I’ve always had a fondness for libraries. My home library is the McDonough Public Library. It’s not a gigantic library, but, as the only public library in McDonough it does its job well. It gets people excited about reading and learning. With its cool AC, high ceilings, numerous skylights and beautiful use of natural light, it gives off the impression of a place of enlightenment and learning. However, the children’s area is VERY different. It’s much cozier and the walls are all painted with fantastic designs and  murals of characters from well-known stories like George and the Purple Crayon, Where the Wild Things Are, and, of course the best of Dr. Seuss. It makes choosing a book feel like the magical lake-forest in the Magician’s Nephew: Each book is its own world and adventure, but choosing one to jump into (read) is an adventure unto itself.

My library is organized in a way that is easy to navigate and makes sense. Children’s book are on the right, and adult books are on the left. From there, books is sorted into categories, and in those categories they are sorted by last name of author. The categories are as broad as genre: Nonfiction, Fiction, Mystery, etc. These categories make things easier to find because a layer of looking is taken away.

All sorts of people frequent my library. From families with children, to adolescents, to the elderly, the kinds of people my library attracts all have one thing in common, a desire for knowledge. Some will need to study for a test on geography, others will need help getting their little ones to read, and yet others are looking for information on the kind of plants they should plant in their garden. I watch as a young man of around 27 years of age asks a librarian for an hour in one of the self-study rooms, directly next to the research materials. I also observe a family of three returning a book of bedtime stories: a demure, quiet mother with blonde hair and hazel eyes; a father, tall and proud with his strong back ramrod straight beneath his elongated neck, sharp blue eyes, and close-cropped black hair; and a son, trying to stand tall like his proud papa with his blonde hair and blue eyes. All are seekers of knowledge.

My library seems built around the fact, that all who enter are seekers of knowledge. Research Materials and computers are in the center of the library for those who need them. On the adult side, behind the research center is the nonfiction center (with all of its sub-categories), followed by the fiction center (with all its sub-categories), which ends along the outer back wall of my library. On the children’s side oy my library, the books are only in alphabetical order by author’s last name, creating aisles upon aisles of literature for children to get lost in. However, in the back corner of the children’s section is an area, a small alcove full of bean bag chairs and rugs, for the children to lounge and enjoy the books they picked up, whereas on the adult side, the reading are is much more bland, with chairs and tables, and separates the nonfiction from the fiction.