Saved by a library

I would ask my mom if she needed the car. Since it was Saturday or Sunday afternoon, she didn’t usually mind. If I had some extra cash, I would stop and grab a soda and maybe a snack and drive to the small county library. 

I would tell my mom that the library’s large tables enabled me to spread out and catch up on my homework. I was only partly lying. Yes, I would eventually get to my homework, but I first had my routine. I would stake out my table, my territory for the day, and I would grab the Sunday newspapers from faraway cities and the latest news magazines.

Image by Andrea Piacquadio via Pexels.

Big City dreams

The newspapers were often from the previous week, but I didn’t mind. I would pick up the Philadelphia Inquirer or the Washington Post and read them front page to the last page like my life depended on it. I dreamed of moving to Philly or the D.C. Metro area and working in the city. It was less about the news and more about knowing what was going on there, what I was missing.

I would spend the most time focused on Sports Illustrated. I wanted to be a sportswriter and loved their in-depth reporting and feature stories. I read the bigger feature stories twice, once for enjoyment, once to review the writing style and choices the writers made. I read closely to see what they focused on; how they set up and described a scene; and what tricks or plot points I wanted to mimic in the future. I would then move onto Time and Newsweek and then finally I would check to see what new books the library had purchased.

Then and only then, would I start in on my homework.

Heaven on Earth

Argentinian short story author Jose Luis Borges once said that he always imagined that Paradise would be a kind of library. I think he was onto something. In fact, my idea of a great vacation would be to land in a Caribbean paradise, met by a resort concierge who offers to the left a cabana bar full of frosty drinks. Pina coladas anyone? And to the right a fully stacked library with cool air conditioning and the latest and greatest that would make the craziest bibliophile smile.

I spent hours in that little library. The library was small by most standards and it didn’t have the most up-to-date collection, but it kept me out of trouble. To steal a phrase my father used to use regularly, it kept me on the “straight and narrow.”

Image by Ron Lach via Pexels.

Changing times

I know libraries have changed in the decades since I was a kid. The internet has brought the library to the home, but they still have a deep purpose and mission. The civilization that turns its back on libraries will not stand for long. Toward that end, the American Library Association celebrates National Libraries Week in the U.S. later this month, from April 23-29.

I continue to read about communities censoring and banning certain books. In the most recent story I saw, a federal judge in Texas ruled that 12 books that had been removed from the Llano County Public Library had to be be placed back onto shelves. Library officials had removed the books because of LGBTQ and racial content.

I always laugh when I read stories about censorship and banning and small-minded people. Have these people not learned anything? Do they not understand how people learn and think? What do they think happens? “Oh, I’ve read a book about XYZ, now I have to worry about becoming XYZ?” Please, just stop this ridiculousness. The 16-year-old kid in me would’ve rebelled against these bans by doing the very thing the community leaders are trying to prevent. I would have sought out those books to make up my own mind.

Yes, the library taught me to challenge and to be comfortable with books and differences of opinion. A great library is a beautiful, beautiful thing. I consider myself fortunate because I had a library. Without one, I’m not sure where I might have landed!