Monday, March 4, 2019

The Library Book

Susan Orlean

THE LIBRARY BOOK has been on the best seller list for quite awhile now and rightly so.  It is advertised as a book that explains the purpose of a library and the history of libraries in general, but that is misleading.  The book starts with the great Los Angeles Library fire of 1986 and traces the heartbroken reaction of the staff, the drudgery of cleaning up after such a huge disaster, the Sysiphean  attempt to restore as many books as possible, and the ongoing investigation into how the fire started and who might have done it.

It takes us through a succession of Los Angeles City Librarians and focuses in on a possible perpetrator, Harry Peak.  Through the course of this emphasis on Los Angeles' library and the entire LA library system, the book does in fact explain the many purposes and problems facing libraries and it gives a pretty thorough accounting of the evolution of library thought since the beginnings.

The main thing about the book is that it is absolutely compelling.  I finished it in three days only because I kept getting interrupted by eating and cleaning and taking care of grandkids.  But I was up reading at five in the morning before we headed out to the Y.  I was there at night sitting in front of the television with my head buried in Orlean's wonderful book.

Of course, that book and I were made for each other.  I have always loved libraries.

There was a beautiful stone building housing the Estes Park Public Library in the little park across from the grade school.  I loved going into that place after school and sitting down in the nice sized alcove at the back of the building where they obviously kept books that would fuel young imaginations.  When I was just a third grader, I read KNUTE ROCKNE:  ALL-AMERICAN in that alcove.  I also read all of the Misty of Chincoteague books and the Black Stallion books.  At my mother's suggestion, I read A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN there.  Well, I started it and then checked it out.  I had it back in two days.  The same held true for THE EGG AND I and CALL OF THE WILD and THE THREE MUSKETEERS.  When I was in sixth grade, I started reading this weird little book called THE GREAT GATSBY in that alcove.  I checked it out.  Took it home, read it, and returned it without really knowing what it was about.  It remained a mystery to me until I was a junior at Loveland High School.  Miss Scott suggested I read it.

When my family moved to Loveland, I joined the forensics program at the high school and started researching for debate topics and building an ex temp file.  I loved doing research.  Finding out about things.  I marveled at how convenient the Reader's Guide was.  I carried a brief case in those days with files of three by five cards on whether or not labor disputes should by settled by compulsory arbitration and tons of pro and con arguments about the conflict in Viet Nam and student unrest on campus.  Give me a topic.  Any topic.  I had you covered.

There was a great little studying nook by a window on the third floor of the Regis Library.  When the rare mood to study struck, that's where I went.  My room with Phillip chain smoking Pall Malls was out of the question.  I just wish I had spent more time in that little nook.  My final GPA would have been more impressive.

But my favorite thing was taking my seniors to the library for research papers.  It was a lot easier for them than it was for me.  Instead of the Reader's Guide there was InfoTrac.  Instead of a card catalogue, everything was right there at the stroke of a keyboard.  I loved showing kids how to think through a project.  I loved talking to them about thesis ideas.  I loved seeing them get excited about a new "breakthrough" discovery.  I even loved reading approximately eighty research papers every spring.  It kept me off the streets and handing them back always provided a great way to start bringing closure to the year.

We used to take Willa and Jaydee to the library in Clement Park for story time.  It was wonderful to see a room full of four year olds in rapt attention.  Willa and Jaydee are in school now.  Those library days have gotten fewer and farther between.

I'm not trying to be sad or profound or anything boring like that.  It is simply a fact that libraries aren't that big a part of my life anymore.  I think I'm in my art museum period.  But reading Susan Orlean's terrific little book has brought some wonderful memories flooding back and I'm grateful.