Community members fighting for larger Pittsville Library

PITTSVILLE, Md. – Community members in Pittsville are still fighting for a bigger space for their library, which is currently housed in a trailer.

“The library that’s there now, bless their heart, they’re doing everything they can, but it’s pretty small,” Joe Mangini, Town Manager of Pittsville, said.

And by small, we mean really small.

“Pittsville currently has about 1,000 square feet and about eight parking spots,” Colbi Custis, a community member who has been advocating for a larger space, said,

One-thousand square feet that just isn’t cutting it, because the library is a place where community members come to do a lot more than just read books.

“Job searches, resumes, printing, copying, faxing, and even local businesses to be able to do that, too,” Custis explained.

And you might be thinking, well, there are other libraries in Wicomico County. But officials and community members say they need their library to stay in Pittsville.

“It’s thirteen, fourteen miles or so to Salisbury, that’s the first thing,” Mangini said.

“Going into Salisbury is not always an option, we have a lot of people living on the East Side that maybe don’t have transportation some days,” Custis added.

And so for people in Pittsville, it’s not just four walls filled with books. It’s a community center for them to call their own.

“They provide a sense of equity, they’re sort of an epicenter for making sure that everyone has an opportunity to learn, to grow, to seek out jobs,” Custis said.

A place to come, relax, and go into a whole other world.

“Libraries are really important because of the fact that we have this entire world opened up to our imaginations,” Custis said.