When Lucille Hastings ’52 re?ects on the decades of volunteer service that contributed to her recent induction into the Ohio Women’s Hall of Fame, she quickly recites the words inscribed above Denison’s Doane Library: “BOOKS ARE THE TREASURED WEALTH OF THE WORLD - THE FIT INHERITANCE OF GENERATIONS AND NATIONS.” Hastings modestly accepted the praise for her work with libraries, agriculture, and public policy, which she views as the duties of a civil servant. “I like getting up in the morning and knowing that there are things that I need to
do that will affect society. I am trying to work
hard every day.”
The Ohio Women’s Hall of Fame is not an isolated award for Hastings; throughout her years of service, she has held multiple positions and honors. Valuing access to knowledge and books, Hastings organized a volunteer Reading Circle, which added around 1,600 titles to local libraries each year from 1978-2003. She also served as president for the Holmes County District Public Library; as an of?cer, board member and convention chair for the Ohio Educational Library Media Association; as president and founding member of the Mid-Ohio Library Association; as chair of the Ohio Pupil Teachers Reading Circle Selection Board; and as an appointed member of the Board of the State Library of Ohio. Her work with agriculture and policy shares a similar lineage of positions: ?rst female president of the Holmes County Farm Bureau, ?rst woman appointed to statewide Beef Check-Off Committee, a member of the Ohio’s Farmland Preservation Advisory Board and active in the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation and Ohio Cattlemen’s Association.
Hastings’s time at Denison was in?uenced by more than just a sign above the library; she credits Denison with the opportunity to meet new people and strengthen her independence to follow her interests. “You need to be a servant to society,” she says. “You need to ?gure out how to do that and ?nd the right avenue.”