This
week’s plunder is one that is very close to my heart. This week I’m stealing from the Toronto
Public Library. Well, not actually, but
you know what I mean...
After
much thought (and many hours sitting at my usual desk in the Northern District
Branch), I came to realize that much of my inspiration has come from the
library. As a child, the Grantham
Library branch in St. Catharines was my second home. As I grew, I spent less and less time in the
library and more time out with friends, writing in fancy coffee shops or buying
the books I wanted to read instead of borrowing. I forgot about the secret treasures that the
library held.
After
reading Kleon’s book (yes, it always comes back to this book), I was reminded
that the library is a wonderful place to work, find inspiration or watch the
world go by. As a writer, I am required
to do a lot of research for the projects I work on and now that I have been
taking my writing more seriously, my knowledge requirements have grown
exponentially. For every one thing I write, I find I need to read 15
or more books. There is no way I could
afford to continue to buy all the books I needed. Here is where the library offers an abundance
of resources. For my project, My Mother’s Daughters, I have been
required to do a lot of research into Borderline Personality Disorder and have
found all the resources I could hope for through the Toronto Public Library
(and had them shipped to my local branch for pick-up). I know you must be thinking: Yes, the library
is a great place to find books... no newsflash there... thanks! But this is not where the true magic of the
library lies...
The
beauty of the library lies in the library itself. It is a community area. There are people from all ages and walks of
life. You have the students coming to
study; the elderly coming to read magazines and newspapers; parents with their
children learning to read; people surfing the internet or just looking to get
in from the cold and many more. All you
need to do is grab a seat and watch and you will see some amazing
characters. I often find myself looking
around and wondering: who are these people who surround me... Where do they come from and what has brought
them here? What have they seen and what
have they done? Sometimes, they become
characters in a story are give me an idea for something to write on.
It is
also simply another quiet space that I can go and work with very few
distractions. I can come in, find a
little corner or nook somewhere and sit in peace, working to my heart’s
content. I can bring tea or a snack and
as long as I’m not disturbing others, I can go about my business at my
leisure. The best part of all, it is
free. No one will come along and kick me
out because I haven’t purchased a beverage recently or because they need the
table. I am free to stay and work as
long or as little as I like without paying a dime. I can use the books and resources. I can plug my computer in and type. It is slowly becoming my home away from home;
much as it was when I was a kid.
As a
child, I would walk over to the library, grab a footstool and park myself
somewhere in the stacks for hours on end. I knew where every book was. I knew the Dewy Decimal System long before I
knew what the Dewy Decimal System was. Whatever
sparked my interest, it was all there.
If I felt like learning about dinosaurs, I would flip through all the
books on dinosaurs, or ghosts or WWII or comics or or or... It was all
there! All at my fingertips. Anything I wanted to know. It was rare that I had any less than 10 books
checked out at home. This is a little
amusing for me because I was never a strong reader. I loved books but it always took me a long
time to get through even one; so most went unread. It didn’t matter. I still loved holding them, smelling them,
having them close. There was magic in
all those books and as long as they were with me, I had a little of that magic
too.
Now, the
library has become equivalent to “the office” in my vocabulary. Most of the time, I feel very unproductive at
my little desk in my apartment and need a more focused space. The library offers this. The Northern District branch has ample work
areas and study rooms, so I am usually able to find some place to call my own
and set up shop. I just plug in my
headphones and I’m off. It’s
fantastic. It also gets me out of the
house, which is invaluable in itself.
Sometimes, you just need to be out in the world to remind yourself that
you are a part of it. And an important
part of it.
Sometimes
I forget that we are all connected. I
like to think of myself as an island that is occasionally forced to interact
with the outside world. It is here at
the library that I reconnect. No one is
in this world alone. When I sit here at
my desk by the window, I can hear people studying on the other side of the
wall, I see people reading at other desks, I see people going to the
washrooms. I am not alone. We are all in this world together. As a writer, this is an important idea to
keep in mind. I am an artist
contributing to the cultural mosaic of my world. I need to be a voice for those that do not
have a voice. The world doesn’t care
what I have to say, unless it is something that they want to say but can’t find
the words. I cannot be an island. This is not my world, it is our world and it
is important to engage with it. The voice that I speak with is the same voice
that those around me speak with as well.
This is
what I take from the library each day that I’m here. A sense of community and belonging. The reminder that we are all one.
There is
so much magic within these walls. After
a long absence, I’m glad I have rediscovered the treasures that lie within my
local library. It is like coming home
after being away for a very long time. I
still love to go find a desk somewhere and curl up among the stacks; surrounded
by books. I still love to hold them,
smell them, and possess a little of their magic for a brief moment.
If you
haven’t been to your local library in a while, drop in for a visit. You can find your closest Toronto branch at:
Also,
libraries need our support. Think about
donating to your local library either through old books or monetarily. Donations to the Toronto Public Library can
be made online at:
No comments:
Post a Comment