The Library

My daughter needed some reference material for a research paper and asked me to go to the library with her. Always ready to spend time with my youngest, I readily went along, only to be pleasantly surprised.

When I walked through the door and inhaled the scent of books, I was swept back to my childhood. I can’t recall how old I was the first time my mom took us to the library, but when I walked in and saw shelf after shelf of books, I was hooked.

Growing up in a small town in Connecticut, we were happy to have our own library. The building was old, even back then, but it had a charm these new multi-purpose buildings lack. Back then it was actually quiet inside. The librarian used a huge metal stamp that had to have the date changed daily. The small cards in the pocket were stamped and filed according to the due date while the page pasted into the back of the book was also stamped so that we’d know when to return the book. And the card catalogue? Real index cards. No computers in sight. (Although I have to admit, the ease of looking up books on the library computers, and their links to other libraries, is fabulous.)

Every summer the children’s librarian planned a special event. It required that you read a certain number of books over the summer. We signed in each visit to record the number of books we’d read that week. There was a graph to chart progress, similar to the ones you see for fundraising events, which we colored in as we went. At the end of the summer, there was a party or picnic and we got silly little prizes and balloons. We actually enjoyed reading over summer vacation!

Granted, that was a lot of years ago. We didn’t have the lure of over one hundred cable television stations or the fun of the Internet or video games to rival sitting down with a good book. It was a slower time, where you might lay in the backyard under the shade of a tree to escape the heat for a few hours, a good book in hand. I miss those days.

Even before my daughters could read I got them library cards. I took them to reading circle when they were little and soon they were excited to select picture books. I’m so thrilled that even as they got older, they continued to check out books from the local library. My oldest daughter even logged school community hours at our branch. They’re older now, one in the military and the other in high school, but they still love to read. Just the other day my oldest daughter told me there’s a library on base that she was going to check out. The gift of books keeps on giving.

So if you haven’t visited your local library in a while, stop in. It might take you down memory lane. You might even pick up a book and take a few minutes from your busy schedule to sit down and get completely lost the written word. I hope you enjoy every minute of it.

Diva Tara