(no subject)

[kayre]

mhw shared his memories of his first library card today, and brought back memories for me.

Our city library was one of the glorious old Carnegie libraries, with broad steps, high ceilings, ornate iron railings, deep window seats-- I loved it. Children weren't allowed to get library cards of their own until they were in school. Then we got a blue card which was stamped for each book we borrowed, and crossed off when we returned the book. At first you were allowed one book at a time; when you filled a blue card, you got a new one with a star, and could get two books. This continued up to 4 stars, I think; then you got a gold star, and unlimited borrowing! I nagged my mother into taking me to the library several times per week, so I got to the gold star in record time.

By the time I was in about 6th grade, I was frustrated with the limits of the children's section, and my mom started checking out books from Upstairs (the adult section) for me. I was delighted to discover that they also had records (you know, the vinyl discs that came before CDs), and worked my way through their entire collection. At some point my mother lost her library card, got a replacement and then found the original-- so she wrote "Carol may check out anything she wants on my card" on the back and turned me loose! Occasionally a librarian would object, but most of them knew both Mom and me by then, and didn't worry about me.

I'm really grateful to have had access to so many books and so much music all through my childhood; it made up for a lot of things that weren't so good.