Miller dons Boston Marathon sneakers to support the library

Jak Miller started working at the Hopkinton Public Library last June, becoming the Young Adult Librarian in November. Since then, Miller has fallen in love with the library so much that she volunteered to run this month’s Boston Marathon to raise money for her relatively new workplace.

“It’s where my daughter attends all these young children’s programs, and it gives her the opportunity to socialize and start her reading journey,” Miller said. “I wanted to give back to something that touches everyone in the community, not just small parts.”

Libraries have been no exception to the impact of the pandemic. However, Miller believes libraries have changed for the better.

“Libraries used to be a meeting place, but now they have started to help the community in a very different way: by providing copying service, internet access, access to documents when people could not come and collect books, relying on librarians for references, getting factual information about news because there was so much going on at the time,” Miller said. transformed only realized how necessary they are.”

Beth Mezitt, president of the Friends of the Hopkinton Public Library, was particularly supportive of Miller’s candidacy for the library.

“A lovely person,” Mezitt said of Miller. “She’s young, she’s full of energy and ideas for kids, and I think with her background, she’s going to be very helpful for teenagers.”

Mezitt also reiterated Miller’s assertion of the importance of the library to all members of the community.

“At the library, our group organizes a special conversation circle for English language learners. We had a group of people who want to practice English and they come from all over the world – from Brazil, from China, from Egypt,” Mezitt said. “We are very proud of the library’s efforts to respond to the changing population in Hopkinton. We have so many more people from other countries, and it was a joy to learn about them, to have displays in the lobby demonstrating special events or customs from different cultures.

The Friends of Hopkinton Public Library additionally offers Adventure Passes, a program that provides community members with free or discounted passes to cultural enrichment opportunities such as museums, art galleries, Audubon sites and other outdoor events.

Miller also highlighted how the Hopkinton Public Library offers unique resources for young adults.

“We have a very diverse collection of material specifically for this age group, from graphic novels to manga to all the interesting non-fiction pieces that you won’t find in other libraries,” she said. declared.

Another distinguishing feature of the library is its frequent therapy dog ​​visits. Miller recalls a particularly heartwarming moment between his daughter and a therapy dog ​​named Gracie.

“When my daughter was very little, there was this day when she was just laying on top of Gracie, and Gracie just looked up as if to say, ‘I don’t care, it’s just what I do.’ ”

Even though Miller has run 152 distance marathons, she doesn’t run with competitive goals in mind.

“My goal is to finish but to do it in a way that I can talk to other runners and motivate other runners,” she said. “Ultimately, I’m running because I know how integral the library is to the lives of so many people in Hopkinton.”

Miller’s donation page can be found at gofund.me/76f84363. For more information about Friends of Hopkinton Public Library, visit hopkintonlibraryfriends.org.