How the world is shrinking
febrero 20, 2018
After more than five years, I went back to my local library.
When I was little I used to visit my local library all the time. (I say local and perhaps you will misinterpret. This is a big library that was the closest to my apartment, and also the one that carries the comuna (county, sort of) name.) To me it represented unlimited access to all sorts of books (certainly some that my religious mom wouldn't allow at home), it meant time with my older cousins, and it meant freedom.
After a while my cousins and I began to hang less and I started going to literary fairs where my dad would buy me books and so I didn't need to go to the library, but I have always remembered how big it was. How full of books. How welcoming.
Well, today, after more than five years, I returned.
And it was... alright.
I can appreciate what they do. Every community needs a library. So I'm happy that they provide nice spaces and a wide selection. But.
I thought compared to my Uni libraries, this wasn't especially cozy nor varied. It seemed cold. It seemed... small.
(The building is actually way bigger than the space they use for the actual library per se.)
I've seen so many beautiful wonderful libraries across the world.
I've acquired such an extensive catalogue of books, tailored of course to my tastes.
I've spent so many hours holed up in my Uni libraries (plural).
So I came out wondering whether the world, my world, has been shrinking. It's got to be. These streets seem narrower, the museums smaller, the things to do and see fewer and fewer (which is not to say there are none, it's just...)
Things are changing. But it's not all on them, though.
I'm changing too.
(But don't despair. I still love and frequent libraries. There is a special branch here in Santiago I really adore called "Biblioteca Viva" -the live/alive library- and I'm hopelessly devoted to my Uni library.)
Hello, I'm Roxie!
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