Nona C. Flores
"In Libris: My Life in the Library"
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| (Photos by Patrick Fraser) |
The Evanston Public Library, including its bookmobile and its branches, has been a constant throughout my life. Like other libraries, the EPL has adapted to remain current as a community touchstone. Along with the free internet and Spanish language computer literacy classes, art exhibits, free movie showings, moderated bookclubs and storytimes, dementia resource center, and voter and healthcare sign-up assistance, the EPL may be unique in hosting a pair of nesting peregrine falcons each spring.
But for me, it’s always been all about the books, so my piece shares not only my journey through various libraries, but also the names of favorite authors and books. The library was my childhood gateway to western civilization. I read voraciously and widely because a library allows you grab any subject off the shelf and read as much or as little as you wish. I’d ramble home carrying tottering piles of books: Chopin and Tchaikovsky, the Faust legend, Newbery award winners, Greek mythology, Madame Curie, all the kings and queens of England, the antebellum South, elephants, poisoners, medieval knights, the French Revolution, Victorian-era orphans, World War I aviation, and English schoolchildren several generations before Harry Potter. When I first saw the Bridge of Sighs, the Alhambra, Westminster Abbey or the Eiffel Tower, it was a confirmation of what I had already imagined from books. That little blue square of cardboard with the stamped metal plate and my name typed at the top—my first library card—was my key to the world.