Check Me Out!

I sat in the multi-colored chairs by the children’s book area.  There was a huge colorful carpet, a white with pastel design rocking chair in the corner, and several stacks of individual sitting rugs.  The three bookshelves behind me had bilingual signs (Chapter books: English/Español/Português; Children Books: English/Español; and Picture Books: English/Español).   The walls were painted a light teal blue with wood board trimmings and blocks of tan.  The white wood window shutters were shut, but the lighting was a nice bright color.  There were 3 large nylon dragon flies hanging from the ceiling above the other two kindergarten size round tables and chairs.  I wanted to ask about the library’s Spanish literature, but it seemed that the librarian was busy with a Middle Eastern man who could not understand what she was telling him.  So I decided to search for myself.  The library is not that big (I think it is only 3 times bigger than my small 2 car garage).  There were 13 large bookshelves in total, including the 4 short children’s books shelves.  I went to the chapter book section and found nothing in Spanish!  I moved over to the next shelf and found 140 books in Spanish.  The only problem is that they all of them were pre-k to kindergarten level.  They were old.  I stood in line and asked to get a library card.  I asked how children could get a library card.  The librarian said that their rules for that were that anyone under the age of 18 had to bring a parent or guardian and their card would be under that adult’s ID.  How in the world can a 10 year old kid whose parents do not have a valid CA ID get a library card?

What could I really check out?  I checked out two picture books for my niece about folktales and bunnies.  My mind boggled with infinite thoughts.  Once a month  where members of the community come read to children.  “That’s it?” I thought.  I left sad that the biggest crowd at out public library was not to go check out books to read but to make us of the free internet provide.  I was sad that many of the books were old.  My first step out the door was to do some research on this.  I found out that our library had to close two extra hours a week on Tuesdays and Wednesdays because the grant that kept them open finished this past December.  I am volunteering in their Friends of the Library organization to go read once a month.  My project right now is finding a way to get new books to the library.  What can I do to help?  Who can I get involved?  Where do I begin?  How can YOU help?

Advertisements