Saturday, February 3, 2024 is National Take Your Child to the Library Day!
I have fond memories of going to our local branch library with my mother. When it first opened, I was about nine years old. Before that, I got my books from the library book mobile that visited our school. And that meant a long dry spell during the summers. My mother got her books from her sister, who was a librarian, but she lived about an hour away, on the other side of the city. So the opening of the branch library, about 4 or 5 miles from our house, was exciting. The first visit, I roamed around and gathered an armload of books, while my mother did the same thing. I have no idea how long we were there, because we didn’t care! When we went to check out, though, the library scolded me because I had books that were above my age level and I wasn’t permitted to get them. My mother promptly added them to her stack, and told the Librarian she wanted them. She did read them, but so did I.
And ever after, I loved that branch library. Visited with my mother regularly, and on my own when I got older.
My father, in contrast, liked the city library downtown. It had at least eight floors, and included a library of films that you could rent. He liked to get 8mm films that he would bring home and we’d have movie nights at home. He had the screen, the projector, the sound system. We watched movies about lions in Africa, about Eskimos in Alaska and the northern territories of Canada. We watched classic films of murder and mayhem, and westerns, and hilarious comedies. My brother and I would go with our father to the library on the trips to get these films; I liked to wander among the magazines. I have no idea where my brother went. We were in the library, and that was all that mattered.
Now, I don’t think you could let your children (even at ages 9 and older) be alone or unobserved too long in the library, for their safety and our changing world. But the library is a magical place. I took my daughter there for story time (those were special occasions) and for regular visits to borrow books. With a good children’s librarian or reader, books come to life!
The best part of the library–well, books. But also FREE! All of this is free. It is such an amazing treasure and resource for a community to have a library. So especially Saturday, 2/3/24–take a child to the library and experience the quiet beauty, the impressive array of knowledge, and the special bond of child and book (and parent or relative).
For more information, visit their website: https://takeyourchildtothelibrary.org/