BOOK BLOGGER HOP | LIBRARIES

This week’s prompt: September is Library Card Sign-Up Month. What role have libraries played in your reading journey? Do you have any recommendations for books or fond recollections involving libraries?

I adore libraries. Some of my most comforting memories as a kid were spending time in my local library where my mother (and later I) volunteered. I used to spend literally hours browsing the shelves and discovering all kinds of new interests I never would have even thought of without that time with the books. I read widely as a kid – some might say inappropriately – and read adult books when I was 11 or 12. I didn’t always understand everything, but some of it stuck and I think I learned a lot about life through reading. I’d grab a stack of books and curl up in a quiet, rarely-visited back corner of the library, sprawl out, and read for ages. I also got to spend time with older women from our community, and had some great inter-generational friendships. When I was in school I didn’t like most of the other kids (a feeling that was largely mutual) and I found the effort of trying to survive all the mind games girls play and dodge physical violence exhausting. I now also realize that I was having to expend a huge amount of energy to try to focus in class and mask around my peers. So school was really tiring. I’d get exhausted by about Monday lunch time and need a quiet space to recharge my batteries (I now realize this was ADHD burnout). The library was my sanctuary. I’d retreat there and lose myself in a familiar and comforting world of favourite books and also escape from the bullies who tended to leave me alone because the library was small enough that there was almost always some adult within earshot. Because of these two experiences, libraries – and by extension bookstores and anywhere else that has books – have become warm, cosy places for me. I still love them.

More recently, the public libraries have been wonderful community resources. During COVID I was able to borrow digital books and audiobooks so my kid and I had a wider variety of books to explore. We moved last year and have begun visiting our new local library. My kid joined the summer reading challenge to read at least 15 minutes a day for 7 weeks over the summer and was easily able to complete it (my kid loves audiobooks and tends to carry my old phone around listening to books most of the day – as well as now reading a chapter book alone for the first time *PRIDE*) and earned a free book. It was a great experience and, I hope, is creating some positive associations with bookish places for the next generation of my family!

Aside from my own experiences, I am a huge advocate for libraries in communities. They offer the ability to try out new authors and genres without any financial investment. They allow families with less financial security access to a huge range of books, games, community activities and literary resources. And, I assume, they continue to offer a safe space for anyone who needs it. In my experience librarians are wonderful, kind, knowledgeable people who will go out of their way to help kids find books they will love, to listen to anyone who wants to enthuse about a book they’ve enjoyed, and generally create a welcoming environment for the entire community. I have a huge respect and admiration for their work and the important community hub they create, and I will always be grateful that libraries are still such a central part of so many of our communities. We absolutely need them.

What about you guys? I know there are some librarians among you, do you feel like the community revolved around your workplace in the way I feel it does? Anyone else have wonderful memories of libraries to share?

The Book Blogger Hop is a weekly blog link-up that gives participants a different book-related question to ponder each week, and allows them to share their thoughts, find new blogs to follow and connect with new readers. The Hop was originally created by Jennifer at Crazy for Books and is now hosted by Billy at Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer. To see a list of upcoming prompts go here.