This week is National Library Appreciation Week!
I have many fond memories of my local library. Back in high school, I was part of the Library Youth Committee, which basically meant I sat around with my friends once every few weeks in a meeting room at the library and brainstormed ideas for the library newsletter. The newsletter was called Books and Beyond, and I'm sure it had some gems in it. So I had planned on sharing some of those gems, but as with many plans, it has gone awry - namely, I can't find my copies. Insert Fail!Whale here.
So instead, I will share a few library-related memories.
When I was little, I wandered through the shorter aisles of the children's section. I was a browser then, as I am now, and I chose based on my fancy. There were a few books I checked out over and over again like The Very Hungry Caterpillar. I only ever wandered over to the "grown-up" section of the library to check out non-fiction books on animals. I remember one book I loved in particular. It was a book of animals in alphabetical order, but all the pictures were beautifully illustrated. Knowing I would have to return this beloved book, I made my dad redraw my favorite illustrations.
I practically lived in the mythology aisle (not quite enough books to call it a section) at one point. I was mostly interested in Greek, though I dabbled in a bit of Norse and Egyptian. There was a point when I'm sure I read every single Greek myth book my library had. It didn't matter that by then I'd read many of the myths related in those books multiple times.
The YA section has grown so much since back then. It's decorated with hand-drawn posters, and it's expanded enough to include manga. It's like a little slice of Borders.
Plus, the county libraries have a really easy system for searching and requesting books online. It's awesome, and it has made it so much easier to feed my book whims. This glorious system is what gave me a bunch of the great books I've recently read. Many of these books are pretty new, and I likely wouldn't have read as many of them if I didn't have this convenient, easy system at my disposal because I don't have that much room in my house to buy and keep that many books.
What are your memories of the library? How much do you appreciate libraries?
You can check out how others are celebrating the awesomeness that is libraries at Market My Words.
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4 comments:
My YA section is this tiny little section in the corner. But I still love it. There's nothing as magical as a library.
I'm a random book checker-outer too. When I was little, I didn't like the YA section because it was on the adult side of the library (there were two rooms, a children's room and an adults' room). The adults' side was always so quiet you could hear a pin drop and that freaked me out for some reason.
I am also a recurrant book checker-outer. There are a few faves that I check out several times a year. They're mostly literary fiction. I feel like when you read literary fiction you can always get something new out of it every time.
Public libraries are my favorite places ever!
We have a Teen Room, which I frequent quite often. I always go in with my daughter and fear that I look like I'm on the show Sixteen and Pregnant. Oh well--judge me all you want--I'm a thirty-something-year-old devourerer (is that a word?) of YA.
Elana- Totally agree! My library's YA section isn't that big either. It's like one aisle.
Icy- Dude, my YA section is also on the adult side of the library. It used to be super quiet there too, but now more people seem to hang out at the library, so it's less scary quiet.
LiLa- Wow, a whole Teen room?! Cool!
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