# First Library Card



## ndynt (Apr 19, 2016)

Remember how wonderful this rite of passage was. To now go to the library alone. Being told that you had to wait two days before bringing books back.  Opening a whole new world. How many were as fortunate as I, with a public library just up the street?


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## Ameriscot (Apr 19, 2016)

I remember.  And in my teens frequently went with my mom, granny and sister.  Mysteries or gothic novels were my favourite.


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## NancyNGA (Apr 19, 2016)

Library was downtown, heavy traffic.  But we had a Bookmobile at our grade school.  It was a small bus that came around occasionally.  I remember checking out all the Sherlock Holmes books from it. (one at a time, of course).


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## jujube (Apr 19, 2016)

Little boy walks up to the librarian's counter and says, "I want a hamburger and fries!"

"SHHHHHH!" scolds the librarian. "This is a library."

Little boy (whispering) "OK, I want a hamburger and fries!"


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## Guitarist (Apr 19, 2016)

I remember my first library card.

Every time I move someplace new one of the first things I do is get a library card.


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## Ameriscot (Apr 20, 2016)

I got a library card when I moved to Scotland, but haven't used it in many years.  I prefer the Kindle as I can adjust the text size, among other reasons.


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## ndynt (Apr 20, 2016)

I use my library card now to read books electronically too, Annie.   If I were able to go to the library I would though.  For I love books....recently donated 27 boxes of books.  And have at least that many still to donate.


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## Ameriscot (Apr 20, 2016)

ndynt said:


> I use my library card now to read books electronically too, Annie.   If I were able to go to the library I would though.  For I love books....recently donated 27 boxes of books.  And have at least that many still to donate.



My brother gets his ebooks through the library.  I buy mine through Amazon.


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## ndynt (Apr 20, 2016)

Ameriscot said:


> My brother gets his ebooks through the library.  I buy mine through Amazon.


 I do both. Use Project Guttenberg for the classics and older bios.   Find it fascinating that people volunteer their time to transcribe them to ebooks/talking books.  My silly mind sometimes tries to visualize the person as I read.


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## Ameriscot (Apr 20, 2016)

I got all the classics free on Amazon.  I look for deals on other books but if I really really want a certain book I will pay a lot.


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## debbie in seattle (Apr 20, 2016)

I grew up in a small town and loved going to the library.   It was an old house converted into the towns public library.   I can still hear the old wood floors creeking and the piano music being played downstairs where dance classes were held. All those books to choose from.......today, my library is filled with screaming kids (toddler hour), if you're not in the parking lot prior to the library opening, no parking spot for you, and to order a book, gotta do it online.   Purchasing books has become way too expensive, so it's the library.  Oh, how I miss my local library of my youth.


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## ndynt (Apr 20, 2016)

debbie in seattle said:


> I grew up in a small town and loved going to the library.   It was an old house converted into the towns public library.   I can still hear the old wood floors creeking and the piano music being played downstairs where dance classes were held. All those books to choose from.......  Oh, how I miss my local library of my youth.


What a lovely description.  Sounds like my library.  Looked like a old house..with creaking wood floors.  Also housed a fire station, so most visits included a "short cut" to view the engines.  With the ultimate excitement of a infrequent engine going out.   Here is a very old picture...long before my time....of my library.  In my memories it was much more attractive than this.


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## jujube (Apr 20, 2016)

The big public downtown when I was a kid was like a cathedral.  Lots of marble, columns, towering ceilings, mezzanines and stacks like mazes.  It was always a bit chilly, even in the summer. I almost felt like I should be genuflecting at the door.  You walked carefully since it seemed that you shouldn't be clomping around. Everyone spoke in hushed voices and you approached the librarian at the main desk like you would an archbishop.  

I loved libraries then and I still do, even though the shock-and-awe isn't there any longer.


