Rubber ducks don't just sit at library
Slippery Rock Community Library may have a new building, but the mascot remains the same.
Ask about the mascot, and Karen Pierce, director of the Slippery Rock Community Library, will walk you over to a shelf near the kids' corner.
“The ducks are our mascot,” Pierce said.
Pierce said she used to work for a children's book company, and her favorite character was the duck in the stories they published.
“I always loved the little ducks,” she said. “When I started at the library, I had about six. I lined them up on the computer. The collection just sort of took on a life of its own.”
The shelf is lined with hand-sized rubber ducks, each with a unique pose, costume and story.
Pierce said the Shakespeare Duck with its Old English hair and clothing styles has traveled to London, and the Soccer Duck, holding the ball in its wing and dressed in a uniform, visited Germany this year.
“They've been all over,” she said.
Pierce said the Mozart with its white wig visited its mentor's homeland of Austria, and the Romance Duck saw the most romantic place on Earth in Paris.
She said the ducks are able to travel thanks to the library faithful.
“Patrons come in, and they borrow a duck,” Pierce said. “They send us pictures.”
Pierce said a lot of times, the ducks will go with patrons who are traveling for work or vacation, but sometimes the patrons bring her exotic rubber ducks from the places of their travels.
“When they see a duck at places, they think of the library and bring it home for me,” Pierce said.
She said the support from the patrons has turned a one duck mascot into a group effort. The library has 15 ducks currently, and it's still growing.
Carol Holland of Slippery Rock has been a member of the Friends of the Slippery Rock Community Library for the past five years.
“Libraries have been my friend since I was a kid,” Holland said.
She has also taken the ducks on a number of trips, including the Netherlands, Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Antarctica.
She said she first found out about the ducks and the library's willingness to lend them to travelers through the library's website.
“I remember going online and noticing that there were pictures of people who had little duckies, and they were being photographed wherever they went,” Holland said.
Holland said the Antarctica trip was an exciting time for her. She traveled with National Geographic, and the duck came along to explore places seen by few people.
“The ship (I was on) was small enough and got into places where the bigger ships couldn't go or was not allowed to go,” Holland said. “My greatest memory was kayaking below the Arctic Circle.”Holland said the ducks are a great way to entice people to travel the world, especially the younger generations.“I think it's a great initiative,” she said. “I think it encourages children to explore different areas of the United States and of the world.”Holland said the ducks help by starting a conversation and opening new possibilities.“To me it's a fun way of opening conversation with not only younger kids, but also older kids, the teenagers,” she said. “It may trigger some curiosity and research. You never know how inconsequential something like a little rubber ducky can be to someone's future.”Pierce said some of the ducks hold a special place in her heart too.“The high school marching band brought me the Spaceship Duck when they went down to Cape Canaveral one year,” she said. “The kiddos who brought me this had been in my story time. They're all grown up now.”Pierce said older children like that it's their turn to travel with the ducks.“The older kiddos, they're in it for the fun. They grew up with the ducks,” she said. “They grew up seeing them on my old computer monitor. It's fun way to reconnect with something kind of juvenile, but no one is judging them for it.”She said for younger children, it also teaches responsibility.“This little rubber duck that is priceless and completely replaceable is a perfect way to teach responsibility,” Pierce said. “The little ones look forward to seeing the duck or want to take a picture with the duck because they know they're sending it back to library.”Pierce said children always come back with stories too, and they get better each time, in more ways than one.“It helps them develop the ability to build a plot,” she said. “They'll begin to craft adventures as they're telling me the stories.”Pierce said there are a few ducks not in their roost now. She said one of them is heading to Grand Junction, Colo.“I sent compass duck with them, so if they get lost, they can find their way home,” she said.She said she hopes the ducks continue to be a staple for the library for a long time.“Whenever someone tells me they are taking a vacation, I offer them a duck, and that's how the ducks have been all over the world,” Pierce said.
