I love taking my girls to the library for so many reasons. And then I had kids, which sealed the deal for good. Why didn’t more people KNOW about this?!? It was a revelation: all these books! Every book you could possibly want, and you could take them home with you for FREE! Not just books, either, but music and movies. So, it wasn’t until the end of my years in New York City that I finally stepped back into the public library. It was suddenly more convenient to just buy your books. Post-college life coincided with the mega-bookstore boom (Barnes & Noble and Border’s) and the advent of Amazon. I spent hours there, but it was now associated with late-night studying, caffeine headaches, undergraduates holed up in carrels for days on end. In college, the library took on less cozy connotations. (Remember the card catalogue? The one with the actual cards?) I still remember the smell of old books and paste, trying not to giggle too loudly in the stacks, and using the card catalogue to look things up. My mother took me to the library weekly while I was growing up, too, and later I went there with friends to work on research projects for school. Growing up, the library in our town ran a film for children every Saturday morning, and my father always took me to see it. I have my own fond childhood memories of libraries. Other activities may come and go with the seasons or stages of life, but The Library is always there. We - the three Gong Girls and myself - go there at least once a week, as we’ve done since Fiona was less than a year old. The Library is the North Star of our weekly schedule. I do not want to imagine what our family’s life would be like without the library. Ilsley Library, the main library, in downtown Middlebury
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |