Loving the Library

By Michele Bazan Reed  |  Email: bazanreed@hotmail.com

Every month I get together on Zoom with a book club of classmates from Bishop Scully High School Class of 1969 in Amsterdam, New York.

The Scully Sisters (with a nod to the nuns who taught us) have lively discussions of the chosen book but then, as you’d expect from people who grew up together, we often veer off into reminiscences of our hometown.

Last month, we shared memories of a place dear to our book-loving hearts, the Amsterdam Free Library. Built in 1903 with funds from Andrew Carnegie, the dignified stone and brick Beaux Arts building features a medallion above the door, surrounded by scrollwork and bearing the words of Carnegie’s intention, “Open to All.”

“There was a distinct aroma in the Amsterdam library. A blend of the scent of new books mixed with a musty odor sparks memories of hours spent going through the stacks looking for just the right book,” notes Kathy A.

“I used to love seeing all the dates on the borrowing card in the back. A filled card was an indication of how good the book was. It was like the rating system before ‘Goodreads’ existed,” she adds.

“My mother and father made weekly trips to the library and always brought me along. I remember the large wood tables and big windows on the first floor. I believe there was also a fireplace. The atmosphere seemed more like a residence than a public space,” remembers Louise M.

“My biggest thrill was when the librarian suggested to my mother that I get my own library card. I was not yet the ‘legal age’ to have my own card but my mother agreed,” she adds. “I felt so grown up and independent though I was barely tall enough to see over the circulation desk while checking out an armful of books for weekend reading.”

For my part, I loved sitting for hours in a comfy leather chair in the big central window above the door, reading whatever treasure I had found in the children’s stacks on the second floor.

Another Carnegie library became my home away from home, as I spent time at Syracuse University’s Carnegie Library my freshman year. Our Shakespeare professor had assigned us to listen to one of the Bard’s plays on records: each play recorded on a dozen or so big, heavy vinyl discs. It made Shakespeare’s words so much easier to understand, along with the humor and subtle nuances. Long before cassette tapes, books on CD or instant downloads on an audiobook app, we were introduced to the joys of listening to a book.

In graduate school I spent long hours at the University of Toronto’s Pontifical Institute library at St. Michael’s College, translating from Latin 13th-century illuminated manuscripts the Vatican had sent to Canada for safekeeping against Nazi invaders.

I remember seeing a medieval curse, elaborately painted on the wall by the exit, graphically warning of the evils to befall those who stole a book from the library. Later when unpacking my belongings back home, I was horrified to find I’d accidentally brought home a library book. Thinking of that curse, I rushed to the post office to return it.

And when our children came along, it was the Oswego Public Library, that beautiful Castle on the Hill, founded in 1853 by abolitionist Gerrit Smith, that introduced the joys of reading to a new generation.

Built in the style of Norman castles in 1855 and 1856, it is America’s oldest library still in its original building.

My late husband Bill and I would bring the children to the library each Saturday to pick out a week’s worth of books, happy that they shared our love of reading.

Our son, Mike, still lives in Central New York, but our daughter, Katie, has crisscrossed the nation in her academic career. So she has held library cards in Ohio, Missouri, Florida, Utah and California, where she is a musicology professor. I’m proud to report she now has written her own book on David Bowie, which sits on a shelf in her campus library.

Now libraries offer so much more than books. This spring you could watch Oscar-nominated movies at a branch of the Onondaga County libraries.

The library is a community space for learning of all kinds. The Onondaga County library website shows events to appeal to all learners, from video games and chair yoga to GED classes.

Libraries offer computers and internet connections for those who don’t have them at home, audiobooks and DVDs, magazines and more. Many host readings by local authors.

And if getting to the library is difficult, you can access their collections of audiobooks and e-books online, using your library card.

A library card is really your ticket to a world full of knowledge and imagination. You can learn about current issues, travel back to a by-gone time or imagine worlds not yet discovered.

Like any living, growing thing, libraries need care.

Donate, volunteer and support your library.

Stop by to ask how you can help, or even to just thank a librarian.

And if you can, bring a child — a grandchild, niece or nephew or young friend. Share with them the endless possibilities of your library’s collections.

Attend a story hour or just browse the stacks. Let them sit for hours in a comfy chair pouring over whatever treasure they find in the stacks. You’ll be doing your part to keep the love of reading alive and kindle the imaginations of a whole new generation.

Someday when they are seniors, sharing the memories they cherish most, they’ll recall the hours they spent with you in their local library.