Today is National Librarian Day! To celebrate this important day, five of our reviewers share their favorite librarian and library memories, below. Look out for a follow-up post from our Teen Board!
My favorite library is the Westport Public Library in Connecticut. When I was younger I read every single Hardy Boys book they had to offer, and I worked there from the age of 12 to the age of 23, 11 years --- count them! --- which was longer than a number of the librarians. I worked in the Children's Department, which was a magical place because every once in a while, a young (or old) patron would come up and ask for book recommendations. Over the years I worked there, I handed out ghost stories, Cinderella stories from around the world, books of sci-fi facts, and once handed a young father a stack of coming-of-age books for his pre-teen daughter. The library is a place where people old and young open their minds to any kind of adventure they could possibly dream of, and I was always floored to be part of that process. --- Lily Philpott
One of my earliest library-related memories is of borrowing books for our local Book Mobile. It came every two weeks during the summer. I eagerly awaited its arrival so I could collect my bounty of requested books. Such treasures. --- Christine Irvin
My earliest introduction to the local library was in the small town in Indiana where I grew up. I remember my mother and older brothers walking "uptown" to the little Carnegie Library. The children's section was downstairs and was one room with some tables in the middle and bookshelves all around. Mother told me to read Mother West Wind books, which I started checking out on my new library card. However, I grew tired of them in no time and that's when my older brother stepped in and suggested I read the Oz books. He said he would read some of the first chapters to me and I was sold. I don't know how many we went through that summer, but I couldn't get enough. The two librarians who worked in the children's department would see us coming and get big smiles on their faces. They would ask us how we liked the books, which ones we had read and tell us when others were coming in. It was a grand summer --- and it was the summer that we got to see the movie that starred Judy Garland as Dorothy.
I still remember staring at the fabulous collection of Oz books that swept across the shelves with their beautiful John R. O'Neill illustrations. I loved the smell of the library because it reminded me of Oz. Little did I know that this was just the beginning of my romance with libraries and books, and that many years later I would have a career helping other children pick out books. Thank goodness for those lovely librarians, their enthusiasm and their encouragement. And thank goodness to a mother who loved reading and big brothers who helped guide me along my reading paths. --- Sally Tibbets
One of my fondest memories of childhood would be going to the library during the summer to pick up books to read. It would be sweltering outside, but once I’d get inside the building, the sweet cool air from the A/C would hit me, and it would have that book smell. There are two kinds of "book smell" --- the warm, musty old kind which really is not at all as bad as it sounds --- and then the newer smell, which is the plastic wrapping they put around the covers of the new books when they 
come in and are prepped for the library. At first, those were what I looked for --- the newest updates to all the series I read as a kid. But then in middle school, I started reading the classics --- so I’d often wander along those aisles, staring in wonder at these legends living before me in the fibers of their pages. The library was where I went for knowledge, entertainment and confirmation of how amazing the world could be. --- Corinne Fox
Back when my kids were little and each had their own library card, the four of us - my two daughters, son, and I -- would pile in the car with two sturdy laundry baskets and make our way to the Elyria Public Library. The limit was 50 books on a card. So maxing each one, we loaded the laundry baskets with 200 books. This being an almost weekly occurrence, I quickly got tagged as the Laundry Basket Mom. --- Anita Lock
