I haven't checked out library books in years. But, last Saturday, while I was fretting about my job situation, Ali wanted to go do some genealogy research. Not wanting to slide any farther into the pit of despair I thought it would do me some good to get out of the house.
We sat in the genealogy room for a little while. I watched people come and go. I wondered what they were looking for. I'm a notorious eavesdropper so that kept me occupied for awhile. I noticed that the internet computers were all booked up and I wondered why every single one of those computers was being used by a middle-aged man. The answers I was coming up with were kind of freaking me out so I decided it might be a good idea to go browse the stacks for a bit.
I find the library to be so quaint. It's so polite. And quiet. There's an order and purpose that is so easily understandable in a world that seems so chaotic and dense. If you want a book you ask to borrow it. If someone else has it, you wait your turn. For every day you keep it too long you give the nice lady a dime.
In a world of $40 overdraft charges, the library is so straightforward and fair.
Some of my best childhood memories came from the Georgetown Public Library. My mother was a reader and she instilled the joy of being lost in the new worlds of books to my sister and I from a very early age. I could read before I went to school and remember being the only kid in my reading group in first grade. I loved having the teacher push me beyond "See Dick. See Spot. Good dog Spot!"
As I walked through the stacks on Saturday I thought about my mother and how she took Cindy and me to the library several times a week. At the end of each visit I left with armloads of books. I read at the table. I read in the car. I read at church, on the school bus, in my bed with a flashlight and under shade trees in the summer. I never left home without a book. And a book never left me with the whiney, "I'm bored! There's nothing to do!" syndrome.
In the summer of 1977 I was 12. The library had a summer reading contest that year. I won and I don't remember that it took a lot of effort. I remember that I read well more than 200 books that year. The prize for the contest was a charm for my beloved charm bracelet.
That little charm still lives in my jewelry box.
As I aimlessly searched the stacks on Saturday I found an author that I enjoy. I had just finished The Master Butcher Singing Club by Louise Erdrich on my Kindle and was surprised to see that she had about a half a shelf of books. I pulled three down and decided to have Ali check them out for me.
That's the thing about the library. It's a huge room full of Yes. Dare I check out three books by the same author? Of course! What if I don't like them? So what? Return them and try something different! Want the whole series? Sure!! No problem! yes! Yes! YES!
Where the rest of my life is tempered by moderation – sensible, restrained, within limits and disciplined – the library is a den of excess. Well, sort of.
The truth is, I don't even have a library card any more.
It's pathetic, but I don't like the pressure of having a deadline looming over me while I'm supposed to be reading for pleasure. You know that book is due in four days. . .you better hurry up with that. . .you should be reading!!
Even worse? I don't have one for the very same reason that my father taught me not to eat anything at a potluck meal that was made by someone who's kitchen you've never been in. The same reason he taught me to let someone else open a public door that has a handle you have to touch. The same reason I only ever touch a public door with my elbow, I don't touch stair or escalator rails and I punch elevator numbers with my knuckles, not my fingers.
I really need to let all that go. The benefits of the library outweigh my personal brand of craziness by a mile. At least.
Besides that, I just have to convince myself that whatever it is that all those middle-aged men are doing on the library computers means they aren't touching all the books I might want to check out. . .
1 comment:
I love our library! We don't get over there much during the busy summer, but it is great for those winter months. We have time to read and not a lot of money to buy books. I still don't know what kind of books are my favorite so I pick something at random and see if I like it. Plus, we don't have any late fees on books so if it goes back late its not a problem.
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