In this special series from Give Back NH, we explore how local libraries across New Hampshire strengthen communities, support lifelong learning, and build trust — through the people, programs, and stories that make them essential.
Learn more about the Dunbarton Public Library and all it has to offer here.
This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.
Located in the former Dunbarton Town Hall, the atmosphere at the Dunbarton Public Library — despite the rain outside — is buzzing. Local children are gearing up to read to Harry, a four-year-old miniature poodle.
Margaret Snow: Do you remember what this letter is? Can you say it out loud? D?
Hope: D for dog!
Margaret Snow: Yes!
Harry sits patiently listening as Timmy reads him The Berenstain Bears: Gone Fishin'!
Timmy: They catch lots of little fish.
I'm Dan Cahill, and we've made it to our final stop on Give Back New Hampshire's library tour. Harry's handler, Margaret, says that he's just as excited about coming to the library as the kids are.
Margaret Snow: He loves it. He loves the interaction, and he actually seems to be listening to the stories and paying attention, and I almost expect him to help the kids when they get to a hard word. We have a little orange bag that I carry with me, with all of his supplies for going to these visits, and last time we came to Bow on Wednesday and then to Dunbarton on Thursday. He got up the next morning and he woke me up with the orange bag in his mouth and his tail wagging like, "Let's go again, mom!" So he's very enthusiastic about it.
For Sammy, one of the children at the library today, he says his favorite part about reading to a dog is the companionship.
Sammy: It's really comforting, I guess because I'm an only child. Just having something there to read to and not just, you know, reading by myself. Violet, Klaus and Sunny Baudelaire were intelligent children, and they were charming and resourceful and had pleasant facial features.
Shawna, a local mother, says the benefits of reading to Harry have been noticeable in her daughter Madeline.
Shawna: Madeleine is a very active child. So by coming here to read to a dog, she gets 15 minutes where she just gets one-on-one undivided attention with the dog and the dog's handler. And I noticed that after she's done that, she seems very calm and kind of just subdued and at ease at that point.
Shawna also says that the library provides another important benefit for kids.
Shawna: I think what's important about libraries is it just opens up a different aspect where kids can kind of come and have different kinds of reading material available to them for free.
For library director Mary Girard, the most important thing about the Dunbarton Public Library, though, is the connections that are made there.
Mary Girard: This is a small library, probably one of the smallest in the state. We're 1,200 square feet. Yeah, that's a small space, but I think we do a great job of offering programs for adults, children. We don't do everything that the bigger libraries do, but we offer so much. It's wonderful. You know, it's great to work at the desk and to know everybody, I know everyone's name, their family, what's going on. And it's a really a joyous job.
