Library Nostalgia

Posted on March 4, 2005 by sheila

Spurred on by this post, Lisa has a beautiful post up right now about her childhood local library. I have beautiful memories of my time in the library as a little kid, too – and my parents still live right down the street from the joint. It has certainly changed a bit since back then (computers, etc.). My first job was as a page at that library. Potent memories, indeed. I remember not being able to see over the counter, as I put my stack of books up for Phyllis (the children’s librarian) to check out. I loved the sound of her stamping the date on the card in the back. And the children’s book room was a haven of the imagination. It still hasn’t changed all that much, actually – which makes me glad. I hate change.

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5 Responses to Library Nostalgia

  1. Jayne says:
    March 4, 2005 at 1:52 pm

    I have memories like that, too…I loved going to the library when I was a kid…I even taped little pieces of paper in the backs of my own books and drew the little return date chart on there and “stamped” the return date on there when my friends borrowed them. GEEK!

    I also loved the smell of the library…the old book smell…and the hush….

    But they’ve done a lot of renovations to the building and it’s just not the same any more. Too bright…too modern…not really a true hush any more. Ah well.

  2. Alex says:
    March 4, 2005 at 2:28 pm

    The library was one of my favorite places on earth. I remember reading “The Hound Of The Baskervilles” there in one sitting. It was the best day of my life. I was about 13 years old, and I couldn’t put the book down. When I’d get hungry, I would give the unread book to Shushi (that was her nick name) The Librarian, and she would put it behind the desk for me. I would go eat, and then come back and finish reading it. Why I didn’t check it out, I still don’t know, but it was so warm, and inviting, and safe at that library. It was just the best day.

  3. melissa says:
    March 4, 2005 at 6:41 pm

    I have specific memories of the smell of the elevator in the library in my hometown – I’ve never smelled it anywhere else, and it speaks volumes to me. (I haven’t gone back to smell it recently – must do that)

    My first job was a page in that library as well – I took the elevator whenever possible.

  4. ricki says:
    March 6, 2005 at 3:02 pm

    hometown library memories…

    At my library, when I was a kid in the 70s, the library cards were oaktag, with a little embossed metal plate with your card number on it. Somehow, they inserted it into a machine and the number got stamped on a card that went into the book when you returned it (and you got a card that went in the back pocket of the book with the due date).

    I used to go back and look at the cards of books I had checked out (when they were back on the shelf) to find “my” number. Sort of a proof that I existed, a Kilroy-was-here sort of moment.

    I don’t think the modern computerized cards that they swipe in a card reader, as efficient as they may be, are as atmospheric.

    I remember the summer kids’ reading program, and how I took part in it up to the upper age limit (which was looooooong after it had ceased to be cool for kids to do). Later on, I helped out with the program.

    I also remember checking out and reading “Dante’s Inferno” at 13 because I thought it would be good for me to read it (All together now: point and yell, “GEEK!”). I actually TOLD people that was why I was reading it, too, when they asked me if I had to read it “for school”

    I was such a library nerd. I’m actually surprised I didn’t wind up becoming a librarian, I love libraries so much.

  5. DBW says:
    March 7, 2005 at 1:49 pm

    “I hate change.”

    Oh, …nevermind.

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