There’s something about the smell of books in a library, the lights, the silence that humbles me. There’s something about books being available for free and at my disposal to read, to learn, to go somewhere…distant, more beautiful than from here that makes me smile.

I went to the library this evening to pick up a book on hold. True to my word in my last post on reading books, I’ve been making it a goal to read more. I’ve been making it a goal to hold what I’m reading more. So, I went to the library at 8 PM. It was closing at 9 pm, so the audience was sparse.

There were a couple of young guys at the computers near the exits. Their screens bore Facebook profile pages. There was a mother and daughter asking something of the woman with peppered gray hair at the Information desk and a security guard with a blond mustache in the rear.

I had never been to the library at night. Usually, I go with my girls during the day when it’s mostly packed with adults and children and noises that interrupt silence. But tonight, I went without my girls. Tonight it was silent and empty, well, empty except for the hundreds of books that smelled of paper and library-ness.

“I love libraries,” I said to my mom when I got back in the car from picking up my book. It’s one of those old institutions that I’m thankful for living to enjoy.

I love libraries.

STOP.

Are you fan of libraries, too? What do you love most about them?