Going to the Library
You remember libraries don’t you?
I don’t think I had been to one in at least two years. I buy my books from the internet and get most of the information I need on a subject from there as well. I have developed an interest in genealogy of late and while the internet is helpful in that pursuit, there is some information that is just unavailable or too expensive to obtain.
I received from my cousin, Louise, a list of birth and death dates for many of the descendants of my maternal grand-parents and decided I would like a copy of those obituaries. The internet was not helpful.
I decided to ask a librarian how I might be able to find them. She took me to a large file cabinet that was filled with rolls of film which contained copies of old local newspapers. She took me to a viewer machine and showed me how to load it and how to make printouts.
It took about an hour an a half of researching the film to find almost twenty obituaries dating back to the 1960’s which I was able to print out and bring home. Those obituaries are now available on the web thanks to Louise’s information and the library.
While I was at the library I decided to have a look around. It’s a very modern place with several computer kiosks to look for information that you would have to pay hundreds of dollars to have access to on your own pc. The auto manuals section alone would require a subscription of over a hundred dollars a year.
It’s such a peaceful place too. You can wander around the shelves for hours in relative quiet. You can pull up a chair and read in peace for hours on end.
Looking around at the people I am sharing the library with, I start to wonder why they are there. Is he an academic or a homeless guy? If he’s sitting in a library with a book in his hand it’s difficult to tell. Everyone at least looks like they have some intelligence.
You don’t leave a library feeling the same as you did when you entered. You leave feeling a little more at peace with your environment and maybe a little smarter.
If you haven’t been to the library in a while. You might want to go experience it again.