Libraries started popping up around 5,000 years ago, with the first one appearing in Southwest Asia’s Fertile Crescent. Libraries were built as an effort to organize all kinds of knowledge, information, and even stories. Books originally started as clay tablets with writing etched into them. Such libraries have evolved into what they are today: full of books with pages bursting with endless knowledge and fables from all sorts of places and eras of history. Not only are they helpful for maintaining and documenting information and stories, but they’re also amazing ways to get connected with your local community via free events hosted by libraries. They’re also accessible places to have a quiet place to study, read, and simply exist in a peaceful environment.
In recent months, there’s been a trend of people going to their local libraries and filming themselves doing a fun hobby routine. Oftentimes, these videos detail people enjoying a slow morning/evening doing analog activities and doing things that take them off their phones in the comfort of their local library. People such as Mandy Rulez on Instagram have popularized this trend and pushed it towards a wider audience of people on the Internet.
A lot of us, including myself, have loved going to the library as a kid. I remember when I was a wee child, I loved going to the library with my younger sister. We’d spend hours in the kids’ section of the library, scouring through all of the fantastical stories of princesses, heroes, girlhood, and whimsical adventures. I look back fondly on these memories and remember just feeling this sense of awe and whimsy when taking a step inside. As our world progresses into a fast and digital one, it’s important to have moments where people can just live in the real world. And libraries are just the places to do so. When everything has become so optimized and digitized to match the pace most are forced to work at just to survive in today’s society, libraries are among the few places left where people can just exist and be human.
As a chronically online person myself, I do find myself yearning at times to just slow down from my hectic schedule and slow my life down a little bit. I think this feeling of being overwhelmed by how much needs to be done on a daily basis–social life, work, and other things that weigh people down–is a universal experience that everyone has. If there ever comes a time when there is a free hour in a day, go to your local library and take the time to just slow down and do some cutesy journaling or reading (or really whatever hobby is chill and fun!). Not only does it bring calm and a moment of zen, but it also supports the libraries by driving interest and continued funding to keep these wonderful places alive!