The Libraries in My Life

By Judy G. 

There have been many libraries in my life beginning with the classically beautiful St. Paul Public Library that I would wander through (and use) when I was just a kid. It was and still is downtown. But when I got old enough to ride a bike, during summer vacations, I would also pedal over to a nearby elementary school which contained a branch library in its basement. I would fill my basket with books and pedal home as fast as I could, sprawl on the porch couch and read, read, READ! Next came the university libraries, where I researched my assignments: Minnesota, Ohio State, Wayne State, U. of Detroit, not to mention the also classically beautiful Detroit Public Library, where I just liked to browse as a graduate student. But the two libraries I now depend on (one can only buy so many books, and I have done more than my share of buying over the years) are my local public libraries, one very small and one ever expanding. I no longer need to buy books, but I do need to read and reading for me is synonymous with holding a book, not a tablet, in my hands. It just feels good. And so I have resumed my love affair with libraries some fifty years after my first one began. It just feels right.Air Jordan