Historical April–May 2022 article. Dates, prices, services and contacts describe the source period; current availability has not been established.
Stephen (Steve) Morris, our new librarian at the Charing Cross branch, already seems at home going about his work there.
According to another long-time employee of the St. Louis Public Library, much consideration was given to who should fill the opening left when Charles Lamkin retired.
It is likely that similar consideration was exercised when Charles himself was chosen, for apparently our little branch was opened in 1992 with the goal of creating a special kind of neighborhood library, which requires a special librarian. Someone in library administration at the time had been enchanted by the collection of letters published in 1970 by Helene Hanff as 84, Charing Cross Road, which was made into a movie of the same name in 1987.
The movie starred Anne Bancroft and Anthony Hopkins, with supporting roles for Judi Dench and Mercedes Reuhl. Through these letters a relationship developed between a well-read, witty, sarcastic writer in New York and the traditionally reserved employee of a second-hand bookstore in London, at 84, Charing Cross Road, also drawing in other employees of the store.
The first letter, with a somewhat arcane shopping list for out-of-print books enclosed, left New York for London in October of 1949, while severe food rationing plagued post-war London.
The following letters tell an audacious story with the power to shatter cynicism and encourage radical kindness—because it is true. Thirty years ago, a person working in our grand and elegant Central Library dreamed that our neighborhood branch library could be special, incorporating some of the spirit of 84, Charing Cross. That is the story Steve was told of how our library received a name straight from the heart of London via a small, remarkable book. Steve appreciates that Charing Cross has the welcoming ambiance of a small town library.
As a child in Highland, Illinois, he came to know his local Carnegie library well.
While studying English at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale, he worked in the library
there.
He first worked in the St. Louis Public Library system at age eighteen as a book shelver.
In the years since he has held nearly every position available, so he is ready to wear the “many hats” which Charles Lamkin has said are required at Charing Cross. Steve is no stranger to our neighborhood.
When he moved across the Mississippi in 2005, he lived for a while on the Delmar Loop in an apartment over the current Starbucks coffeehouse. Steve arrives with an awareness that the square footage of the Charing Cross branch belies the position it holds in our community.
He says that staff throughout the system were deeply touched when we had a “Charles Lamkin Day,” expressing our appreciation for a job well done.
It is his goal to encourage such a relationship between library and community to continue and to grow.
During the Covid pandemic, while university library services were curtailed, more Washington University students used the library. Steve wishes to encourage this relationship.
He finds it rewarding to see young hands holding an actual book, young eyes reading from paper.
If you have not visited the library since his arrival, he would like to meet you.
As for continuity and smooth transition, the word is already out that Steve’s middle name is Charles.
Original photograph caption
Stephen Steve Morris at Charing Cross Library.
Originally published in The Times of Skinker-DeBaliviere, April–May 2022.
Read this article in the original newspaper issue.
Original source: SD_Times2022_04.pdf, printed page(s) 5, 7; PDF page(s) 5, 7.
