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by addingnumbers
1287 days ago
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My grandmother's best friend was a librarian, so I got a lot of encouragement growing up to make use of library services. I remember calling the local library dozens of times for school reports. The local library wasn't where my grandmother's friend worked, so I wasn't getting any preferential treatment. To them I was just another random eight-year-old ringing them up to ask questions. They were always delightfully eager to help with obscure questions about geology and history and science, running off to grab books while I waited, slowly reading me facts and passages while I took notes. They'd set aside books for me to check out later in the week, with bookmarks already placed in the sections where they thought I'd be most interested. As much as I love the instant access to information we have nowadays, I feel a sense of loss over kids missing out on that shared human sense of enthusiasm and encouragement from working with a person who enjoys feeding childrens' curiosity. |
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On any given day of the week they're usually pretty frothy with people. It skews towards teens and below, but you'll see people from all walks of life in these places. They regularly hold talks, book events, community meetings, and so on.
I grew up loving libraries and a trip every so often to the big regional hub library was an all-day treat as a kid. It makes me feel so happy, and so satisfied with my tax dollars, to see these community institutions in action and doing wonderful things.
I learned recently that my closest library, a 1970s era structure that has become a bit decrepit, is about to be torn down (sad face) and replaced (ecstatic face) with an all new library and community performance arts center.
Curious question: I really only know about and understand libraries in the U.S., what are libraries and the library system like in other places?