MY TRUSTED FRIEND--MY ANCHOR!

I am looking at the library, my trusted friend, my anchor, where I go when I need to feel renewed, with people who love books as I do.  I am looking at a place that’s been a significant part of my life since childhood, and where I sometimes go when I feel lonely.  A single book on the shelf, not previously noticed or even thought of, often catches my eye for no apparent reason.  It’s as if it announces to me, “Hold it right there.  I’ve got something important to tell you.”  Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont was that recent book.  I followed it up with the movie (thanks to the library) and watched it three times.  It’s now my favorite movie of all time and I had never even heard of it.  How did that happen?  Because the beauty of the library is that it’s about exploration, as well as adventure.  It’s also a community meeting place for people, where one doesn’t feel judged for inquiring—it is the place to go to feed your curiosity.  It’s the place where you can spend five hours or five minutes and no one clears your table and hints that it’s time to move on.  It’s the place where you don’t need to feel silly asking for help, even if you’re technologically challenged as I am at times.  It’s the place where you can meet an old friend or make a new one and feel equally at ease.  It’s the place that offers fun and challenging activities for kids all year—mini chess tournaments, history re-enactments, singers and dancers from other cultures, and musical instruments galore, as well as storytelling and things as diverse as yoga and the art of bottle rocket launching.  Whatever your interest, the library can help you explore and test your imagination.  Albert Einstein once said, “Imagination is everything.  It is the preview of life’s coming attractions.”

Every summer my grandchildren (10 & 7) and I make libraries our second home.  Yes, we are fortunate to have many libraries within a short distance, and there’s a car to take us there, but even if there was but one library, it would still be one of the most magical places on the planet.  As Robert Redford once said, “I don’t know what your childhood was like, but we didn’t have much money.  We’d go to a movie on a Saturday night, then on Wednesday night my parents would walk us over to the library.  It was such a big deal, to go in and get my own book.”

I don’t think I’m going overboard when I tell you that I share Jorge Luis Borges’s sentiments—“I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library.”

And there will always be a special place in my heart for the dedicated staff who share my passion.  They make libraries a lifelong joy.