Last year I found out that my village library, the Wilson Public Library, was infamous because of it’s location next to the local bar. Until a colleague mentioned it, it hadn’t really occurred to me - that’s just how main street in Mayber- I mean, Wilson is: hardware store, hair salon, insurance company, bar, library, gas station. Kind of everything you need to get by in life. It obviously made a big impression on the woman who mentioned it and she didn’t find it quaint but rather unsettling, as if the library’s purity would be besmirched by the proximity of alcohol and revelry.
To me it is convenient, accessible, unassuming and, who knows, maybe it will encourage a barfly to check out a book once in a while. One time, while I was getting my hair done I suggested a book for my hairdresser (and the salon owner), Amy, to read to her son. After she set the timer for my color, she left me alone in the salon, popped over to the library and checked out the book.
Get this, the librarians (2) know me by name and tolerate my penchant for ordering books and audiobooks through inter-library loan (repeatedly), they don’t need my card to check me out (they don’t mind looking up my number!) and they don’t mention late fees (not that I have any...) You’re not dreaming, this is a real library, not a figment of library utopia. I figure it’s one of the benefits of moving to a village of 1,138 people on the “North Shore” of the United States.
I consider the inter-library loan system an absolute marvel and pleasure of modern life. As soon as I hear or read about a book or decide I want to learn something new, I feel my book craving begin, it comes in waves and can drive me to distraction. Immediately, I log onto the computer, type in my card number and have the book sent to my library, FOR FREE. Someone I don’t know is driving the book that I wanted across the county, FOR FREE, because I asked for it. Then, the library actually calls me to let me know it’s there - FOR FREE. Why are they doing all this for me? Because they are so happy that someone else loves books as much as they do.
To me it is convenient, accessible, unassuming and, who knows, maybe it will encourage a barfly to check out a book once in a while. One time, while I was getting my hair done I suggested a book for my hairdresser (and the salon owner), Amy, to read to her son. After she set the timer for my color, she left me alone in the salon, popped over to the library and checked out the book.
Get this, the librarians (2) know me by name and tolerate my penchant for ordering books and audiobooks through inter-library loan (repeatedly), they don’t need my card to check me out (they don’t mind looking up my number!) and they don’t mention late fees (not that I have any...) You’re not dreaming, this is a real library, not a figment of library utopia. I figure it’s one of the benefits of moving to a village of 1,138 people on the “North Shore” of the United States.
I consider the inter-library loan system an absolute marvel and pleasure of modern life. As soon as I hear or read about a book or decide I want to learn something new, I feel my book craving begin, it comes in waves and can drive me to distraction. Immediately, I log onto the computer, type in my card number and have the book sent to my library, FOR FREE. Someone I don’t know is driving the book that I wanted across the county, FOR FREE, because I asked for it. Then, the library actually calls me to let me know it’s there - FOR FREE. Why are they doing all this for me? Because they are so happy that someone else loves books as much as they do.
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