The most powerful stories in a library aren’t always the ones in print. After 15 years of working at Josephine Community Library, I’m still in awe of the stories that walk through our doors — not just in books, but in the volunteers who give their time to keep everything running.
One of those volunteers is Emma Henderson, who works at the information desk in Grants Pass. Like many others, she shows up each week — but the story behind her commitment is anything but ordinary.
I met Emma a few months ago. She was quick to share her story — confident and full of gratitude. She told me she plans to turn it into a book someday. I hope she does.
Emma grew up in what she described as “a fundamental Christian cult of around 200 people,” in which girls were discouraged from reading — especially fiction. “I remember distinctly, around the age of four, my father loudly proclaiming… he didn’t want his daughters to read and write,” she said. “After all, why would they even need that?”
Her mother, a college graduate, argued that reading was necessary, if only “to read a cookbook.” That small victory made all the difference. Still, books were tightly controlled. “We had no TV, no magazines or movies, no books or music,” she said. “Exposure to the outside world was extremely limited.”
Naturally curious, Emma recalled feeling unsatisfied with the stock answer to her questions — “God made it that way.” She described how discovering the explanation of the water cycle in a homeschool science workbook made her “ecstatic.” That moment, she said, “jump-started a love of all things science.”
During rare trips to the local library — where her mother used the internet — Emma would slip away to the nonfiction section. “I wasn’t allowed in the children’s section, and I wasn’t brave enough for the fiction section for fear of being caught there among Satan’s lies,” she said. So, she speedread science books, keeping a cookbook nearby in case she was caught. “Those rare hours in the library were cherished and sacred moments,” she said. “As a window into a very big and exciting world, I would have given anything to be a part of it.”
By age 21, the knowledge she had secretly absorbed helped her escape. “I absolutely attribute the information I gained from these books to my ability in successfully escaping at the age of 21,” she said. “They broadened my horizons and showed me that maybe there was more to the story than I was told.”
Today, she gives back to our library, much like the one that once opened that window. Volunteering at the public library, she told me, is her way of saying thank you — not just for the books, but for the freedom to explore and learn.
“My unusual life experience has taught me how vital libraries can be in our modern society,” she said. “Even if only to a young girl able to spend a few moments engrossed in a world of impending freedom.”
Emma’s story is a powerful reminder — access to information can be life-changing. Sometimes even lifesaving. She’s now 30, and the freedom she once read about in secret has become a daily reality.
It’s easy to assume stories like Emma’s are a thing of the past — that everyone can read, that no one is shut off from the wider world of ideas. But her story reminds us otherwise.
Emma is one of about 250 volunteers who help out at the four branches each week. She is also one of more than 26,000 residents who check out around 25,000 items each month. If you do the math, that’s an exponential number of stories — lives in our community transformed through books, literacy, and learning.
Not long after I met Emma, I noticed a handwritten note pinned to the volunteer lounge bulletin board. It had been up for weeks before I finally paused to read it. In just a few lines, longtime volunteer Rachael Parker Ramsay shared how the library has shaped her life — from her first library card as a child to raising her son as a single mother, and now homeschooling with the help of books and resources.
She ended with a sentence I haven’t forgotten: “Imagine a child growing up without access to the library. That’s a world we should all fear living in.”
If you’ve ever wondered whether libraries still make a difference, I invite you to spend a day at the information desk. Listen closely. You’ll hear it in the stories — the ones being borrowed, and the ones quietly unfolding right in front of you.
Between the Pages is a monthly column written by Kate Lasky, library director for Josephine Community Library since 2009. To send comments or questions, email klasky@josephinelibrary.org.
BY KATE LASKY
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GRANTS PASS DAILY COURIER | June 2025