Library Love
Tell me how much you love libraries
Dear Readers,
What would your career have been had you lived life differently? My path not taken was as a librarian. While I love the feel-good movie It’s a Wonderful Life, I detest the part when George Bailey tries to find his wife in the alternate future of Pottersville and she’s a librarian depicted as awkward and nervous. I bet she would have been one of the happiest people in Pottersville, and that local library would have been an oasis of knowledge in a dismal town.
I remember getting a library card at the Yucca Branch Library in Phoenix, Arizona as a child. I loved how that laminated card felt and how the books smelled. I thought the library was massive, so am amused as an adult when I drive by and realize that it’s tiny. But that’s part of the magic of libraries: the smallest ones contain whole worlds. I used that library all the way through high school, but not as often as I used school libraries, which I also loved. As a senior in high school, I sometimes spent my lunch period in the school library. Occasionally I also got to go to the main branch of the Phoenix Public Library downtown, where the card catalogue was immense compared to that of the Yucca Branch. I know I should be grateful that computers mean that library space once consumed by card catalogues can now house more books or computers, but I miss sitting at a table (or even on the library floor) with a drawer from the card catalogue, meticulously thumbing through the cards, writing down various codes on the trimmed scrap paper that was neatly stacked in small boxes, and then seeking the books on the shelves.
My first job out of college was at a textbook publishing company, and my next two jobs were at antiquarian bookshops, all in California. For continuing education at one of those jobs, I was sent to the Lilly Library in Indiana to learn about reference sources for rare books, and that week, spent with librarians, was sheer delight. When Gary and I were married we moved to Virginia, so I left my bookselling job. I considered library school, but there wasn’t a program in my local area of Tidewater, Virginia, and I didn’t want to live apart from my new husband to study. I also wasn’t sure that I would get to spend enough time with books: information science seemed to focus more on computers. I wanted to match booklovers up with books.
Gary and I have lived in six different homes, and one of the first things I do after moving is seek out the local library, show proof of residency, and get a library card. Here in Chesterfield a new library, the North Courthouse branch, was built a few years after we moved into our current home, and that library has quickly become my favorite. I’ve written at its high-top tables as well as its booths, and have attended author events and musical performances, as well as book sales, at that branch, and believe I have been to every branch of the Chesterfield County Library system at one time or another, either because of a program or if I’m too impatient to wait for a book to be transferred from another branch to North Courthouse. (Or if I notice that a book I’m 24th in line for is on the Too Hot Too Hold shelf at another branch.)
When my book Unexpected Abundance: The Fruitful Lives of Women Without Children came out last summer, I met with the branch manager of the North Courthouse library and was thrilled when she invited me to speak about my book. Last night I led a program based on chapter 8, “Three Women Activists,” featuring Helen Prejean, Rosa Parks, and Dorothea Dix. I selected that topic because I used exclusively CCPL materials for my research on that chapter. I was petrified that no one would show up to the talk, but twelve souls did, and I’m deeply grateful and still glowing. I intend to pay closer attention to the events that the library routinely hosts. While I’ve noticed various big-name authors on occasion before, now I know that community room is booked and busy with smaller events like mine, and I want to partake in more of them.
At one point in the evening, I mentioned that Rosa Parks did not benefit financially from her activism. While she spoke widely, she was not paid for many of those appearances. I made a crack about how being an activist paid about as well as being a librarian. One woman who came up to me afterwards said that she was a retired librarian and had appreciated my offhand remark (which I immediately wanted to retract!). I remember reading somewhere that librarians are the worst paid profession that requires an advanced degree. I admire librarians more than I can express, and LOVE libraries, so after last night felt like I had to write a little shout-out in this newsletter.
I’d love to hear from you about your own library experiences in the comments. I haven’t even talked about the fabulous seminary library, Bishop Payne, where I am still able to borrow rare theological volumes, or the library at Spalding University, where I loved sitting at high tables getting ready for writing workshops. What are your favorites?
Blessings,
Elizabeth
Recent Reads:
Pete and Alice in Maine A pandemic novel.
The Silent Patient Solid thriller. (Checked it out of the library)
And here’s a great article by my writing partner Dana VanderLugt for the School Library Journal, since we’re talking about libraries and love of books! Dana will be speaking at St. David’s this Sunday via Zoom. (Incidentally, we have a tiny library at the church, which contains two copies of Dana’s book, and we also have a new Little Free Library outside!)
What I’m writing:
One of the best parts about this newsletter has been conversation it creates with old friends. My longtime preaching mentor Dr. David Schlafer reads this newsletter as well as the sermons to which I link and offers feedback on them and sends me what he preached on the same days. We decided to write something together on what it’s like to preach to the same people over a decade or more and came up with this. Please check it out!
And here are my latest sermons:
I'm not sure I ever told you this, but my first career was as a university reference librarian. To my parents horror, I gave up a tenure-track position to work as a travel writer. Despite having left the profession while still in my twenties, many of my dearest friends are librarians.
Love all these comments! I too have such great library memories. Growing up in a very rural area the only access to a library I had when school was out was the "rolling library", a van that would come up into the mountains every couple of weeks and leave books at the home of a local woman who agreed to serve as librarian. She knew I loved to read so would call my Mom when new stuff came in. During the school year the principal of our little elementary school that served K-8th with a walk-in closet sized library, let me serve as librarian and help younger kids check out books. During the pandemic I especially came to appreciate the fact that library's have gone digital. I was able to use the Libby app to read more than ever before. At least 80% of the 200 books I read last year came from the 3 local libraries where I am a member. Lots of folks may not realized that Chesterfield County has reciprocity with Henrico County and City of Richmond. Sometimes a book that has a long wait at Chesterfield will be readily available on Libby from one of the others. As a new grandparent I look forward to soon being able to take my granddaughter to a library story hour!