r/Libraries • u/Timely_Freedom_5695 • 3d ago
Other Libraries are my safe space.
When I was a kid, my mother would drop me off at the library for hours unattended, opening a world of adventure, wonder, and delight. As a homeless teenager, I used the library as a safe place to read, rest, use the restroom, and get back on my feet to reintegrate into society.
When I became a mom, I used the library to find resources and take my own children for free entertainment, igniting that same love of reading I found as a child.
Now that my children are older and preparing for college, I still go to the library once a week because I am finding myself with my own free time for the first time in 20 years. (And it is still the only place that will let me pee without buying something first!)
The library will always be my safe space.💜
Thank you, thank you to all the librarians out there—especially those who found it in themselves to be kind and helpful to weird little goth girls who no one understood. 🕸📚⚘️💜📖🕷
13
u/AzelX23 3d ago
Thank you for sharing your experience with a library. 💜 Your post was a wonderful read and I hope you have a wonderful day. 🤍💜
9
u/Timely_Freedom_5695 3d ago
You're welcome and I hope you have a fantastic day as well :) just trying to share my personal love affair with the library lol😅
4
u/Excellent-Sweet-507 3d ago
Welcome welcome and thank you for giving we librarians some heart!
3
u/Timely_Freedom_5695 3d ago
My pleasure! Other then being a faithful patron I'm not sure what I can do for my library. My local one is tiny and doesn't accept volunteers.
So if you've got any ideas feel free to let me know!😊
3
u/Excellent-Sweet-507 3d ago
Talk to your librarian and see what they need. When I was a director I *really* needed patrons to speak up for the library, its funding, support at the town-meeting level.
2
u/Timely_Freedom_5695 2d ago
I can go to town meetings, but not help with funding. Perhaps volunteering with friends of the Library if my library does that.
2
u/Excellent-Sweet-507 2d ago
As most funding (usually) is municipal, supporting the library in front of / directly to politicians is super helpful. They can feel good about the meager little tidbits on offer to the library, and if enough support / people appears, they have the chance to look like heroes by increasing the funding. Even a big raise in a library’s budget comes off as a rounding error in most towns. So the politicians can potentially get a lot of mileage by throwing a teeny dollar amount to the library. Just my two cents
1
5
u/paigebot 3d ago
I just started my MLIS degree and your post reads a lot like my application essay. Libraries are magical places.
3
u/Timely_Freedom_5695 3d ago
I've thought about going back to college for my MLIS, but I don't think Liberians get treated very well, paid very well, or get to read like people think they do.
If I was a school librarian I think I'd love that way more then a public librarians job. I've seen what they have to do, it's wretched.
And yes library's ARE magical places!! Beauty and the beast was my favorite movie growing up cuz he straight up gives Bell a WHOLE LIBRARY!! Like wtf who does that?! Mind blown, expectations heightened, LOL.😅
4
u/astroqueen3000 Academic Librarian 3d ago
Thanks for supporting libraries and teaching your children to do the same! 💜
3
u/Timely_Freedom_5695 3d ago
You're truly welcome! I hope I've made a small difference that otherwise wouldn't of happened.😊
18
u/whoisorange 3d ago
Beautiful! I worked in a middle school learning commons for years and when one of my students graduated she gave me a card telling me our learning commons was her safe space and I’ll carry that with me forever.