National Library Week

The calendar on my wall labels the week ahead as National Library Week. I never knew there was such a thing. But I support the designation a hundred percent. I think we should celebrate, even honor, the creation of libraries. I can't imagine my life without them.

I remember, as a child, riding my bike (or sometimes walking, though it was a long ways) to the city library. I would take a bag, usually a grocery sack, and fill it up, after spending hours reading front flaps and back covers to choose just the right ones. The trip home was complicated by the lopsided load and occasional sack breaking. But it was worth it. The rest of the day was filled with stories, histories, poems, ideas, plays and adventures found inside that bag full of library books. My favorite place to read was in our back yard, next to the creek in the shade of our many trees. Or, if the weather was bad, I might spread out on my bed or the front room floor. It didn't matter much where I read, only that I read.

I won a set of encyclopedias when I was about ten years old. I remember holding those new books in my hands, enjoying the texture of the cover and admiring the strong binding. I loved the smell and feel of the pages. For a time, it was in those encyclopedias that I searched for the answers to all my homework questions. Eventually, though, they became outdated and it was back to the library for updated information and a broader spectrum of study materials.

A library is a place of wonder, a place of information and imagination, a place of "what for" and "what if" and "why" and "how" and "where" and "when". A library holds a wealth of possibilities. No one home could hold (or possibly afford) the vast number of books, magazines, briefs, maps and other resources that are found in a library.

So take the opportunity this week to visit a library. Use this valuable gift we have been given to expand your mind, to increase your imagination, to entertain a child or answer your questions. And while you are there, thank those wonderful librarians that work tirelessly to catalog and shelve and order, making those vast resources accessible.