A Day at the Local Library
By: Elena Welsh
September 8 is International Literacy Day! To (preemptively) celebrate, I decided to spend a day at my local library!
Libraries are essential public places providing people with free books, of course, but they go even beyond that. They are a space where people can access things they might not have at home, they bring the community together through events, and they allow people to learn about and try activities they might not think about doing otherwise.
In my day at the library, I saw hundreds of people come in and out to use the free wifi and computers, browse the bookshelves, attend events, or just get out of the house to study or work (myself included).
Here’s a bit about my experience.
For Books and Beyond
It’s 10:00 am on a Tuesday at the Georgetown Public Library—Baby and Me storytime is just getting started, half of the library computers are already occupied, and there’s a group of seniors leaving the building with coffee and papers in hand.
I haven’t eaten yet, so I drag my partner, Anthony, with me to the cafe. It’s a small offshoot location of a local bistro a couple of blocks away, and they always have delicious pastries and seasonal drinks. We order our breakfasts and (urgently needed) caffeine over the low murmur of conversation and the occasional excited child, then find a seat where we can get to work. Most of the tables by the cafe are full, but we still find a booth with enough space for our laptops and food.
I’m a regular visitor at the library, so my laptop is already connected to the free wifi. I go through my emails as I eat breakfast, passively listening to the dozens of people around me. When Anthony and I are done eating, I fill up my water bottle, and then we head upstairs to see if we can reserve one of the private study rooms. Fortunately, there’s a time slot available in about an hour, so we set our laptops back up at one of the tables upstairs and wait.
By 1:00, our designated study room time, I’ve already gotten so much more work done than I usually do by this time at home. Oftentimes, just being around other people doing work helps me focus better on my own work. Even if there’s a whole shelf of board games just across the room to tempt me…
Before long, it’s time to go to the study room. It’s big enough for four people, so we have space to spread out in all of our ADHD chaos. Anthony takes a meeting, and I review some video footage for Curious Whisker Press.
After a while, I step out for a bit to check out the Plant It Forward Seed Savers event. It’s supposed to be a volunteer-led event where gardeners can sort and husk donated seeds (yes, some libraries have free seeds too!). There’s no one there when I drop by, but there are a few packets of seeds, informational flyers, and plant clippings for people to take! Of course, I grab a new plant baby.
Then, I head back to the study room to do some more work.
When our time slot in the study room is over, Anthony and I head out to the breezeway to read among the sculptures with some incredible natural lighting. On the way, he gets distracted by the games, and I get distracted by the CDs. We browse the shelves (both library shelves and those in the on-site secondhand bookstore) and, even though I already have about six books checked out, I check out two more. Eventually, we make it to the breezeway and settle down to read together.
We leave the library around 5:00, right before the evening’s Teen Hangout in the YA section. I lament that I can’t make it to the Williamson County Genealogical Society Georgetown Genealogy Chat later—I know Mom would love to hear about that meeting—but I have a sand volleyball game to go to. On our way out, I grab a flyer for the Georgetown film festival later in September and snap a picture of the bulletin board, which has a flyer for a documentary screening one of my friends is hosting later this month.
There are dozens of events and skill shares happening this month at just the Georgetown Public Library, not to mention everything being advertised on the bulletin boards. Even if the library isn’t hosting anything that piques your interest, there’s a high chance you can find information about something fun just by dropping by. Although, considering how many events my library hosts, the chances of finding something are pretty high.
This month’s events include:
Family Storytime, Spanish Bilingual Storytime, and KinderReady Storytime
Wired Wednesday (tech troubleshooting and assistance every Wednesday)
Silent Book Club
Fiber & Friends (where an experienced volunteer comes to the library to help those who want to learn how to knit, crochet, or stitch)
Line Dancing
A Dungeons & Dragons campaign meeting
A movie screening of Project Hail Mary
Mahjong
Camille’s Memory Cafe (a gathering for people experiencing memory loss and loved ones of people experiencing memory loss)
A beading event for tweens
A board game group for adults
I already had an idea of how much stuff the Georgetown Public Library offers to visitors, but spending a whole day hanging out here has made me realize just how much I didn’t know about.
Thank you for joining me on my adventure at the library. I hope it inspires you to hang out at yours, too. And in the future, I hope you’ll go to the library with Charlie, too!
