Hamilton East Public Library - Fishers

The library here is my favorite part of living in Hamilton County! It's a beautiful, comfortable, welcoming space, and the librarians & staff are awesome! I'm LGBTQIA+ and it's one of the only places I currently feel safe just being myself with some rainbow accessories when I want to wear them. I love browsing the new books section near the front doors (I now have far too many books on my to-read list...) and I've suggested books to add to the collections and have received them! I appreciate things like a plethora of types of chairs/desks to sit in (so you can find what is most comfortable for you), and that there is a foot pedal you can use to keep your body moving while sitting there and reading. There is a huge meeting room for large group events/classes, as well as small private meeting rooms that you can register for. I don't have kids but the youth/teen spaces and events seem really cool. There's a seed library, which I think is awesome, where you can take seeds to plant at home for native plants, veggies, herbs, and flowers, as well as leave your own that you've harvested from your garden for other people to enjoy. I planted an heirloom variety of tomato this year that was really tasty! The art studio is gorgeous, and I love the diversity of classes and workshops offered, as well as how many types of machines you can use and kits you can check out. I've learned some new crafts from classes I've attended that I really enjoy doing on my own time at home; things I wouldn't have thought that I'd like but got really into (like abstract textured embroidery). I love seeing all of the art on the walls that people have created there. There have troubling actions of the board of directors (not the librarians) in the last few years with censorship and trying to remove books from the Teen Zone to the adults section that reference things like changes that occur with puberty, LGBTQ topics, substances, real life history where there has been violence against people, and race, from award-winning books and books that are often in middle/high school literature curriculums like "The Fault in Our Stars", "Speak", "Why?: A Conversation about Race", "Concrete Rose", "Breathless", “The Outsiders", and many others. These books contain topics that teens will face out in the world and can and should be able to learn about and discuss with their parents/guardians in age-appropriate, non-graphic, and respectful ways and in ways that are accessible to them in the section of the library meant for them, rather than finding information from dubious sources on the internet or hearsay from other kids. There was much ado from loud voices who've not read many of the hundreds of books that were targeted outside of quotes out of context; one board member at the time even said "we can't review every book" identified by the policy based on keywords. Thankfully, this policy was removed after a highly attended public comment meeting and media attention, and books were placed back where they belonged! I have some fears that something like this will happen again, but the Hamilton County community was overwhelmingly clear in our support against that policy. I love our library so much and am so grateful I live in a place where I have access to a space like this. I've lived in other towns where the libraries were so small, out of date, and completely underfunded, and having a library like we do is such an amazing thing for our community!