Thursday, June 02, 2005

Library renovation destroys soul of town See page C6 for details

Yesterday I went to the library nearby that I haven't been to in about four years, in which time they've done massive renovations. It looks really nice and has a huge chess set for kids and much more space, but it doesn't smell the same and doesn't have the same charm. I miss the little wire chairs at the little kids' table that had padding on the seats in eighties-style shades of orange and yellow. I miss knowing exactly where the Peanuts comic books and Baby-Sitter's Club books are. I loved Ghost at Dawn's House. It had a secret passage in it. I always wanted a secret passage. Anyway, I also miss the high ceilings and mismatched furniture and generally shoddy feel. Now it's clean and streamlined and heartless. The same thing happened when they renovated the library downtown, only worse: they took the ACTUAL SECRET ROOM out. I mean, how COULD you? It was the coolest thing in the world and now it's like the map room or some foolishness. People just don't know how to treat libraries. You have to withhold their money. That's how they retain their old-fashioned charm. It's a good thing, a very good thing. I'm switching my voter registration to Republican as we speak.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

the secret room is gone?! why?! and the library is different?! why?! i leave for eight months and everything is ruined! this blog is starting to disress and depress me. toxic waste... library destruction... though i totally knew the library needed a renovation when they started putting all the nora roberts romance novels in prime locations and hiding the classics upstairs on the back shelves. i too loved the ghost at dawn's house... i think it was because i wanted a step sister though.

L'Écureuil said...

i read a book once where a woman in her free time went to the library and checked out classics at random so they would not be marked for sale and replaced with trashy romance. i think it was Bellwether, by connie willis.

Matthew said...

In response to ".M"'s comment ... my mother and I just had a conversation about this. Sort of. A flower arranging + drying book that she used to lov was discarded and put into the book sale recently. My mother picked it up and went "I used to check this out all the time!" and apparently the other women there went "hey! us too!". So my Mother bought it, and all the ladies exchanged phone numbers so that they'd always know where the book was if any of them needed it again. True story.

Matthew said...

I like to note that Simon just said that she could never be a strippere because she can't wear the heels. And I laughed.