Learning to Love Libraries by Cathy Hamilton
Learning to Love Libraries by Cathy Hamilton
To all book lovers and in memory of my favorite librarian—a happy Library Lovers’ Day!
The best childhood memories are the ones that just pop into your head when you hear something that triggers a good memory, or when you see or touch or smell something so irreplaceably lovely. This is what happened when I got Ashley Hasty’s newsletter last month. She asked her subscribers to tell her about their first or fondest memory of a library. Why? Because it was not only Valentine’s Day on February 14 but also Library Lovers’ Day. Who knew?
I immediately flashed to the small, albeit beloved, Hawthorne Elementary library, situated just to the right of the principal’s office. You see, for people like me—a lifelong bookworm—a library is a chapel. Quiet. Filled with whispers and awe. The smells of the wooden seats and books galore. On top of the spiritual feeling of the space, there, sitting behind that big oakwood table, sat my own dear mother, who was also the librarian. I still delight in the memory of seeing her behind that desk. The vivacious, bespectacled librarian with hazel eyes, cat-eye glasses, and flaming red hair.
Learning to Love Libraries by Cathy Hamilton
We couldn’t chat or exchange a hug. She would smile at me but go straight back to work, her hand on the date stamp. There was a long line of children patiently waiting to check out books, all quiet as church mice. One bounce on the ink pad and then one on the book—she did it quick. The ink was black or red and smelled as sweet as licorice candy. The sound of the stamp pressing on the return card and the bump of closing books—it’s like music, don’t you think?
Learning to Love Libraries by Cathy Hamilton
I remember the carefully ordered shelves and how the colors of the book covers would carry me away quickly to other worlds. Gathering at least five books every visit, I’d slip into line and wait my turn. Checking out my book is still a thrill. And in those days, lines were so much a part of my life that I didn’t mind very much—lines for recess, lines for the drinking fountain, lines for lunch or the restroom. And on Saturday evenings, the kids in my family (who were old enough) waited in line for confession.
Oh yes, I did love my very first school library and my first librarian! This is perhaps the reason why, when I go to libraries nowadays, I always remember my favorite one at Hawthorne Elementary School.
Catherine A. Hamilton, Author of Victoria’s War
Learning to Love Libraries by Cathy Hamilton
