Since she was allowed to cross the street to the library in her hometown of Altoona, Patricia Crawford has been a reader.

“I spent a lot of time reading the series that were popular then — Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, Perry Ames, Student Nurse,” she said.

Through a career in state government, including 29 years as secretary for the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board, the East Shore Area Library has been a significant part of Crawford’s life. It’s where she gets all of her books.

Now retired, she belongs to the Friends of East Shore Area Library and, as a volunteer for the Lower Paxton Township Arts Council, helped develop a partnership for exhibiting the work of local artists at The Library.

She belongs to the Lower Paxton Township Lioness Lions Club, which joined two other local Lions Clubs to raise funds for The Library’s new equipment for the visually impaired and blind.

What are you reading?

At the moment, I’m reading So Shall You Reap, the most recent Donna Leon mystery. She has a whole series of books involving a police inspector in Venice. What I just finished and took back to The Library this morning was Horse, by Geraldine Brooks. The Lower Paxton Township Arts Council has a book discussion, which is our latest. I recently finished Trespasses, by Louise Kennedy, an Irish author. When I read Irish authors, I find there’s a dark vein, very pronounced. This is her first book, but if she writes anything else, I would read it.

Do you read nonfiction, too?

Yes. I have two books here piled up to read. The Tudors in Love: Passion and Politics in the Age of England’s Most Famous Dynasty, by Sarah Gristwood. I’ve always been fascinated by Henry VIII and all his wives. The other one I have that is a big, hefty book is Jon Meacham, And There Was Light: Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle. I really love Jon Meacham, but I know I’m not going to get to it by the time it’s due. The Library no longer charges for overdue books, but I feel I can’t ethically hold on to them. I take them back and then I put my name back on the list to get them again.

Why do libraries matter to the community?

Everybody should read. Reading is good for people. Libraries matter. It’s almost a self-evident matter because it makes reading accessible to everyone and attractive to everyone. The Library also offers other services. When my husband was still alive and we got our first computer, we went to The Library for a class on how to use a computer. There are lot of resources that people can use.