Love Your Library!

Along with a few other celebrations, the month of February is proud host to Love Your Library month. Whether you're a parent with young children, a career-minded individual, a grandparent, or anyone in between, there are ample reasons to love your library!

True, libraries are no longer the only place to find abundant information. In a world of internet surfing and online books and magazines, one would think that libraries have lost a bit of their importance. Not so!

My husband remembers the library as the place he was forced to go when writing an arduous grade school paper or report. This was in the days before the internet, when people knew their way around card catalogs and librarians' fingers were perpetually smudged with ink from stamping the cards they unsheathed from the book pockets housed neatly under the front cover of each and every book. No bar codes, no scanners. Just those lovely, lovely cards, the simplicity of which I often remember fondly.

My memories of the library, however, are a bit more magical than my husband's. I loved to write, and I adored books. My dad would take us to the library on Saturdays where we not only got to throw pennies in the fountain in the main lobby area, but also got to wander the tall stacks of books, the bins of records, and the boxes of children's magazines. There was no rhyme or reason to my hunting when I was little, and yes, I did judge books by their covers and was drawn to the fanciful and artistic ones. I'd curl up in a corner and get lost in ancient kingdoms and far-off lands as my brothers searched for more mundane reading material. Guides about knot-tying and building tree houses, I would imagine.

Ah, but back to the topic at hand – libraries circa 2012. Apart from the countless books just waiting to be browsed, libraries are home to so much more. While printed books may be the mainstay of public libraries, you'll also find computers, Wi-Fi, downloadable e-books and audio books, and depending on your library, access to other online programs and subscriptions, such as World Book or Encyclopedia Britannica. Also, an increasing number of audio and music CDs and DVDs are added every year to library shelves.

Public libraries also offer us a sense of community with classes, programs, and reading hours for children. Looking for a fabulous place to partake in some free computer classes? Check out your public library's schedule of classes and events. Searching for some handy seminars, or hoping for a fun puppet show that might delight the grandkids? Yep – try the library!

In addition to stopping by and enjoying everything your local library has to offer, consider donating to your public library. Whether it's a gift of time (reading, tutoring, cleaning, nurturing plants), or money (a donation of books, magazine subscriptions, or cash), an investment in your public library is an investment in your community.

My kids have grown up browsing the bins of picture books at our public library, which makes for a fun and easy Saturday. Of course, my work has taken us to libraries far and wide, and my kids are not above requesting we drive a bit further so they can play with marionettes at one library or listen to their favorite story hour reader at another.

As I place another book on a teetering stack – this one demonstrating the finer points of decorating whimsical cupcakes for children – my kids hurry to show me their choices. My daughter has a book with accompanying CD that teaches kids to speak Russian through the use of children's songs. Along with a few comic books, my son has a flap book all about the inner workings of pirate ships. Of course, THEY have to slide their choices under the barcode scanner to check them out, because that's half the fun, you see. A fleeting memory of cards and stamps flits through my nostalgic mind as I let them divide my books and scan them.

Indulge your curiosity and try your hand at a new adventure. Visit your local library and become reacquainted with those lovely, lovely books!

The Best of Times, the Worst of Times: Happy Birthday, Charles Dickens!

Yesterday marked the 200^th birthday of Charles Dickens. Whether you're the literary sort or not, it's hard to escape the impact this English novelist made on society. Dubbed as the best writer of the Victorian period, Dickens not only penned a number of great novels, but also gifted the world with such iconic and enchanting characters as Oliver Twist, Ebenezer Scrooge, Nicholas Nickleby, and a host of others. Dickens novels and stories have been so popular that they haven't gone out of print since first being published in the mid-1800s.

Like most children, my first exposure to the works of Dickens was a holiday viewing of one of several film adaptations of A Christmas Carol. Most likely it was George C. Scott I saw mumbling "Bah! Humbug!" and being plagued by unwelcome ghosts. However, if I'm honest, I'm still most partial to Michael Caine's portrayal of Scrooge, opposite Kermit the Frog's Bob Cratchit. The Muppets, teamed up with classic literature, is a winning combination in my book, but that's just my humble opinion.

While I'd already tested the waters of other Dickens novels in middle school, it wasn’t until my freshman year of high school that my class was required to tackle Great Expectations. This was met with moans and groans and negative attitudes that would make Ebenezer himself proud – before his Yuletide transformation, of course. "We have to read a whole novel!" a classmate tried to commiserate with me. He didn't know I was a book nerd, I guess. I found myself thoroughly enthralled by the orphan Pip and the crazy old Miss Havisham who rambles around her dilapidated mansion still adorned in her wedding dress decades after her fellow stood her up at the altar.

In college, while pursuing a literature degree, I was required to read The Adventures of Oliver Twist, A Tale of Two Cities, and David Copperfield. "Who wants to read this old stuff?" demanded a girl in the work group to which my professor assigned me. The others of us just blinked a bit and exchanged bewildered looks. Were we not cutting edge? Were we uncool? Was it passé of me to think that books that had endured a century and a half of popularity were worth the read? Just as I began performing a self-check on my enthusiasm for literary classics, another student piped up. "You do realize it's Dickens who said, 'Tis love that makes the world go round,' right?" followed by another who offered, "Not to mention, 'Have a heart that never hardens, and a temper that never tires, and a touch that never hurts.'" Oh, camaraderie! Finally!

Yes, nearly 150 years later, language has changed a bit since the days of Dickens. But the themes of his novels are still relevant today and surely worth a revisit. This month, celebrate Charles Dickens' contribution to history and pick up one of his novels. For those of you who identify with Scrooge's miserly habits, might I suggest a trip to the library? It's free!