We got these books by chance...

We use the library a lot. I've got a fancy educators card, which translates to a borrowing limit we could never even attempt to exceed and no overdue fees ever on children's books. We're lucky to have three libraries within what I consider walking distance and several more we stop into when we happen to be in certain neighborhoods. We plan trips to return and borrow books, but we also use the libraries on a more spontaneous basis. Having what must surely be the world's smallest bladder, I carry a mental map of reasonable clean, no-questions-asked toilets in the city, quite a few of which happen to be in our library system. We also do a fair amount of tromping about the city and libraries are wonderful places to cool down or warm up in, depending on the weather that day. We stop a while, rest our tired feet and reconnect over a story.

I like our organic, unplanned stops at the library. But if we should decide we'd like to look up a certain something, we are often out of luck due to a phenomenon I can't quite fathom. For the most part, the DC public library do not offer public access to the card catalog from the children's rooms of their branches. The children's rooms of most branches we visit are usually on their own floor or otherwise removed from the main library. What's the point of keeping this vital resource away from the patrons? I know I use the card catalog myself almost every time I visit. I certainly did when I was a student.

If we need a book on a specific subject, we have to ask a librarian. Not that they aren't helpful people, but this assumes that the budget allows for a children's librarian during the time we happen to be at the library. It frequently means waiting our turn, because other library patrons (most of whom are certainly capable of learning how to use a card catalog) also need to ask the librarian to help them find a book.

In addition to this being a colossal waste of time and resources, I can't help but think it imparts an ugly lesson to juvenile would-be users of the library. You aren't capable of using the card catalog on your own. You need someone else to help you because you're still a kid. If it frustrates me, an adult and long time user of the library, how does it make a kid just figuring it all out feel? And who wants to keep having to ask someone else for help? Who wants to have to keep waiting in line?

When we plan our trips to the library, I log on to the card catalog from my home computer. I print out a list to take along to the library. And I'm glad this option is available to us, but not everyone has access to a computer at home.

When I first started to think seriously about homeschooling, I determined that it was my job to give mini-pear access to the tools and to teach her how to use them, rather than pack her head full of factoids and timelines. Empowering her to seek out the answers to her questions, rather than pretending I knew all the answers. And then we get to the library and we have to wait for the answers to get parceled out to us.

Yeah, I know. Time to get started on a letter.