Reader has had lifelong
love affair with libraries
Posted 8/16/02

Iíve always had a love affair with libraries. Not with librarians, mind you, although I used to think Iíd marry one someday but it didnít end up that way. No, I have just really liked the places since grade school when I first went with my mom and sister to check out childrenís books.

Later I found a deeper world in libraries. The library became a part-time job on Saturdays as I would go through books a section at a time and retrieve the green photos of Lincoln and Washington that people in their post-war recklessness had used as bookmarks and then forgotten. Somedays I got quite a haul with which to replenish my supply of Atomic Fireballs (now politically incorrect) and other goodies.

I had the good fortune to have seen only three hours of television by the time I entered college, and books were a better entertainment than anything I could imagine. And the nice librarian with the high gravelly voice that I can still hear today would read stories from filmstrips to the younger children and also showed films and Disney cartoons.

Gradually I liked the library because I could learn anything there. Libraries broadened my mind and made me more tolerant of differing viewpoints, less certain that I knew all of the answers. And they were rather silent places then and even better suited for meditation than my church.

As an adult I made it my habit to visit libraries wherever I traveled, and I have enjoyed comparing the stacks of main libraries from Chicago and New York to Tokyo and Aukland. But only one had a moose head of such character that it compelled me to stay and linger for a few years.

The Milaca moose has mused over the gradual transition of a traditional library with its files of cards and rubber stamps into an actively up-to-date facility with clicking computers and laser scanners. Libraries have always kept up with peopleís needs and now I look forward eagerly to the construction of the new Milaca library. Milaca will move with our times in caring for young minds; you can make book on that. I just hope the moose moves too.