Throughout my life, there have been several locations that added wonder, curiosity, and a sense of adventure to my life. The woods (especially walking trails), which adds curiosity to the natural world that surrounds me, music stores, with so many classic physical copies of albums that have made me second guess the strength of my music selection countless times, and even historical sites, keeping me grounded with the history that surrounds me and curious about the historical footsteps that others took to establish it.
However, in the last several years, there has been a new addition to the list of locations that add a brand new scope of wonder and curiosity that only it could add to my life: the library.
Libraries provide their surrounding communities a free opportunity to learn, to grow, to gain a new perspective, to learn about the history beneath their feet, even add new skills to their repertoire. For me personally, it has afforded me a place where I can walk among the great writers of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, history, and the like, all for the sake of pure joy and pleasure. In addition, libraries have given me the chance to conduct research for projects, essays, and group assignments.
Although libraries have done incredible things for me in my personal as well as my professional life, there are things that libraries provide for the communities that encompass it that people might not realize.
Resume assistance. Libraries can provide assistance for resume editing and critiquing that can help you achieve that new job you've been wanting! Many resume writing professionals will host free sessions for a selected time frame for people to receive free, professional help for creating and maintaining the perfect resume.
Group and club meetings. If you pay attention, there might be a group or club that meets in one of the study rooms consistently every month to talk about, read about, or do something that you are interested in, but couldn't quite find anyone else that shared your particular interest. I know for me personally, I get information about groups meeting up at the library to talk about writing tips, to share new ideas and bounce old ones off of the people around them, all with the purposes of enjoying the company around them, as well as making their art better.
Receive research assistance from librarians. When I was growing up, I thought that libraries had the easiest jobs in the world (a very immature assumption to have, I know.) I seriously believed that all librarians had to worry about was putting books in alphabetical order on each shelf, and make sure that they sent out all the needed warning letters about overdue library books. However, as I grew older, waltzed through more libraries, and paid more attention (as well as attended college and heard advice from professors), I began to realize that libraries actually serve a much bigger purpose to their communities. It is a science, being a librarian. Yes, they know how to organize each book on each shelf by call number, author last name, and even genre. Many of them are trained in how to properly search for items you might be interested in when it comes to conducting research for a school assignment, a job search, etc. They can teach you how to narrow your search engine results so that the seemingly daunting task of gathering information to use seems much less intimidating. Many libraries, especially in the university setting, actually curate sites from many different domains in different categories within a database that makes searching easier, before you even get started! So the next time you use that database for your biology project, make sure you find the nearest librarian and thank them for their hard work!
Provide a chance for people to discover. Fiction writer Neil Gaiman said in a transcript from one of his speeches at the Reading Agency Lecture that as a child, he was fortunate enough to have a local library and staff that allowed him to spend his summer days unaccompanied, walking through the library and reading everything he found interesting. In addition, the libraries taught him how to order books from other libraries in case his local one didn't have what he was looking for. (For more information, you should definitely pick up Gaiman's collection of selected nonfiction The View From the Cheap Seats.) Gaiman describes what many librarians and libraries in general want for their occupants: They want to encourage discovery. When people are allowed and even encouraged to search farther, deeper into what they are interested in, they stumble across more items that lead to more wonder and discovery. This is how children dream, how they learn. I believe it was Neil deGrasse Tyson who said that "As children, we are all scientists," meaning that as children, we are all curious, wondering what the world around us has to offer our hungry minds. Libraries are excellent ways to achieve the answers to the inquiries we possess. Libraries and their staffs can encourage us to search more, wonder more, and dream more.
Libraries don't just serve as a storage unit for old texts. Libraries have always served a greater purpose to their communities and the people in them. It just so happens to be a luxury that they also have an excellent selection of reading material to search through as well.
