Thursday, April 14, 2011

L is for Libraries...

And of course, for fictional characters, L is for Harry Potter's Luna Lovegood who is flaky, lovey, and obviously knows EVERYTHING.

I am obsessed with libraries. Until 3 days ago, I would say that my #1 favorite place to write was the Teen Section of our library. This provided not only a great place to check out all the new YA books, but also a great place to do research on teens. And teens hang at our local library for social reasons, not for reading/studying which makes it WAY better.

I always appreciated libraries but I had no idea all they could do until I had children. The programs for kids at my library are amazing: summer reading programs, donuts with dad, story times, game night, lego-building, theatrical performances, etc. For writers, the library serves as a meeting place for the local writers group, the SCBWI crit group, and lots of book discussions, etc. I feel very blessed to live in a community with such an amazing place.

I check out between 25-50 books per week for our family at the library. Sometimes people look at me like I am nuts but all the books do get read; there are 4 very different readers in my house. And the books for my 3yo get re-read several times each week. Friday afternoons in my house are Awesome because everyone is reading. Truly. It's almost zombie freaky how quiet it is.

Supporting libraries is a decision many communities are faced with at election time. I feel lucky that I live in a community where the majority of people voted in favor of a referendum to provide the libraries with more money. Not that I am excited by an increase in property taxes, but the yearly $90 from my property taxes that go to the library is completely worth it for how much we use it.

If you haven't been lately, go to your local library and ask the librarians (who usually rule) what is going on for writers. I bet you uncover more there than you even knew existed.

7 comments:

Stephanie said...

I've always loved my library (I think I had my library card number memorized at twelve), but in the past year my love of libraries has exploded. My library always has the newest YA books, even some of the more unusual titles. And, when they don't have them, they'll BUY them for me if I make a request. By the way, your Friday afternoons sound awesome. I hope I can make that happen when I have kids.

Matt Conlon said...

I ALMOST did Library myself! I worked at a library for a couple years in Highschool. good times.

...ok, not so much. It was boring most of the time, but I met some pretty far out people!


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M.J. Fifield said...

I've always loved to go to the library. I go there now every once and a while when I need to get some serious work done in an internet free environment.

Bruce said...

Those bastards at the American Library Association got to you, too!

Michelle Mach said...

I love my local library. Isn't it amazing all the wonderful things they do, especially for kids? And for free! (I wrote on librarians for my "L".)

Alexis Bass said...

I LOVE Libraries too!! Usually the teen section is too crowded to find a table - which makes me happy, even if I don't get to spy on them. :)

Lisa Galek said...

I love the library programs, too. It's so amazing what you can do there for free.

The whole budget cuts for libraries just makes me sad. Especially in tough times, libraries provide such a valuable service to the community (when people can't afford to buy stuff, they need the borrowing and free programs even more). I'm always shocked that people would be in favor of cutting library funding. It's such a crucial part of any community.