Leslie Reyman is the new Lima librarian. Photo by Sam Hubbard
BY DEB AND TIM SMITH
Put yourself in her position. You have not yet even been officially announced as Lima’s new librarian and the local newspaper reporters have come in demanding a “Bucket of Blood!” Furthermore, it is revealed that this demand has emanated from the Lima Town Supervisor. This can’t be good! Or can it? We’ll unravel that dilemma momentarily, but first we have somebody we’d like to introduce you to.
Meet Leslie Reyman… Leslie Reyman is a South Dakota-born and small-town-bred gal with a New York City education that led to a Masters in Library Science. She took that education and employed it as an archivist at a seminary and also at the New York City Public Library for over a decade.
During that same time, she also employed her talents with churches large, small, and rural helping them to preserve their historical artifacts as well as organize their historical papers.
Leslie has also had the joy of working in a number of different library positions, including one at a five-star library where she learned much about what makes a library excellent.
Leslie and her spouse are long distance hikers, having achieved the status of Appalachian Trail Thru Hikers and El Camino Pilgrims. They love their adventures and plan new ones all the time.
A meeting with Leslie might lead to conversations as diverse as a personal account of 9/11, to insights from her research on the Native American Boarding Schools, to what it is like to hike in the Arctic Circle in August when the sun doesn’t set. Then again, it just might lead to her helping you find the perfect book to read – something she takes great delight in doing. These days, that means she’ll be helping you find that fantastic book right here at the Lima Library.
As promised, here’s the backstory on our maiden voyage into Leslie’s Lima library. We had recently sallied forth on a Lima sojourn to do some interviews for an upcoming article we’re working on which timelines local pubs and taverns. Our interview itinerary included stops at the American Hotel, Tyson’s Upper Deck, and Fanatics.
In fact checking the Lima component of this piece, we had shared our working draft with various Lima historians and officials. Lima Town Supervisor Mike Falk had challenged us with the proposition of tackling the pre-Prohibition pubs in South Lima such as the Bucket of Blood, aka the South Lima Hotel.
So our other stop, actually the first stop, in Lima was at the library where we met Leslie for the first time and were happy to hear her inform us that she had recently been appointed as Lima’s new librarian.
After exchanging pleasantries, we specified the History of South Lima book which we were looking for. Unfortunately, our initial search through the local history section proved frustrating; the book should have been there but it wasn’t.
Leslie told us she could have a copy sent from another library, but she did not want to give up that easily. After multiple trips back and forth between the shelves and the computer at the desk, she found it. Leslie is not one to allow a patron to leave disappointed. So the next time the opportunity affords itself, swing by the Lima Public Library and give Leslie our best.
