Letter 8
For the love of libraries
You can listen to the author read her letter here.
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Dear Reader,
Let’s say school is dismissed but your mom will be working for a few more hours. She told you she would just pick you up at the library, to just go ahead and walk there and do your homework. So you sneak into the school bathroom and take off the plaid uniform skirt you are wearing to reveal a pair of pineapple-print jam shorts that were underneath. Now, no one will suspect you go to the Catholic grade school as you galavant the half mile in your white button-up blouse to your favorite building in the whole town: The Mexico-Audrain County library.
Perhaps after a detour for a chicken-little sandwich (as my sister did) or for 10-cent package of Now or Later candy at the adjacent pharmacy, you enter the beautiful building. You remember the winding steps to be marble? (maybe not, but your mind is foggy and it might as well have been a cloud you climbed upon) as you gingerly stepped upward to a room with large carpeted stairs perfect for lying stomach-down to fill a spiral notebook full of math equations. Upon completion you reward yourself with a walk toward another hardback Nancy Drew book, lying in the shadow of the revered Newbery Medal winner books that sit atop the prominent top shelf . “Would Nancy nearly drown before escaping to the water’s surface while posing undercover at the resort?” “Would they finally realize that Carson Drew was missing three days after he was kidnapped, drugged and tied up in a dungeon?” These were the questions at the front of your mind.
Libraries help us become who we are.
Carolyn Johnson was our high-school librarian and I admired her confidence and her unwavering way of saying what she meant while defending others. She let me be her aide senior year and I soaked up her grace and fearlessness. I, of course, enjoyed being surrounded by the books but I also knew that I wanted some of her courage, her flawless taste, her ability to defend herself and others.
If you befriend a librarian, or media specialist, you have likely had a similar experience of awe at someone who is selfless yet exudes subtle intellect and curiosity while being kind and helpful (Shout outs to Andrea, Kristen and Earlene - a few of my favorites who work in libraries). They want people to become better versions of themselves. At the same time they are guarding much of what we value as a free society against those who wish to ban books and limit public discourse.
Libraries bring joy.
Where else can we be so decadent as to check out and be lent something to “try out.” A few pages in if you aren’t hooked you just return it! No commitment. But if you love it, you can recommend it and perhaps purchase a copy for yourself. I mean, what kind of incredible magic is it that you can “reserve” a book from your home computer and a fairy of a person plucks it from a shelf across town, loads it on a truck and then it arrives to an alphabetical resting place a few blocks away? Just for you.
When the kids were younger the library (libraries) were the destination. Story hours. Music shows. Crafts. Puppet shows. Not to mention one ever-changing shelf of books. One of my favorite memories of my son was me coming home from a few errands and I had checked out a handful of new books for him. He giddily greeted me and plopped down on the driveway to start looking at them.
Libraries help us manage our lives.
Old enough to remember checking email at the library? Anyone use the free printing service (50 pages free daily!)? Tax help, informative presentations, book clubs. Our nearby branch serves as a polling place too.
In graduate school I joined other graduate students in the rite of passage of signing up for one of the caged carrels at Ellis Library at the University of Missouri-Columbia. Then I wouldn’t be distracted by someone walking by. Then I would have to limit my coffee intake as not to get up for a restroom break. However, in my mind the room was almost a physical jail encapsulating my brain in my research project. It became one of a handful of my research/writing locations, and sadly, the carrels are no longer available.
Libraries take us places.
Susan Orlean’s The Library Book is her own tribute to libraries wrapped up in the mystery of the Los Angeles Public Library fire. Meta as it was to read a book about books in a place for books Orlean could write about an old TV series and make it read like a tome-like profile, as she did. I am currently reading Anthony Doerr’s Cloud Cuckoo Land and I keep coming back to one of the characters, a librarian, in the book-loom that weaves together storylines and characters.
Libraries take us into stories, into our heads.
I recently watched my son’s class and the one above his put on Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare. The encore was a medley of tunes regarding the subject of love that reminded me of this cover song that I had once watched on a DVD that I had checked out at … you guessed it, the library.
Thank you for reading.
Warmly,
Traci
P.S. Keep supporting libraries, please.
Questions about this Substack:
What is Substack?
It’s a newsletter service for writers to reach a target audience. A reader can sign up to receive newsletters. Some are paid subscriptions. This one does not have a fee as I am using it as a way to keep writing and trying it out. So sign up for the newsletter that will show up in your email Inbox whenever one is published (thinking it will be monthly or twice monthly).
Why “Errant Daisy?”
Daisies have been my favorite flower since I was a child. The word errant explains my nontraditional approach to a lot of things.
Want to reach out?
My email address is traciangel22@gmail.com. Would love to hear from you if you’d like to contact me or comment on something without posting beneath the newsletter.