L.B.R: My Library Story

Library Books Read-a-Thon:  My Library Story

It's day two of the Library Books Read-a-Thon and our illustrious host, Rachael @ Rachael Turns Pages, has prompted us to describe our library experience growing up.  An excellent request!

Here's my story (I apologize for the length)...

From the time I can remember, I have always had a fascination with reading and books.  My parents avidly read to my sister and I (my brother was too cool to participate) when we were small and before we learned to read on our own, normally as a calm-down before bed.  This was always one of my favorite times of the day.  When I entered grade school as a kindergartner and really learned to read on my own, a whole new world opened up to me; I could now check out books from our school's library.  I loved that library!  Though quite small, it had everything I could imagine.  Throughout grade school, I became a more-than frequent visitor to the library, checking out books left and right...even spending my breaks and (sometimes) recess there if the weather wasn't optimal (Western Oregon = rain). 

When I entered middle school, I retained my love of all things literary.  In the sixth grade we had rotating required electives and one of those was Library Science.  That was probably my favorite elective, though we spent most of the time learning how to navigate online databases (this was when wide-spread computer use and the internet was just coming around, mind you) and how libraries were organized.  We were also required to check out a book every week.  Score!  As middle school progressed, I would ask my English teachers for book suggestions and read whatever they recommended; hence my absolute love for Gone with the Wind, which I read in 8th grade.



Once high school rolled around I didn't spend as much time frequenting the library or reading.  Most free time was taken up by sports, work, and social events.  Don't get me wrong, I still read a lot, but I didn't visit the library as often.  In addition, we no longer had required library visits and when we did go to the library, it was spent working on research projects. 
Growing up, school libraries were my only option for books (unless I could convince my parents to buy a book for me until I was old enough to get a job to purchase them on my own).  We lived outside of the city limits and a public library card was a whopping 75 bucks!  No thank you.  I did not get a public library card until I went to college...







And that's my library story...for now.  What is your library story?

Happy reading!