Not your grandmother's library!

As a young girl, I’d climb on my bicycle for my weekly trek to the public library of my hometown. Housed in the former New York Central and Hudson River Railroad station, the library was small, dark and hushed. As the mysteries of its card catalog were revealed, I discovered a vibrant world far beyond its walls, beginning my lifelong romance with literature of all genres. Even as a young reader, I understood Jane Austen’s words: “But for my own part, if a book is well written, I always find it too short.”

Whenever I immigrated to a new community, one of my first tasks was to acquire a library card. The architecture varied from city to city, but once I entered its doors, I felt like Maya Angelou: “I always knew from that moment, from the time I found myself at home in that little segregated library in the South, all the way up until I walked up the steps of the New York City library, I always felt, in any town, if I can get to a library, I'll be OK. It really helped me as a child, and that never left me.”

With the advent of the Internet and the proliferation of e-books, I’ve worried that libraries may be headed down the path of extinction to join the card catalogue. But if my experience with the Ashland Public Library is any indication, libraries are here to stay, for the days of musty, silent libraries are long gone. Cell phone usage is still discouraged, but the air of today’s library is punctuated with the click of computer keys and the giggles of children discovering an old favorite on its shelves.

How do I love thee, my dear library? Let me count the ways. I have to start with the books. “One must always be careful of books," said Tessa, "and what is inside them, for words have the power to change us,” writes Cassandra Clare in Clockwork Angel. I stubbornly remain in the purist camp of readers, preferring the stories in my life to unfold on the pages of a real book. But for those with differing inclinations, the public library offers large print books, e-books, books on CDs, music CDs, and films of all sorts. Why, our public library even lends out Nintendo Wii and DS games.

With the lovely Madelyn Simone in tow on a recent visit (or was she towing me?), I was introduced to the wonders of today’s library through the eyes of a child. We played checkers, built towers, and listened to Green Eggs and Ham on the computer at least five times. Say it with me: “I do not like them, Sam I am, I do not like green eggs and ham.” We also checked out the library’s calendar for July, discovering storytimes, a school-age science camp, a tinkerlab, and a family Kooky Karnival. And true to form, she wanted to stay long past my planned departure time. As we finally left, I may have been heard to whisper, “This sure ain’t your grandmother’s library.”

Not everyone has computer and/or Internet access in their home, so our public libraries fill the gap for an essential part of daily living. Can’t get into town to the library? No problem, for the bookmobile makes more than twenty-five stops throughout our county in the course of a week’s time. And there’s a terrific library book sale today starting at 9 a.m. I’m in need of a few mindless novels for the beach, but I’m out of town today. Bummer. Guess I’ll have to make a trip to the library next week.

One of the joys of going to the library is that you never know who you’ll meet. Why, just this week, library visitors got to chat with Dr. Seuss. I wasn’t there, but a little bird told me he was heard to say, “The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go.” And here’s his key: “There's no limit to how much you'll know, depending how far beyond zebra you go.” That’s the true magic of the library.