On Library

On Library

To me, a library is more than a storehouse of knowledge and books. It gives me space to think afresh: patiently allowing ideas to seep in, watering my brain’s soil with the thoughts of some of the greatest thinkers who have ever lived (Tolstoy, Harari, Plato, Aurelius to just get started on a few). How can I get bored in a library? It’s like being in the same place and time as those who inspire you, who know more than you and with whom you would love to spend time with. When I am browsing the bookshelves (usually in the non-fiction aisles), a book can appeal to me like the opportune daffodil might appeal to a bee (or to Wordsworth in a poetic mood). It’s nectar is all that I am after. It spreads its seed and my neural network makes a new connection. Now, it’s time to move on to the next rose, lotus or hibiscus. Biology, biography or Byron. Honey is the feeling of thinking new thoughts and sharing them with fellow busy-bees. This nectar just like the one residing in the petals, anthers, stamens or sepals of a flower can reside on the back-cover, in the first chapter or on page 42. You never know when you’ll get the “aha” moment. Yet, much of this has survived the test of time. Just like a wildflower bed has evolved to have the right amount of scent and colour, so has a library. The eclectic mix of ambrosia in that wildflower bed passes down from generation to generation even as the collection of wildflowers changes. My son loves to be read Dr. Seuss, Julia Donaldson and anything that has sharks in it. He browses through picture books, comics, hard covers, and books that have shark holograms on their covers. When I read some of these books to him, it allows us to foster a father-son bond. It’s not even about what’s in the book – it’s the experience of listening to a story with rapt attention just like a child would have done from his parents ten millennia ago. A story that has a beginning (life in the ocean), some conflict (a shark) and a happy end (usually for the shark!). All while we are safely perched on the library island. Indeed, “library is like an island in the middle of a vast sea of ignorance” (Lemony Snicket).

A rendezvous with a book is nothing short of a love affair (don’t tell my wife!). It immerses you and tugs at your heart. If you read before sleeping, you can listen to the voice of the author when you dream. You hold it with both hands while you are traveling in a bus and sometimes smell the paper too. While some imagine Paradise to be made of virgins, "I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of a Library," wrote the mystical Argentine author Jorge Luis Borges.

A library is a unique leveler: it does not discriminate between the rich and the poor; between the immigrant and the local; between the religious and the atheist. It offers its nectar to all. It allows me to place holds on books I want to read and collects them for me at my local location from across several public libraries in Seattle. I have started experimenting reading on Kindle and listening to audiobooks. These are also available at no cost from the library’s website.

While there are rules on what books or digital material someone can borrow and by when they have to return it, I have noticed that a prescribed due date allows me to speed up my reading. Libraries can also serve as spaces for personal tutors, toddler story sessions, teaching IT to the elderly, getting tax advice and being part of book clubs. They are safe spaces for teenagers. Moreover, they may be one of the last vestiges where targeted marketing by data gobbling companies has not reared its ugly head. You can explore unhindered by data driven recommendations and allow serendipity to take the lead in building the mind. I often go and do my work writing in the library. During times of a pandemic (aka coronavirus), it can provide a refuge for those who are “working from home”. An institution has three main functions: first, it affects the behavior of a set of individuals within a given community. Second, it has a social purpose, transcending individuals, and finally, it helps structure social interactions. Libraries are the most important institutions we have remaining today. They allow community members to open their minds to the best thinkers that ever lived, spur their creativity, learn from each other and bond with one another. Sometimes, it does take an Einstein to know that “The only thing that you absolutely have to know, is the location of the library”.