Libraries I have known

I say “Yes!” to more memories like the summer I was old enough to walk up the hill to the tiny two-roomed library in Jasper, N.Y. The rooms were filled with book shelves and overflowing tables. Entranced, I pulled out the picture books on the lower shelve and discovered the story of “Madeline” and the two little girls in two straight lines.
As a teenager, I went to the library and rebelled quietly. Back in the stacks of books purchased for research, I explored, read and studied the issues avoided in classes, at home or in church settings. The high school libraries at four schools satisfied my craving to know without having an adult dictate the conclusion I had to reach once I knew.
As the mother of pre-schoolers, the town library was my salvation. I would load our red wagon with books and babies. The older children and I walked several blocks to the town library in Wakarusa, Ind. With my bevy of children, I checked out 20 or 30 books plus a couple of story records. Once home, children and books sprawled over the floor, immersed in picture books. While I cooked supper, I half listened to the dramatized books on records that entertained and kept my children occupied.
Initially, the Wakarusa library was located in a shotgun, store-front building tucked between an old brick gas station and the basement wall of an antique store. Shortly after we moved there, the town officials decided to build a new, modern library with research rooms, a community room, office space for the librarians and lots and lots of space for books.
When it was finished, there was finally an area for a Monday morning story hour for children. Monday mornings became my meeting time with mothers of pre-schoolers. We swapped stories and checked out the child rearing books on the problems we were experiencing with our children.
My husband went back to college to get the requisite degree for work advancement. As he finished up, he began looking at jobs in other communities. While he went to interview with potential employers, I checked out the communities: The grocery stores, the churches and the local library.
I fell in love with one community library in Ohio. It had everything. But the company did not make an offer. I was more disappointed that we wouldn’t be near that library than I was about his not getting the job.
As a tax-cab mother of teens and college men, the errands to college have flown by with Barton’s library of books on tapes. When budget tightening measures pinched out our magazine subscription, I knew I could go to the reading room and find a copy from the stack. Or when I want to totally escape, I head for the mystery section and find my favorite authors.
All this was on my mind last week when I voted early. I really like libraries and the services they provide, along with memories. That’s why I voted for the county library millage.