Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

by Lewis Carroll

This little battered, dusty volume is just one of many Alice in Wonderland books on my shelf.  When my youngest daughter was very small, Alice was her favorite character, as you can see in her photo.  

This here is the oldest copy we have, obtained when our public library weeded it out.  Michelle may not even remember this, but she checked this book out many times.  Because of its age, and because I thought we were probably the only ones borrowing it, I assumed it would eventually be weeded.  One time, I asked at the circulation desk, and the clerk told me I could put my name on file so I would be called if and when they decided to free the book from their collection.  Sure enough, a couple of years later, I went down to the library and purchased it for 50 cents. 

Whenever I see this book, I am reminded that it came from my public library, and my thoughts turn to just how much that institution means to me personally.  The library is a place of unlimited knowledge and imagination and to me that means it truly is a Wonderland.  

One of the fondest memories from my childhood involves wandering up and down the aisles of the children’s room in my neighborhood library.  Especially in the summer when there was no school work to be done, I would come away with an armload of “new” books.  Sometimes I would grab a few non-fiction books, and get an idea or two for a new art project.  Usually, though, my haul would include many gems of fiction which would carry me away to places I never before imagined.  I became the characters in these stories and vicariously participated in their adventures, their sorrows, and their joys.  I could happily spend a summer day lost in a book – or two – or maybe even more.

  

Fast forward about forty years.  The library is still one of my favorite places to be, and now I’m even fortunate enough to work in one!  I can happily go to work in the morning, knowing I’ll be able to spend hours among the stacks.  The awareness that I have a part, however small, in providing a space for discovering facts, improving lives or exercising  imaginations and creativity is so gratifying.

Now, of course, the library has a different look and feel than it did in my childhood.  Gone are the card catalogs, replaced by computers.  The books are still there, but next to them are the DVDs and CDs.  A book may likely be downloaded onto a portable device rather than taken physically in hand to the check out desk.  Questions asked at the reference desk will often be answered using an online database rather than a hefty encyclopedia.  The library has changed and will continue to do so into the future.   

One fact remains true.  

The public library is a still a place of unlimited knowledge and imagination, offering all who enter its doors a portal to Wonderland.