Madam libraaaaarian

I've been thinking recently on my love affair with libraries. This love can't really be explained. There's just something about seeing all of those books lined up that makes me want to read them all. Even the boring ones. When I worked as a custodian, the library took me the longest to vacuum because I would get distracted by all the books. The first time I saw Groundhog Day, I felt that if I got stuck in one day forever like that, I would spend it at the library reading. I love libraries. There is something magical in the READ posters and tall shelves that go on forever and the smell of books. This magic can be found in some degree at bookstores, but it's a shallower, flashier magic. Bookstores have their place, but libraries are my true love.

I can remember the basic layout of our library in Idaho. I would wander into the "big kids" section and get books like Mrs. Pigglewiggle and Ramona Quimby, Age 8. I thought I was ridiculously cool.

Our library in Wyoming was even better. The kid's section had neon lights and a fort you could climb up to read in. Of course, by the time they had that all done, I had outgrown the kid's section and was reading mostly from the adult and young adult books. I read the Redwall books and The Hero and the Crown and everything by Mary Stewart. I loved library days, especially in the summer. I would always come out with an armfull of books (seriously...sometimes I couldn't hold them all). But they had to last me for the next three weeks, when everything was due and the cycle would start again. The hard part was trying to figure out what to read first. I had a system--save the series for last, because if I didn't have the next book, three weeks was too long to wait to get it.

Then came the dark ages known as "freshman year." All of a sudden I had to actually study. Even worse, the library became a place only for study. Yes, there were millions of books in it, but they all dealt with boring, nonfiction topics. But at the end of my sophomore year, a miracle happened: my boyfriend took me to the Provo library. The relationship with the boy didn't work out, but the library and I remained on very friendly terms. I read The Killer Angels and The Bourne Identity and more science fiction than you can shake a stick at. Most of all, I loved the building itself and the history it represented.

And now I have a new library to love, just down the street. When I'm feeling particularly adventurous, I drive over to the main branch. I still wander into the big kids section because I love young adult books. I've moved on from science fiction, but I still love mysteries. And I still come out with an armfull of books.