Library Magic | A Guest Post by Adam Shaughnessy
Libraries are magic.
Does that surprise you?
It shouldn’t. Magic is the child
of possibility—the possibility of something more, something fantastic beyond
our everyday experience. Libraries are houses where infinite possibility waits
just behind every page turn and every screen swipe. Each book is a grimoire
with the power to change and transform the reader.
Think about it.
Haven’t you ever wondered about
all the conventions of order that have been imposed on libraries over the many
years of their storied history? Alphabetization. Card Catalogs. Dewey Decimal
Systems. Whispering. Those institutions were not arbitrary inventions. They
were created to try to reign in the wild magic that sleeps beneath the surface
of every library.
It is not enough, though; the
magic still abides. It will wake at the spine-crackling sound of a newly opened
book, or the sound of footsteps, muffled by well-worn carpet, as children
scurry to their favorite spot for story time.
The magic of libraries is an old
magic, too, older than many people realize. Though modern in appearance and
function, libraries carry on an ages-old tradition. They are the descendants of
the storehouses built by the Shi and the Wu, the historians and the diviners of
China’s Shang Dynasty. Those storehouses collected the statutes and genealogies
of a nation. They marked the first efforts to chronicle a civilization’s
culture and encourage its spread.
Libraries are the heirs of the
royal archives of the lost Hittite Empire, whose keepers collected prophesies
and the first contracts of peace. Libraries and archives helped birth history
itself as humankind took its first, faltering steps away from prehistory. Down
through the long centuries libraries have upheld their charge as the collectors
of and caretakers for the knowledge of civilizations.
And, of course, if libraries are
magic, then librarians are workers of magic.
They are Gandalf; if there is lost
knowledge that is hidden (of rings or other, lesser things), secreted away in a
dark corner or lost amid a glut of readily available data, they will find it.
They are the goddess Seshat, in
the old ways, the keepers of the House of Books and the House of Architects.
They lay the foundations for civilizations and ensure that they are built true—and
through their records they hold those civilizations accountable to truth down
through the ages.
They are Scheherazade, and they
will enchant you with tale upon tale until you cannot help but love them.
Draw a line connecting all the
libraries of the world and you will have a map of true ley lines. Be warned: if
you choose to walk those old straight tracks you should know that your journey
will take you someplace new, someplace undiscovered. Though you may go there
and back again, you will not return the same person.
Libraries will change you. The
changes may be subtle or too small to notice at first. You may not see them
directly, but you will catch glimpses of them in enlightened attitudes and
broadened horizons. You will see reflections of the changes in the increased
confidence that comes from a better understanding of your community, your
country, and your world—and, through those things, a better understanding of
yourself.
Libraries are magic.
Adam Shaughnessy is the author of The Unbelievable FIB
series and loves libraries. Algonquin Young Readers is celebrating the
publication of the second FIB book, Over
the Underworld, and National Library Card Sign Up month throughout the
month of September using the #MagicOfLibraries.
How beautiful...and true!
ReplyDeleteI can see you so clearly as a 5th grader in The Fessenden School Library! What joy it gives me to know that you have become an author and an ambassador. It is, indeed, magic.
ReplyDeleteGreat post, Adam & oh, so true!!
ReplyDelete