My pleasant early library memories are due, of course, to librarians. And their books. I haunted the children's section so thoroughly in the summertime that the librarian asked me if I wanted to help out. I got to stamp the due date on the pasted-in sheet in the fronts of the books the other kids were checking out. It was SUCH an important job. I loved it!
She even permitted me to go check out books in the adult section before I was actually old enough to do so. I think I may have read all the books in the children's room.
I worked in the library at Northwestern University when I attended there, too. That job paid actual money, so it was even better.
Wherever I've lived, if there was a local library--and there usually was--I had a library card.
Some of my best friends are even librarians, or former librarians. I hope they get a kick out of Hortense Duckworthy, my retired librarian character. She's a little over the top, but I love her dearly. (Of course I can love a fictional character, she's MY fictional character.)
Jennie Milchman started a campaign last year to set aside a day called Take Your Child to the Bookstore. She has since added Take Your Child to the Library Day. Wonderful concept, but let's not just do this once a year. All children should be taken to libraries! Even more so than bookstores. Libraries are free, so every child can participate. You don't have to afford to buy books at libraries.
I remember my children's librarian guiding me to all the horse books, all the dog books, then to some science fiction when I went through that phase. The school librarians always seemed to know what I'd like, too. I usually knew just what I wanted, but sometimes I couldn't find anything. Librarian to the rescue!
National Library Week was April 10-16 in 2011, but if you missed that, you can still go! The library is still there. They may have cut some hours--budgets are tight--but most of them are still there, waiting for you with open shelves.
