Kim’s post
about her childhood library reminded me of my own first love (the Davis
Library, which became the CCPL mentioned in post 196). The library long ago
expanded and built a new facility, but when I was a kid, it was the
marble-facade building on Main Street, with two marble steps leading up to its one-more-at-the-door.
The door led to a split staircase. The children’s department was downstairs,
and everything else was upstairs. It didn’t take long for me to become an
adolescent checking out every upstairs novel she could. I remember feeling,
during high school summers, that I’d read every book in there (which of course
was not true). I remember the stacks, the desk at the center. There was a
particular smell to it. It was not a big place. There was something perfect
about it.
Yes. I made the mistake, I think, of buying the boys too many books, and so they've never really developed a library habit. There was something good about feeling that the library's books were mine, that the whole place was mine.
ReplyDeleteLovely. I remember finally being allowed to withdraw books from the adult section. I learned a lot from those books.
ReplyDeleteNice. This reminded me of the old Elgin library when I was young. The library that replaced it was ugly.
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