Do you love libraries?

I got myself locked out of my apartment today. No phone and no phone numbers, no keys, no coat, no nothing. So I went to the new Logan Square library, and they just happened to have a copy of the book I would have been reading if I weren't a damned monkey idiot.

Chicago schools were out today and so the kids were in full force. Homeless people and junior high students: that is a library. The new Logan Square branch looks as good as the new condos on Fullerton. The bathrooms were fantastic. Sadly, however, Logan Square will have to remain a warm place to sit with the homeless and a clean bathroom. Harold Washington is my branch.

To avoid worrying, and to avoid calculating the teeny stutter steps between being me and being hungry, mentally ill, and sleeping in the library, I decided to reminisce about the libraries I have loved. I have lived in many neighborhoods and attended many schools, and I do love to read--these things are related, but that's another blog--so I have loved many libraries, but only six really stick with me. From the top:

"The Circle Library" Heatherdowns Road, Toledo, OH:

When we first got to Toledo we spent a great deal of time at the most amazing place I had ever seen: a round library. The stacks radiated from the center. It was smoky glass and painted black metal that was always cold. I also remember solid armchairs in natural wood and brown tweed. Once as we walked in an adolescent said "Fat ass" or some such thing to my mother, and I burst into tears for the pain and the humiliation of it all. Probably the first time I felt homicidal toward anyone but my Sister. A terrible memory , but there were still books, and I was lonely. From the Toledo Public Library website: "The original Heatherdowns Branch was built in 1968 and was unique because of its round shape. In 1991, a parallelogram-shaped addition was added and it became the largest branch in square footage—21,125 sq. ft." The picture online doesn't look round at all! "Parallelogram"? Bullshit.

Sanger Branch, Central Avenue, Toledo, OH:

The Sanger Branch was in a crap strip mall next to the Food Town. They knew me there. I can still see the low beige wall of Sweet Dreams teen romances and the Lois Duncan novels that got me obsessed with ESP. I actually ran away to this library once: I was going to read all day, bath in the University of Toledo fountain, and then sleep in the parking garage. My mom arrived with the cops and yanked me out of there; she was livid. A couple of years ago she told me that she had stood in the entrance for five minutes nearly sobbing with laughter because, holy shit, her daughter ran away to the library. This branch is also gone, and check out this exuberant blurb from the website of the new "Sanger" branch: "Sanger Branch was established in a storefront in the Colony in 1953. It moved to another location in the Kenwood Shopping Center in 1959. Over the next 40 years, the branch was enlarged twice, and finally, thanks to the generosity of Lucas County voters who supported a capital improvements levy, a new facility was built. That was opened in March 2000." It's not even in a shopping center. How are children supposed to learn?

Ohio State University Library, Columbus, OH:

Eleven stories, people, and a library to rival Alexandria. Sexy co-eds enjoyed the 7th floor stacks and our gay classmates made dates on the 5th floor bathroom walls. I was usually on the 11th floor, where the Aramaic parchments were shelved. Occastionally I would engage in tense, nerdy banter with the Heavy Metal Librarian, and then spend the walk home wondering about our future life together, and could I get him to cut his hair? Although I skipped graduation, my mom made me wear my cap and gown, and the only pictures I took were in front of the library.

Columbus Metropolitan Library, Columbus, OH

The Columbus Public Library had the most amazing CD collection, and for one year the library was my landlord. I lived in a studio apartment right to the left of this picture. I had constant access to the topiary garden and to all the Alan Lomax recordings, early calypso, primitive hip-hop, and folk music that the library had to offer. There is also a really great sculpture in the lobby, and I would show it off to guests like it was mine, because no more than one adult could fit in my apartment at a time.

Harold Washington Library, Chicago, IL

This building is a monstrosity. There are enormous gargoyles on at the corners and it is dripping with gothic charm in modern materials, like the ever present green glass. The doors are prohibitively heavy. There are no stairs, only escalators. I love this library because they have books in Armenian and the homeless dudes are suprisingly considerate; one stopped printing his 600-page Apocalyptic Forecast so that I could print a paper. The reason I had to do this at Harold Washington is because the computers at UIC were broken, which is one of the many reasons why the Daley Library did not make this list.

I should maybe do some work now, seeing as I am at work, and 'blogging' is not yet recognized as an activity that will "save the life of a child--whatever it takes" which is, I kid you not, my agency's motto.