Does Anyone Use the Library Anymore?
I just returned from a trip to the local library with my daughter and it got me to thinking: Does anyone use the library anymore? Besides me, that is?
When I was a young girl, going to the library wasn't just something I did when I needed to do research for a school paper. It was an event. I loved going to the library. I loved the walk down, the anticipation of what I might find there that day. I loved the calmness of the quiet atmosphere and the reverence that others, like me, showed within those hallowed walls. And most of all, I loved the books. I could spend hours amongst them, just browsing and absorbing the knowledge they contained through my very skin. I loved the whole process of picking out the books I would take home with me for two weeks and the eagerness I felt to read them, which spurred me even faster toward home. It was no wonder that I ended up working there one summer through a youth program.
But with the advent of the Internet, where almost everything can be found with the click of a mouse, I wonder if the library has lost some of its power. How many people still make the trek to the library and walk amongst its literary denizens? How many feel that excitement to take those books home with them and treasure them for the next two weeks, as I did?
Please share your thoughts on libraries with me. I'd truly like to know what you think of them.
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