A Tribute to Libraries
Today, June 29, 2015, I worked the Sisters in Crime booth in the exhibit hall at the American Library Association Annual Meeting. While there I spoke to many people involved with libraries across the country and I also signed my books for readers. Entering the inner world of librarians has given me cause to reflect upon the role of libraries in my life.
As a second grade child, we moved to California and one of the first things I remember searching for, was a library in my new town. Likely I have continuously had a library card for decades since that moment. The library of my childhood is the Google of today. The building represented more knowledge than I could ever hope to absorb in a lifetime, and in the pre-computer and google era, you had to go to a library to look things up. They were the holders of facts.
As a child, I have no memories of going to a book store, my one and only source of books was my local library. Later when I was a student at the University of California, Berkeley I spent a lot of time at the libraries on campus. This was pre-computer days and so if you were looking for scientific papers on a topic, you had to search catalog books to find articles. It took hours to find the right article, and then days for a paper copy to arrive by snail mail at the librarian's desk. The Moffitt library at Berkeley had four floors of stacks of book shelves, and loads of hidden desks where students could study in a quiet environment. Each evening I had a few locations that were my favorites and I had the adventure of seeking them out. This was pre-MP3 era and so when searching for the perfect desk, you had to listen to the other people already in the vicinity to make sure they had no annoying habits like a tapping pen or sniffling. There was also a unique smell to the stacks. It was a combination of decades of students and dusty books.
The UC Berkeley library stacks was also where I had my first caffeine reaction. I didn't like the taste of coffee and my fellow students spoke about the energy and alertness they got from coffee. So I went to the local coffee shop and ordered an espresso thinking it might taste better than coffee. It didn't, and once I got to the library stacks, I was sweating and my heart was pounding so loud I couldn't read. I was so affected by the caffeine that in the end I couldn't study.
I left the University mad about a charge for a missing book levied by the library. I took a librarian to the shelf where the book was shelved. Instead of exoneration for an overdue book, the librarian pulled the book out and looked at the date stamp of the check-out and return and noted there was no return stamp. She assumed I had just book the book back on the shelf to avoid the penalty. I swore that I would never contribute money to the University after I graduated due to the book penalty, but time heals all wounds and the University has been a recipient of my charitable contributions.
Next I moved to New York City for graduate school at Columbia University, got a library card and patronized the two public libraries off of 5th Avenue. I loved the fearsome lion statues that guarded the main library, but for fiction I would scan the shelves across the street at the mid-Manhattan library. I don't recall any adventures other than the subway rides to get there with these two libraries. I was a starving graduate student and the library was free entertainment.
From there I moved to Pasadena, California. For the first 9 months there, I was working on my Master's Essay and divided my time between the UCLA Public Health Library and the Los Angeles Library. The L.A. library was in a crowded downtown area with little free public parking. I received a ticket by the city for parking in a reserved space on a Sunday. The sign said that the spot was not reserved on Sundays so I went to court to contest the $35 ticket. Unfortunately, I made the mistake of parking in a fast food restaurant's parking lot and so while I won my court case, my car was towed away and it cost me $85 to get it back.
Next I moved to Green Bay, Wisconsin and got a library card. I discovered audiobooks at this library and eventually, Overdrive. I have probably consumed 700-1,000 books on tape. I like to listen to books while I do chores, garden, drive, and run. I prefer a book to music.
Now I have a library card for the Santa Clara Library district. My discovery at this library has been Friends of the Library, a national with local library affiliates that provides funding and community supporters for a local library. Their book sales are wonderful - they sell used books of all genres for 50 cents to one dollar. My bookshelves are filled with books to read from there.
Libraries are simply wonderful places and they have evolved with the times. They provide free computer access to millions that can't afford the computer and/or the connection costs. In the recent riots in Ferguson, Missouri they demonstrated their value as a safe haven for children whose schools were closed. They're respected and supported by their communities. Let me end with a thank-you for a life of learning that these libraries have provided me.
As a second grade child, we moved to California and one of the first things I remember searching for, was a library in my new town. Likely I have continuously had a library card for decades since that moment. The library of my childhood is the Google of today. The building represented more knowledge than I could ever hope to absorb in a lifetime, and in the pre-computer and google era, you had to go to a library to look things up. They were the holders of facts.
As a child, I have no memories of going to a book store, my one and only source of books was my local library. Later when I was a student at the University of California, Berkeley I spent a lot of time at the libraries on campus. This was pre-computer days and so if you were looking for scientific papers on a topic, you had to search catalog books to find articles. It took hours to find the right article, and then days for a paper copy to arrive by snail mail at the librarian's desk. The Moffitt library at Berkeley had four floors of stacks of book shelves, and loads of hidden desks where students could study in a quiet environment. Each evening I had a few locations that were my favorites and I had the adventure of seeking them out. This was pre-MP3 era and so when searching for the perfect desk, you had to listen to the other people already in the vicinity to make sure they had no annoying habits like a tapping pen or sniffling. There was also a unique smell to the stacks. It was a combination of decades of students and dusty books.
The UC Berkeley library stacks was also where I had my first caffeine reaction. I didn't like the taste of coffee and my fellow students spoke about the energy and alertness they got from coffee. So I went to the local coffee shop and ordered an espresso thinking it might taste better than coffee. It didn't, and once I got to the library stacks, I was sweating and my heart was pounding so loud I couldn't read. I was so affected by the caffeine that in the end I couldn't study.
I left the University mad about a charge for a missing book levied by the library. I took a librarian to the shelf where the book was shelved. Instead of exoneration for an overdue book, the librarian pulled the book out and looked at the date stamp of the check-out and return and noted there was no return stamp. She assumed I had just book the book back on the shelf to avoid the penalty. I swore that I would never contribute money to the University after I graduated due to the book penalty, but time heals all wounds and the University has been a recipient of my charitable contributions.
Next I moved to New York City for graduate school at Columbia University, got a library card and patronized the two public libraries off of 5th Avenue. I loved the fearsome lion statues that guarded the main library, but for fiction I would scan the shelves across the street at the mid-Manhattan library. I don't recall any adventures other than the subway rides to get there with these two libraries. I was a starving graduate student and the library was free entertainment.
From there I moved to Pasadena, California. For the first 9 months there, I was working on my Master's Essay and divided my time between the UCLA Public Health Library and the Los Angeles Library. The L.A. library was in a crowded downtown area with little free public parking. I received a ticket by the city for parking in a reserved space on a Sunday. The sign said that the spot was not reserved on Sundays so I went to court to contest the $35 ticket. Unfortunately, I made the mistake of parking in a fast food restaurant's parking lot and so while I won my court case, my car was towed away and it cost me $85 to get it back.
Next I moved to Green Bay, Wisconsin and got a library card. I discovered audiobooks at this library and eventually, Overdrive. I have probably consumed 700-1,000 books on tape. I like to listen to books while I do chores, garden, drive, and run. I prefer a book to music.
Now I have a library card for the Santa Clara Library district. My discovery at this library has been Friends of the Library, a national with local library affiliates that provides funding and community supporters for a local library. Their book sales are wonderful - they sell used books of all genres for 50 cents to one dollar. My bookshelves are filled with books to read from there.
Libraries are simply wonderful places and they have evolved with the times. They provide free computer access to millions that can't afford the computer and/or the connection costs. In the recent riots in Ferguson, Missouri they demonstrated their value as a safe haven for children whose schools were closed. They're respected and supported by their communities. Let me end with a thank-you for a life of learning that these libraries have provided me.
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