Back when my youngest child still napped, I blogged, mostly about my children. I wrote a post about how much I loved the library and taking my children to the library. My youngest child called the library the “lifebrary”. I thought he was brilliant! Libraries are “lifebraries.” I am greatly disturbed by the number of articles and posts and social media status updates telling me about how the school library and librarians are repurposed for any number of reasons. It makes me sad. Libraries can of course be used in a multitude of ways, but they should still be libraries–places of quiet learning about life. Enjoy this updated version of “The Lifebrary” I wrote in 2010.

My three year old son and I have been visiting the library lately. He is enthralled with the library. He likes going up the big staircase to the children’s floor. It’s alot dark and a little spooky! The child-sized computers with colored keyboards link him to some very fun games. He likes finding new Curious George books to check out. We explore the dated displays in the glass cases. He likes climbing on the step stools in the adult section and jumping off of them. He likes taking the hard back books off the shelves he can reach just for fun. I don’t know if I’m raising a reader or just a curious tornado of energy.

My favorite thing about the library is that he calls it, the “lifebrary”. I cannot get him to say library. However, upon reflection, I think the “lifebrary” is quite appropriate. I’ve been going to the library all my life.

I remember with great nostalgia all the wonderful opportunities I had at the Asheboro/Randolph County Public Library growing up. My mother and sister and I went to the library once a week checking out seven books at a time (the maximum), one for each day. The children’s section was well stocked. The Randolph Room held interesting facts that I used for my fourth grade N.C. History project. I spent two years on the Battle of the Books team reading Newberry Medal Winners and participating in a quiz bowl type program. I spent many hours learning to research at the public library back before computers when the magazines had to be checked out and the card catalog was more than a dusty row of boxed cards. How many 3×5 index cards did I go through researching information on great American and British authors for my research papers in middle and high school?

Later in my college life, the library became even more than a pit stop for books. I spent many hours copying reserve reading to take elsewhere to read (ditto for graduate school). I spent many nights trolling the study carols for a cute guy from my political science class to ask a stupid yet relevant question in the hopes he might talk to me for five minutes. I learned how to use the Internet. One summer, I even walked to the Georgetown University library from my sublet on Q street every afternoon to check my email because I didn’t have a computer. It’s amazing how many significant (and literary) opportunities I have had at the library.

Even after college, the library remained a significant part of my life. I spent many Sunday afternoons and rainy days at the main library in Memphis (back when it was right off of Union behind the Walgreens before moving to its new and beautiful location on Poplar in East Memphis). Then when we moved to Iowa City, one of the first things I did was visit the library and get my library card. I spent many many mornings and afternoons and evenings rolling my older son in the stroller up and down the aisles of popular adult fiction and seven day check out looking for something to read. So, of course, when we settled in Chattanooga, I went to the library and got my library card right away.

My boys love Barnes and Noble and Books a Million. So do I. We spend quite a bit of time there. After all they have a train table, new releases that don’t require a hold or a long wait time, and a bakery. But the feeling just isn’t the same. The library is an exercise in patience–waiting on that new release or popular author makes the book that much better. If you don’t like a book, you don’t feel disappointed that you paid $27.95 for it. In fact, these days I go online and look up all the new releases and make myself a list. Then I go shopping–at the library. When they don’t have it “in-stock” I ask to be put on the waiting list.

The library is also an exercise in cherishing and taking care of intellectual property that doesn’t belong to us. You start simple, “This isn’t our book, you can’t draw on the faces with purple crayon.” Then you graduate to, “Turn in the book on time or you have to pay a fine (Even though it’s only 25 cents a day, it adds up, believe me, I’ve been late often).” Learning to reference and cite works in your papers correctly is not only required for the assignment, it’s the right thing to do. Finding the actual source of quoted information instead of quoting a quote is challenging and also good practice in checking your sources.

So thanks little Wyatt for your innocent insight into a wonderful tradition. The public library really is a “lifebrary”. I love sharing this special experience with you. I hope that our libraries never become obsolete. It would be a real shame to let such a unique institution become extinct. Next time you’re downtown, hug your librarian and go check out life at the “lifebrary”!