Freda Roesser fondly remembers her weekly trips to the local library when she was a child growing up in Rosewood.

Roesser, a retired nurse who worked for 27 years in the Graham Local School District, is helping make it more convenient for local students to enjoy the same experience she did as a child. The St. Paris Public Library created the new Rosewood location as a way to serve residents in the village, and to make borrowing books more convenient. Roesser, a member of the library’s board of trustees, noticed there was space available in the church and agreed to volunteer her time as a librarian.

The library is only open one day a week Roesser said, but it offers residents a much shorter commute if they want to borrow a book. Rosewood is a farming community, she said, and some residents don’t have a lot of spare time to drive to St. Paris.

“They were very enthusiastic,” Roesser said of the library’s board members. “They thought it would be good for Rosewood and the church, too, to have it.”

The library, tucked into a small room in the church, has about 275 books now. That includes a variety of options including mysteries, autobiographies, fiction and children’s books. Books will also be rotated every few months, meaning residents can borrow a book of Christmas recipes in December, or a book on gardening in the spring.

“For a little place, we do have variety,” Roesser said.

The St. Paris library has tried to provide services to residents in Rosewood before. About five years ago, the library organized a selection of books at the village grocery, based on the honor system, said Nancy McAlpin, director of the St. Paris Public Library.

But it lasted only a short while. Residents did not intentionally abuse the system, Roesser said. But many of the books still ended up being lost because residents forgot to return them and there was no way to know who had borrowed them.

“I hate to say it but our honor system didn’t work too well,” Roesser said.

The new system is basic but effective. When a resident borrows a book, Roesser writes the title and the borrower’s name in a small notebook. The books are due back in a month.

Roesser was a perfect fit to serve as a librarian, McAlpin said. Not only is Roesser a resident, she’s also a member of the church. In at least one case, a church member made a special request for a book, which Roesser delivered at the end of the service.

“Freda lives in the neighborhood, so she knows the people,” McAlpin said.

For Roesser, it made sense to donate a day a week to help start the program. As a child, she visited the library with her family every Saturday evening and has loved books ever since.

So far, the library hasn’t been particularly busy, but Roesser expects the more visitors to trickle in once the farming season wraps up at the end of the fall. For the most part, information about the new branch has been spread through word of mouth.

“This is a farming community, and this is a very busy time of year,” Roesser said.

The library is open each Thursday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., and is handicap accessible.

“We just want people to know that it’s available,” Roesser said.