A ‘Subscription’ to the Library
I received a letter from my local library, telling me that I owed them 28 dollars and 88 cents.
This wasn’t some overwhelming fee from a long overdue title, but instead a restocking penalty that I was required to pay because a book I had checked out — a little raggedy paperback — was a bit waterlogged and was now deemed ‘destroyed’.
That’s fine, though.
It’s fine because I’ve been finding myself at the library often lately, and though I’ve only had a membership card for a few months, I’ve already checked out dozens and dozens of books.
It’s fine because I would easily pay a monthly fee for access to the local library. Since my $30 fee is going to replace a book that’s 8 dollars new on Amazon, I’m assuming (and hoping!) that the bulk of that money will go to maintaining the existence of this place which I hold dear.
It’s fine because I happily pay a fee for television and movies. In fact, I pay a few fees for that, subscribing without a thought to Netflix, Hulu, and occasionally PlayStation Vue when the desire strikes to watch something live.
It’s fine because I pay a fee for music, happily dolling out $15 a month for a Spotify family plan.
It’s fine because I wish I could pay money for a book subscription service (RIP Oyster and don’t @ me about Kindle Unlimited), and in a way this $28 fee is the closest I’ve come.
On top of all this, it’s fine because the library has a way of surfacing books which I would not have otherwise found, and that’s a service which is invaluable.
The library’s ‘featured’ shelves do a much better job of understanding what’s exciting to me than a best seller list or even Amazon’s algorithms. The librarians have put out the best book I’ve read all year, ‘Tears We Cannot Stop’ by Michael Eric Dyston. They’ve put out ‘Homo Deus’ and ‘Borne’, new titles that I didn’t know existed by authors I had previously enjoyed.
Simply wandering the aisles provides a similar experience that only libraries and bookstores can provide. I’ve found books that moved me like ‘Killing Rage’, bell hooks’ profound essays on racism that (twenty years after publishing!) provides a deeply important narrative for today. I’ve found books that entertain me like ‘Mort(e)’, a science fiction novel that I’d never heard of but instantly gripped me and became my nightly read before bed.
So I owed the library some money, and I gladly went to the front desk and paid it. They take cash only, so I had to dig up some bills for the first time in awhile. I paid my dues, walked away from the desk, and then spent the next hour browsing the aisles.
At the end of my trip, I went home with a bundle of new books.
