Lifelong Learning at the Library

The library has always felt like home to me. From the book filled shelves, to the warm honey colored wood, it’s a good place to be, a place to belong. Library Science School was much like that. I found myself in the company of people on their second and third careers, people from all walks of life, people with interests ranging from music to sports, science to Shakespeare, people who were always pursuing another degree, interested in learning about a new subject. It felt like I’d finally found my own people, people who were curious and loved to learn, the people who can’t quite decide what to be when they grow up, because everything is interesting, exciting, worth exploring.

It’s not just librarians though, who are lifelong learners. The library offers the opportunity for everyone to continue to learn, explore, seek new adventures, and all through books on the shelves at the library. When I first starting working here, I’d find something I wanted to read everyday as I checked in books. I was in school at the time (yes, imagine that) and pleasure reading was at a minimum. So, I’d write titles down on scraps of paper and stuff them in my pockets. At home every night, I’d pull all those folded, crumbled bits of paper out of my pockets. There was no rhyme of reason to what was written on those papers and no method in keeping track of them. I just didn’t want to forget one title, one interesting book that crossed over the desk.

Nancy, the librarian at the time, told me I’d regret it.

“The list will grow and grow,” she said, “until you realize you’ll never get all those books read.”

She was right, of course, but still it’s impossible not to keep trying to keep track of all the books that look interesting. It may seemed clichéd but the tee shirt is right, “So many books, so little time.” Right now I can go out to the “New Books” shelves and find a bunch of titles that sound intriguing. There’s “Eating Pomegranates” by Sara Gabriel, a memoir about the women in the author’s family and their struggle with the breast cancer gene. Or, Jaron Lanier’s “You are not a Gadget,” a computer scientist’s thoughts about the internet and how it may not actually be the best thing for society or people. Social based site like Wikipedia, Lanier contends, may have more credence than they deserve and maybe replacing the knowledge of experts and the wisdom of individuals with popular beliefs, opinions and urban legends. That’s something librarians have been saying for awhile, which brings me to a book I really want to read, “This Book is Overdue: How Librarians and Cybrarians can Save us All,” by Marilyn Johnson. But maybe I just want to read that because I’ve always dreamed of being a librarian by day and a superhero by night.

The library is a lot of things to a lot of people, especially a place to learn, grow and have fun throughout the lifespan. So come in and start your list of books to read during your lifetime!