A few weeks ago I admitted a great shame: I didn’t have a library card. Hadn’t in nearly four years. Coming from someone who studied writing & literature, worked in a library in high school, and has a best friend currently working in a library, this is a misstep indeed.
The public demerit was the right kick in the ass and I am now a member of the Austin Public Library. Again. Finally.
My friend Ashley and I made a date of it. We were brainstorming sober activities since she’s doing the Whole30 challenge in January and I don’t really feel like drinking anyway. I remembered my library card promise and that I had never seen the new, supposedly gorgeous, main library branch. Turns out neither had she.
The new Central Library branch opened in the fall of 2017 in downtown Austin, right off Cesar Chavez and overlooking Town Lake. There was a lot of buzz and awe abound. I had planned to see the building myself earlier in 2018, get my library card and spend some time writing on one of the six floors. That particular day I drove by the parking lot to see a no spots available sign, circled looking for other parking for a bit, and eventually gave up and headed to the Westlake branch where I couldn’t get a library card (it’s just outside Austin city limits) but I could write in peace for a few hours.
Nearly a year later, Ashley and I made the trip for the first time this morning. Thankfully, parking was available.
I’ll say this: it really does live up to the hype. It is a beautiful building. Six floors, with a rooftop rose garden, cafe, shared learning rooms, plenty of reading and working nooks, staircases that connect the floors (and reminded both of us of the moving staircases at Hogwarts), a separate children’s room and another separate teen area that were both, no other word for it, cool.
The teen librarian came up to us as I found all the queer YA I needed and we spent a few minutes talking about the popularity and diversity of young adult books.
In the end, I walked out with six books today. For free, because that’s how libraries work, and it’s fucking amazing:
- Two Boys Kissing by David Levithan
- The Weight of Feathers by Anna-Marie McLemore
- The Sword in the Stone by T.H. White
- Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer
- Ash by Malinda Lo
- Ramona Blue by Julie Murphy
I was nearly giddy the whole time during our library visit. Is there a greater gift than to be surrounded by books? Ashley and I tried to guess how many were in the building and it felt like an impossible game. I looked it up later and when the library opened in 2017 there were 351,588 items in the library’s collection.
I wanted to get started immediately, curl up, hang out, dive into a good story. Ashley would have stayed too, but my hunger won over. I’ll plan another day to hang out at the library. Maybe even a weekday where I can get some work done in a new environment – my own version of working from home (since I don’t really like working from home).
We stopped at the gift shop on our way out and did spend some money, all proceeds benefiting the Austin Library system. I got a tote for my hopefully frequent library halls, a candle called “Headmaster’s Office” (fireplace, cedarwood, & lemon), and a bath bomb.
Over a healthy lunch at True Food Kitchen, Ashley and I talked about books and life and how our words for the year were going. (My work is “Create”; hers is “Finish”). The banana pancakes I ordered were made with quinoa: healthy and under 600 calories and pretty damn good.
On the way back to the car we cut through the library and discovered one more gem: a gallery space showcasing artwork inspired by the Grimm fairy tales.
Now, I have an evening of reading ahead of me and only one pressing question: where do I start?
With Love,
Natalie