There’s a saying that goes if these walls could talk, the stories they’d tell.

The shelves in the DeKalb Public Library are filled with stories.

Maybe some may tell of Paul Mandigo. For years, he’s worked hard volunteering at the DeKalb Public Library.

Now retired from working at Bell Laboratories, Mandigo has been lauded by library staff for his years of service.

“He is a dedicated volunteer, and he quietly serves our community, helping us out with what we need done at the library,” Library Director Emily Faulkner said. “He’s a really steadfast volunteer. He comes reliably every time he comes in. He knows what he’s doing.”

On a recent Wednesday, Mandigo took to the library to start his volunteer shift.

He’s been volunteering at the library for the past 11 years.

Mandigo acknowledged that his work may go unnoticed by the casual library patron.

He is usually tasked with ensuring that all the books and materials in the library’s adult department are in order and spaced properly on the shelves.

“They probably don’t last long, but at least this starts out that way,” Mandigo said.

Mandigo also tutors students in grades 3 through 6 at the library when they need help.

Mandigo said he enjoys his assigned duties.

“It helps the readers find what they need to get,” Mandigo said. “I hope the readers find what they can get.”

Mandigo said it may take him a couple of months to complete a given section in the library. Library staff said the library is home to about 150,000 items, including books, CDs and other materials.

Faulkner said Mandigo has been a great find for the library.

Mandigo said it’s clear that library staff appreciate the work of volunteers like him.

“Everybody that I’ve worked with ... are just delighted that somebody’s going through making sure things are where they’re supposed to be in order,” he said.

Faulkner said the work of volunteers, like Mandigo, is invaluable to the library.

“It’s wonderful. There’s nothing more frustrating than going to go look for a book on the shelf and having it not be there,” Faulkner said.

Mandigo likened his duties as a library volunteer to solving puzzles and said it’s been rewarding.

“That’s the kind of thing that drives me, is getting things fixed,” he said. “Growing up on the farm, I thought that’s what I did was solve puzzles,” he added.

Mandigo went on to dedicate the majority of his life’s work to technical and coding work, and then software development for Bell Laboratories, a telephone switching system. He retired in 2005.

“If you look underneath the software coding, solving problems that came from things that didn’t quite work right in the field,” Mandigo said.

He recalled how advanced technology appeared earlier in his career.

“At the time, the largest computers that you could buy were from IBM, and they took their computers off the air at midnight to go through and make sure they’d run the night and be up-to-date for the next day,” Mandigo said.

Mandigo said he’s thankful that his parents got him into volunteering from an early age.

He’s also volunteered at the Westminster Presbyterian Church, 4-H workshops and more.

Mandigo said he often spends his free time with his grandchildren or reading books.

His favorite books to read these days include Reader’s Digest, police dramas and nonfiction titles. Mandigo said he used to be big on science fiction books. He touted the collection of books he keeps in his personal library at home, featuring a wide assortment of titles in the genre.

“It was more extensive than theirs, not in shelf space but in the particular author I like,” Mandigo said, in making a comparison to the DeKalb Public Library.

When asked what he thinks of bookstores versus libraries, Mandigo said they’re both useful, but each serves a different purpose.

“My view is libraries are great for books you want to read and put back, and for people who get books and do research,” he said. “But we all have to understand that libraries are managed by people who are going to put their own ideas in. Our bookstores are going to sell whatever they want to sell.”