My daughter went to the public library one day last week to hang out with her friends for a few hours. It made me nostalgic for the days, so long ago, when I used to meet up with my friends at the library. But you know, I loved going to the library whether or not my friends were there. Though I despised the card catalog (thank goodness we have better tech now!), I loved doing research, wandering the stacks, hunting for books, reading through encyclopedia articles, making photocopies. When I was there I felt this wonderful mix of emotions: freedom, excitement, the desire to absorb everything the library had to offer. I’m not sure how I would have described it then, but my adult self perceives it as the sense that the library was a window opening onto a world of endless possibilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I know that times have changed and that there’s far less need for the library as a center of research, but clearly it still has value as a place where young teens are allowed to go by themselves. Actually, while teen-me and my teen friends were allowed to go to the library, the library wasn’t in all ways the most welcoming place for teens. That has also changed. Our current library has a teen section, complete with TV, video games, and vending machines. A couple of times I’ve even seen teens getting pizza delivered to them at the library, something that would have caused brain aneurysms in the librarians of yore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Anyway, I’ve always loved the public library. I loved the one I went to as a child and the one I went to as a teen, and I love the one I go to now. And maybe someday my daughter will tell me about how much she used to love going to the library, and wouldn’t that be cool?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
My daughter went to the public library one day last week to hang out with her friends for a few hours. It made me nostalgic for the days, so long ago, when I used to meet up with my friends … Continue reading