Welcome to the Library...Shhhh!

This is National Library Week, an observance first started by The American Library Association in 1958. 

As I think back, libraries grew and evolved for me. The library of my elementary school was a colorfully whimsical place of an intimate size. Plastic frog chairs offered a fun place to sit and read. The books featured on the shelves carried gold badges proclaiming their perfection for young minds. Dr. Suess was there. Young readers were offered adventures on the western frontier or in magical lands. Visual thrills were abundant in the books.


My middle school’s library was larger. Its books were larger as well. And they featured less pictures. At the very front of the library was a case of encyclopedias and biographies, to which we were often led for research - back in ye old days when research wasn't magically provided by the press of a button. There were still magical adventures present in this place…thanks to Tolkein, Bradbury and other enlightening authors whose appeal crossed generations. And this library had a wondrous heart – an oasis of plants and a tree that reached up to the skylight over head. I remembering staring at that sight on melancholy days for a bit of an uplifting inspiration.  I think it’s that library that comes quickest to mind when the word is mentioned. A wondrous mix of books - for pleasure and work - with a beautiful living centerpiece showing that books are meant to be a part of life.



The cover of Summoned Secrets.

Other libraries have left their touch on me – like the Spartan college libraries, one of which had walls lined with posters for classic movies I had yet to see but would.


But alas some libraries were underappreciated, especially in the growing computer culture. A teacher at the local community college referred appropriately to the place as a bowling league with an unused library. And when I took a course at a small college at the start of this century, a younger fellow student complained about not being able to find enough info on her topic. When the instructor asked what library books had been used, the student responded with a confused look. The internet had been used…not the library. It is nice that technology allows us to carry so much information in the palm of our hands…a library’s worth. But as a place, I think libraries remain kinda cool and special.

I was even led to write a story of a fantastic library. Appropriately enough, it is called The Library and can be found in my book, Summoned Secrets.  If you'd like to add it to your personal library, you can find it at http://lulu.com/spotlight/wrigler .  Thank you internet.