tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22001031.post8897618360399962011..comments2024-02-28T18:29:41.120-08:00Comments on Not of General Interest: In a more moderate key: libraries as public spacesundinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05589384016564587214noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22001031.post-62840145388050673222009-11-19T21:18:08.914-08:002009-11-19T21:18:08.914-08:00Libraries transcend generations. Doesn't matte...Libraries transcend generations. Doesn't matter you're age, you're welcome.<br /><br />My youngest daughter and I have very fond memories of a mother-daughter book club hosted by our library (until we moved away at least)<br /><br />When I was really young, we didn't have a permanent library in our neighborhood - we had a book trailer. When it pulled in to the parking lot, I knew that I'd soon get to go in and pick out books. But the best part was knowing that there was going to be a bunch of different books there when it came back next week. It was a little space, for little me, and always brought something new. Heaven!michelehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02872051454149767482noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22001031.post-57960473797652551712009-11-16T19:07:48.928-08:002009-11-16T19:07:48.928-08:00Thank you for that comment, Anonymous. The feelin...Thank you for that comment, Anonymous. The feeling of warmth and safety you mention is absolutely the important one--and, as you say, from that feeling comes freedom. <br /><br />Ink, that link made me laugh! I know I don't have any books that old, but the rest of it sounds just about right. Do you ever want to go back to the library and say, "see--I had a special unlimited card,and look where I am today"?undinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05589384016564587214noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22001031.post-76709827911348273162009-11-15T07:15:56.658-08:002009-11-15T07:15:56.658-08:00Am so applauding everything you say on this topic....Am so applauding everything you say on this topic.<br /><br />I'm firmly convinced that the library sent me on my career path. Can remember staggering home with huge piles of books (in fact, the library had to give me a special card because the limit for kids my age was 2 per week but I read so voraciously that they gave me a special unlimited card)! :)<br /><br />This made me think of you:<br /><br />http://news.aol.com/article/overdue-library-books-returned-half/767523Inkhttp://inktopia.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22001031.post-61005392913950448772009-11-14T19:12:37.355-08:002009-11-14T19:12:37.355-08:00I believe your first point is the key one: Asking ...I believe your first point is the key one: Asking for nothing/offering riches in return. <br /><br />Growing up in what was then a poor, depressed and repressed island country in the Atlantic, it is no exagerration to say that books were essential to the survival of myself and my siblings. <br /><br />And as we had no money to buy books the public libraries were our feasting ground ... our santuary. <br /><br />I remember the warmth of our local library - physical warmth and that other kind of warmth that's hard to define. It was a fine building but and this has only struck me just now, I never found it imposing or intimidating. I belonged and I knew it. <br /><br />There were so many places to which I did not belong and felt (wrongly as it transpired) that I would never belong. <br /><br />Even as a very small child, I loved, nay revered, that silence that had to be observed. It was all part of the magic of this world to which I not only belonged but had a role to play. <br /><br />I was a member. I had a ticket. I had an identity, separate from home or from school. <br /><br />I make no apologies for wanting libraries to remain as they were first envisioned - a home for books and for lovers of books. <br /><br />Books were my awakening to new worlds, new peoples, new thoughts. <br />My library ticket was my first stepping stone towards a certain kind of freedom.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com