I love to read. If I have any free time, I would usually choose to read. Right now I am in the middle of 6 different books. During the summer, I have this urgency to read as many books as I can, because during the school year, I just don't have the time. Earlier this spring my book club read Dewey by Vicki Myron. It's a true story about a cat that lived in the Spencer, Iowa library for many years. In one chapter the author gives the history of the Spencer Library.
The first library in Spencer was built by the Carnegie foundation. "Carnegie was a ruthless corporate capitalist that turned a nation of farmers into factory workers." He made his money in the steel industry. Even though he was ruthless in business, he gave money away to worthwhile causes. One of the causes that many cities in the U.S. benefited from was libraries. Lincoln was fortunate enough to have four of his libraries. They were all constructed with the same classical style, and they were symmetrical in design.
As the author of Dewey began to describe the interior, memories came flooding back to me of my own experiences with Carnegie libraries. The librarian was at the top of the stairs, and there were side rooms small and intimate with bookshelves to the ceiling. The ceilings were high and the windows were enormous. The bottom floor was half underground and held the children's section. "The floorboards with dark wood were polished and wide. They creaked when you walked and often that creaking was the only sound that was heard. It was as quiet as a church."
My first visit to a library, that I remember, was a Carnegie library a block away from our house. I remember walking on those creaking floors, and the wonderful smells of the books coming from the rooms. I loved going to that library! It was wonderful to be surrounded by so many books, and knowing that I could take any of them home with me. I was only five when we started going, and probably not able to read yet, but it was the beginning of my love affair with books. After reading Dewey, I decided to take pictures of the Carnegie library buildings still in Lincoln. None of them are used as libraries now, but three of them are still standing. This is the library where it all started. It's still at 48th and Cleveland.
Probably the one where I spent the most time was the Havelock Library. It looked just like this one, but it was torn down in the '70s.
I appreciate the public libraries so much, and am thankful that Mr. Carnegie realized the importance of them. Now, I need to get back to one of my books. I only have a few pages left to read, and then I can take it back to the library and check out more!
