September is Library Card Sign-up Month!

By Maggie King

Head over to your local library TODAY and get your card. Faithful readers and contributors to this blog no doubt already have cards—but perhaps a friend, family member, or neighbor could use a reminder of all that libraries have to offer. The obvious perk is access to books; but they’ll find movies, multimedia content, educational programming, children’s activities, and more at their local library. With a few exceptions, library materials and services are free of charge (okay, your taxes partially fund libraries—but what a good use of those tax dollars).

My love affair with libraries started when my mother took me to our local library in North Plainfield, NJ. I’m not sure how old I was, but it’s safe to say I was YOUNG. My own library card made me feel very grown up indeed. A few things that stand out in my memory: the skull stickers the library attached to the spines of the mystery books; Anne Emery’s teen romance stories, in addition to the inevitable Nancy Drew series.

I was always a voracious reader, often spending all day in my room reading books from the library. But once I went to college, any time spent in the library was focused on research and course work. I was no longer reading for pleasure. In my twenties, working long hours plus a hectic social life left little room for reading. When I did visit libraries, I often forgot to return the books, amassing hefty fines.

In my thirties, libraries came back into my life in a big way. I took a job in downtown Los Angeles, not far from the fabulous Los Angeles Central Library. One day a co-worker asked if I wanted to walk over to the library during our lunch hour. I’d never worked with someone who spent her lunch hour like that! I went with her and borrowed a copy of Jane Eyre.

The beautiful Los Angeles Public Library (Central)

That day got me started on a path of reading, often re-reading, the classics. Jane Austen, the Brontë sisters, George Eliot, Theodore Dreiser, and Willa Cather are just a few authors of the many classics I devoured. During this period, I also discovered adult mysteries (that led to writing mysteries, but that’s a topic for another post). I became a library hound, and could often be found roaming through the stacks in one branch or another of the LAPL system. I also frequented branches of the Los Angeles County Library, the Glendale Public Library, and the Palmdale Library. Inter-library loans were another revelation.

After the Northridge earthquake in 1994, commuting to work, always a challenge in Los Angeles, became hellacious. I coped by renting books on tape from, you guessed it, the library! Others had the same idea, and soon the shelves were empty. But I managed to listen to the library’s entire collection of Sherlock Holmes short stories.

In 1996, I moved to Charlottesville, Virginia and continued my patronage of libraries. Six years later I moved to Richmond, Virginia, where I currently live, and have cards with four library systems: Chesterfield County Public Library, Richmond Public Library, Henrico County Public Library, and the Library of Virginia.

Bon Air branch of Chesterfield County Public Library

Eventually I discovered the library’s collections of movies, TV shows, Ebooks, audiobooks, etc. During a recent visit to the Bon Air branch of the CCPL , the staff shared with me the best places in Richmond for bagels! Just goes to show that you can learn anything at the library.

When I became a published author, I found even more reasons to love libraries. I’ve participated in numerous author events, panels, and signings at libraries. Libraries catalog my books. I launched my second mystery, Murder at the Moonshine Inn, at a local library. In two weeks, I will speak to a book group at another library. My Sisters in Crime chapter meets at area libraries.

Author signing at Powhatan (VA) Library. Left to right: Carolyn Greene, Josh Pachter, Heather Weidner, Kris Kisska, me

I could go on and on about my love of libraries. Get that card and you’ll love libraries too. I understand that some libraries are offering free goodies to new patrons this month.

In closing, enjoy this quote from Ray Bradbury: “Libraries are absolutely at the center of my life. Since I couldn’t afford to go to college, I attended the library three or four days a week from the age of eighteen on, and graduated from the library when I was twenty-eight.”

More on Library Sign-Up Month at the American Library Association.

Tell us about your favorite library.