, green screens, audio mixers, microphones, and a computer reserved for video editing. It boasts a complete photography studio with mirrorless Canon R mount camera equipment, lighting, backdrops, light meters, tripods and lightboxes. There is also a high-end audio studio where aspiring musicians can record their next chart-topper. Bryant Herrera, an employee at the Center for Innovation, said a band came into the facility and recorded both the audio and video tracks for their music video right there in the library. The FPL also offers a podcast booth and a Mac lab with software such as Adobe Creative Cloud. There is even a virtual reality studio. Amanda Johnson, the simulated learning coordinator at the FPL, said they are working on using the VR studio to allow patrons to visit places like museums and do 3D sculpting, which could be printed on the library’s 3D printers.

Some of the equipment in the CFI has an age requirement. Patrons need to be 15 years of age to use the simulators and the audio and video studios. But Herrera said all the resources in the CFI are free except for things such as filament for the 3D printers and materials like wood for some of the other equipment in the fabrication and robotics lab.

The Center for Innovation, located on the first floor, is just one section of the library. The FPL has many more areas and resources available. There are programs such as Maker to Market, Level-Up Skills Development and the True-Lit literary program. The library also offers areas for art exhibitions, a genealogy section, and even a teaching kitchen. Many libraries host isolated events here and there, but not this one; FPL’s calendar usually has multiple events every day. From a critique group for fiction writers to Yoga classes, their calendar is not empty. Bradbury may not have mentioned if his library had a deli, but this one does. It also has an Arsaga’s coffee shop for those who crave a quick snack. The online menu says the shop has everything from salted maple caramel latte to made-from-scratch coconut vanilla bean ice cream. And you don’t even have to leave the library.

In “Ray Bradbury, the Art of Fiction, No. 203,”Bradbury is quoted as saying, “Before I fell in love with libraries, I was just a six-year-old boy. The library fueled all my curiosities, from dinosaurs to ancient Egypt.” NWACC students who would like to spark the love of learning in their children may be interested in programs like 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten or Baby Bookworms. There are separate preschool and grade school libraries and after-school workshops on topics such as acting and solar science. The library offers homework help and, sometimes, bottle rockets in the craft room. And if you look in the right spot, the grade school library even has real fishing poles.

For those in high school, the library offers ACT prep classes, a teen math club, a writer’s club, and the event calendar even lists a laser lab. There is an entire section of the library just for teens. Next to shelves of books, stacks of board games, and comfy tables and chairs just for them, there is a dedicated gaming space that houses a Nintendo Switch, an Xbox, and a PlayStation. Annie Simon, an employee who works in the teen area, said that teens don’t have to have their own card to use these facilities. They can use the gaming room and teen resources with a parent’s card.

Another resource offered by the FPL is access to thousands of online educational videos at LinkedIn Learning. For those interested in additional creative, business, and technology skills, LinkedIn Learning offers classes such as Creating a Responsive Web Design, Learning Python and Corporate Finance Statement Analysis. There are videos on mastering job interview questions, learning Adobe InDesign, AutoCAD electrical training and real estate contracts. LinkedIn Learning normally requires a paid monthly subscription, but the FPL provides this service for its patrons at no charge. Lehman said students who just want to use the online resources like LinkedIn Learning can apply for an iCard online without ever coming to Fayetteville.

For NWACC students interested in a physical card, Lehman said they need to bring their student ID and a government-issued photo ID. “A driver’s license is great,” she said. Lehman added that she is not sure how many NWACC students have gotten physical cards, but she said she knows they have had some. Hosteter said she brought her University of Arkansas student ID and driver’s license, and it only took a couple of minutes to get her card.

In an interview with Sam Weller, Bradbury once said,“With the library, it’s like catnip, I suppose: you begin to run in circles because there’s so much …” Bradbury never received any formal education above the high school level. With just the education he received on his own in that Great Depression-era public library, he was able to become such a writer that the Pulitzer Prize Board awarded him a special citation “for his distinguished, prolific and deeply influential career as an unmatched author of science fiction and fantasy.” And in the CBC News article titled “Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 finally an e-book” the author said just one of his books, “Fahrenheit 451,” sold more than 10 million copies and has been translated into 33 languages. The Fayetteville Public Library’s vision is to empower the community through free and accessible knowledge, even those with empty pockets like the teenaged Bradbury.