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By Diana T.
In October 2005, I re-entered the work force after 15 years of being a stay-at-home, homeschooling mom. I started as a shelver at Northfield Public Library in Northfield, MN, then very quickly morphed over to Outreach Coordinator there, driving the bookmobile to low income neighborhoods, county towns without a library, and day cares.
Read moreWhy Being a Librarian Gives me Plenty of Reasons to Smile
By Kathy D. Growing up, I cannot remember a time when I didn’t go to the library once a week with my dad. As the youngest of 5, this was our special time. I would load up the maximum number of books I could have, and start reading before we even pulled into the driveway. … Read more
By Kate M. Last year, I wrote about the opening of school and the inherent craziness of textbooks and class schedules, but this year I decided to write about high school football. Now, you may ask what prompted such an odd choice for a library blog? In truth, there are two or more reasons, but … Read more
By Sara T.
I was five when I got my first library card. It was green and beige and I got to “sign” the back – clear evidence of my terrible kindergarten handwriting. My mom and I would take weekly trips there, a bag load of books hanging from her shoulder and an eager kid with a gap-toothed smile pulling on her arm to get inside.
I grew up in the pages of “Corduroy” and “Harold and the Purple Crayon,” “Junie B. Jones” and “Little Critter.” And when I got tired of imagined classrooms and lost buttons, I found “Harry Potter,” “Nancy Drew” and “Charlie Bone.” Books were the one thing my mom would always splurge on when I was young. Who needed more clothes or toys when you could have books – a quasi-toy that I would play with for much longer than my Barbies.
By Margot H.
My 5th-grader loves her school librarian, Miss S., who is quirky in the best possible ways. We often see her around town, walking while reading a book. Her newly hatched chicks are always a big draw at Back-to-School-Night. And Miss S. has a special knack for helping each student find the perfect book.
Last week, my daughter came home from school excited to share a story involving the librarian and our beloved Monterey Bay Aquarium.
By Carol S.
This is my father’s story: He was a high school dropout. Although he loved to read, he didn’t like school, so he would frequently ditch class and hide out at the Detroit Public Library, devouring books until the truant officer found him and dragged him back to school. Eventually he dropped out of school altogether in order to work. (This was during the Great Depression, and his family necessarily valued employment over education.)
Read moreHigh School Dropout to Lawyer: A Library Success Story
By Betsy H. I remember as a girl taking trips to the elementary school library, walking into a world of information waiting for me to unlock it. It felt like a field trip when we were given an index card from the card catalogue and told to find the book based on the call number, … Read more
By Marti P.
We were on our own in the library! That is, we had no computers, no story time, no volunteer to help us. We were just let loose to find a book of interest. I attended a parochial school in a very small town. The library was about the size of a small kitchen, but it was heaven to me! At a very young age, my favorites were biographies – George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Helen Keller. Later on we had permission to walk a few blocks to the public library. What a joy!
By Cindy M. I was a non traditional student returning to school for a master’s degree. I was confronted at every turn with the integration of technology into the education system. (High school math for me meant slide rules not calculators). One of my neighbors happened to be the head of the library at the … Read more
By Robert A.
The Osterhout Free Library in my hometown of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, celebrated its 125th birthday on January 29, 2014. The Osterhout is the first public library that I ever visited and memories of my experiences at this venerable institution are rich and plentiful.