when one library isn't enough

So on my lunch hour today I went down to the Goshen Public Library to pick up a reciprocal card from my home library. After getting the card, and walking through the stacks for awhile, I am very appreciative I have another option for books besides my hometown library. Its one of the things to adjust to when you live in a small town is less access to certain resources, and while libraries are a good place to get access to most resources, in a small town library, those resources are limited. Middlebury's library, while nice, would fit inside a single wing of Goshen's, which even has two floors ( and Goshen really isn't that big of a town either). Thus, I was able to pick up an essay book by Sloane Crosley that I'd been meaning to read for awhile, along with a piece by Thomas Merton, which I have been also waiting to read. Neither were available at the home library - which isn't totally unexpected, they are both a bit more obscure than most books.

Another advantage was the philosophy section in the Goshen library - as it actually had philosophy books. Middlebury's section of philosophy consists primarily of psychological self-help books and religion texts - which while it may be philosophy for many, its nice to have access to more of the writers I read in college.

Don't get me wrong, I love my little home library. Its been my social center for the last year, allowing me to make my own connections with people in our small community on a more comfortable setting than Jackie's school or even church. The Let's Talk About It program is excellent, gave me the opportunity to read books of Jewish Literature and about pirates that I wouldn't have done otherwise, and good discussions with a variety of people. This winter/spring the series is about Love and Forgiveness, and the book selections appear to again be very interesting, and stuff I may have never gotten around to read or even consider reading absent the program. But it's also nice to have access to just a few more books and a little more topic diversity.