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## Ruth n Jersey (Apr 20, 2016)

I had a totally different experience with my first card. The library my family used was a quaint little place in walking distance but in another town. I think I was in the 6th grade and our teacher decided to take us on a field trip to my town library which was about 10 miles away. Once there we were to pick out a book and get our library card. When I came home that day with my book and card in hand my Mother had a fit. We were responsible for returning the book ourselves. Because we had only one car back in the 50's, my Mom had to drive my Dad to work at 6:30 AM, get back in time to get me off to school, then drive to the library, dump off the book, which by the way I didn't read. Then drive back to pick my Dad up from work. For the life of me I don't know why I didn't tell the teacher that we always went to the other library. I guess back then you just did what you were told.I wasn't much of a reader back then but now I couldn't live without our library and my precious Kindle. In fact out library is hooked up with my Kindle so I have an endless supply of good books.


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## Guitarist (Apr 20, 2016)

The library of my childhood and teen years was one of the Carnegie-style buildings, brick, with graceful front steps curving up to the front veranda, tall columns, double white doors, and a reading room on each side of the entrance lobby.  Each room had a fireplace (never a fire burning), with comfortable chairs on either side, and shelves full of books.  From the lobby you walked back to the reference department, and then into the children's room at the back, past another lobby, where a graceful curving stairway led down to an area with an auditorium where we used to give piano recitals.  

After I was grown the city closed down the front entrance (disability laws, I guess, because of the stairs), and built an extension with a basic glass-door entrance back on the side.  They also took out the lovely curving staircase, put in an ugly closed-off one, got rid of the auditorium-with-piano, and put the children's room downstairs.  Oddly, they did not install an elevator.

Years later they tore down the building and put up an ugly, barely functional one that is no roomier than the old one.  Why, I have no idea.  I just Googled for a photo of the old library but couldn't find one. 

I went to library school in a university town that had its public library in an old house downtown.  It, too, had creaky floors!  The building may still be there (historical home), but the library now is huge and modern (but the old one had atmosphere).


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## jujube (Apr 20, 2016)

When you went into one of those old Carnegie libraries, you KNEW you were in a library.


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## Butterfly (May 9, 2016)

jujube said:


> The big public downtown when I was a kid was like a cathedral.  Lots of marble, columns, towering ceilings, mezzanines and stacks like mazes.  It was always a bit chilly, even in the summer. I almost felt like I should be genuflecting at the door.  You walked carefully since it seemed that you shouldn't be clomping around. Everyone spoke in hushed voices and you approached the librarian at the main desk like you would an archbishop.
> 
> I loved libraries then and I still do, even though the shock-and-awe isn't there any longer.



I remember our main library here the same way -- you're right, you approached the librarian like you would an archbishop -- great simile!  I always tried to be quiet as a mouse.  I remember once I dropped a large book on the floor and it made a big noise that sort of reverberated through the place and I was absolutely horrified that I had done such a thing and I fervently hoped that no one had noticed that it had been me that had allowed such a sacrilege to happen.


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## Redd (May 9, 2016)

At the old town I lived in the library was brand spanking new with few books. A thrift shop was set up in the basement where some of us volunteered and the proceeds were used to buy books. Worked out very well.


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## CuriousKate (May 10, 2016)

In my youth, the library was the place to go to do your research for school papers...also in college. Anyone remember those long nights in the library cramming for finals??


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## Guitarist (May 10, 2016)

Butterfly said:


> I remember our main library here the same way -- you're right, you approached the librarian like you would an archbishop -- great simile!  I always tried to be quiet as a mouse.  I remember once I dropped a large book on the floor and it made a big noise that sort of reverberated through the place and I was absolutely horrified that I had done such a thing and I fervently hoped that no one had noticed that it had been me that had allowed such a sacrilege to happen.



The last time I complained about noise in my local public library, the children's librarian told me they don't believe in asking the kids to be quiet because they want them to feel "comfortable" and at home in the library.  I thought, What about the rest of us, who were raised to be quiet in the library and felt very comfortable and at home there?!  

I got tickled one day in the research library on campus when I was in graduate school and a student had his little kid in there and the kid wanted to talk.  We students shushed them both, the dad got mad, and then the librarian shushed them!  

Yay!


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## WhatInThe (May 10, 2016)

Still have it. They were made to last forever with a nice/thick high grade cardboard. It has a metal strip with raised numbers on it so it could be pressed by a 40 year old charge card stamper. Now they give a you cheap plastic credit card type thing with a complimentary key tag-big whoop. And a bar code instead of a metal strip with numbers.


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