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[100 things] 1. Library: Paxton
Apr. 26th, 2012 01:56 pm( admin )
My first ten will be posts about favorite libraries. The first of them is the Richards Memorial Library, which is the first library I actually remember*. I didn't much like my school library, partly because it seemed fairly utilitarian, and partly because the librarian once kept me from taking out a book I wanted because she said it was too hard for me**. The town library, about a block away up the hill, was wonderful, with lots more books I was interested in, and librarians who didn't interfere. I read a great percentage of the kid fiction section, which was in the original building, with places to curl up with a book.
It was there I read my first books from the grown-up books, books by P.G. Wodehouse and Rumer Godden, both of whom I remain fond of, though for very different reasons.
Over the years, the library grew, first building the (no-longer-new) extension and putting in a parking lot, then updating how books were tracked. At first, I'd just sign the card for each book that was held in the pocket glued into the back cover. It always took a while, since I tended to borrow a lot of books at once. And I had a hint of a good book to come when I saw my friend C- C-'s signature in her beautiful round writing already on the card. Privacy became an issue, and the librarians took to blacking out previous borrowers names. And sometime late in high school (or was I already in college?), they went straight from signing for books to library cards that could be swiped, without a paper library card stage at all.
I also grew, and became able to choose to go to the library on my own. It wasn't that far, only a mile and a half, but most of the route was along a two-lane road that often had traffic traveling at over 40 miles per hour, and there weren't sidewalks, though the verges were mostly wide. I spent one junior high summer biking to the library to get masses of books, in the morning to return the ones I'd read overnight, and in the afternoon to get new ones. Weekends were the worst, since the library wasn't open Sundays or Mondays, and it was a challenge to get enough books into my backpack on Fridays. Those were the days when I couldn't imagine not reading at least one book a day.
Oh, and one other feature I'm fond of from that library: a huge quilt hanging near the librarian's desk. It's made up of squares made by a variety of local women, each featuring a notable place around town. At least one square and then the putting them together was done by my friend Mrs. Ruseell, artist, free spirit, and teacher, who died far too young. It is good to see something made by her in the building.
* I know I went to the library where we lived before I was in first grade, but the only thing I remember associated with that was my great pride in getting a library card of my own for the first time (which meant I not only knew my address but could write my name), and what the card looked like (probably because I think I still have it somewhere, a rounded rectangle of sturdy paper with an embossed bit of metal in it (I'm not sure what that was used for)).
** Years later I found the book in another library and read it. To this day, I'm unclear what that librarian thought when she barred me from reading it. There were no possibly-problematic themes or topics, and if I had challenges with the vocabulary, well, I could look words up (I almost never did that, unfortunately), or give up if I found it too hard (I didn't do that either). This is why I don't worry about kids reading almost anything, as long as they're not too graphic for what they can deal with.
My first ten will be posts about favorite libraries. The first of them is the Richards Memorial Library, which is the first library I actually remember*. I didn't much like my school library, partly because it seemed fairly utilitarian, and partly because the librarian once kept me from taking out a book I wanted because she said it was too hard for me**. The town library, about a block away up the hill, was wonderful, with lots more books I was interested in, and librarians who didn't interfere. I read a great percentage of the kid fiction section, which was in the original building, with places to curl up with a book.
It was there I read my first books from the grown-up books, books by P.G. Wodehouse and Rumer Godden, both of whom I remain fond of, though for very different reasons.
Over the years, the library grew, first building the (no-longer-new) extension and putting in a parking lot, then updating how books were tracked. At first, I'd just sign the card for each book that was held in the pocket glued into the back cover. It always took a while, since I tended to borrow a lot of books at once. And I had a hint of a good book to come when I saw my friend C- C-'s signature in her beautiful round writing already on the card. Privacy became an issue, and the librarians took to blacking out previous borrowers names. And sometime late in high school (or was I already in college?), they went straight from signing for books to library cards that could be swiped, without a paper library card stage at all.
I also grew, and became able to choose to go to the library on my own. It wasn't that far, only a mile and a half, but most of the route was along a two-lane road that often had traffic traveling at over 40 miles per hour, and there weren't sidewalks, though the verges were mostly wide. I spent one junior high summer biking to the library to get masses of books, in the morning to return the ones I'd read overnight, and in the afternoon to get new ones. Weekends were the worst, since the library wasn't open Sundays or Mondays, and it was a challenge to get enough books into my backpack on Fridays. Those were the days when I couldn't imagine not reading at least one book a day.
Oh, and one other feature I'm fond of from that library: a huge quilt hanging near the librarian's desk. It's made up of squares made by a variety of local women, each featuring a notable place around town. At least one square and then the putting them together was done by my friend Mrs. Ruseell, artist, free spirit, and teacher, who died far too young. It is good to see something made by her in the building.
* I know I went to the library where we lived before I was in first grade, but the only thing I remember associated with that was my great pride in getting a library card of my own for the first time (which meant I not only knew my address but could write my name), and what the card looked like (probably because I think I still have it somewhere, a rounded rectangle of sturdy paper with an embossed bit of metal in it (I'm not sure what that was used for)).
** Years later I found the book in another library and read it. To this day, I'm unclear what that librarian thought when she barred me from reading it. There were no possibly-problematic themes or topics, and if I had challenges with the vocabulary, well, I could look words up (I almost never did that, unfortunately), or give up if I found it too hard (I didn't do that either). This is why I don't worry about kids reading almost anything, as long as they're not too graphic for what they can deal with.