Write, Wrote, Written

Booking Through Thursday

What is your earliest memory of a library? Who took you? Do you have you any funny/odd memories of the library?

I grew up in Greenville, SC, which has one of the best public library systems in the country.  For some reason, public libraries in South Carolina are incredibly well funded.  It’s one thing that local governments there seem to get right.  The main branch of the library was huge–three stories, hundreds of thousands of books.  My dad used to take me there at least twice a month, and we’d always check out the maximum number of books allowed.

The best part about the library, though was the giant globe in the middle of the central stairwell.  It had the status of a local landmark, and it was a sight to behold.  It stood at least ten feet tall, and it rotated.  Sometimes I was just content to stand and watch it, waiting for the big red dot that marked Greenville to come around, listening to the quiet hum of the motor that made it turn.  As cheesy as it sounds, that globe really helped me establish my sense of place in the world.  I think that because of that globe, I understood at an age much earlier than most kids just how big and diverse and wonderful the world is.

Alas, the globe is no more, as the library has moved locations to a newer, state-of-the-art building, but sometimes I still wonder where I’d be without that globe.