Image: Olin & Uris Libraries

There something wonderful about libraries. I walked into my local library on Thursday to pick up some new reads, as my bookcase is getting woefully full and there’s no room for any more! I never realised just how important libraries are at sharing information and creating community. While I was strolling through the bookshelves, tilting my head in such a way as to require a heat pack later, I discovered the library’s events booklet. When I say booklet, I really mean book, this thing was thick. There were free activities for readers of all ages, and even some for non-readers – craft days!

When I look a round a library I notice just how many people have had the same idea that day, to get out and find a good book to take home with them. Everyone is oddly polite in a library, shuffling chairs, saying ‘excuse me’ very quietly and sidling past you in a row, putting books back exactly where they came from.

When I look back to six-year-old me, I don’t think she would understand just how magical the plastic card in her hands would be. It opened up more worlds than could ever be imagined – for free.

Without libraries, I don’t think I would be where I am today.

So let’s all give a little shoutout to our libraries today – maybe even head in and find a new world to discover between crinkled pages.

-SJ