A short love letter to libraries…
The Duggan Elementary School Library as it looks present day. Only I remember it as being bigger somehow… (image from the Duggan website)
On the first day of kindergarten I went to school and fell in love. Sunk three steps into the middle of the school’s central atrium, a circular open-concept library formed the literal and metaphorical heart of Duggan Elementary School in south Edmonton. And from the centre of its stacks rose a circular staircase leading to a cushion-filled reading loft that seemed to float in the sky.
It was heaven to me.
Presiding over this magical space was my school librarian, Ms. Covlin, who rode a motorcycle to work, wore bright leather skirts, and always always had something fascinating for me to read. For the seven years that followed, Ms. Covlin fed me a steady stream of books in exchange for the occasional diorama or hand-drawn dust jacket, and I have loved libraries ever since.
The old Southgate branch of the Edmonton Public Library, closed in 2002 and replaced by the Whitemud Crossing Branch. (image originally from the Edmonton Public Library website but retrieved from Pinterest)
If I wasn’t up in the Duggan School library loft, I was down in the Southgate Branch of the Edmonton Public Library, running the wide and uneven set of stairs to the basement of Southgate Mall, clearing out entire shelves of paperback science fiction at a go. Or on special occasions, downtown to the Centennial Library (now the Stanley A. Milner Library a.k.a. the #bibliotank, the design of which, for the record, I love, but that’s a post for another day), reading with the lizards and snakes in the Children’s Library that back then also happened to be located down a flight of stairs in the basement.
This apparently established a pattern that has changed little for me in the intervening decades, only now it’s most often down the stairs to the basement of Rutherford South at the University of Alberta, to visit the Bruce Peel Special Collections. After being first introduced to the Peel by my undergrad writing prof, Ted Bishop, I went on to tackle a Master of Arts in English with him on the history of the book, basically as an excuse to spend more time in the Peel. Now years after completing that MA, I still visit the Peel as often as I can.
They say you never forget your first love. But if you’re lucky, there will never have even been the chance or need to.
From library to library, and then add in bookstores and print shops and databases and websites, my life —professional, personal, and academic — has been driven by a passionate curiosity for how we humans organize, store, and share story and knowledge. And as part of the latest chapter in my own story, a longer version of this love letter anchored my application a few years ago to go back to school, this time to study librarianship at the University of Alberta School of Library and Information Studies. I am delighted to report that they said yes.
Even more recently, I had the joy of reconnecting with Ms. Covlin over email, a chance to thank her for the “safe space and happy place” she provided for me during those formative years, and to let her know I was following in her professional footsteps. She no longer owns the bike – “a Yamaha Exciter 250, with a full face helmet that totally messed with my hair” – but, again I am delighted to report, she has apparently held onto the colourful wardrobe.
And how about you? I would love to hear about your first library love. Maybe share some memories in the comments below when you have a chance?
But in the meantime, Happy Library Lovers Month, my friends, and happy reading!
– Winston
