Our Popular Culture

Ever since I was a little kid, I have always loved public libraries. It is really easy to understand why. The public library is such a welcoming place for children. Of course there is the taboo against noise, never easy for hyperactive young ones like myself, but after a while, even a kid realizes the advantages of silence. Amidst endless rows of fascinating books lies a fertile ground for the imagination of youth.

As I grew older, I kept my love of local public libraries. The reasons changed a little bit. I still loved visiting the San Francisco public library looking for the newest work of fiction. I also began to use the public library as a source of what I thought of as forbidden information. If I had one of those questions we all have growing up. You know, the things that you desperately need to know, but can’t ask an authority figure and can’t admit to your friends you don’t understand? The public library was always a great place to look.

Still, through my adolescence my main interest remained fiction. I’ve always loved bookstores, but as a voracious reader I quickly realized the advantages of taking books out from the library. Even when I find a great book, I am unlikely to reread it very often. Even If I wanted to, I didn’t have the money. Besides that, there is only so much space in the bedroom of a teenager. Needless to say, public libraries were a great solution.

I was fortunate to live in an area with lots of different public libraries. The Central Library was, of course, the best source for most books. They had by far the largest selection, and had no great weaknesses in their collection. It was, however, a bit overbearing and oversized. There was just too much there, and I quickly became overwhelmed with it. I much more liked going to the local branch Library. The public library in San Francisco is set up so that you could get books from any of the branches delivered to any of the other branches. That meant that, if I was interested in a book that the Central Library had but I was living in a house in the Mission, I could get the book delivered over there without any problem. To this day, I still appreciate the tremendous luxury of that, even though many major cities have libraries that are set up this way. Thousands of the most fascinating titles ever written are available to me for nothing, delivered practically to my door, almost the moment I request them.

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