Safe in the Stacks
Library serves as sanctuary
When I was a child in Winona, Minnesota, the public library was a prominent community resource. It was also one of the largest and most imposing buildings in the small river city – three beautiful stories of Neoclassical architecture. At first, there were weekly trips to the children's section to check out books with lots of pictures. Later, the adult section on the second story became so much more – a resource for school work, a place to flirt with a cute boy, and, for me, a refuge from mean-spirited she-bullies.
Many of the upper-level floors were made of solid glass blocks that let light filter through from below. There was a big common room with grand leather chairs and long, ornate wood tables. This room held reference books, multi-volume collections, and librarians putting a finger to their lips and hissing, "Ssshhhh…!" Altogether, it was a place of mystery with imposed silence, ringing echoes off marble walls, and safety.
The ambiance and experience of today's libraries are different. They've been replaced as the citadels of world knowledge by the digital age of information at our fingertips. I've noticed that librarians no longer scowl and "Ssshh.." at patrons for talking out loud. But in communities large and small, the library is still a public treasure, free and available to all.
It began about 2,360 years ago in Assyria. There, King Ashurbanipal made a library of 30,000 inscribed clay tablets available to subjects who were most likely scholars and scribes. (I'd guess there was no children's section.) Historians say the idea of saving information actually dates back about 5000 years, with stacks of one-inch clay tablets providing knowledge (and exercise) for some of our earliest accountants.
But for me, the most scintillating historical library is not in a faraway land, but smack-dab in the U.S. of A. It's the Darby Free Library, founded in 1743 in Darby, Pennsylvania. It was the innovation of 29 Quaker men. Better yet, it represented an early acknowledgment of female literacy. Of course, that only happened because Ann Paschall inherited a 'share' of the Darby Library and became the first female member. Alas, equality was not included in the transfer. She was barred from membership meetings and dismissed with the statement, "…her attendance at our meetings is dispensed with."  I assume she also did not attend the members’ burning of "The Pupil of Pleasure," a novel published in 1776 that included a touch of "seduction." Today, a first edition of the novel by Courtney Melmoth is for sale at $2,200.
But I digress. When I was young, it wasn't common to go to a bookstore, and Amazon had not yet been born. So a trip to the library served many purposes. A quiet place to study, a resource for free books, an elegant building with high ceilings decorated like a topping on a birthday cake, a marble floor, and tall book stacks where getting lost was possible. The latter feature was my goal. Not really 'getting lost' but becoming very hard to find.
The hour after school was dangerous. It was when a gang of popular girls (I was not in that classification) gathered in the halls and made plans. I was often included in those plans – not as a participant, but as a target. I was prey in school hallways, the lunchroom, and (most dangerous of all) the girls' locker room for gym class. Once the school day was over and I'd successfully avoided the pack of she-teens, I ran for the public library next door to the school.
I favored the upper floor because it housed titles of little interest to junior high schoolers. While chilling in the stacks and waiting for the clique of girls to get bored and leave, I browsed the titles, read some pages. Chose a few books to check out when the coast was clear. I didn't know it then, but many years later, I realized they'd done me a favor.
It was the beginning of my life with words. Had I not been chased into the sanctuary of the library, I might have been off giggling with girls and flirting with boys. But no, I was surrounded by thousands of books that held secrets from places I'd never been, words I'd never before seen. I went away on adventures that authors made up and made real for me. For two very long years of hiding in the book stacks, I learned about storytelling, started writing, and never stopped.
For most of my working life, it was writing that rewarded me with paychecks – I was a news reporter for several outlets and eventually wrote a few books, including one for children that featured a gang of bully boys and girls and four amateur sleuths – each with a special need that made them targets for the gang. Of course, my protagonists rule the day because good deserves to triumph over evil. (I dedicated the book to the kids who taunted me). A few more books followed.
I think it's not unusual for the human spirit to prevail and rise above adversity. And I even feel a hint of gratitude for being chased into the shelter of the library. After all, where would I be today without them?
Library Trivia:
One of the most overdue library books in the world was returned after 122 years.
The more popular genres in prison libraries are paranormal romance, young adult titles, and the Left Behind series.
The Guinness Book of World Records holds the record for being the book most often stolen from public libraries.
At the end of the 19th century, library work was considered to be too overwhelming for women, and in 1900, the Brooklyn Public Library Association proposed building "a seaside rest home for those who had broken down in library service."
The Library of Congress was founded in 1800. With 164 million items (one is a book by me!) and 1,350 kilometers (838 miles) of bookshelves, it's the world's largest library.
Thanks for being with me again this week. I wonder if you have a story about overcoming adversity to create a happy ending? Drop me a line if you do – or if you just want to say hello! I am: darby@darbypatterson.com - and thank you to readers who encourage friends to sign up to dance Down Darby Lane with me!
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