Supplied with a stock-pile of Chick-fil-A chicken nuggets and a dorm-room bed, Anderson University librarian Kay Maynard spent three nights in the Thrift Library, keeping it open during days of snow and icy roads.
The worst winter storm South Carolina has seen in a decade hit the state on Tuesday, February 11. According to the Anderson Independent Mail, four to eight inches of snow fell in the upstate.
Maynard, the head of circulation at the library, said AU administration decided to keep the library doors open so that students would have somewhere to go while trapped by the winter weather. Maynard volunteered to man the fort.
The main thing was that we were here and open so that they could come, Maynard said.
Tyler Prescott, a sophomore and student worker at the library, described the snow days as quiet. Most students who came to the library were in the middle of projects, says Maynard, and many stayed for long periods of time. Others came to sit by the library’s fireplace and shake off the cold.
It definitely gave me a place to go for a little bit, said Hannah McKeel, a freshman elementary education major, who spent time in the library working on a paper.
The library staff is really supportive and really welcoming, McKeel said.
During her 17 years serving at AU, Maynard has found the library to be more than just a workplace. Maynard says she tries to be more than just a good librarian; she also works to befriend and minister to students, especially international students.
This is my mission field, Maynard said.
Others on campus also went out of their way to help during the storm.
McKeel said that President and Mrs. Whitaker volunteered in the dining hall on one of the snow days so that some of the staff could go home early.
I thought that was so selfless and so Christ-like, McKeel said.
Maynard downplayed her own selflessness in volunteering to camp out in the library.
To me, staying wasn’t that big a sacrifice, Maynard said.She said the bed was comfortable. She said the school did not lose electricity. She said she still loves chicken nuggets, even after eating them for days.
I guess it is kind of unique. Not too many people can say they’ve spent three nights in a library, Maynard said.