A trip to the library, has made a new girl of me…*

*from: She Loves Me

So this morning I was going through all the book deal emails in my inbox, and saw that Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States was on sale for $3.99 today.  I’d been wanting to read it, but as I’m on a self-imposed book-buying sabbatical, I thought… hmmm, first I should check with the library.  If they have it, which they should, I’ll put it on my wishlist and pick it up when I’m ready to read.

They did indeed have it, and I did list it, but what made me smile was that in spite of this being a relatively old book — nearly 40 years old — and in spite of there being a lot of copies available through my library, there were substantial wait lists for all the copies.

This made me happy for a couple of reasons.  First, in spite of whatever problems this book may or may not have (I won’t know until I read it.) there are still plenty of people engaged enough to be reading an older, highly political, and apparently populist history.  That alone is heartening.

But the other thing that made me happy was realizing how many people use the library. This is A Good Thing, and I need to do more of it.  In terms of enlightened self-interest, it saves me money.  And it makes use of a valuable resource, one which we desperately need.  A library is not an elitist organization, it’s a populist one.  It’s open to all of us no matter what our economic status is, or the color of our skin, or the gods we do or do not worship.  We are given the opportunity to read books of all kinds for free just by presenting our library card, or in the case of the ebooks and audiobooks I use, just by registering with their app.

No, I can’t always get exactly what I want when I want it, but I’m not a baby.  Or at least I’m trying not to be by refusing to give in to the urge to instant gratification all the time.  No, I can’t keep the books, but the older I get the fewer appeal to me enough to want to reread them even once.  I’m also aware that at my age, I only have a limited amount of time left to read, and I would much sooner leave this world learning new things, experiencing new stories and engaging with new ideas.

Your mileage may vary, and that’s fine.  All of my friends who are readers have different takes on how and what they read.  But no matter what your reading style, please consider supporting your local library.  The more use they get the more useful they become.  Think of the kids — I was one — who spend hours not just in a local library, but in school libraries.  They need these places to be there for them.  Help future generations of bookworms have a place to go.  Think of it as a political statement.

The future will thank you.