Brendan Fraser ain't got nothin' on me

yesterday, i did something unheard of. i borrowed a book from the library.

i'll give you a second to let that sink in. the library. that place with dewey decimals, dusty shelves and ink stamps with due dates. long since replaced with the likes of factiva and other online resources that provide you with digital content instantly in the comfort of your own bedroom or office. so what's the point of a library you ask? well - let me take you through my little journey.

so i walk in and had no idea where to start. luckily, the terminals were set up with library lookup software. phew! i search for a book title and out spit back a call number. a call number? what do you do with that? hmm. this would require some reconnaissance.

behind the information desk was a Berkeley-looking student with red hair and funky glasses reading her homework. she looked so engrossed, i felt bad interrupting her. some things never change. i feel like my uncle asking how to use email when i approach her. "ahem. um. call number? how, um, what?" all i can do is point at my scribbled-on piece of paper.

she sighs and busts out this complicated map of the different floors of the library - something about east tower, revolving shelves, be careful when you turn them because you can get squished inside. hmm. i suddenly feel like Brendan Fraser about to go into the mummy tomb. "Don't do it!" yells the damsel in distress in the background.

i finally find the large room with walls of books that i'm supposed to navigate through. there was something majestic and humbling about it. i was kinda digging this.

i say "walls" of books generously because there is only one open aisle at any given time. each 10 foot tall "wall" is really a huge, heavy rolling aisle of books that has a big knob at the end that you have to turn in order to move it right or left in order to open up another aisle of books. and there are these signs all over the place that say "please check in the open aisle before rolling!!" in red and in all caps - meaning someone might actually be standing in an aisle you don't see and if you start rolling the walls over, it might potentially squish them in between two walls. i knew this mummy tomb thing was a bad idea.

then i found another pleasant surprise. i found my book, but next to it and in the aisles over, there was all this amazing information on what i was looking for. information that - gasp! - i couldn't find online! in fact, what i found was richer, more insightful and thorough than a lot of the content that i have found on the web these days. eureka! what a great little secret. some of the greater things in life aren't tied to electronic communication?

in the end, after my Brendan Fraser moment, i left the library with a new (renewed?) appreciation for the wealth of information available at this dying dinosaur. and i was sad that everyone, myself included, has forgotten how great libraries really are.

and the really sad thing is that my books aren't even due until june (3 months!!) which tells me it's a terrible chicken and egg cycle of the lack of demand by people for library books, but also how inaccessible these books would even be if someone did need them.

my boyfriend has always been a huge fan of the library (well, for him, it's cuz he's cheap), but now i'll be the next to tout it to you all - go visit a library! give it a chance. you might be pleasantly surprised.