A library farewell

I am not sure I can ever really say good-bye to a library. I sort of carry them around in my head: that one at some Catholic school where I spent a summer reading the lives of the saints--just fascinating for a nice Presbyterian girl. Of course, the one over town hall in Upstate New York. That library is gone, but I can get there in a minute any time. The stacks at Butler. The geology library. The geography library at Barnard--OMG, the flood! Waaaaa. I have been on such intimate terms with several libraries that I literally had touched every book.

I never came close to touching every book in the Central Library of the Free Library of Philadelphia. I loved the fact that there would always be more books than I could read there. I am truly happy in a building with three million volumes. But I did indeed say good-bye. You know the old saw about leaving something some place so you have a reason to return? Well. After I spent all day packing up my desk and saying farewell to all kinds of friends, I got home and realized my purse was still in my locker! The guards did let me in.

I am excited to be moving to San Diego. Even though I try to be thoroughly pragmatic and anti-romance (the interpersonal kind, not novels!), I am letting a bit of wonder creep in. Every once in a while, I allow a glimmer of thinking maybe this will all work out. Maybe I will get a job in a library with a growing tax base and a forward-looking administration. Maybe boyfriend and I will live happily. I think driving across country will be fun, and that the dog will like the winters even more than I do.

The Free Library has a saying, "Art has always been in Pepper Hall." It is code for "we will never change." The picture above is the fabulous ceiling of Pepper Hall. The skylights were painted during World War II, then covered with plywood chicken coops in the 80s. The plan for the expansion and renovation of the Central Library calls for the skylights to be restored. Yippee! In the new plan, the art will no longer be in Pepper Hall. Maybe other changes will follow. I won't have a ringside seat, but I am sure I will hear.