I’ve always loved libraries … the quiet, peaceful environment … the visitors immersed in their research and reading activities … the smell of ink on paper … the stacks and stacks of books on shelves.
I obtained my first library card when I was in elementary school. I treasured the paper card with my name on it, as it gave me access to a new source of knowledge. I have always been a sponge for information, even when I was child.
Fortunately, the library in West Hempstead, where I spent most of my formative growing-up years, was exactly between our house and the school I attended. There were many days where I would walk home from school—and make a pit stop at the local library.
I started out reading sports books, given my love for baseball. Matt Christopher wrote about two dozen baseball books for kids, and I spent about six months reading each and every one of them, from cover to cover.
By sixth grade, I graduated from reading sports books to reading teen novels. Paul Zindel was my favorite author—he wrote “The Pigman,” “The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the Moon Marigolds” and “My Darling, My Hamburger.” I believe I read “The Catcher in the Rye” that year, too. I felt very grown-up being able to read teen novels, even though I was only 12 years old.
By seventh and eighth grade I began to read adult novels … and there were so many good writers whose books I enjoyed. Among my favorites were Bernard Malamud, Phillip Roth, John Updike, Herman Wouk, Joseph Heller, Kurt Vonnegut Jr., and Irwin Shaw. I’d occasionally read a trashy novel, too, as my teenage hormones were beginning to develop … and I guess they manifested themselves in the books that I chose to read. “Summer of ’42” was a book I remember reading … and enjoying. It was a coming-of-age romance story which was also made into a movie. As I recall, I think I got a quizzical look from the librarian when I wanted to borrow this book at such a young age, but she didn’t prevent me from taking it out!
Once I was in high school, I became acquainted with the classic books and plays that were assigned to us to read as part of our English classes (Shakespeare, Melville, Hemingway, Fitzgerald, and many others), but I still found time to make weekly trips to the library to take out the latest novels. I would review The New York Times bestseller list each Sunday—and jot down the books I wanted to read. And then I would make sure to reserve these books when I visited the library. I got to know the local librarian very well—and she would sometimes tell me if a new book was arriving so I could get first crack at it.
I also remember that in ninth grade I went through a detective phase—and read a bunch of the Erle Stanley Gardner Perry Mason novels. There must have been at least three dozen of them that I read … and I loved trying to guess the mystery, which was always revealed at the end of the book.
Libraries have changed quite a bit since the days when I was in school. I learned the Dewey decimal system … and back then I could tell you the Dewey decimal number for most categories. (I still remember that sports was 796 and Judaism was 296.) Although many libraries still use the system to catalog their books, there has been a shift towards digital cataloging systems that make searching much easier. Will the next generation even know what the Dewey decimal system is?
And speaking of searching, I’m sure those who are my age remember looking for a specific book in the vast card catalog shelves at the library. Those card catalogs have long been replaced by computers, which can organize the library’s inventory and allow for searches much more easily than the old manual card system. Today’s generation will never experience the joy of finding the exact book that you were looking for on the library shelves, after a search for that book in the card catalog … or the disappointment of discovering that the book you wanted and thought you had is missing on the shelf (usually with an empty space between two other books on that shelf).
Library research, of course, has also changed dramatically. Back when I was in high school and college, I’d spend many hours at the library researching material for a report or an assignment. I remember the Reader’s Guide to Periodical Literature was an essential reference tool—and it was exciting to be able to find a published article that helped me through an assignment. Today, of course, those articles can usually be found instantly through a Google search, with a simple press of a button. Who needs a library for research anymore?
Remember microfilm? I’d often use The New York Times as a reference source for my assignments, and the way to access the old issues was through microfilm. I loved skimming through the old issues on microfilm, looking for sources. While conducting my research, I especially enjoyed looking at the old advertisements that appeared in the newspaper many decades ago (perhaps an early sign of my professional career in advertising and marketing).
The library was always one of my happy places. However, I must admit that these days, I don’t go to the library very often. Most of the books that I read are nonfiction books that I purchase, rather than ones that I take out from the library. It’s sad that I rarely visit a library anymore, because I have so many fond memories of the libraries of old.
Maybe it’s time for me to visit the library more often.
Michael Feldstein, who lives in Stamford, is the author of “Meet Me in the Middle” (meet-me-in-the-middle-book.com), a collection of essays on contemporary Jewish life. He can be reached at [email protected].
